MLS Preseason Recap – Cincinnati Soccer Talk

With the closing of the European transfer window and the promise to remain Brenner, we can now focus on the coming season! Punxsutawney Phil lifted his head and declared: “Three weeks to go Stiven Jimenez Score preseason goals to MLS!”

With that said, let’s take a look at the schedule and what to expect.

upcoming schedule

I know metaphors are confusing, but since Cincinnati no longer has a professional baseball team (Sell the Team Bob), I figured we could all get our baseball fix here with a three-game preview.

At Bat: February 10 – Philadelphia Union: 1st in the East in 2022

No wonder, with all the connections between the two, that we will see them in the preseason. After a successful 2022 season, many people would have expected more of their players to walk out the door this off-season, but Europe didn’t call and the core of the team has remained intact. As this is a non-aired pre-season friendlies I don’t expect to be able to comment based on twitter updates or cropped highlights. However, it will be interesting to see if there are any players who switch to the starting rotation.

On Deck: February 14 – New England Revolution: 10th in the East in 2022

New England, still recovering from a pre-’22 player sell-off, has beefed up its roster, adding quality veterans from the league. Dave Romney, Latif Blessing and Bobby Wood will all be new to FC Cincinnati. Internationally, they added DP striker Giacomo Vrioni. I think they’re a team that has yet to figure out who to incorporate into the season and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a departure from their 4-2-3-1, which they played almost exclusively last season to have.

In the Hole: February 17 – Nashville SC: 5th in the West in 2022

The final vote before the start of the season and most likely the signal of where the coaching staff sees their starting lineup. I would expect both teams to roll out their starting XI and give them the bulk of the minutes. We won’t see anything about how they play on the field, but with Nashville moving east this year, it could be the most important of the preseason games this offseason.

Check in west

A week ago a user posted on MLS Reddit a breakdown which team would least overlap with FCC games. After plugging everything into their very scientific method of downloading fixtures, the FCC’s sister club… **drum roll please** ….. Portland Timbers for 2023! **Taa Daa** I’m sure not everyone wants to spend every game day night watching every game in the league, but hopefully this can help you have another team in the league to follow what’s happening on the other side of the continent Happening If you don’t want to stain your heart blue then I think tuning in to the MLS whip show will give you more than enough MLS content for the weekend.

Things that made us go oooOOOOooo!!!! (best highlight of the week)

I’m an easy to talk to person so some weeks I may wake up and just rewatch old ones US Open Cup Highlightsor it can be something interesting that happened over the weekend, as is the case this weekend.

Syracuse men’s soccer player Nathan Opoku has signed for Leicester City in the Premier League and I think it could be one of the most impactful transfers of the next decade. Even a player who skips the MLS and signs directly with a team in Europe is a remarkable achievement, but it could spur colleges to consider football as the next frontier in money-making.

𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒐𝒏𝒅 📝

Congratulations to our very own Nathan Opoku on his move to Leicester City! I wish you only the best #10 🍊🧡#DareToDream pic.twitter.com/xgURUvBKWw

— Syracuse Men’s Soccer (@CuseMSOC) January 31, 2023

College football was a listless ship, ignoring the wishes and desires of coaches and players to transition to a modern game structure and viewed as a waste of resources to even out scholarship numbers rather than something to celebrate. However, with players increasingly becoming university employees and the insatiable need for revenue-generating decision-making within sports departments, this may result in football being a viable growth opportunity.

The Zico Bailey update of the week

He is currently not signed to any team. 🙁