FC Cincinnati 2022 season preview: Fourth time’s the charm?

FC Cincinnati is back for the team’s fourth season in MLS and they are coming in with a new look and style, again. FCC has a new coach, a new General Manager, and some newfound hope after finishing last in the league for an unprecedented three straight seasons. The team is bringing back star players Brenner and Lucho Acosta, and the hope and expectation is that the team, new and returning faces alike, will finally be able to put together something cohesive on the field.

Head Coach: Pat Noonan

Key addition: Alec Kann (Goalkeeper)

Key Losses: Joe Gyau, Caleb Stanko

Ideal XI: (Diamond 4-4-2) Kann, Matarrita, Vallecilla, Cameron, Gaddis, Medunjanin, Kubo, Cruz, Acosta, Brenner, Vazquez

FC Cincinnati has mostly been quiet this offseason, but the one big move was picking up goalkeeper Alec Kann off of Atlanta. FC Cincinnati let in a near-historic 74 goals last season and a big reason behind that was weak goalkeeping. In contrast, while only a backup at Atlanta, Kann put up shot-stopping numbers that ranked among the best in the league. Even if Kann can’t quite match that output, this is still a huge improvement for the team.

After three miserable last-place seasons, FC Cincinnati finally look like they might finally have a plan in place for long-term success. In Chris Albright and Pat Noonan, Cincinnati now has a general manager and head coach, respectively, with experience in the league. Both came highly regarded from the Philadelphia Union. And it looks like those two intend to build the team out with experienced players chosen for specific roles, complemented with young faces. While many players have been moved on, the club has held on to their ambitious 2021 signings, Lucho Acosta and Brenner. With a sufficient supporting cast, the team could legitimately put out some consistently exciting soccer. This year could finally, finally, be the year where Cincinnati gets up and gets going. There’s hope again this year.

Is there ever just one glaring weakness with FC Cincinnati? Any of the myriad problems that have plagued this team could still be there. Bad defending, anemic attack, a tactical setup that doesn’t match the roster. But the big worry going into the team’s fourth year in MLS with a fourth different “permanent” head coach is that this team winds up playing like a Frankenstein’s monster, built with decaying limbs plucked from those rotten seasons. The truth is, this team has always looked like someone just threw together an assortment of parts, with neither the players nor the tactics gelling together to create something that looked like a living, breathing team. There’s hope that things have changed, that things have turned a corner. But it’s the ope that kills you. There’s a realistic fear that this team is still a patchwork monster, just with a nice paint job to look like the Philadelphia Union.

Only two players on the current roster played in FC Cincinnati’s inaugural MLS match in 2019. Alvas Powell, who rejoined the team after leaving at the end of 2019, and Nick Hagglund both played in that first match vs. the Seattle Sounders.

Rocket’s a raccoon who was made through a series of genetic and cybernetic experiments. He describes the process as one where he was torn apart and put back together over and over again, until he became a little monster. But Rocket’s not a monster. He’s just a bit sad and angry and overwhelmed. Put him in a more healthy situation and he shines. FC Cincinnati is also not a monster. Yeah, the team’s been a little bit sad and overwhelmed. They’ve been torn apart and reconstituted over and over through the years. But with the right people, with the right relationships, there’s every reason to believe that they’ll shine, too.