Nashville Soccer Club has announced the first grant awards from the Nashville SC Community Fund, a charitable fund created to support local nonprofits, community organizations and projects in the Nashville area. 

The first grant cycle of the Nashville SC Community Fund is awarding a total of $25,000 to three local organizations. Two $10,000 grants will be given to Harvest Hands and Backfield in Motion, and one $5,000 grant will go to Preston Taylor Ministries, which match the organizations’ grant requests.

“The Nashville SC Community Fund exemplifies the club’s commitment to fostering strong communities here in Nashville and across Middle Tennessee,” says Brandon Hill, Nashville SC Head of Community Engagement. “We are proud to award our first grants to three deserving nonprofit organizations that fully embrace our passion for making a difference in the communities where we work and live.”

Harvest Hands works alongside its neighbors to further education, healthy living, spiritual formation and economic development in south Nashville. The grant will help them relaunch their Empower Sports program, which provides affordable, local sports leagues and wellness opportunities to an additional 300 youth. The investment will ensure Harvest Hands has the operational support to recruit and train coaches and volunteers, as well as reintroduce a spring soccer, fall football and winter basketball league for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Backfield in Motion (BIM) seeks to educate, engage and empower at-risk youth intellectually, socially and emotionally while using athletics as an incentive for academic improvement. With this grant, BIM will be able to support additional students and school sites with their extended learning program, which runs for 44 weeks during the school year and hosts a camp for four weeks every summer. The program and transportation to and from their programming are free to all participating students in first through 12th grade.

Preston Taylor Ministries (PTM) empowers youth in the Preston Taylor neighborhood to discover and live their dreams, develop a love for learning and build friendships. This grant will help PTM youth participate in local league soccer teams for 10 weeks in the spring of 2023, providing weekly practices, intentional coaching, transportation and supporters cheering on the students at games. Through its sports programming, PTM aims to instill healthy habits in youth by emphasizing exercise, perseverance, teamwork connectedness, self-regulation and a sense of purpose.

Housed at The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and part of Ingram Charities, the Nashville SC Community Fund prioritizes the support of organizations in Middle Tennessee with programs and initiatives in alignment with the club’s three impact areas: Youth Engagement, Health & Well-Being and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The 2022 MLS All Star break is over and the regular season is coming to a close, but the Western Conference standings are far from being decided as only six points separate third and 11th place.

Nashville SC is sitting in sixth place with 33 points and a record of 8-9-8. Portland is in seventh, also with 33 points, and Seattle is in eighth with just 32. Things are tightening up a lot and have been for a while, yet Nashville hasn’t found a way to move ahead of the pack despite the amount of home games they’ve had.

So far this season, NSC is 3-5-3 at the new GEODIS Park, which is the second to worst home record in the Western Conference. Since June, the Boys in Gold have only won two of 11 matches–one on the road and one at home. Despite playing seven of these games in front of a boisterous home crowd, Nashville hasn’t become the dominant home team that both the club and fans had hoped.

With only nine regular season games left, of which six are at GEODIS Park, it begs to ask the question: Is Nashville SC at their breaking point?

In recent weeks, Nashville has been able to come out of the gates attacking well, and even scoring and getting ahead at halftime.

Hany Muktar was been nothing short of amazing this season, earning himself a spot in the All Star game and the All Star Skill Competition, which he went on to win for the MLS against Mexico’s Liga MX. Mukhtar is on pace to win the 2022 MLS MVP award, scoring 13 goals and five assists with an expected goals of 14.3.

Another standout for NSC recently has been Teal Bunbury, who has been red hot.

Bunbury joined the club in the offseason and started off very slow, but has now scored in each of the last four matches. The goals he scored against Cincinnati, Vancouver and Portland were the team’s only goals and ended all the matches with a draw. His goals have accounted for the team’s three points over four games, which could’ve easily been losses.

Even with Mukhtar and Bunbury showing off these past few weeks, why is the club still struggling to pull-off a win?

Almost all equalizing or game-winning goals against Nashville have come in the second half of these matches. Late game substitutions would be the easiest thing to blame, which can be viewed as a reason for conceding a late goal–Vancouver is a good example. However, quite a few of these second half goals have come within 15 minutes of the second half starting.

The team has lacked early second half discipline, giving up the goals when momentum should be moving their way. In a press conference in July, Mukhtar attributed teams being more aggressive when playing Nashville at home, pushing for a win rather than playing safe to secure a draw.

“In the first two years, I felt like it was clubs coming to our place to get the three points,” Mukhtar explained. “Now, they’re coming to our place and they’re very happy with one point. We saw that with the Portland players. They were so happy with the point, but it felt like a loss for us. They had the expectation to come here and get the point, and that’s a good result for them.”

Even though the team has given up late equalizers, the defense led by Walker Zimmerman, Dax McCarty and the newly signed Shaq Moore aren’t solely the issue. The offense has failed to create anything to help their defense, but the defense hasn’t helped their case when looking at second stats.

This season, Nashville has scored 20 first half goals compared to only 13 second half goals. They have conceded only 10 first half goals all year compared to 24 second half goals, according to soccerstats.com. On top of that, at home they’ve conceded 10 second half goals.

These next two home games can be huge for the club if they can pick up six or at least four points.

They face Minnesota on Sunday (Aug. 14) who they drew very early in the season with. Minnesota sits in fourth place with 35 points–just two above Nashville.

A week later, on Aug. 21, NSC will host Dallas who they lost to 2-0, also very early in the season. Dallas is sitting in third place with just 36 points.

Each of the next four clubs NSC faces is within three points of Nashville’s 33. The month of August obviously will not determine the season, but these next four matches will either put Nashville in a top three spot or make each minute of playing time in September mean that much more.

One thing is for sure, Nashville cannot survive on draws alone,. They must win to secure a spot in the postseason this fall.

Nashville Soccer Club’s Academy player Alejandro Carrillo has been selected to compete in the inaugural MLS NEXT All-Star Game, presented by Allstate. The game will provide a world-class experience for the best young players in North America to showcase their talent on a national stage.

“Alejandro had a great year in our academy and was rewarded with a preseason invite with our first team in January,” says Nashville SC General Manager Mike Jacobs. “His play in our defense has been a key in that group’s success, and we are proud to see his performances recognized.”

Carrillo is a 17-year-old defender from Nashville who played for Nashville United Soccer Academy prior to joining the Nashville SC Academy. The U-17s centerback has demonstrated a tremendous amount of leadership for the club on and off the pitch and become one of the most respected players within the group.

“Alejandro joined the Academy in our first year after being identified at a local youth club here in Nashville. He was identify by our scouting department for showing his ability as a player but he also displayed the competitive character necessary to succeed in an MLS Academy environment,” says Nashville SC Academy Director Kevin Flanagan. “He is a player that sets high standards for himself and that level of commitment has helped earn him this opportunity and recognition. I’m sure he will enjoy the experience and represent the club well in Minnesota.”

The 45 players were chosen by the MLS NEXT Player Selection Committee, which is made up of key MLS Player Development department personnel, following the conclusion of the MLS NEXT Cup Playoffs and Showcase. Players must have been U-18 (born in 2004 or earlier) and have competed in one of the MLS NEXT national showcase events this season, including MLS NEXT Fest, MLS NEXT Flex, Generation adidas Cup, and MLS NEXT Cup Playoffs and Showcase.

The MLS NEXT All-Star Game will feature two teams that will compete in an East vs. West format at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minnesota on Wednesday, Aug. 10. The match will be streamed live with further tune-in details expected at a later date. Admission to the MLS NEXT All-Star Game presented by Allstate at the National Sports Center is free of cost.

Nashville Soccer Club General Manager Mike Jacobs has signed a contract extension that will keep him with the club through 2026.

Jacobs originally joined Nashville SC in 2018 and has constructed rosters with his recruitment staff that have made the playoffs in each season he’s been at the helm at both the MLS and USL Championship level.    

“Our journey so far in MLS has been a success that is defined by many things,” notes Nashville SC CEO Ian Ayre. “None more so than finding great players and making good deals. Mike has been at the forefront of working with his team and Gary Smith to secure an extremely talented group of players and that is one of the hardest roles in any sports team. Equally the importance of having a strong bond between owner, CEO, general manager and head coach is, I believe, paramount in building and running a successful club.”

Ayre continues, “Mike’s commitment, dedication and personality make that a very easy fit with all of us. Mike is thoroughly deserving of this extension to his contract, which will keep him with us for at least another 3 years. I am very pleased for him and his family. He is a well-liked member of our team and also a friend, and I look forward to us continuing this incredible journey together.”

In 2022, Jacobs and his department have built up the Nashville SC roster by signing highly-touted midfielder Sean Davis via free agency, and extending the contracts of MLS Best XI players Hany Mukhtar and Walker Zimmerman, keeping the two MLS All-Stars in Nashville through 2025.  

On Tuesday (July 19), Jacobs and the club announced the signing of USMNT defender Shaq Moore, a major move that will only bolster the team’s defense.

“I can’t thank John Ingram and our ownership group enough for this opportunity to continue to build and grow what we’ve created thus far, I feel so grateful to get the chance to continue on in this journey to pursue championships along with our players and staff, and I am so humbled to continue to represent our club and its supporters. I am so excited for our club’s present and future,” says Jacobs.  

Jacobs originally joined Nashville SC after serving as Sporting Kansas City’s assistant technical director from 2015 to 2017, where they won the 2015 and 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and reached the MLS playoffs in each season.