Nashville SC prepare for US Open Cup semifinal: "It's a unique opportunity"

NASHVILLE, TN - "We're in the winning business."

Nashville SC head coach BJ Callaghan was blunt about his club's ambitions. Heading into Tuesday night's US Open Cup semifinal against the Philadelphia Union, the first-year head coach has a chance to do something no other coach in Tennessee professional sports has done; win a trophy.

"It's something that we've set our aspirations for in the beginning of the season," he said. "It's a really great feeling and buzz inside our whole organization, top to bottom. It's a unique opportunity where everybody comes with the opportunity to earn our way into a final, which gets us one step closer to trying to lift the trophy here."

Unfinished business

For Callaghan in particular, the US Open Cup bears some added significance. As an assistant with Philadelphia, he was on the touchline for three losses in the final, falling to Seattle Sounders in 2014, Sporting Kansas City in 2015 and the Houston Dynamo in 2018.

"I've been there three finals and have lost in three finals," he said wryly earlier in the year.

Against his former club, Callaghan has the chance to bring an upstart Nashville within touching distance.

"The Open Cup, we said it from the beginning, it's something that we take seriously," Callaghan said on Monday morning. "It's a historical tournament, the oldest trophy in the country. And for us to have an opportunity to lift that and put our name on that, that's motivating. But we have Philadelphia in front of us to even just get to the final. So the focus is there to make sure that everybody is prepared to play the role that they're called upon to try and get the result."

Trophies bring validation

With Nashville SC moving into their self-branded "Nashville 2.0" era, a lot of the focus has been on process; aligning the first team, Huntsville and the academy into a single unit. Developing a clear identity on the pitch. Creating sustained scoring chances.

All of these are good things. All of these help set Nashville up for long-term success. But ultimately, the goal is to win championships.

"You can do so much work behind the scenes, but none of it is validated and none of it is justified without results," noted Australian international midfielder Patrick Yazbek. "You need to get three points, you need to be winning, and you get winning silverware... If you look where we've come from, it's been amazing to see the growth of the club, but obviously, you know, who's to say we can't continue to grow further than what was expected right now?"

Going into a knockout match against an elite and highly-motivated opponent, Nashville know it won't be easy. In fact, they're prepared for it to not even be pretty.

"I feel like the further you go in cups, it becomes less about performance, more about results," Yazbek shrugged. "If you look at it like, let's say an MLS league [match], you know, you tend to, if you lose the game, it's okay. If you play well, but you lose the game, it's like, you can take the positives out of it. Obviously, if we go out tomorrow night and have an unbelievable performance and don't get the result, it's irrelevant, you know? It's about finding a fine line between results and performance."

With two wins already against the Union this season, Nashville are certainly capable of winning performances. Even in the midst of a dip in form, losing five of their last six matches, they head into Tuesday night's game fully confident and eyeing the Cup.

"When you want to go after trophies, we've put ourselves in position to do it," said Callaghan. "And that's what we're really proud about, but the job's not finished. We have to be able to step up on Tuesday night and perform."