CHICAGO — If you thought Futbol Club Cincinnati's schedule was congested back in July when it was playing three matches a week for consecutive weeks, have a look at a date book for anyone involved with the club for Wednesday, Aug. 2.

With Major League Soccer and United Soccer League meetings underway in Chicago and FC Cincinnati continuing its Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup run against Miami FC (NASL), Wednesday has evolved into one of the busier days in FC Cincinnati's history.

Depending on the progress the club made in the two cities over the course of the day, it could also turn out to be one of the most important and successful days in club history.

In Chicago, FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding is back at USL meetings and the MLS All-Star Game festivities for the third year running.

This time, Berding's meetings and informal minglings with U.S. soccer's and MLS's power brokers are occurring mere months before MLS is expected to announce two of its first four expansion entrants to the league.

The decision by MLS, expected by year's end, will result in the awarding of two MLS franchises out of the 12 organizations vying for an expansion slot.

Berding arrived in Chicago Tuesday evening, and his stay in the Windy City could turn out to be his last best chance to pitch FC Cincinnati to anyone else that still needs convincing of the club's MLS bona fides.

Berding wasn't immediately available for comment Wednesday morning.

About 1,400 miles south of Chicago, on-field matters are progressing for FC Cincinnati as they'll play Miami FC or a berth in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Cup. The game marks the resumption of a postponed match originally scheduled to be played July 12.

More:U.S. Open Cup play resumes for FC Cincinnati

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U.S. Open Cup:Miracle on grass: FC Cincinnati upsets Columbus Crew SC, 1-0

U.S. Open Cup:FC Cincy downs 'Lou City,' earns Columbus Crew SC date

Why's Wednesday's game of such great consequence?

Because the winner will host New York Red Bulls of MLS next Wednesday.

Should FC Cincinnati win, they'll have a short turnaround to move tickets and pack Nippert Stadium as they did for previous Open Cup games against Columbus Crew SC and Chicago Fire.

But should FC Cincinnati pull it off in Miami Wednesday, they'll have yet another extraordinary opportunity to win over the MLS community with what is almost certain to be another nationally televised match (the penalty kick shootout win over Chicago was broadcast on ESPN and the TV ratings were comparable to regular season MLS league matches).

FC CINCINNATI GROWS IN STATURE

During last summer's All-Star game festivities in San Jose, there was a general awareness of FC Cincinnati. The club was thought of as a nice story, and most of the existing perceptions at the time were rooted in head-turning attendance figures and the fact that Cincinnati had somewhat unexpectedly emerged as a booming soccer market.

In the year since, the perception of FC Cincinnati has changed drastically. They're no longer a nice story – they may be the story in American soccer this summer, both for the attendance records they continue to shatter and the on-field results in league and cup play.

FC Cincinnati is also now considered a legitimate threat to nail down one of the MLS expansion slots.

"Cincinnati has demonstrated everything that is right, that you would want," FOX Sports soccer analyst and former U.S. national team star Eric Wynalda told The Enquirer Tuesday. "The way that two other markets have been awarded in Minnesota and Atlanta, there wasn't a whole lot of belief that they would have this much support... Cincinnati just threw themselves out there and there's no guess work anymore. It's there. Everything that needs to be there seems to be there, from the outside looking in.

"We looked at (FC Cincinnati) in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and said, 'whoa, what the hell is that?'... I'm not part of the inner workings. All I know is that it's different because the appearance of what Cincinnati has already accomplished is pretty cool."

Wynalda also disagreed with the notion of TV-market size as a knock against FC Cincinnati's bid.

Though Cincinnati is rated by Nielson as the 36th-ranked TV market in America, and would be the smallest MLS TV market, Wynalda said "so what?" to that.

"How long did they say that about the Green Bay Packers for how long? Win something and that changes. I mean, there is something to that. When Kansas City gets to the World Series, people complain, but so what?," Wynalda said. "That town is going to enjoy this and that, to me, is more important than anything else."

Alexi Lalas, a Fox Sports soccer analyst, also heaped praise on the club during a Tuesday interview.

"For a lot of us on the outside, they came on the scene and everybody kind of perked up," Lalas said. "Whether it was the actual play, whether it was the crowds, whether it was the fact they had this aspiration to be an MLS city, they demanded that you take notice and that's important because this is a battle for hearts and minds. This is a battle for relevancy. This is a battle to make sure that people don't look at you as an afterthought, and I don't think that people do.

"There is no perfect bid. Everybody has problems and everybody is going to have challenges going forward, but it's going to be a race and it's going to fun to see the different teams and different bids rise and fall with votes or with public perception or with the economy or whatever it ends up being, or things that happen to ownership. All those different things. This is fun. When you're on the outside, it's fun. Probably, when you're on the inside it can get kind of harrowing, but it should be exciting and I think Cincy has a good a chance as anybody else."

WEDNESDAY'S SCHEDULE

• 7 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. ET – MLS Commissioner Don Garber is scheduled to hold a formal press conference at Soldier Field.

• 7:30 p.m. ET – Scheduled start of the FC Cincinnati-Miami FC Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match.

• 8:30 p.m. ET – MLS All-Stars versus Real Madrid at Soldier Field in Chicago.