3 Questions about Nashville SC with SixOneFive Soccer’s Ben Wright

Atlanta United received a respite from a dreadful start to the MLS season by taking care of Chattanooga FC in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 on Wednesday. Their return to league play is against an opponent that will be anything but easy.

Nashville SC, as I’m sure you, the reader, have heard, took a 0-0 scoreline against Club América into the Azteca and won, 1-0, to advance to the Concacaf Champions League semifinals. No MLS team before Tuesday had won a competitive fixture at the Azteca before the Boys In Gold did just that on Tuesday. Oh, and they’re atop the Eastern Conference with 16 points (5-1-1).

For more on Nashville, I connected with Ben Wright (X, Bsky) from SixOneFive Soccer (X, Bsky).

I can’t imagine that Nashville has gotten this far in the Concacaf Champions Cup without buy-in from everyone in their locker room. How has BJ Callaghan been able to get everyone rowing in the same direction?

To be honest, BJ got buy-in pretty immediately off the bat. He came in with a very clear vision and style of play, and I’ve been blown away at how quickly he got results. Last year, Nashville obviously won the US Open Cup with similar buy-in, but the squad was still in the middle of a rebuild. This year, after some key signings in the winter, they’re much more suited to enacting the front-foot, high-tempo, possession-oriented approach he wants to take. He seems uniquely suited to communicating, organizing, and motivating – he’s proving quickly to be one of MLS’s elite coaches.

One of the nice stories coming out of Nashville is the performance of Brian Schwake as he’s taken over the No. 1 goalkeeping shirt from Joe Willis. How is he similar and different from his predecessor in his approach to the game (mannerisms, distribution, etc.)?

It was one of the biggest questions this offseason, to be honest. Joe Willis has been fantastic for Nashville and a fixture in goal (he still leads the team in all-time minutes and starts), and he did an admirable job playing with the ball last season, with Callaghan demanding more from his ‘keeper in buildup. He’s 37, though. Nashville have needed to find a new long-term option for a while. Schwake made a strong case last season, playing every minute of the US Open Cup run, but no one could have predicted how well he’d play this year. He’s given up just five goals in 13 appearances this season, and is already one of the best in the league at distribution. He’s been fantastic this year. I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s in the USMNT picture after the World Cup.

If Atlanta is to get a result on Saturday, what’s one potential area of weakness of Nashville’s that it can exploit?

There aren’t a ton of clear weaknesses with this squad. Rotation is the big question. Nashville just took down Club America on Tuesday, the first MLS team ever to win at the Azteca. They’ve been expending a lot of energy in CCC, and I’m pretty stunned that they’ve maintained this level of form in MLS at the same time. They made seven changes to the squad in Charlotte in between quarterfinal legs last week and came away with a 2-1 win, but there’s a notable drop in quality when players like Hany Mukhtar, Cristian Espinoza and Sam Surridge don’t play. Keep an eye on their starting lineup to see what kind of game this will be.