FC Cincinnati are in the midst of a coast-to-coast road trip that takes them from New York to Philadelphia to San Jose for three games in eight days.
They’re also carrying a three-game scoring drought and five-game winless skid that have left head coach Alan Koch calling for improved consistency on both a game-by-game and minute-by-minute basis.
FC Cincy’s itinerary prompted them to remain on the East Coast after Saturday’s 1-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls and travel directly to Chester, Pennsylvania, where they’re training on Monday and Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s clash with the Philadelphia Union at Talen Energy Stadium (7:30 pm ET — TV & streaming info).
The expansion side hope it helps them play more like they did in Saturday’s second 45 minutes – where they gave RBNY all they could handle as they hunted an equalizer – than their off-color start to the game.
“We know we need to put together a full 90-minute performance, particularly on the road,” said Koch on Monday. “So we'll take a lot out of the second 45 minutes, but we need to learn from the first 45 minutes, too.”
FCC lost 2-0 at home to Philly on March 30 and have scored just once in their four matches since then. Their coach hopes last month’s result will help his side be better prepared for the Union’s speedy front line and up-tempo pressing game.
“The nice thing about this [week’s] game is it’s the second time we’ve played Philly this season. Every time you play a team you learn a lot about yourself, you learn a lot about the team you’re playing against, too,” said Koch, who added that he’s more concerned with Philadelphia’s system and less their specific personnel.
“The challenge with Philly is, if you look at their lineup over the last few games, they've played so many different players,” he noted. “So it's almost impossible to predict exactly who's going to play. they have a set system of how they’ll play, so we’ll focus more on how their team will play than actual individuals within their group.”
