The Opposition Report: Forward Madison FC
They Spent All Spring on the Road. At Home, They’ve Been Ruthless.
The Opposition Report — MD12 vs Forward Madison FC
Fort Wayne FC heads to Madison to face a rebuilt Forward Madison side that has been ruthless on its own field, with our league-long unbeaten run on the line, on the first nationally televised night in our club’s history.
Wednesday, June 17 | 9:00 PM ET | Breese Stevens Field, Madison, WI | ESPN2
The Profile
Forward Madison is one of the most distinctive clubs in American soccer, and that is not an accident. The Flamingos were built by Peter Wilt, who launched the club in 2019 as the sixth franchise he had helped bring to life, after the Chicago Fire and Indy Eleven among others. Wilt left after the inaugural season, but the blueprint stayed: the plastic-flamingo identity, the “world’s second favorite team” branding, the supporter culture that turned a third-division club into a national name. In their first season the Flamingos out-earned the rest of the league combined on shirt sales alone. The brand has always been one of the best in lower division soccer.
On the field, this is a remade team from the 2025 season. Head coach Matt Glaeser tore the roster down over the winter, a season that produced the fewest goals in the league. Only Derek Gebhard survived the overhaul. Gebhard is worth the price of the ticket on his own: the club’s all-time leader in appearances, goals, and assists, still scoring, still dropping into pockets to pull the strings. Around him, a younger and more athletic group has taken shape. This has allowed the team to press higher, build more direct, and break hard off turnovers.
The newcomer to watch is Roman Torres. The 24-year-old from Dallas arrived in February on a free transfer after Minnesota United declined his option, a first-round MLS SuperDraft pick who had passed through the FC Dallas academy, a spell in Germany, Creighton, and a USL Championship loan at Birmingham before landing in Madison. You do not go 25th overall in the first round without real ability, and it shows in how he plays. He sits centrally in the midfield and commands it, breaking up play and starting the attack in the same motion. The numbers that grade players by their all-around contribution have him as Madison’s best this season, and watching him it is easy to see why. He defends without fouling and creates without forcing, the kind of quiet two-way engine that good teams are built around.
One interesting note: Bernd Schipmann, now Fort Wayne FC’s goalkeeper, spent three seasons at Breese Stevens Field and kept 33 clean sheets in a Madison shirt before joining us this year. He returns to the place he used to call home, two saves shy of 200 for his League One career. Few players will know this building better than Schipmann. He will be ready for this one.
The Matchup
Madison’s home form is the real danger on Wednesday. The Flamingos spent almost the entire spring on the road while new turf went in at Breese Stevens Field, so the body of work is overwhelmingly an away sample. The two times they have played at home, they have been ruthless, controlling the run of play and scoring at will. That is the version of Madison we have to plan for, not the one that has dropped points on its travels lately. We arrive with our own form to lean on, unbeaten in eight league matches, the longest active run in the league. The question is whether that steadiness holds up in a building where Madison has looked like a different team.
The other question is the press. Glaeser’s Madison wants to win the ball high, force a rushed pass, and break vertically before we can get set. This is where the game is won or lost. If we play through the first wave cleanly, the space behind those advanced wing-backs is there to attack, and Madison’s own aggression becomes the opening. If we get caught in possession in our own half, they turn us over in dangerous areas and run. Composure on our first two passes out of the back is the whole game.
A result at Breese Stevens would say a great deal about where this Fort Wayne team is in June, and the whole country can watch it happen. This one lands on ESPN2, the first nationally televised match in club history and a bigger stage than the usual stream. Their building, their crowd, our streak, under the same lights.
With the World Cup underway, soccer in the US has a spotlight it rarely gets, and the move to a 9:00 PM ET start drops this match right into the tournament’s Wednesday rhythm. Ghana and Panama kick off at 7 p.m. ET and should be wrapping up around 9, just as Fort Wayne and Forward Madison get going on ESPN2, with Uzbekistan and Colombia to follow at 10. For anyone with the tournament on all evening, there is a national window here between the games. You never know who might be watching.
Always FWD