USL Nashville SC

Nashville SC Happy to Begin Homestand with Nationally Televised Showdown with Tampa

May 7, 2019 - United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Nashville SC News Release


NASHVILLE - After a lengthy stretch of five out of six matches on the road, Nashville Soccer Club will finally be back within the friendly confines of First Tennessee Park for a stretch of three home matches in the next two weeks.

The first of those three USL Championship matches is this Wednesday night at 7 PM against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, and the team couldn't be more excited to get back home.

"It'll be great to be back on our home field, be great to be back in front of our home fans, our preparations are different because of the lesser travel," Head Coach Gary Smith said. "There's a lot more we can control when we're at home, as all teams do. We've got three tough opponents on paper and games rarely turn out the way you see them on paper, but on paper we've got an unbeaten Tampa coming into town. You could easily say that this might be the toughest one, but you throw into the equation down the line we will have had two or three games before we meet up with Swope and Charlotte at the back end of that after an Open Cup game.

"There's all sorts of difficulties we run into, as do many teams throughout the season. We've got some tough ones, but it's really the time for us to start taking advantage of home field. Most teams rely on that. If they're going to do well in any season, they've got to make their home ground somewhere difficult for opponents to come and play. It's no different in any sport. We need to take maximum points wherever possible."

In the weeks since Nashville's last home match, the club has gone 1-1-1 in three matches, but have taken four out of a possible six points in the last two matches. After allowing two late goals for a draw at Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Nashville put up a clean sheet on the road at Atlanta United 2 for a 2-0 win.

The Nashville SC backline has high standards for itself, and they hope to maintain those in a tough matchup against the one of the league's best teams.

"It was good to get back into a familiar set of ways with the shutout on the road," said defender Justin Davis. "That's kind of been a feature of the team that Gary is trying to put into us. It was good to get back to that. I think there were a couple of slip-ups on the road earlier this year, so we had a lot of right be doing. It wasn't anything structural or formation, it was just some individual stuff that we needed to clean up and we did. Hopefully we keep doing that moving forward."

Wednesday's match will also be broadcast on ESPN2 as the USL Championship's Game of the Week. The players hope to put on a show in front of a national TV audience and to continue to build the club's national profile with the move to Major League Soccer on the horizon.

"It's huge for us as players wanting to showcase what we can do, and also huge for the club," Davis said. "The club is trying to make a lot of noise going forward for this year and next, and being on ESPN2 doesn't hurt that. It's on us as players to show well and show that the club is doing things the right way and making a little name for ourselves nationally."

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM CT. Tickets are still available for the match, including a special $5 standing room only deal for the nationally televised showdown. If you can't make it out to the pitch, tune in on ESPN 2 or on the radio on 94.9 Game 2.



United Soccer League Championship Stories from May 7, 2019


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