{"id":132231,"date":"2026-03-07T14:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T14:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/132231\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T14:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T14:12:07","slug":"preview-fc-cincinnati-2-face-philadelphia-union-ii-in-first-road-match-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/132231\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | FC Cincinnati 2 face Philadelphia Union II in first road match of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orange and Blue prepare for their first road match of the season as they face Philadelphia Union II on Sunday, March 8 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pa. The two clubs face off in the first meeting of a three-match regular season series. The match will kick off at 3 p.m. ET and can be streamed live on OneFootball<\/a> platforms and on MLSNEXTPro.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FC CINCINNATI 2 at PHILADELPHIA UNION II \u2013 SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2026 \u2013 3 P.M. ET \u2013 SUBARU PARK<\/p>\n

Keep up with all things FC Cincinnati 2 @FCCincinnati 2 on X, Instagram and Facebook.<\/p>\n

FC CINCINNATI 2\/MATCHUP NOTES
Off and running \u2013 First team forward Stefan Chirila bagged his first goal of the MLS NEXT Pro season after converting from the spot against CT United FC this past Sunday. Chirila scored nine goals in 22 appearances for FCC 2 last season.<\/p>\n

Chirila has enjoyed a strong start to 2026. Chirila scored against Brooklyn FC during the Orange and Blue\u2019s preseason in Clearwater, Fla. and against O&M FC in the second leg of FC Cincinnati\u2019s Round One matchup in the Concacaf Champions Cup.<\/p>\n

Academy debuts and starts \u2013 The FC Cincinnati Academy was well represented in the Orange and Blue\u2019s MLS NEXT Pro season opener. Midfielder Noah Gassan made his MLS NEXT Pro debut against CT United, playing 45 minutes for the Orange and Blue, replacing Deiver Mosquera at the start of the second half.<\/p>\n

Will Kuisel and Jack Mize earned starts against CT United. Kuisel enters his third season with FCC 2 after making 21 appearances in 2025. Mize made his club and league debut, earning a start in his first season with FCC 2.<\/p>\n

Gavin DeHart, Amin Ibrahim and Santiago Sanchez \u2013 all FC Cincinnati Academy players \u2013 were available for selection from the bench.<\/p>\n

The matchup \u2013 Sunday\u2019s contest will be a rematch of the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference Quarterfinal match, where Union II advanced past FCC 2, 2-1. Philadelphia\u2019s playoff win is the difference in the all-time series as FCC 2 is 5-6-0 against Union II through the 11 prior meetings. Sunday kicks off a three-match regular season series between the sides with the final two matches both coming in September in a home and away split.<\/p>\n

Scouting Philadelphia Union II
Record: 1-0-0 (3 points)
Standings: 5th, Eastern Conference
Last Result: 1-0 win vs Toronto FC II
Head Coach: Ryan Richter
Leading Scorer: 1 \u2013 Malik Jakupovic<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Union II opened the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro season last Saturday with a 1-0 win against Toronto FC II. One of last season\u2019s Eastern Conference Final participants, Union II will look to make another deep playoff run in 2026 as one of the presumed conference favorites.<\/p>\n

Malik Jakupovic, Union II\u2019s co-leader in goals scored a season ago, is off the mark in 2026 after scoring Philadelphia\u2019s lone goal against Toronto. Jakupovic, who scored eight goals in 417 minutes in 2025, needed just eight minutes to find the back of the net against the Young Reds. Jakupovic figures to be Union II\u2019s preferred option up top this season.<\/p>\n

Union II signed three players during the offseason including Philadelphia Union Academy defender Jordan Griffin. Griffin played 90 minutes alongside first year defender Oliver Pratt on Union II\u2019s backline. The duo helped Union II earn their first clean sheet of the campaign, limiting Toronto to just three shots on goal.<\/p>\n

First team goalkeeper George Marks picked up the first start of the year in goal for Union II. Marks made just three appearances in 2025 and was one of five goalkeepers to feature for Union II last year. Marks made three saves in the opener and would be expected to be part of Union II\u2019s rotation at the position this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orange and Blue prepare for their first road match of the season as they face Philadelphia Union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5522,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-132231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-fc-cincinnati-2","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}