A prediction for the Union-FC Cincinnati game

Cincinnati has had a hot start this year, and is likely to beat a Union team that will be either heavily rotated or heavily tired. But the real prizes are still to come.

The Union and FC Cincinnati have built up a simmering rivalry over the last few years.Read moreSTEVEN M. FALK / Staff Photographer

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published April 8, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

The Union-FC Cincinnati series is far from the flashiest rivalry in MLS, but the amount of spice in it is growing fast.

It’s not a coincidence that Cincinnati has so many former Union staffers and players in its ranks. When Chris Albright left the Union’s front office to become Cincinnati’s general manager, he took the best of his work here to a team with a ton of cash and an impressive downtown stadium.

Pat Noonan is the manager, and Sergio Santos, Ray Gaddis and Alvas Powell are on the roster, and Haris Medunjanin used to be. They made the playoffs last year, came to Subaru Park, lost narrowly, then watched the C-suite lobby to guarantee home playoff games for the top eight teams in each conference — no matter their record.

This year’s squad, though, would earn a playoff game in any circumstance. At 4-0-2, Cincinnati is the last undefeated team in the Eastern Conference, and only expansion team St. Louis City has more wins. Santos, U.S. national team prospect Brandon Vazquez, Brenner and Luciano Acosta lead a serious attack; Nick Hagglund and newly-signed Colombian national team veteran Santiago Arias fortify the defense.

They will be fired up to get a win Saturday night (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, paywalled), and they will likely achieve it. There might even be chatter about it being a milestone. But afterward, Albright, Noonan and the players will know they beat a Union team that will either be heavily rotated or heavily tired in the middle of a Concacaf Champions League series.

The real prizes are yet to come. Home field advantage in the playoffs could be one of them, as early as it feels right now. But the Union will know that if they have to go back to Cincinnati in the fall, Champions League campaigns are always worth it.

Prediction: Cincinnati 2, Union 1.