Family Passion Led Lindner To FC Cincinnati

   


 FC Cincinnati

Given the game in question, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that FC Cincinnati Owner and CEO Carl Lindner III still remembers the date of his first professional soccer game.

“It was very easy to remember, because it was July 31, 1996,” said Lindner, who is heading expansion Cincinnati for its inaugural USL season in 2016. “My family and I spent a couple of weeks at the Atlanta Olympics, and on July 31, 1996, we went to an Olympic semifinal men’s game between Nigeria and Brazil. Brazil had won the World Cup in 1994, and Nigeria ended up upsetting them in overtime and going on to win the gold that year.”

Led by an outstanding performance by future Arsenal legend Nwankwo Kanu, who scored a late equalizer and then the winner in extra time, and with such familiar names as Jay-Jay Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Daniel Amokachi and Sunday Oliseh, Nigeria took a dramatic 4-3 win against Brazil in one of the most memorable games in Olympic history.

Lindner and his family, already big fans of the game, also got the opportunity to immerse themselves as they stayed with family friends on the outskirts of Atlanta. With Brazil’s squad forming its camp nearby, the family had the chance to see some of the top young players in the world up close.

“That’s where the Brazilian soccer team stayed and practiced all week,” Lindner said. “We had the privilege of watching the Brazilian team practice and meeting a lot of them – even guys like Bebeto and Ronaldo, Flavio [Conceição]. It was the first and probably the most notable moment.”

Lindner and his family have long had a passion for the game. All four of his children competed growing up, and even now Lindner says that soccer appears more on the television at home than other sports. Even his son-in-law, David, grew up in the game, playing for Hungarian power Ferencvaros at the U19 level before attending Wheaton College.

“We went to lots of games,” Lindner said. “My son, Christopher, played at a high club level in Cincinnati and a pretty successful high school team at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, and I traveled around to Cocoa Beach, to Ann Arbor, to Washington, D.C., so we had a lot of members of my family that grew up playing.”

That passion for the game was what prompted Lindner to begin investigating the opportunity to bring professional soccer to Cincinnati. While it was a long process, Lindner has been pleased with the reaction shown by the local community so far to the club’s announcement last week.

“[I’ve been looking forward to] watching our community’s excitement build and coalesce around FC Cincinnati, and that’s been happening since the announcement,” Lindner said. “I think [President and GM] Jeff Berding and [Head Coach] John [Harkes] have been doing some pub crawls and getting out and talking to fans, and there’s a real buzz that’s been developing, and I think that’s a good bit of the fun.”

Lindner is also looking forward to seeing the side Berding, Harkes and assistant coach Ryan Martin will put together for the club’s inaugural season. The decision to bring the former U.S. Men’s National Team standout on board for his first professional head coaching position was a “no-brainer” according to Lindner, with Harkes’ experience and communication skills set to come to the fore in his new position.

“[I appreciate] his capabilities, his understanding of the game, his experience being on top of the game as an American player,” Lindner said. “He has great communications skills, and he’s going to be a great asset not only as a coach to the team, but to the community in helping coalesce Cincinnati around soccer and around FCC.”

In the long-term, Lindner is hopeful FC Cincinnati can have the type of legacy he helped establish in the city’s sporting community with the Cincinnati Reds, and the Western & Southern Open, a fixture on the tennis calendar in the build-up to the U.S. Open. The Lindner family was the controlling owner of the Reds when the Great American Ballpark was built, while the family also helped establish the annual tennis tournament, which is hosted at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

Leaving that type of legacy with FC Cincinnati is now the latest goal for Lindner, his family and his staff. And maybe, one day, the crowd at Nippert Stadium for FC Cincinnati might resemble the exhilarating atmosphere at the first game Lindner attended almost 20 years ago.

“I don’t know about the [vuvuzelas], but it sure would be fun to have an excited, engaged following behind FC Cincinnati, and to have some good regional rivalries,” he said with a laugh. “To have the ability to leave a strong soccer legacy here in the community would be great.”


Louisville’s Fondy Named Player of the Week

TAMPA, Fla. – Louisville City FC forward Matt Fondy has been voted the USL Player of the Week for the 22nd week of the 2015 season after he recorded four goals in his side’s 5-1 win against the Harrisburg City Islanders last Wednesday. The four-goal game was a season high in the USL.

For the first time this season, Fondy was a unanimous selection in the poll conducted by a national panel of independent media representing every USL market. Fondy is the first player to claim Player of the Week honors for a third time this season.

GK – Andrew Wolverton, LA Galaxy II: Recorded eight saves, including five in the first half, to keep Los Dos in the game as they rallied for a 3-2 win in Austin

D – Michael Thomas, OKC Energy FC: Was dangerous coming forward, while solid defensively, and provided the assist on the lone goal as Energy FC defeated Real Monarchs SLC

D – Alberto Navarro, Orange County Blues FC: Marshalled the Blues defense well on the road as Orange County took a 3-0 win in Arizona

D – Enrique Montano, Louisville City FC: Tied a USL season-high with three assists as he played a key role in City’s 5-1 victory against Harrisburg

M – Massimo Mirabelli, Toronto FC II: Scored a stoppage-time winner as TFC II earned a comeback victory against Richmond

M – Kenardo Forbes, Rochester Rhinos: Was excellent throughout creatively, and scored the opening goal for the Rhinos in a 2-1 win against Wilmington

M – Luke Vercollone, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC: Had a pair of goals as the Switchbacks played to a 3-3 draw with Sacramento

M – Brent Richards, Portland Timbers 2: Came off the bench to record two assists as T2 kept its playoff hopes alive with a 3-1 win against WFC2

F – Cristian Mata, Tulsa Roughnecks FC: Continued his strong recent form with three goals in two games as the Roughnecks took four points from the week

F – Matt Fondy, Louisville City FC: Had a USL season-high four-goal game as Louisville romped past Harrisburg 5-1 last Wednesday night

F – Jack McBean, LA Galaxy II: Led a strong comeback victory with a pair of goals, including the stoppage-time winner, as Los Dos defeated Austin 3-2

Bench: Pepe Miranda (OC), Grant Van De Casteele (ROC), Aodhan Quinn (LOU), Chad Bond (TUL), Heviel Cordoves (CHS), Kharlton Belmar (POR), Ryan Finley (CLT)


Race Out West Continues As S2 Hosts Switchbacks

The race for the playoffs in the USL’s Western Conference has seen a number of high-profile contests in recent weeks, and another arrives on Wednesday as Seattle Sounders FC 2 hosts Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC at Starfire Stadium.

The two teams enter the contest separated by three points in the league standings and are part of a seven-team logjam separated by six points at the top. Remarkably, six of the seven teams in the group have held first place already this season, with only the surging Tulsa Roughnecks FC yet to hold that distinction.

For Colorado Springs, Wednesday offers a chance to regain first place from OKC Energy FC, after a late-game letdown in the Switchbacks’ last outing saw them left with a 3-3 draw against Sacramento Republic FC on Friday night. The Switchbacks seemed set for a ninth win of the season at Sand Creek Stadium, but goals by Mickey Daly and Ivan Mirkovic earned the defending USL champions a point on the road.

“The quality of play from both teams was fantastic,” Switchbacks Coach Steve Trittschuh said of the contest. “If I was a fan watching the game, I would love the game, because it was back-and-forth, up-and-down, good possession, good chances to score, but just to have the 3-3 tie, just getting the point at home was a little frustrating.”

When S2 and the Switchbacks first met last month, the game also ended level as Sergio Mota’s second-half goal for Seattle cancelled out Aaron King’s early finish for the Switchbacks. Seattle could have grabbed all three points, too, with Colorado Springs goalkeeper Samir Badr forced into four second-half saves as the visitors pressed forward, and more of the same should be on tap in Wednesday’s game.

Seattle is coming off just its second home loss of the season, a 3-0 setback to Vancouver on Aug. 8, but for the most-part Starfire Stadium has been as strong a fortress as the USL has had this season. S2 is tied for the league lead with nine home wins and will be eager to be the first to reach double digits.

“This is a very important game for us,” said S2 Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson. “We have had some rest since our last game and we were able to get a result when we visited them, so hopefully we can do the same on Wednesday.”

With a key three points on the line for both sides, Wednesday’s matinee will be closely watched not just by fans at Starfire and in Colorado, but also by fans across the league as the stretch run continues to heat up.