NASHVILLE – One year ago, Nashville arrived in Major League Soccer.
59,069 fans packed into Nissan Stadium on Feb. 29, 2020 to witness Nashville SC’s MLS debut against Atlanta United FC, the largest crowd for a soccer match in Tennessee history. While the visitors claimed a 2-1 victory, the showing by the team on the pitch and the Blue and Gold crowd on hand left a big impression on the soccer world, and on a city ready to support its newest major league organization.
Here’s how the Boys in Gold, our fans and the soccer world saw last year’s magical debut that night.
The Players
Dax McCarty
Randall Leal
Hany Mukhtar
Walker Zimmerman
Head Coach Gary Smith
The Fans
Clay Tranium, Nashville SC fan and local soccer historian
“It’s something that I think exceeded all of our expectations. I'm going to say I think a lot of us thought more highly of our potential in this sort of setup than we got a lot of credit for nationally. But man, for the first game. I mean that was just amazing.”
The World
Stu Holden
Aaron West
Colin Cowherd
“I’ve been to a few [of] these opening games. For me, this is one of the most exciting. I literally got chills during the pregame ceremony.”
Shawn Johnson and Andrew East
Brett Kern
Corey Davis
Lily Aldridge, Chase Rice, Wirth Campbell and more
