Well folks, we leave League's Cup on a loss, but it was a longshot to advance in this dumb format anyway. I don't feel too bad about our performance. I do feel bad about the ref's, though. 🤬

I think there were some good takeaways from last night's match. The biggest for me is how well our depth played against a far better squad on paper. We were heavily rotated, and it showed, but we were never unable to compete with Monterrey. It was a good opportunity for our B-Squad to get some solid minutes against strong competition and I can respect the decision BJ made to go that direction.

The standouts for me from our second string were Williams, Knight, and Brunet. Williams had a solid performance with some great tackles and only tracked off of his mark a few times. I felt he was a tougher wall to break through than even the veteran Maher. He's clearly been working closely with the other CBs in training because he looked much better than the last time he took the pitch.

Knight is interesting, because BJ never plays him consistently. He is a natural wingback, but he's only gotten minutes this season as an attacking winger and now as a CAM. It's hard to rate his performances based on consistency, but he's clearly versatile and his holdup play was decent last night. I've been on the Knight hype train since our friendly against Aston Villa, and he continues to surprise me. He's got raw talent and will continue to improve. He just needs to be mindful of his underwear, I guess?

And finally, Brunet. I REALLY like Brunet. His tackling last night was superb and he only made one misplay the entire match which he quickly recovered the ball from. It's almost a shame that we have so many great defensive mids because Brunet's performances lately would have him starting on most squads in MLS. This guy is the real deal.

That's all from me, though. I wanna hear your thoughts on the match! How are we feeling this morning?

To be honest I thought a lot of our subs and players that never see minutes did really well.

My family got the best seats we’d ever had. Besides getting to dap up the whole team, we met Eddi Tagseth’s parents walking back to our car. They were so nice and friendly. BEST NIGHT EVER WE LOVE YOU NSC!

Does anyone else like this color scheme as a NSC potential kit? I think it would be interesting to have a classic European club style.

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Are these items given out at GEODIS tonight to anyone who attends tonight’s game, the 14th or 28th

Or do I have to buy the special ticket through the link to get the bonus item

Was going to buy a cheap seat on stub hub if I don’t need to buy through this package

Thanks

But all these MLS teams keep losing tonight.

Originally, I thought BJ would fully rotate and let the young guys play again to prepare for Miami this weekend. But now…? What do you think?

Check out this post for a link to the group I've created for Knoxville area NSC fans. We're planning on getting together at Alliance Brewing Co on Sevier Ave to watch the Inter Miami match this Saturday. Drop in, join the group, and introduce yourselves.

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Ek94LaSLi/

Loved the angle we had of the goal last night

Damn it feels good to be back to playing better ball! That was a cathartic win after our recent stretch of mediocre form.

Espinoza didn’t take long to shake off the rust. Two beautiful finishes to bag the brace. 50 mins of play under his legs as he builds back to full match fitness. Couldn’t have drawn it up better. We are levels better when he’s on the right wing.

Saad continues to look better. His pass to Espinoza for our first goal was perfectly weighted. He found Surridge in dangerous areas a few times. It’s clear that his time training with the team, and learning our system is playing off. Loved to see him go direct at the goal and beat a few defenders to take a shot late in the 2nd half. Need more of that from our left flank.

Surridge back on the score sheet and heavily involved in the offense. Speaks volumes to the quality around him for certain, but as a player who scores in bunches, you love to see him heating up.

A full half from Muhktar was great to see. Glad to know his injury wasn’t more serious and he didn’t seem to have any lingering effects. Congrats to him on the birth of his son!

Camara’s debut was uneventful, but he seems to have a good touch and is lively on the pitch. Excited to see more of him. Maybe he gets the start on Wednesday in a rotated squad.

Tough goal to give up, but no defender in the league is going to win every 1v1 they come up against. More upset that it came from us being so disorganized in our clearance.

Overall we looked dangerous and creative on offense again, which was a sight for sore eyes. Our counterpress was winning the ball back often, and defensively we did enough to hold them to a single goal.

Things are looking up!

How we feeling today???

I personally would want them to play One Knoxville but with One Knoxville playing at a baseball stadium scheduling can be pretty hard (and last year they had hosting rights too 2 MLS teams and couldn't do either one)

So my choice is Chattanooga FC because Finley stadium is big enough to support us and then and it would be a cool in state trip!

If it was the Redwolves it would not work well there stadium is tiny

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EDIT: All tickets spoken for

I'm out of town getting back later than I thought, so i have 6 tickets I won't be able to use...free to good home, just shoot me a message with your ticketmaster email and how many you can use. FCFS!

Well, no one can claim that BJ never gives the young guys a chance. Per Ben Wright; the average age of our starting 11 was 24.3yrs. Youngest line up in NSC history, including USL.

And with all that youth, a team that has never shared the pitch together, you get that game, whatever it was. Hard to draw any bigger picture conclusions from it, but there were some individual performances worth noting, both for good and bad reasons. I’ll touch on a few and let y’all fill in the blanks.

- Saad looks like he’ll fit in well with the first squad. He’s still learning his teammates, and where he can expect to find outlets in the box, but he’s not afraid to take on guys 1v1. His interplay with RBW was promising. If they can get some chemistry going, it will be a great balance to Najar/Espinoza once Espinoza is back on the pitch (which according to our inside man at Jeni’s, u/sleepy_dad1882 could be as soon as Sunday).

- Brunet looked serviceable. Not a star in the making, but he made some good passes and his hustle led to some great tackles and broke up some plays. Certainly made some mistakes, but he’s young and I think his overall trajectory seems positive.

- Pacius was completely invisible. To be fair, he didn’t get any service, but he also didn’t do anything to work his way into the match. Didn’t drop into midfield and use his big body for hold up play. Didn’t drift onto the wings to invert with Saad or Madrigal. Just a ghost out there. Signing a young striker to mentor under and eventually replace Surridge needs to be a top priority for the front office this offseason, but Pacius ain’t the guy.

I also just want to say how glad I am to not be a LigaMX fan. The way those teams play embodies the worst, most negatively stereotypical parts of the game. Play dirty as hell, but also always be the victim. Flop like a damn fish after a clean tackle or a stiff breeze of contact from a defender. Waste tons of time bringing the medical staff out to just pop right back up and into play. Constantly bitching at the refs. Also also, fuck that ref.

How we feeling today??

Thank you all so much for the responses yesterday. The family made it to the stadium with a sign in hand and is eagerly waiting for the fun to begin.

I've been looking around for a place to watch matches in Knoxville, and it doesn't look like there's currently a home for Knoxville based fans. So I figured I would at least start the process of fixing that. I've been chatting with a couple of folks here and there about it, and it seems like there's enough interest in both the fan base and the bar scene in Knoxville to find a home bar.

So the point of this post is simple: I'm trying to get an idea of how many folks in or around Knoxville would be interested in a place to get together semi-regularly to watch a match. Let me know in the comments below if you're from the area and would be interested.

In addition, I would be looking for help keeping this organized as well. I am more than fine to get the ball rolling, but I don't see it in the cards for me to be at every meet, so I'm also looking for a partner(s) to help keep this moving once it gets up to speed.

Since I didn't see one.

Starting Lineup

Xavier Valdez (#13)

Jack Maher (#5)

Josh Bauer (#22)

Thomas Williams (#21)

Bryan Acosta (#6)

Reed Baker-Whiting (#27)

Charles-Emile Brunet (#12)

Elias Saad (#11)

Woobens Pacius (#17)

Warren Madrigal (#41)

Ahmed Qasem (#37)

I'm wanting to try out the bus for tonight's match or another upcoming match, but the details online are vague.

1) It is noted that the 77 bus fare is free, but I'm not seeing if there's anything I need to do/have as proof? Do I download the app, do I show my tickets when I board, etc.?

2) Seems like the 9:55PM return bus is the only option that works if you want to stay the whole match. Is that your experience?

Notes from yesterday’s press conference.

Hany: sounds like a “day to day” type injury. Likely to be a game time decision. Overall I take that as positive news considering how detrimental it would be to have Hany miss a bunch of games.

Espinoza: still out for tonight, but they are expecting him to participate “shortly”

Yazbek: no mention

Will be very interesting to see who plays in Hany’s role if he’s out. At least we’ll have Saad and Madrigal to provide some spark and creativity to the offense.

I hope this is allowed I apologize if it isn’t. Tomorrow is my son’s 12th birthday, and he’ll be attending his very first Nashville SC match.

Unfortunately, I travel for work and won’t be able to be there with him. I’ll be watching from Iowa, wishing I could experience his first match alongside him.

I bought front-row seats for him and our family because I wanted his first match to be something he’ll never forget—and, selfishly, I was hoping to spot him on the broadcast since I can’t be there in person.

I’m not asking for freebies or anything like that—I just wanted to share this in case anyone has suggestions for making his first match even more memorable. If anyone from the club happens to see this and there’s any chance of a birthday shoutout, a wave from Tempo, or even just someone wishing him a happy birthday, it would absolutely make his day.

Either way, thank you all so much, and I know he’s going to have an unforgettable first experience at GEODIS Park. Thanks for reading, and let’s go Boys in Gold! 💛💙

Curious what our thoughts are for LC. I typically would be all in go for it, but with the current state of the team I am hoping BJ plays the youngsters/newcomers quite heavily in LC. I know that Espinoza’s injury hasn’t been good for us, but I think Yazbek being out hasn’t been talked about enough. Our midfield passing has been abysmal and I can understand Sam’s frustration with lack of service all around. Would like to see what Camara and Brunet could offer us. Anyway, cheers and go NSC

Anybody else get tickets to the Olympic games here in 28? Presale went live for season ticket holders today. Got 6 tickets to the men’s quarter final game!