Miami (AFP) – Just six years ago, Ohio faced the prospect of being without a Major League Soccer team but on Saturday the Buckeye state will have two clubs going head-to-head for a place in the MLS Cup final.
The MLS Eastern and Western conference finals will determine which two teams compete for the title in MLS Cup on December 9.
Defending champions Los Angeles FC face US Open Cup winners Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference final but the real buzz is around the clash in the East.
A sold-out crowd of 26,000 will pack into Cincinnati's TQL Stadium, including those making the 100-mile drive down Interstate 71 from Columbus. Crew fans need no reminder of how close their team, founding MLS members, was to disappearing then when former owner Anthony Precourt sought to relocate the franchise to Austin, Texas, in 2017.
It was a scenario that was painfully familiar to fans in Ohio, given one of the most infamous franchise relocations in American sports history had seen the NFL's Cleveland Browns vanish for three years after the owner moved them to Baltimore.
A law created after that controversial move helped save the Crew and current Browns owner Jimmy Haslam stepped in to buy the Crew.
The following year, MLS awarded an expansion franchise to Cincinnati, whose team drew big crowds in a second-tier league. By 2019, an MLS rivalry was born. The Crew's flirtation with extinction gave them a new lease of life. They won the 2020 MLS title and moved into a new stadium the following year.
Cincinnati, meanwhile, found life in the top league tough, finishing rock bottom in MLS for their first three seasons.
But the appointment of Pat Noonan as coach in 2022 was the turning point with the former Crew goalkeeper taking Cincinnati to the playoffs last season before dominating the Eastern Conference this year.
The derby, like most in MLS, has a nickname but don't be misled by the "Hell is Real" monicker -- it's not some over-enthusiastic attempt at marketing but rather a reference to a landmark Christian billboard placed on the highway between the two cities that has stood for almost 20 years.
Nickname aside, when it comes to Ohio, there is the authentic feel of a real local derby around the clash.
The rivalry pre-dates Cincinnati joining MLS as the second-tier club upset the Crew in the 2016 US Open Cup in their first ever meeting. "It's pretty unique," Noonan told reporters on Friday, when reflecting on two teams from the same state meeting in a conference final.
"I think it speaks to the direction that both clubs are going in. We're in a really good place with our group and I think they are too. "Its nice that in the biggest games of the year, you have two teams representing the same state who are both playing at a high level."
South American talent
The pair certainly have produced some of this season's most attractive MLS football with both teams sparked by South American talent.
Cincinnati have been inspired by the league's Most Valuable Player, Argentine midfielder Luciano Acosta, while much of the Crew's inventiveness comes from Uruguayan Diego Rossi, who has been cleverly utilized by French coach Wilfried Nancy.
Both sides have prolific and powerful center-forwards with American target man Brandon Vazquez leading the line for Cincy while Colombian Cucho Hernandez has grabbed 23 goals in 35 games in all competitions for Columbus this season.
Cincinnati will be without MLS Defensive Player of the Year Matt Miazga, who was handed a three-match suspension, and with another regular starting defender, Nick Hagglund, injured, there will be a makeshift look to their back line.
Whatever happens on Saturday, it won't be the last big game of the season in Ohio. The MLS Cup final will be hosted by the highest-seeded team and with both Eastern Conference sides ranked higher than West clubs, Saturday's winner to host the big game.