For the third time in ten days, FC Cincinnati will be in action at Nippert Stadium on Saturday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. when they play host to the Richmond Kickers in USL Regular Season play.
In addition to the club celebrating all the soccer dad's in attendance ahead of Sunday's Fathers Day, Saturday's match will also be the third annual Cincinnati Zoo Night. Fans in attendance will be able to meet and view a variety of wild animals on Sheakley Lawn, and the Zoo's Sam the Eagle making a pregame flight prior to kickoff.
Tickets are still available, but with the crowd expected to be the largest of the 2018, supporters will want to act quick to secure their place at the match. For those who can't make it, Saturday's match will be broadcast live on local television on Star64 (WSTR) and radio on ESPN 1530. The match stream will also return to the typical ESPN+ broadcast.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
This weekend's match will be the first of the season against Richmond and the fifth overall meeting between the two clubs. And while FCC remain unbeaten in the previous four meetings, the series is closer than it sounds. Last August's 2-0 win at Nippert was proceeded by three straight 1-1 draws dating back to 2016.
Coming into the match, however, each club find themselves in very different positions.
The Kickers find themselves 14th in the USL Eastern Conference with a record of 4-7-1 on 13 points. Eighteenth-year head coach Leigh Cowlishaw's men have won just twice in their last six matches in all competitions and have struggled heavily on the road, losing all four away fixtures they've played so far in 2018.
At the other end of the spectrum, FCC enter Saturday's contest still sitting at the summit of the East with a record of 8-3-3 on 27 points. Undefeated in their last three league outings, Alan Koch's side will be looking to improve upon their current 2-2-2 record at Nippert Stadium after a wild and scrappy 2-2 draw with Bethlehem Steel FC on Wednesday night.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Both sides are in the midsts of challenging stretches of their season, with this being each club's fifth match in the last two weeks. The question, however, is which coach's squad is better prepared to handle the glut of matches.
One fresh pair of legs that Koch will have at his disposal this Saturday are those of Emmanuel Ledesma. The mercurial Argentine, the league leader in assists and second on the team in goals, will be eligible for selection again after having to sit out Wednesday's match due to yellow card accumulation. Should he return to the starting XI, Ledesma is likely to pair once again with club-leading scorer Danni König. The Danish forward only made a 26-minute cameo off the bench in Wednesday's draw, and should be ready to go again on Saturday night.
The Kickers, meanwhile, will be looking to lean on the hot form of striker Heviel Cordovés (#16). The Cuban has netted in each of the last two of the club's matches, tying him for the team lead with fellow forward Brian Shriver (#21) on three goals. A former NASL golden boot winner, Shriver also leads Richmond with 5 assists in 2018 and has been deployed as either one of the wide men in a 4-2-3-1 or underneath Cordovés as a support striker.
