Preview: FC Cincinnati continues US Open Cup run vs. NYCFC at TQL Stadium

Pat Brennan, Cincinnati Enquirer

May 10, 2023 at 2:02 PM·7 min read

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup has lasted more than a century and yet the debate about its place in the modern American soccer landscape has seldom been more contested than now.

The FC Cincinnati-New York City FC Open Cup Round of 32 match scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday at TQL Stadium will be another small barometer of how clubs view the necessary, early stages of the competition.

The Open Cup, named for 20th-century American soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt, runs parallel to Major League Soccer's regular season as a single-elimination, knockout tournament for not just the top-rung, big-money MLS clubs, but also amateur, semi-professional and lower-league teams throughout the country.

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A national champion is crowned at the end of each iteration of the Open Cup. There's a pool of prize money, and the winner receives a berth into the continental club championship, which feeds into the FIFA Club World Cup − worthy prizes to chase.

Open Cup upsets drive narratives and popularity for the event, and the heavy-hitting, late-round matches produce must-see soccer.

But modern tastes have required that MLS expand its playoff format, as well as introduce the Leagues Cup, which will pit MLS clubs against teams from Liga MX, the top flight of soccer in Mexico. The World Cup-style Leagues Cup event will necessitate a month-long break in the MLS regular season, and the teams that go far in it will be taxed heavily.

And for the elite of the elite in MLS, there's the CONCACAF Champions League, which is increasingly seeing United States-based MLS sides make deep runs (see: defending MLS Cup champion LAFC, which recently progressed to the CONCACAF Champions League final and fielded a decidedly young lineup in its Tuesday Open Cup match, which it won in penalties).

For LAFC and others, this congestion of matches leaves clubs with tough decisions about which matches to prioritize, and how best to manage the workloads of its top players. In Europe, where there aren't salary cap constraints, major clubs can chase all the trophies they desire.

It's a little different in MLS, where the first 20 spots on the roster are constrained by a salary cap of $5,210,000 in 2023. Ten additional players comprise the supplemental roster, but those command smaller dollar amounts with a few exceptions, per league rules.

In short, it's not easy for MLS clubs to build the depth throughout those 30 roster spots to compete at full strength for every trophy on offer in 2023. Consequently, many MLS clubs lighten the workload for their star players in the early stages of the Open Cup, and that has a cascading impact.

Less star power makes the matches less enticing from the perspective of casual fans. Early-round matches at MLS venues are also sometimes played before reduced-capacity audiences, which will be the case for FC Cincinnati-NYCFC on Wednesday.

Wednesday's game will only be carried to viewing audiences via stream, too. It's the second-consecutive round of that for MLS clubs in the competition.

"You go on a Wednesday match and games aren't being televised. They're streams online. Stadiums are half empty. That takes away a bit of flare from the game," FC Cincinnati center back Matt Miazga said Thursday. "When I was in Spain, for example, and Holland, whenever you do play a lower-division club, you go away to them and that gives them revenue for ticket sales, atmosphere. You give back to the lower-league clubs, and it's not like that here.

"I still think it's important. At the end of the day, it's a trophy. It adds silverware to the club."

Miazga went on to explain that players simply want to play, and any opportunity to do so is valuable. He indicated he's less concerned with workload management, and when trophies are on the line, there's no time for emphasizing how tired you are.

FC Cincinnati midfielder Yuya Kubo agreed, saying "every game is important" and cup matches are ingrained on the soccer culture in his native Japan.

How FC Cincy, NYCFC will manage the Open Cup

FC Cincinnati, which sits atop MLS tied on points with New England Revolution, has the luxury of no MLS match to play on Saturday − a rare break in the schedule, and a week before its next league game.

The short down period in an otherwise busy period in the campaign should give Cincinnati (8-1-3 overall) the freedom to approach the NYCFC match however it wants to.

FC Cincinnati opened its Open Cup with a 1-0 win vs. Louisville City FC April 26, and FCC's starting lineup featured a 15-year-old prospect and a cast of mostly second-line players. Those players combined for an average age of about 23 compared to the prior weekend's regular-season match where the average age was about 26.

"Open Cup is very similar to the Carabao Cup or the FA Cup in England, and they are important trophies," Miazga said. "I think it's quite normal, as you see in England, top-tier clubs, they have deep squads to rotate (players), get guys minutes, get guys fit. You know, having 22, 23 players on a roster in the season is for cup competitions. It's a good opportunity for young guys to get opportunities."

On the other side of the matchup, NYCFC not only plays Saturday on short rest after traveling to Cincinnati but it will play archrival New York Red Bulls. That confluence of circumstances will likely force NYCFC to choose between truly emphasizing just one of the two games with full-strength lineups.

NYCFC (4-4-3, 15 points in MLS Eastern Conference) opens its Open Cup campaign this round based on its performance last season (third in the east, fifth in all of MLS).

The club has been dominant at the venues it calls home but is winless on the road (0-4-2) with just four goals scored.

The latest on Brenner

Brenner Souza da Silva came off the bench last weekend against D.C. United was was highly impactful, helping orchestrate Alvaro Barreal's goal for 2-0 and creating a situation where a penalty-kick could have been called for FCC.

But in the waning moments of the contest, Brenner was tackled hard and sustained an injury. After receiving a scan on the injury, Brenner was seen Monday in a walking boot in the Mercy Health Training Center. He's expected to be available for the May 17 home match against CF Montreal but will miss Wednesday's Open Cup match.

Saturday's appearance was his first for FCC since he secured a transfer move to Udinese of the Italian top flight. Brenner is scheduled to remain at FC Cincinnati through July 1 before joining his new employer.

New York City FC manager Nick Cushing, then an interim head coach during an Aug. 6, 2022, game at Columbus, will lead NYCFC into TQL Stadium for Wednesday's Open Cup match against FC Cincinnati while also accounting for an important rivalry game this coming weekend.

The game

Kickoff: 7 p.m., Saturday | TQL Stadium; Cincinnati

Stream/radio: CBS Sports Golazo Network.

All-time series: NYCFC leads the all-time series with an undefeated 6-0-2 record.

Cincinnati.com prediction: FC Cincinnati 3, NYCFC 1.

FC Cincinnati

Record: 8-1-3 overall (1-0-0 in Open Cup)

Goals for: 15 (1 in Open Cup)

Goals against: 12 (0)

Coach: Pat Noonan - second year at FC Cincinnati

Projected starting XI:

Alec Kann, goalkeeper

Isaiah Foster, left back

Santiago Arias, right back

Nick Hagglund, center back

Matt Miazga, center back

Joey Akpunonu, center back

Marco Angulo, midfielder

Luciano Acosta, midfielder

Malik Pinto, midfielder

Dominique Badji, midfielder

Brandon Vazquez, midfielder

New York City FC

Record: 4-4-3 overall (first Open Cup match of 2023)

Goals for: 14

Goals against: 14

Coach: Nick Cushing - second year at NYCFC

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Preview: FC Cincy continues US Open Cup run vs. NYCFC at TQL Stadium

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