⚽️ FC Cincinnati Cellar Dweller No More

Good morning. The long international break is almost over! Game Day is tomorrow in Chester.

In the email today:

In two year’s time the FC Cincinnati fixture has transformed. It was a game against a cellar dweller you don’t dare drop points in. Now, it’s a game in lights.

Supporters’ Shield leaders FC Cincinnati come to town tomorrow night with their eyes on the club’s first major piece of hardware. Still, no amount of club transformation can change the facts: The Union are basically unbeatable in Chester.

• The Union have four total home losses in regular season matches since 2020

• The Union beat FCC the last time in Chester 1-0 in last year’s playoffs

• Cincinnati drew the Union in the regular season match in Chester 1-1

• Cincinnati’s only win in the fixture was a 3-1 home victory last August

Our take: For all the talk about the Union playing down to their opponent as they did in the road loss to Toronto, the Union can also play up as well. Saturday night should be a classic. Two friends going head to head. Lots of familiar faces. It might even generate some non-Messi headlines on the MLS website.

2) 🎮 Top 5 Union Players in EA Sports FC 24

EA Sports FC 24 (the video game formerly known as FIFA) is dropping on September 29. Here’s a look at the top 5 rated Union players in the game.

Ratings are created using “real performances from real matches, and the all new PlayStyles optimized by Opta represent the trademark ways that players approach the game.”

Our take: This is a strong five but the fact that Julian Carranza, Jakob Glesnes, Jack Elliott, Alejandro Bedoya and some others all have a case to be here shows just how well-rounded the Union team is.

3) 👽 Meme of the Day: Waiting for the Next Union Game

4) 💧 Water Cooler Messi MVP?

Have additional thoughts? Reply directly to this email to comment, and see if we include your response tomorrow.

…

Results from our last poll Who is the Jakob Glesnes of Baseball: It was a tie between Matt Stairs and Shohei Ohtani.

5) 🔗 Link Roundup:

• 🇦🇷 Julian Carranza is generating a lot of interest abroad (💰) and likely won’t be in a Union uniform next season. Still, he’s focused on the here and now.

• 🎮 The MLS website has an overview of EA Sports FC 24 rankings for the league’s stars.

• 🎙️Geoff Tebbetts and Brady Ferguson previewed Saturday’s match on the Jersey Swap podcast.

6) 🏟️ Gamewatches

The newsletter today was written by: Matt Ralph @MattRalph_

Thanks for reading