Before Atlanta United, expansion teams in Major League Soccer were given something of a free pass. Between 1997, when the Chicago Fire became the division’s first expansion franchise, and 2016, when The Five Stripes entered the fray, only one expansion side (Seattle Sounders) made the play-offs in their first season. It was outlandish to expect anything more than that from a team typically assembled from scratch in the space of weeks. All that changed with Atlanta, though.

While some teams are still waiting to break their MLS Cup duck (looking at you, New York Red Bulls), Atlanta United managed to win the title in just two seasons. Not only that, they did so having triggered a soccer awakening in the city, drawing record-breaking crowds. Now, all MLS expansion teamswill, fairly or unfairly, be measured by what Tata Martino, Miguel Almiron, Josef Martinez et al achieved.

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FC Cincinnati, however, are so far measuring up rather well. They have lost just two of their opening five MLS fixtures, putting them in the playoff places in the Eastern Conference.

They don’t have an Almiron or a Martinez, but coach Alan Koch and the FC Cincinnati front office have put together an exciting, dynamic group of players. Former Vancouver forward Kekuta Manneh has hit the ground running, US international Kenny Saief, signed on loan from Anderlecht in the off-season, is in the form of his life, while in Nick Hagglund and Greg Garza the Orange and Blue have a defensive foundation steeped in recent