Terry Bohmker
NKy Tribune Sports Reporter
Professional football has a presence in Northern Kentucky.
A development squad made up of Major League Soccer players under contract to FC Cincinnati will compete in the MLS Next Pro League and play their home matches at Northern Kentucky University's soccer stadium.
FC Cincinnati 2 enters Sunday's home game against New York City Football Club 2 with a record of 10 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw, but all 1,000 free tickets have already been claimed. The young team of aspiring pros has become popular with local soccer fans for good reason.
“One of our goals is to expand FC Cincinnati and grow in our community here in Northern Kentucky,” said Dan McNally, the MLS club's vice president of soccer operations.
“This was an opportunity to bring our second team here (to NKU) and show off what we are. As you can see, there's a crowd and there's interest. It's a great sight.”
McNally said FC Cincinnati 2 is “developing a new agreement” with NKU to continue playing home games at the campus stadium. A record-high crowd of 645 attended FC Cincinnati 2's 1-0 win over New England Revolution 2 last Sunday.
As the players, ages 19 to 24, came off the field, fans gathered to get autographs and take photos. The compact NKU Stadium venue makes it easy for fans to watch the players, further boosting the local popularity of the hugely successful FC Cincinnati sports franchise.
“This is a really positive partnership between FC Cincinnati and NKU,” said McNally, who was raised in the UK. “We see this as a win-win for both sides, and we're actively looking to expand this partnership.”
The Next Pro League is in its third season this year. Each MLS franchise has a reserve team within the league, in addition to two independent clubs. Each team has 35 players on its roster, seven of which are international players.
The teams are split into two conferences, with final points standings determining pairings for the Next Pro Championship Cup Playoffs in October. FC-Cincinnati 2 is currently in second place in the 15-team Eastern Conference group.
The primary goal of each Next Pro team is to prepare players to progress to the next level. Last week, FC Cincinnati 2 defender Isaiah Foster was called up to the franchise's MLS squad and made a late substitution appearance in Saturday's 1-0 win over Dallas FC.
No one is more excited to see their players move up to the MLS level than FC Cincinnati 2 coach Tyrone Marshall, who was recently named “Coach of the Year” in the Next Pro League's mid-season awards.
“We've always said it's a process, and that process is starting to emerge a little bit now,” Marshall said.
“Isaiah made his (MLS) debut (Saturday), so they're here playing a game and getting a chance to get promoted. I think our whole group and the club as a whole has done a great job with the (player) placement.”
Tickets for Sunday's FC Cincinnati 2 home games can be ordered online for free and parking is free at NKU Stadium, making it the perfect opportunity for soccer fans, especially parents and children, to watch talented young players make their way to the MLS level.
In addition to acquiring players through the annual MLS SuperDraft, FC Cincinnati also has a youth academy team that acts as a development system, and the reserve team's top scorer this season was academy product Stefan Chirilla.
“We put a lot of effort into developing our own players and the reason we have guys that play on this team (FC Cincinnati 2) that go on to play for the first team and do really well is because they know how we do things,” McNally said.
FC Cincinnati 2 will play four of its next five games on the road, including a showdown against Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union 2 on Aug. 2. The full schedule is available on the team's website.
