CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (July 27, 2024) — Chattanooga Football Club returned to winning ways on Saturday evening, as captain Alex McGrath scored in the 57th minute to bring CFC all three points.
The two teams played out a competitive and evenly-matched first half. McGrath came the closest to breaking the deadlock when he ghosted in at the back post and met Joseph Perez's low cross well, however he skied his effort over the bar. CFC controlled possession in the first half and had a total of three shots on target to Orlando's zero.
Both teams' hunger to win was also clear to see with a few hard tackles and yellow cards issued on the field.
After creating two opportunities early in the half, it was a case of third time's a charm for McGrath, as he cut in on his left foot at the top of the penalty area and struck home the 3,000th goal in MLS NEXT Pro history, a beautifully-placed shot into the bottom corner past Orlando keeper Carlos Mercado.
CFC continued its dominance in the match and ultimately saw it out to seal a much-needed three points back at Fort Finley.
Sporting Director and Head Coach Rod Underwood made four changes to the starting line-up from the defeat at Carolina Core last time out. Jean Antoine returned to the starting XI, alongside Joseph Perez, Milo Garvanian and Luis Garcia in place of Jonathan Burke, Anatolie Prepelita, Callum Watson and Minjae Kwak.
"You can look at it in so many ways," said Underwood in his post-match press conference. "You could've looked at it as a game we had to win, one we needed to win—I would say it was more of one that we needed to win than a 'had to win'. We still have nine more games to play in the season and we're in the thick of the playoff race. Everyone can look at the standings, and one or two wins and things go nutty. Our focus was just to get back to our football, to get back to the ways we were capable of playing and raising the level of hard work.
"I think our ball possession and pressing was very good, and those are two core principles for us. We want to make sure that stays with us and keeps going, and that's really important for us."
The result sees CFC move up to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Chattanooga FC will return to Finley Stadium next weekend in Matchweek 21 on Saturday August 3 at 7:00 p.m. ET, hosting Toronto FC II for the very first time. Tickets are on sale now.
Noteworthy
- McGrath scored his sixth goal of the season, making him second outright on the team
- McGrath's goal was the 3,000th in MLS NEXT Pro history
- Garvanian recorded his fourth assist of the season, bringing him level with McGrath
- Garcia Sosa made his first start since the home match against Atlanta United 2 on May 25th
Box Score:
Chattanooga FC (7W-6L-6D, 4SOW, 31 pts.) - Orlando City B (4W-6L-8D, 4SOW, 24 pts.)
Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, Tenn.
Attendance: 4,741
Final score:
CFC: 1
ORL: 0
Scoring summary:
57': McGrath - CFC
Stats (CFC/ORL):
Possession: 47% / 53%
xG: 1.45 / 0.65
Shots: 17 / 12
Shots on goal: 8 / 2
Blocked shots: 2 / 4
Total passes: 493 / 449
Passing accuracy percentage: 88 / 87.3
Corners: 3 / 7
Free-kicks: 8 / 11
Total crosses: 7 / 6
Offsides: 0 / 1
Goalkeeper saves: 2 / 7
Clearances: 6 / 0
Fouls: 14 / 8
Discipline:
12' - CFC: Perez (Caution)
12' - ORL: Lynn (Caution)
20' - ORL: Rivera (Caution)
48' - ORL: Williams (Caution)
51' - CFC: Garcia Sosa (Caution)
64' - CFC: Milo Garvanian (Caution)
74' - CFC: Farid Sar-Sar (Caution)
Line-ups:
CFC starters: Jean Antoine; Milo Garvanian, Farid Sar-Sar, Duvan Viafara, Joseph Perez (Jesse Williams 90'+4); Jude Arthur (Minjae Kwak 82'), Andres Jimenez Aranzazu, Luis Garcia Sosa (Callum Watson 73'), Alex McGrath (C); Taylor Gray, Mehdi Ouamri (Ethan Koren 82')
Substitutes not used: Jonathan Burke, Michael Barrueta, Robert Screen, Logan Brown, Jalen James
Head Coach: Rod Underwood
ORL starters: Carlos Mercardo; Alex Freeman (Jackson Platts 86'), Nabi Kibunguchy, Thomas Williams, Luca Petrasso (Tahir Reid-Brown 80'); Colin Guske, Imanol Almaguer (C); Jhon Solís, Yutaro Tsukada (Thomas Bowe 83'), Wilfredo Rivera (Shak Mohammed 66'); Jack Lynn (Favian Loyola 80')
Substitutes not used: Justin Ellis, Bernardo Santos Rhein Goncalves, Gustavo Caraballo, Juan Rojas Chirinos
Head coach: Manuel Goldberg
Post-match reaction
Full quote sheet
Sporting Director and Head Coach Rod Underwood
On the importance of keeping a clean sheet:
"For us, shutouots are super important. If you don't get scored on, you can't lose. That's a simple motto, right? We all know that one-goal wins are hard to come by in this league. We can't hang our hat on that, but we can hopefully hang our hat on getting more goals and still getting shutouts."
On if he felt that team got back to basics and returned to its identity:
"I think we did. I thought we did. I thought we started the game really well. We had Alex's big opportunity in the first half; we had other first-half opportunities. They didn't have a shot on goal in the first half. Those are things that are really important for us. Our possession was really high in the first half. After we scored in the goal we kind of lost our way, and then they made some aggressiveness that we didn't really adjust to, but the changes that we made really came on and helped us, so that was really important."
On the decision to make a formation adjustment to a 4-2-3-1:
"We're 19 games in and we felt like playing 4-2-3-1 would give us security and certain things that we were lacking. It gave us more help defensively and it gave a little more freedom to get forward. And with our football there are certain systems that work best, and we've tried a few of them and we wanted to try this one to see if it would help us, and it did."
On McGrath's influence and goalscoring this season:
"Alex and I have talked at length about his game, and if we could add goals to his game, and he's done that this year, so that's hugely important for us. He's the captain for a reason. In these stretch of games, he's really taken a lot on his shoulders, meeting with guys and meeting with the team, so hats off to him."
On bringing Luis Garcia Sosa back into the starting line-up:
"We know Luis is a very technical player. He was with me at Stumptown, so I have a lot of respect and love for his game. He hasn't got much of a chance this year and we said, 'hey, let's give it a go.'"
On the challenge Orlando presented:
"They're a difficult team to play against because they're very similar to us. They're athletic and they want to keep the ball and press the ball. It's two teams wanting the ball and the team that had the ball had to figure out how they could keep it for longer periods of time."
On the moment of emotion shared with his coaching staff at the final whistle:
"It's good, because we talk about unity within our staff. We believe if we continue to show unit within our staff, that unity and energy will go to the players. We want to continue that."
On if the primary emotion was relief:
"Even if you're on a ten-game winning streak, let's say for example, it's always a relief, because the build-up to a game, no matter where you are in the standings, because you're competitors for us there's only one option: to win. You walk into the game with that pressure. For me, the extrinsic, and that pressure doesn't come, and I try to protect them. I try and take all that pressure on me, so that they can internally find themselves raised up to play a level that they want to play."
Chattanooga FC midfielder and captain Alex McGrath
On the feeling when his goal went in:
"It's obviously always nice to score. I sort of fell over and heard the crowd and that's how I knew it went in! I thought it had a decent chance, but at the end of the day just to get the three points is massive. It's been a tough few weeks and we've been working hard throughout it, so it's just nice to pick up the three points."
On the biggest difference to the team's performance tonight compared to the last four matches:
"I'd say there's been improvement every game. The big thing tonight is that we kept a clean sheet and one goal wins the gamae. I thought the lads did a good job defensively and that's what we've been working on. I feel like that was a big step forward in terms of working as a unit and playing against a dangerous team who created a lot of chances but we were able to get in the way most of the time. Jean [Antoine] had a good game and most of the lads defensively kept us in the game."
On what his message has been to the team over the past few weeks during a tough stretch of losses:
"It's mainly just been about getting back to basics. It's easy to be overthinking things when it's not quite going your way. I wanted to make sure we were doing the basics well, which I felt we had strayed away from a little bit. You need to create your own luck and I feel like we've been working towards that in the way we've been training. It's not just what you see on the weekend. We put the effort in week-in and week-out no matter how the results are going. Thankfully tonight we were able to do the basics well, pick up the three points and move forward."
On how the team returned to its identity in the match:
"When things go against you, little things start to pop up that might not be an issue when you're winning. At the end of the day you have to deal with those things. It's part of the game. Obviously we've still got a long way to go in the season. We're not where we want to be, but tonight was a step in the right direction. I feel like it was fully deserved. We talked about first doing your job well and then helping someone else, and I thought everyone did their job first and foremost and then were able to pass on information to other people and throw themselves in front of the ball or whatever was needed to get your mate out of trouble."
On the secret behind his goalscoring form:
"I feel like if you're not thinking as much it seems to be a bit more natural. For me personally as a midfielder if I can be contributing on both sides of the ball, that's big for me. It's always nice to be on the scoresheet, especially to pick up the three points tonight. After the first chance missed I was probably thinking about it a little bit longer than I should and then at half-time I knew I had to let it go. It helped me to put it in the past and focus on what came in the second half and thankfully it worked out.
