NEW YORK – New York City FC will take on Nashville Soccer Club in a preseason friendly at First Tennessee Park Feb. 22.
Nashville SC played its inaugural United Soccer League season in 2018 and finished in eighth place in the Eastern Conference qualifying for the playoffs. FC Cincinnati, which will join Major League Soccer as a 2019 expansion team, eliminated Nashville on penalty kicks in the opening round.
“Our game against Nashville SC should be an exciting match as we look forward to the 2019 MLS season,” NYCFC sporting director Claudio Reyna said. “It’ll be a good test in a road environment this preseason, and opportunities like this are instrumental in preparing us for the challenges that lie ahead.”
This will be NYCFC’s first trip to Music City, but it won’t be the last. In 2017, MLS commissioner Don Garber announced the league had awarded Nashville a franchise, which will begin play in 2020.
NYCFC head coach Domenec Torrent has been to Nashville before.
“We’re really excited to go to Nashville to play a friendly match against a very good USL side in front of some of the country’s best supporters,” he said. “I was very impressed with their debut season as they made the playoffs and knocked off a MLS team in the [Lamar Hunt] U.S. Open Cup. It’ll be a great challenge for us as we make final preparations for the season opener.
“In 2017 I went to Nashville with Manchester City and I was very impressed with the friendliness and happiness that the local people exhibit.”
The rest of NYCFC’s preseason schedule will be announced soon.
