Chattanooga FC hosts Atlanta United 2 at Finley Stadium on Saturday, August 8 at 7:00 p.m. as the Push to the Playoffs presented by Ruby Falls kicks off!
Chattanooga FC is ready to celebrate its past, present and future on Saturday evening.
Before a momentous Southeast derby match, the club will be officially inducting Juan Hernandez into its Hall of Legends. The ceremony will take place at 6:15 p.m. in the Finley Stadium concourse behind section 105 with a half-time recognition also planned.
The match also represents the first since another club legend, Richard Dixon, removed the 'interim' tag and was named head coach.
The club will also be celebrating its future, CFC Youth, to kick off a new fall season.
On the field, the Boys in Blue will look to extend its league-best nine-match unbeaten streak as Atlanta United 2 visits Finley Stadium.
This will be the second of three meetings of the year between the two sides. Last time out, CFC came from behind in a wild 4-4 draw in Athens before winning the shootout for the extra point 6-5.
The match has playoff implications with Chattanooga FC currently in second place and Atlanta in sixth in the competitive 16-team Eastern Conference.
It will also be Golden Boot race clash with Atlanta United 2's Arif Kovac (league-leading 15 goals) coming up against CFC's Alex Krehl (joint runners-up 12 goals).
The teams have met seven previous times with CFC's record sitting at 1W-2L-4D. CFC has won all four shootouts for the extra point against Atlanta.
Coach's corner
Head Coach Richard Dixon spoke with media this week to preview the upcoming match with Atlanta.
"We need to make sure that defensively we're solid," said Dixon. "They're very good in possession and have some dangerous players, including the leading goalscorer at the moment in [Arif] Kovac. He's dangerous in and around the box. We need to make sure we're solid defensively and in our high press, mid block and low block. We need to find opportunities to catch them in transition. We're working on a few things this week on how we can break them down in possession to create chances and score goals. Those are the big things for us to make sure we tighten up on going into the game."
Know the opponent
Atlanta United 2 sits in sixth place in the East with a 10W-6L-4D, 0SOW (34 pts) record. Atlanta's coming off a 3-3 draw and 10-9 shootout loss against Carolina Core FC.
Forward Arif Kovac leads the team, and league, with 15 goals. Cameron Dunbar leads the way for Atlanta in assists with seven.
Atlanta United 2 is led by Head Coach Jose Silva, who joined the club's Academy as a coach in 2021.
Match info
Venue: Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, Tenn.
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, August 8
Broadcast: MLSNEXTPro.com / OneFootball TV | Talent: James Hadnot
Team uniforms for Saturday's match
Referees
Laith Dahhan
Head Referee
Art Arustamyan
Assistant Referee 1
Brendan Sweetman
Assistant Referee 2
Gustavo Turmero
4th Official
