Saturday night brings one of the most anticipated games of the USL preseason as FC Cincinnati travels to face Sacramento Republic FC at Bonney Field.

For FCC defender Harrison Delbridge, the game will have a special meaning as he returns to the club where he began his professional career three years ago. Coming off an All-League season, the Australian center back is particularly looking forward to the trip out west.

“For me personally, it’s exciting to go back and see some of the boys that I’m still friends with that are still there, and to get back on Bonney,” Delbridge said this week. “It’ll be fun for me personally to play in front of that crowd again. They’ve got some awesome supporters like we do in Cincinnati, and every game at Bonney is a fun one, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Delbridge made 27 appearances for Republic FC in its inaugural season as Sacramento claimed the USL Cup in front of packed crowds at Bonney Field throughout the year. He returned the following year as a member of the Portland Timbers 2, but in 2016 the former Ventura County Fusion standout broke into the spotlight with another club in FCC that drew massive crowds from the outset.

The juxtaposition of the Eastern and Western Conference sides as the two best-attended clubs in the USL a season ago – with two of the most passionate fan bases as well – has added weight to the preseason contest.

“I think anytime the supporters get behind games like this it makes it exciting,” said Delbridge. “Obviously the support we have in Cincinnati is unbelievable so they’re going to support us wherever we go, but when you play a club like Sacramento I think the supporters especially have a mutual respect for  each other.

“It’s a team we don’t get to see that often because they’re in a different conference, so I would say the sort of respect the supporters have shown each other in the competitive banter back and forth, it’s cool to see, and it makes it fun for us as players to go in and add a little factor in the game.”

Winning a championship in Republic FC’s inaugural season still holds resonance with Delbridge, who greatly enjoyed his time in Northern California. With the acceleration the side produced over the course of the season to finish second in the league standings at 14-3-2, the feeling of Sacramento being a team destined for a title was palpable to those within the club at the time.

“The way the boys came together and the sort of coaching we had, it felt like we got into a rhythm and everything just sort of fell into place, which is something that doesn’t always happen when you’re a start-up club,” said Delbridge. “It was a pretty special year for me personally and especially for my career. I learned a lot while I was there from the coaching staff and from the players we had there. We had a very talented group of players there, so it was a great year for me and it’s going to be fun to go back and bring up some of those memories again.”

Delbridge and his current teammates will head to California after spending more than a week in Florida at the world-class facilities of IMG Academy as FCC prepares for its second season in the USL. The daily regimen, which has allowed the team to put everything but soccer aside, has been enjoyable for Delbridge as the squad’s returning players get the new faces in the squad acclimatized ahead of a highly-anticipated year.

“All the boys are excited to bring some new faces in and everyone’s starting to mesh really well, which is good,” said Delbridge. “We’ve definitely added some exciting pieces and now we’re figuring out how everyone plays, getting used to tendencies and working our system out. It’s been good, and I think the boys are excited to have the new guys in, and the new guys are excited to be here, so it’s all coming together well.”

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With a number of new additions to Republic FC’s lineup this offseason as well, the game will serve as a litmus test for where both clubs are in terms of their 2017 preparations. Based on the parallels between the two clubs in terms of support and championship ambition, Saturday’s game will be a must-see for fans of both, and likely interested observers from elsewhere in the USL.

“As soon as I saw we’d be playing them I’m not surprised the fans have gotten behind it and bigged up the game,” Delbridge said. “It’s two similar clubs that have similar aspirations, and getting the chance to get on the field and battle a little bit toward the end of preseason is exciting.”