The first week of FC Cincinnati’s preseason, the club’s first under head coach Ron Jans, wrapped up Saturday with an intra-squad scrimmage that Team White won, 2-1, over Team Blue.
Center backs Nick Hagglund and Tom Pettersson scored off set pieces for Team White, according to a wrap-up video the club tweeted. Hagglund is entering his second year with the club after joining for their expansion season in 2019, while Pettersson joined on a free transfer this offseason after playing for Swedish side Ostersunds FK.
The scrimmage featured four sessions that were all 12 minutes in length, according to club reporter Charlie Hatch, and gave Jans the chance to evaluate how they’re evolving tactically.
“It was the closure of the first week,” Jans said. “Practicing every tactical way of playing, in possession, out of possession that we practiced during the week. Very useful. I think this is also for the physical development of the players, for the tactical, but it gives us also a lot of information about the individuals. So very useful, very good week.”
Out in Arizona, FC Cincy will play USL Championship side Phoenix Rising FC this coming Wednesday (Jan. 29). This leg of their preseason also features matches against Sporting Kansas City and USL side El Paso Locomotive FC, before heading to Florida in mid-February.
FC Cincinnati are entering their first full season under Jans, who was hired last August amid a growing Dutch presence at the club. They’re looking to rebound from a last-place finish in the Eastern Conference standings, and have already made a splash this offseason with the acquisition of Japanese forwardYuya Kubo, a Designated Player. They’ve also signed deep-lying midfielder Haris Medunjanin, a lynchpin of recent Philadelphia Union sides.
