What's left for FC Cincinnati over the next two matches?
With USL regular-season trophy clinched, what's left for FC Cincinnati over the next two matches?
The champagne has been sopped up and showered off from Futbol Club Cincinnati's championship celebration, literally and figuratively.
FC Cincinnati's United Soccer League regular-season championship was clinched with three matches to play.
The club officially took possession of the trophy Saturday, and by that point, two games remained.
Their position in the standings is cemented and the playoffs don't begin until Oct. 20.
Cincinnati can improve its record (22-3-6) and its team-record unbeaten run of 21 matches, and they'll certainly pursue those ends if only for pride.
Those aims aren't the priority, though.
The primary function of the next two matches – at Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on Saturday and Nashville SC Oct. 13 – will be ensuring FC Cincinnati's in peak form for the USL Cup playoffs.
Doing so will take several forms. Most players still have plenty to prove even if the club itself has already proved everything it possibly can.
Other players simply need to maintain their fitness over the next couple weeks in preparation for the playoff run.
That's the biggest contribution players like Emmanuel Ledesma and Corben Bone can probably make.
More: Doc's Morning Line: Viva, futbol! FC Cincinnati is the most successful team in town.
Midfielder Russell Cicerone is a prime case study for a player that will look to make good use of the next two matches. Cicerone's obviously eager to play a role in the playoff run and indicated following Saturday's game there's a need to continue pressing onward to ensure his place on head coach Alan Koch's dress list.
For Koch's part, he's said in recent weeks as FC Cincinnati pulled away from the rest of the pack in the USL that he wants to reward players that haven't seen as much playing time.
So far, Koch has held true to that. Players like Tyler Gibson, Matt Bahner, Sem de Wit, and Tomi Ameobi have earned prominent stages on which to make closing arguments to be part of the playoff run, as well as the club's long-term future.
Goalkeeper Mark Village, too, dressed for Saturday's match against Indy XI. To date, Village hasn't appeared in league play.
Koch likely needs to find time to get his star players together for some amount of time. Reforming the ranks of the regular starters can't wait until first kick on Oct. 20.
Ultimately, Koch said he views the next two matches as exercises and opportunities. His final determination of success will be how individuals and the team as a collective embrace those opportunities.
"We're going to go play two teams that one, will definitely be in the playoffs, and the other is competing to be in the playoffs, so they're two teams that we'll compete against directly. And going and playing in difficult places, too," Koch said after Saturday's win. "We'll deal with more adversity going to Pittsburgh and going to Nashville, that is exercises because there are now exercises that we can use to really see which players in the group are going to continue to step up to those opportunities. I'm looking forward to those games as exercises, but I'm also looking forward to the exercise of training every single day.
"We want to squeeze everything we can out of this group. I don't think we've peaked yet. As good as we have been, I think we're still capable of more. But, we want to give ourselves the best chance possible to be successful in the playoffs. In a cup competition, anything can happen in 90 minutes, 120 minutes, penalty kicks. But, we want to control as much as we can control."