FC Cincinnati has studied how other expansion teams built their rosters going into their inaugural season in Major League Soccer. Some, like Atlanta United and LAFC were immediately successful. Most didn’t have the seemingly unlimited resources those clubs did. Cincinnati, which is funding a $200 million stadium on top of paying a $150 million expansion fee, counts itself in the latter group.



As such, head coach Alan Koch and technical director Luke Sassano have gone about the process the best way they know how with a somewhat limited budget: Focus on defense.



“We had a set strategy to build from the back, and that’s especially important when you’re not being able to spend top, top dollar on the attack,” Sassano said. “Also looking at the trends, the teams that missed the playoffs, the 11 teams had the 11 worst defenses in the league, so we knew a big piece of being quickly successful, or what we hope would be, is to have a strong...