It certainly has been a minute since the Montreal Impact played a soccer game against a team based in Cincinnati. One would have to look all the way back to 2002, when the Impact was playing its games in the A-League. The Cincinnati Riverhawks came to Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard on July 3 and beat the Impact 4-1, with Mauro Biello scoring the lone goal for the Bleu-blanc-noir.
Next time the Impact faces a Cincinnati team, it’s going to be in MLS, as the league announced on Tuesday that USL club FC Cincinnati will be the 26th team in Garber’s league, and will begin play as soon as 2019.
FC Cincinnati was founded in 2015 and started playing in USL as soon as the 2016 season. The club impressed, setting USL records for attendance, most notably hosting 25,667 fans in its 2018 home opener against Louisville City, and 35,061 fans for a friendly against English club Crystal Palace in 2016, a record attendance for a soccer game in the state of Ohio.
“That’s one of the better atmospheres I’ve played in, in both USL and MLS,” said midfielder Raheem Edwards, who played in Cincinnati as part of Toronto FC II. “The fans are fantastic and it’s a great little city. It’s going to be an exciting time for Cincinnati.”
Goalkeeper Evan Bush is originally from Ohio. Although his hometown is a few hours away from Cincy, Bush is happy to see the growth of the sport in a state he holds dear to his heart.
“They’ve done really well in USL with the size of their crowd and the excitement around the team,” said Bush. “Considering how influential of a state it is in the grand scheme of things in the US, it’s great to see.”
Cincinnati is the latest expansion team in a series of teams having joined the league in recent years. In 2017, Atlanta United FC and Minnesota United FC began play in MLS. In 2018, it was Los Angeles FC’s turn. Miami and Nashville were also announced recently, with plans to enter the league in 2020.
“The MLS has done a really good job of placing teams in the right markets in the past six or seven years, including this team,” added Bush. “They put them in markets where there’s natural rivalries and excitement and enthusiasm within the city about the team. Cincinnati certainly seems to be that way too.”
