A road win over Atlanta United 2 went a long way toward helping Nashville SC’s quest for a spot in the USL Playoffs in the club’s inaugural professional season. Continuing to win is the surest path to the postseason, but there’s no shame in looking to the out-of-town scoreboard for help, as well. Here’s how the Boys in Gold will benefit most.
Looking back
The midweek games mostly worked out for NSC:
Ottawa Fury 1, Toronto FC 0
This wasn’t the result Nashville wanted, with Ottawa also competing for a spot on the tail end of the playoff positions. However, it will hopefully become irrelevant as NSC is only one point behind the Fury with two games in hand.
Charleston Battery 2, North Carolina FC 0
The Battery are certainly in the playoffs, and almost definitely locked into the No. 4 spot. Their takedown of NCFC prevented that side from remaining ahead of Nashville in the standings, which is an obvious positive.
Indy Eleven 2, Tampa Bay Rowdies 0
Similar situation here: the Eleven are likely to end up in the No. 5 spot in the playoffs, and beating Tampa Bay makes it more difficult for the Rowdies to compete with Nashville for a playoff spot.
The remaining games had minimal impact on Nashville SC.
Coming up
Here’s the rooting interest for this weekend’s games:
Atlanta United v. Louisville City
No strong interest here: Atlanta United has already been eliminated from the playoffs, while Louisville has already clinched (and nearly clinched a finish ahead of Nashville – NSC would have to win out while LCFC loses out for the pass to happen). With the No. 6 spot looking like NSC’s most likely final position, it boils down to whether you want to play Louisville in the first round (root for them to draw) or not (root for a win or loss, which make second and fourth most likely, respectively).
Charleston Battery v. Toronto FC
TFCII is almost locked in to the No. 16 spot in the table (even though they’re only the second-worst team in the league, a healthy margin better than Richmond Kickers), and it’s unlikely that Nashville can catch the Battery for the No. 4 spot and a home playoff game. It’s still technically possible though, so I guess root for TFC.
Pittsburgh Riverhounds v. Charlotte Independence
Like the ATL game, this one isn’t super-relevant, and mostly boils down to who you’d like NSC to play in the first round of the playoffs. With the Independence still technically alive for a playoff spot, a loss moves them closer to elimination, which at least gives clarity to the table, too.
North Carolina FC v. Richmond Kickers
NCFC took a hit Wednesday in their hunt for a playoff spot, and Richmond has the opportunity to potentially deliver a death blow to one of NSC’s competitors for making the postseason. Additionally, a Kickers win also means they’re guaranteed to not finish bottom of the table… meaning they aren’t playing with that additional motivation for Nashville SC’s game next weekend.
FC Cincinnati v. Indy Eleven
Cincinnati has already locked down the top spot in the Eastern Conference, as well as the USL regular-season title. Indy, on the other hand, is still in a spot to potentially finish behind Nashville in the table. Since you want NSC to finish as high as possible, cheer for FCC.
Club and Country 