Ain't no rest for the kickin'. Yes, FC Cincinnati is back to the pitch
Leaving the 2023 Major League Soccer season in the past was no small task for FC Cincinnati. For now, members of the club say they achieved that, and the good and the bad of last year aren't bleeding into 2024.
As of Thursday, FC Cincinnati was just 47 days removed from its Dec. 2 playoff loss to Columbus Crew. For some, that extra-time defeat, as well as some of the club's postseason controversies, were still relatively fresh in the memory.
FC Cincinnati Sources: FC Cincinnati's Aaron Boupendza facing blackmail threat over stolen video
FC Cincinnati Confirmed: FC Cincinnati's Brandon Vazquez is a CF Monterrey player in Liga MX
FC Cincinnati Here's everything you need to know about FC Cincinnati's preseason schedule
The grueling, extra-time playoff exit gave way to an offseason that was mere weeks long. Recovery fully from the defeat and the controversies seemed like a big ask for the shortest offseason in club history. And with a season ahead that could once again see FCC play close to 50 competitive matches across up to five separate competitions (FCC played 46 games across four competitions in 2023), there was reason for concern.
The concerns might come to the fore eventually but the initial message conveyed during FC Cincinnati's first local news conference of 2024 was that the club was fresh and mentally prepped for the rigors of the campaign to come.
"At the end of last season, it was a lot. Everything was a lot. I felt like I ended the season very stressed. There were a lot of games, a lot of emotions," reigning MLS Landon Donovan Most Valuable Player Luciano Acosta said Thursday. "I think we all needed this break to clear the mind, to get re-energized and now I think we're back. The energy is 100% now that we're back here."
Acosta and FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan addressed media members Thursday in Milford at the Mercy Health Training Center in the midst of the opening week of preseason training. The club will continue practicing in-market through Sunday and depart for about a month of further training in Clearwater, Florida.
FC Cincinnati plays its first competitive match Feb. 22 in CONCACAF Champions Cup play. The MLS regular-season opener follows three days later.
"It's gonna come quickly and we needed to have guys that came in after getting their break in a good place so we could push them early on," Noonan said, "and not have to play catchup."
Even if FC Cincinnati has truly buried the good and the bad of 2023's final chapter, the current situation remains complicated. With preseason prep work underway, the moving parts around FC Cincinnati's first-team setup are noteworthy.
The club is trying to provide support to one of its most important players who is in a midst of a potentially life-altering trauma, and roster turnover is still unfolding.
The latest on Aaron Boupendza
You'd be hard-pressed to find a positive projection of FC Cincinnati for the 2024 season that doesn't include significant contributions from forward and designated player Aaron Boupendza. But the FC Cincinnati player's offseason ended with turbulence in his personal life, which gave rise to concerns about his 2024 season.
Sources confirmed to The Enquirer last week that Boupendza was fighting an alleged attempt to leak a consensually recorded sex video, and that a monetary exchange was requested to stop the leak of the video from a stolen cell phone.
News of Boupendza's situation, which broke Jan. 11, raised a wide array of questions and concerns, but the player still managed to report back to Cincinnati on time. He's also practiced with teammates, and Noonan said Thursday the club is simply trying to make Boupendza comfortable in his workplace.
"Is it past him? Likely not. I can't speak for Aaron but it's relatively new and what we're gonna do is support him in the process in finding out how it got to this point," Noonan said. "That's all we can do at the moment, and that's what we will do. I've had a conversation with him, as has Chris (Albright, general manager), and it's whatever he needs from us to feel comfortable coming to work and we've had three days of training. He looks like a player who is happy to be on the field playing with his teammates, and focusing on the game. From the outside, that's not easy to know how individuals handle certain things.
"I think we do a good job of supporting these guys in tough situations and in terms it being black and white (regarding soccer), I can't answer that. Anytime you have things going on with players on the field, off the field, it'll continue to be gray (area) but we're gonna try to support him and do what we can to help him be comfortable as an FCC player."
Boupendza notched five regular-season goals, plus an MLS Cup playoff goal and an assist, in 2023 after joining FCC during the 2023 secondary transfer window.
Roster turnover
FC Cincinnati's roster has its mainstay figures, players like Acosta, center back Matt Miazga, and fan-favorites like Nick Hagglund. They're all still in the fold for 2024 and a core group - most members of the so-called spine of the team that Albright touted late in 2021 - is intact.
But there's a sense the season-over-season roster turnover took a significant chunk out of the 2023 roster that claimed the Supporters' Shield. What's transpiring doesn't quite constitute a rebuild but one big departure and the possibility of another, plus a handful of other possible exits via free agency, will make FCC of 2024 a decidedly new-look group.
A handful of new acquisitions are in the door. That group is highlighted by center back and former MLS Best XI honoree, Miles Robinson. Goal-scorer Corey Baird, who came from Western Conference finalist Houston Dynamo FC, joined Cincinnati's ranks, too.
FC Cincinnati FC Cincinnati add former Houston Dynamo FC goal-scorer Corey Baird
FC Cincinnati What to know about Miles Robinson, top MLS free agent and FC Cincinnati's newest player
But gone is goal-scorer Brandon Vazquez, who transferred this month to CF Monterrey of the Mexican top flight, Liga MX. Also out the door is center back Yerson Mosquera, a Best XI-quality player who couldn't be retained after his loan from England's Wolverhampton Wanderers FC even though FCC publicly stated its aim to attempt to re-acquire him when the loan ended.
There's also the big departure looming over the club that hasn't come to fruition yet. Left back Alvaro Barreal, first acquired by Cincinnati during the secondary transfer window in 2020, continues to seek a transfer to a European club, although no formal offers have materialized on that front.
Players like Acosta, Miazga, Robinson and Baird should help buoy another year of front-running and championship-contending projections for FC Cincinnati, but Vazquez's departure is a significant one that will more than likely necessitate more reinforcements.
A departure by Barreal at this stage could disrupt the early days of FCC's 2024 campaign. Uncertainly also lingers around free agents like Junior Moreno (26 starts, four goals in 2023), Santiago Arias, and Dominique Badji, although Badji on Thursday was announced as an acquisition by a second-division Turkish club.
"The focus is on the guys that are here and evaluating how the guys have returned," Noonan said. "Some of the new faces, they're getting a look early on both early on and then when we depart for Clearwater. We know that there's a lot up in the air right now with players that already or will potentially depart. We'll look to replace (them) and maintain a high level with the group we put out on the field. I think we're in a good place but there's been a lot of good conversations with Chris (Albright), his guys and the coaches as far as how we can improve.
"... It's not a surprise. There's a plan to fill these holes when important pieces leave, so it doesn't mean that the signings are gonna come right away. You want to make sure that you get it right. There's some nice targets and some players that we're looking at but, I've said this for the last two years, we're not gonna rush that. We'll continue to focus on the group that we have... and when the time is right, try to make the right decisions."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati already back to work after historic season
