Patrick Brennan

pbrennan@enquirer.com

Most moves made by Futbol Club Cincinnati are done with Major League Soccer in mind. The big-picture goal always remains in sight.

For now, though, the club is still in the United Soccer League and therefore is knee-deep in prep work for the 2017 season. That means focusing on filling out the club's roster, improving its infrastructure and bracing for a possible shakeup in U.S. soccer's lower leagues.

FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding discussed Tuesday with The Enquirer the task of replacing star forward Sean Okoli, now of MLS side New York City FC, updates on the club's possible training facility and his stance on additional USL expansion.

"We're trying to put together a roster that can score 62 goals"

It's no secret that while FC Cincinnati head coach John Harkes successfully implemented an attacking style in 2016, but the goals didn't always follow.

For all the attack-minded play, Cincinnati scored 41 goals in 2016. Nine teams scored more last season, and FC Cincinnati scored more than two goals once, on May 4 at Orlando City B.

Berding has targeted 62 goals – one goal better than USL champion New York Red Bulls II scored in 2016 – as the aim for next season in terms of offensive production.

"Sixty-two is the number we target and we have a structure in place for how we're trying to do it," Berding said. "I'd like to find someone who could score 16 goals but then I'd also like to add at other points because even if we replace (Okoli's) 16, we still have to score about 20 more goals... Our goal this year is to add a lot more depth and a lot more firepower. We just didn't score enough goals."

Achieving the lofty mark of 62 goals is complicated by the departure of Okoli, whose league-leading 16 goals accounted for 39 percent of FC Cincinnati's offense in 2016.

In order to compensate, Berding said he hopes to add a new "No. 9" to attempt to replace Okoli's productivity. Other offensive pieces throughout the team could help bridge the gap to 62 goals.

FC Cincy announces roster moves for 2017

Update on FC Cincy training facility, youth academy

FC Cincinnati is still negotiating exclusively on a particular site for a standalone training facility, Berding said, adding he hopes the club can move its practices from the University of Cincinnati campus to the new facility by the end of summer 2017.

"My hope is that a deal could come together by year's end to allow for, potentially, a groundbreaking sometime in early 2017," Berding said. "I think what that will entail is our first team continuing to practice at Nippert Stadium, certainly through the spring."

Berding said he was unable to disclose further details, including the location of the site for the training ground.

While much emphasis has been placed on FC Cincinnati's stadium solutions, a standalone training facility is an important piece of the MLS expansion puzzle, too. A standalone facility would be a major enhancement to the club's infrastructure, and therefore its MLS bid.

Another must-have for any would-be MLS team is a youth academy. These allow clubs to identify and develop talent in-house.

Berding has intimate ties to the local youth soccer community (he was formerly president of the Kings Hammer Soccer Club). With the aim of respecting existing youth clubs in the area, Berding said the club is still weighing options for how to structure any possible FC Cincinnati academy. He's drawing on current examples from around MLS as well as information he picked up during his recent trip to Europe.

New MLS expansion projects a threat to FC Cincinnati?

Seismic shifts across the U.S. soccer ecosystem resulted last week in new players on the MLS expansion landscape, including Tampa Bay Rowdies and North Carolina FC.

More contenders means more competition, but FC Cincinnati isn't fazed by the arrival of the new teams. Asked if the announcement of new markets in the expansion race is problematic for FC Cincinnati, Berding gave a firm "no."

"There's a number of great soccer cities in this country," Berding said. "I know that the MLS, as they consider expansion bids, have plenty of good candidates and they'll have to size up those candidates. It's not for me to evaluate one versus the other or versus Cincinnati.

"I can just speak to what happened in 2016 here in Cincinnati where we out-drew five MLS teams and had the city and business community and the civic leadership strongly engaged. We built a very popular brand in this market... We're very bullish on the opportunity that we present to support the continued growth of the soccer landscape here in North America."

MLS has long stated its intent to expand from 20 teams to 28. With former international soccer star David Beckham's project to bring an MLS team to Miami apparently wavering, it appears spots 24-28 could be wide open (teams 21, 22 and 23 are all scheduled to go operational at the MLS level in either 2017 or 2018).

What will USL look like by spring?

Rumors abound regarding the future of NASL, the possibility of USL absorbing additional NASL franchises and what FC Cincinnati's current league will look like when play resumes in the spring.

Berding suggested the first domino that needs to fall is USL leadership and the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) reaching a final decision on USL's application for second-division status in the USSF.

USL is currently considered the third-division league in America.

"We believe that once that gets figured out, the alignment and the structure of the cities within (USL) will be determined," Berding said. "I think we've all been patient up to this point and we'll continue to be patient over the next week or so, and ultimately it'll get decided. Then, the USL will finalize the process of the schedule. That's the biggest thing the teams want. We want to be able to tell all our fans, 'this is when the games are.' "

Eventually, the USL Board of Governors will vote to approve the competition structure for 2017, which includes conference alignment, realignment and schedule structure. Berding will cast FC Cincinnati's ballot in that vote.

The possible addition of new teams to USL would obviously have to be part of scheduling and other considerations.

Berding said that he's confident USL's leadership will ensure the viability of any NASL franchises that join USL.