The Opposition Report II — MD26 vs FC Naples
Fort Wayne Football Club hosts a reshaped FC Naples six months after its professional debut. This time the last playoff place is on the line.
Saturday, September 19 | 7:30 PM ET | Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, Fort Wayne, IN | ESPN+
Prior Proceedings
All-Time vs FC Naples (W-L-D): 0-1-0
MD1 Recap & Analysis
Our first meeting was our first look at this young and inexperienced Fort Wayne FC side. Ten players made their professional debuts that night in Naples. It was a tight match decided by two things that separate League One from League Two: physicality and professional experience. Experience was the gap, and closing it has been the storyline of the last six months.
Naples was last season’s League One semifinalist. They opened the 2026 season hard to score against, and sat top of the table in early April. It didn’t last. A long losing run cost head coach Matt Poland his job in July, and first assistant Zak Gordon has run the side as interim ever since. Gordon’s Naples plays a more open game and is more willing to trade chances. The faces changed too. Dominick Bachstein, who scored Naples’ second goal against us in March, is on loan at Corpus Christi. Defender Jaylen Yearwood, a first-round MLS SuperDraft pick, arrived from Orlando City B in June. Midfielder Omar Ciss came over from Charlotte after four seasons there, and striker Nicolas Likulia signed in August.
The Matchup II
Saturday is the first chance to measure how far we’ve come. In March, most of our lineup was new to professional soccer, and new to each other as teammates. After 24 more league matches, we now have a regular starting lineup and a regular 4-2-3-1 formation. We know how to win, and we also know how to lose. Experience comes with time, and this Fort Wayne FC squad now has experience.
While much has changed for both sides since March, one thing has remained: Chris Garcia. The wide midfielder, who scored the opener against us, leads FC Naples in combined goals and assists with eight. Over a long season, eight goal contributions is light, but he’s their most dangerous player heading into Saturday’s rematch. Andrés Ferrín, a Colombian winger and former Colombia U-20 call-up, lines up opposite Garcia and provides another attacking point, leading the team with six goals. And while their wingers are highlights of the attack, as a team, Naples struggles to penetrate the box. When they do, they haven’t been efficient at converting those chances into goals.
Across the season, FC Naples likes to possess the ball. The question for them is what to do with it once they have it. Outside the wide attacking players, the squad is a bit light at the point of attack, which shows up in touches in the box. They rank near the bottom of the league. The possession metrics show a team that lacks the final passes that would make Naples a much more dangerous team to play against. If you find a Naples squad switching the point of attack from left to right and right to left, that’s a good thing. It would mean our defensive block is keeping a shape that makes it difficult to break down.
If you eliminate their goal-scoring opportunities, the data says you can score on this team. They are a bottom-half team in most defensive stats. Set pieces are our opening. Javier Armas, Michael Rempel and Taig Healy have all put set pieces on Ryan Becher’s head for goals this season, and new signing Aleksandar Vukovic, the 6-foot-4 center back on loan from Phoenix Rising, could give them a second target. I wouldn’t be shocked to see a set-piece goal from Fort Wayne FC if we can earn corners and free kicks.
Naples arrives rested, seven days off; we played Wednesday. My concern is the back end of the match. We led Knoxville 2-0 on Wednesday and lost 3-2, the winner coming on a counter, and Naples has the individual talent to punish us if we don’t have fresh legs.
It’s a brutal home stretch for Fort Wayne to end the season. We still have games against four of the top five teams in the league, and we’ve struggled against the top half of the table. FC Naples represents one of the last best opportunities to take home all three points. A loss or a tie will be a bad result at this stage in the season. Earning points only gets more difficult from here. Let’s see if our professional experience pays off on Saturday.
Always FWD