In his final media availability before his first FC Cincinnati match, Head Coach Ron Jans discussed his first week at the club, traveling in America and the #HellisReal Derby on Saturday night.
On his first week…
“It’s like a roller coaster,” Jans said. “It’s all excitement and I really, really love to work with this staff and this group. They gave me so much energy, so I love it.”
Jans was announced as the new head coach Sunday night and held his first training session Tuesday morning. It was also the first time he’s coached since 2017 – back when he and General Manager Gerard Nijkamp were at PEC Zwolle.
“The guys have been responding (to the coaching),” Jans said. “We have to see if it works out tomorrow, but we want to do so many things and I’m not going to change everything. We changed some things and I think they’ve done very well and I hope to see the result in the game tomorrow.”
On traveling for MLS road matches…
Jans’ first MLS road trip in his shortest – 100 miles – but it’s also a longer trip when compared to his coaching day in the Dutch Eredivisie. For context, going from Zwolle to Ajax Amsterdam would be 70 miles.
While FC Cincinnati are taking a bus to Columbus, the Orange and Blue have flown to every other league match. (They also drove home after the 2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup loss to Saint Louis FC.)
“It’s about average,” Jans said of the distance. “It’s one and a half hours, but I always played for a club in the north of Holland and in the very south of Holland. So, for me, sometimes it was three hours.
“But this is kind of like a home game and I think a lot of fans will go (to Columbus). It’s not a home game in Holland, it’s a real away match.”
On squad availability…
“It’s not a secret, but Gyau, Etienne and Gutman are all coming to Columbus.”
All three players signed with FC Cincinnati during the summer transfer window and have yet to feature in the club’s 18.
Joseph-Claude Gyau and Derrick Etienne Jr. signed with the team Wednesday on transfer deadline day. Gyau practice the past two days, but Etienne has only practiced with his new team once on Friday morning.
Andrew Gutman arrived on loan from Celtic FC last week, but wasn’t in the 18 against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
On the #HellisReal Derby…
“I learned about Hell is Real,” Jans said. “When there’s hell, there must be a heaven, and for us, we go over there to make it heaven and get a victory.”
