5/9/24: Mo Egger with Jake Zivin Of Apple TV, On FC Cincinnati v. Columbus

Apple TV's Jake Zivin has the call of Saturday night's FC Cincinnati vs. Columbus tilt. He joined us on ESPN1530.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Saturday Night's going to be a lotof fun up in Columbus, the renewal
of a great rivalry. The hellis reel derby the latest edition rematch of
last year's MLS Cup Eastern Conference Finalseven five. Jake Zivin is on the
call with Taylor Twelman on Saturday nightfor Apple TV. It is available for

(00:22):
free, and typically when Jake ison the call for an FC Cincinnati match,
he's kind enough to give us afew minutes of his time. This
one on Saturday is going to bea blast. You had the Eastern Conference
Final game last year. What thingscome to mind when you think of that
dark, cold, and frustrating nightfor FC Cincinnati fans back in December.

(00:44):
Yeah, well, Mo, itwas certainly that way for FC Cincinnati fans.
Looked for us as neutral commentators,those are the games we love to
call. It lived up to thehype, It lived up to everything that
you want out of a rivalry atthat stage in an Eastern Conference final.
Obviously did not go way that Cincinnatiwanted it too, but that was just
from a neutral perspective, a thrillinggame to call and an exciting night to

(01:07):
look back on. And one thatI think everybody in Cincinnati hopes f C
Cincinnati can go get a little bitof revenge for on Saturday in Central Ohio.
Yeah, and look, we'll getinto the nuts and bolts of Saturday.
But when when Columbus kept its teamand FC Cincinnati got promoted to Major
League Soccer, we talked about thisbeing just a natural rivalry because of the
geography. So that's great, butyou need great matches, and you need

(01:32):
great high stakes matches, and sonow I think it's like a full blown
varsity rivalry. I think, soI agree, right, And you look
at the great Darby's rivalries, classicodes, whatever you want to call them in
Major League Soccer or around the world, and they and they flow. And
when teams meet for the most themost important games that they can and when

(01:56):
both teams are really good, that'swhen the rivalries are at their best.
LA LAFC L traffic go perfect examplefrom the first game when Lockdown came in
and did what he did, thatjust elevated everything. We're seeing Sporting Kansas
City and Saint Louis doing the samething meeting in the playoffs in their first
year. And because I think andyou guys would know much better being in

(02:19):
Cincinnati and in Ohio because Cincinnati cameinto the league and struggled so much for
three years and thus the rivalry waspretty lopsided. Now aside from the first
ever time they played in the USOpen Company was won by Cincinnati, I
imagine it feels now that Cincinnati's onthat level and winning the Supporter Shield,
it feels a little better the rivalrydoes than it did stay four years ago.

(02:39):
And that's great, right and youwant that, you want the high
stakes, and that's just continuing thisyear with the defending Supporters Shield Champs again
the defending MLS Cup champs. Cincinnati'sin second place. Columbus and MLS play
not the record that they want,but they don't care about that because they're
in the CONKYP champions Cup Finals.So man it it really is at a

(03:00):
high, high level right now.Yeah, it is. You and I
talked often last year or whenever youwould have an f C Cincinnati game,
and I mean there were times lastseason they were like a machine. It
feels and has played out differently thisyear, but to me, the mark
of a great club is they're stillgetting points. They have three straight victories,
and yet they haven't even come closeto looking like the team that we

(03:21):
saw last year. No two teamsare like, no two seasons are the
same. But I mean, tome, that's that's something to be really
encouraged by. I don't think thisteam has come anywhere close to playing its
best, and yet there they arein second place. I agree completely.
And what's crazy is like you're sayingthat, right, Like they're not playing
at their past and it doesn't looklike last year. At this point.
Last year they only had two morepoints than they do at this point this

(03:45):
year, after eleven games, theyhad what I think seven wins, you
know, and now they have sixwins this year, same number of draws.
Like, yeah, it might notlook the same, but they're still
getting results, and I agree withyou that is the sign of a good
team, of a strong culture.I think all six of their wins are
by one goal, right, Like, Okay, yeah, you maybe want
to blow out some teams, youwant to score more than they have.

(04:09):
I think particularly only thirteen goals isprobably not as many as Pat Newnan would
want. But they're winning and that'swhat matters ultimately, especially when you're not
playing your best in this league.If you can continue to rack up wins
while not playing your best, youstay in the Sporter Shield race and you
hope and you kind of bank onthe fact that you'll get there. Right
As a club, you said it, a lot of new signings, new

(04:30):
faces, a little bit of turnoverthis year. I think we haven't seen
the best yet of FC Cincinnati,and the fact that we're saying that and
they're still in second place in theEast is a really good thing for them.
Let's talk about Columbus in MLS playten matches, six draws, but
they've made the run to the CONKACAVChampions Cup Final. Relative to the team

(04:50):
that broke our hearts last year,break down this Columbus club. For me,
it's very similar. So you lookat the starting elevens from the Eastern
Conference. Fine last year. Fiveof the players that started for Exley Cincinnati
are no longer on the team.Another, Aaron who pens is out for
two months. So this Cincinnati team, whatever the eleven is that Pat Newton
puts out, is gonna look different. For Columbus, the entire starting eleven

(05:14):
still on the team. They havekind of run it back a couple changes
a little bit. You know,Jason Russell Rowe has been playing more and
there's been some some guys that aremaybe getting a little more playing time,
but it's basically the same group.And man, they play with such confidence.
They are unfazed and you saw thatin the Eastern Conference Final. They're

(05:38):
very, very similar to the teamthat one MLS Cup. It's like they've
continued to kind of step up anotherlevel. Even what they did in the
CONKYAP Champions Cup going to Monterrey backto back, to beat Ti Grace and
then to beat Monterrey one of themost impressive accomplishments in the history of this
league. That's not hyperbole. They'regonna be a difficult for Cincinnati on Saturday.

(06:01):
This is gonna be a lot offun on Saturday night, Apple TV.
Jake zivin Taylor twelve and the callseven forty five is when it starts.
I hope we could do this againthis season. Man, enjoy Saturday
should be a lot of fun.I appreciate it as always, of course,
anytime. Oh happy to join