For generations, any discussion of soccer in the United States has been liable to involve the concept of “growing the game.”
As in: Why is the world’s most popular sport a distant fourth or fifth — if that — in this country? Why, with its population, money and sports culture, is the men’s national team not better? Will the U.S. ever love soccer the way England, Spain and Brazil do?
Nashville SC general manager Mike Jacobs has some pushback. Jacobs grew up going to New York Cosmos games in the 1970s, when the team featured global superstars Pele and Franz Beckenbauer and would draw up to 80,000 fans. Soccer, Jacobs says, is already here. It’s been here for a while, at least on the national stage.
So what’s next?
“To grow, we have to grow at the local level,” Jacobs told The Tennessean. “The local level is our own city. Every community, every city wants to support a team that’s a winner.”
Well, here’s Nashville SC’s chance.
Nashville will face Austin FC at Q2 Stadium in Austin on Oct. 1 in the U.S. Open Cup final (7 p.m. CT, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+). It would be the first championship trophy in the club’s seven-year history, and as players and coach B.J. Callaghan have been quick to mention for months, the first for any professional sports team in Tennessee.
The fairness of that statement is the subject of debate. The Open Cup isn’t the MLS Cup, the end-of-season championship that mirrors the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals or Stanley Cup. Soccer has many more opportunities to win hardware than football, baseball, basketball or hockey.
But achievements are important through mutual agreement, and Nashville has sought highly this particular trophy. When Jacobs thinks about hoisting it, he thinks of the trickle-down effect it could have — a “virus,” in his words, infecting the average Nashvillian with interest in NSC and soccer at large.
Say nothing for the die-hards.
“The beautiful game is even more beautiful when the Boys in Gold are winning,” mayor Freddie O’Connell said to The Tennessean. “I’ve been practicing my ‘Gooooalll‘ yell in preparation for the game. Can’t wait to welcome the team home as champions.”
Added Kate Elliott, president of Nashville SC supporters group The Roadies: “If we win, I’m never going to shut up about it.”
Why the U.S. Open Cup matters for Nashville SC
The U.S. Open Cup began in 1914 and is the nation’s oldest, longest-running soccer competition. It’s a single-elimination tournament open to amateur and professional clubs from every level of American soccer — this year’s tournament featured 96. It’s comparable to competitions like England’s FA Cup, which runs parallel to the Premier League season. In American terms, maybe think March Madness in college basketball.
“Being the last team standing in a cup where literally every team in our country, at any level, has a chance to compete, it has a lot of pageantry to it,” Jacobs said.
In MLS, the Supporters’ Shield, which goes to the team with the best regular-season record, rewards start-to-finish dominance. The Open Cup is survival mode, rewarding teams that thrive in big games. The MLS Cup combines both. The Leagues Cup, which came into existence in 2021, works like the Open Cup but with teams from MLS and Mexico. All four provide pathways into the CONCACAF Champions Cup, which is the North American continental championship.
“Depending on who you ask, you’re gonna get a different answer of what they feel is the most important,” Elliott said. “That’s kind of fun to see across supporters.”
Elliott falls firmly into the die-hard category. She met her husband, Logan, when they sat next to each other at an NSC game in 2018, and both serve on the Roadies’ board. Lately, Elliott has spent much of her time explaining the Open Cup and its nuances to people in her orbit. Even those who aren’t huge soccer fans are approaching her, interested in learning why it’s important and different from other competitions.
“Everyone’s ecstatic,” she said.
Due to work, Elliott won’t make it to Austin, but will be present at the Roadies’ watch party at New Heights Brewing Company downtown. Austin, the home team, allotted a certain number of tickets to Nashville supporters, and Elliott said they sold “pretty fast” upon release.
“Hopefully we’re taking the whole city with us,” Callaghan said after NSC’s semifinal victory over the Philadelphia Union on Sept. 16. “Whether they’re with us or watching on TV, we’re going to go and represent them in the final the best way we can.”
Nashville can avenge past defeats in U.S. Open Cup final
Nashville enters the final having lost six of its past eight MLS games, but a trophy would almost entirely forgive those struggles. It could give NSC momentum heading into the playoffs, which begin in late October. It would assure it of its second-ever appearance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, bolstering the club’s profile outside of the United States.
Nashville has been on this stage before: It hosted the 2023 Leagues Cup final, a star-studded event with Reese Witherspoon and Giannis Antetokounmpo in attendance, against a Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami. It was maybe the high-water mark of the club’s first five years, and Jacobs hasn’t forgotten how it ended in defeat after 11 rounds of penalty kicks.
“Probably nationally, people think of the city of Nashville, the state of Tennessee, as the bridesmaid, not the bride,” Jacobs said. “Get down to the goal line, lose the Super Bowl. Get to the Stanley Cup finals, win some games, lose the Stanley Cup finals . . . You can’t get any closer to winning a cup and losing than we did.”
The holdovers from 2023 — forward Hany Mukhtar, forward Sam Surridge, defender Walker Zimmerman, goalkeeper Joe Willis — have tasted that heartbreak. Then there are those, both new and old, who can call on similar experiences.
Zimmerman and Willis have won the Open Cup with previous clubs. Midfielder Alex Muyl has played in a final. Midfielder Gaston Brugman was the MLS Cup MVP with the LA Galaxy last season. Forward Teal Bunbury has won both the MLS Cup and the U.S. Open Cup. Callaghan finished as Open Cup runner-up three times as an assistant with the Philadelphia Union.
“You think about that adage of, look like you’ve been there before. A number of us have been there before,” Jacobs said. ” . . . I think this group is maybe more battle-tested, with an understanding of what it looks like, and knows what it takes, what you have to summon.”
The 2024 season was humbling for Jacobs. Nashville, having built a reputation as one of the league’s most consistent teams, missed the playoffs for the first time ever, and while players, coaches and executives are more likely than not to claim they disregard outside expectations, Jacobs felt those failures deeply. To have a chance at a trophy with a retooled roster in Callaghan’s first full season is, to Jacobs, “absolutely validating and affirming.”
Now, Nashville — both the club and the city — might have just 90 minutes left as the bridesmaid.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on X/Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
