Nashville SC fell 2-1 to Austin FC at Q2 Stadium on Saturday, earning their first loss of preseason in their final match.
The XI
For the second consecutive match, neither Hany Mukhtar nor Patrick Yazbek saw the field. Sam Surridge returned to the lineup, with Wyatt Meyer and Matt Corcoran again starting in midfield.
Last Starting XI of Nashville SC's preseason: Willis; Lovitz, Maher, Zimmerman, Najar; Meyer, Corcoran; Muyl, Tagseth; Sipić, Surridge
— SixOneFive Soccer (@sixonefivesoccer.com) 2025-02-15T20:07:02.230Z
The second half continued with a fairly rotated lineup.
Joe Willis; Josh Bauer, Chris Applewhite, Jack Maher, Taylor Washington; Jonny Pérez, Ethan O’Brien (Huntsville), Wyatt Meyer, Isaiah Jones; Gio Miglietti (Huntsville), Adem Sipić
On the pitch
Osman Bukari opened the scoring for Austin in the 12th minute, receiving a pass from new DP Brandon Vázquez and slotting home. Five minutes later, Alex Muyl leveled for Nashville, following an assist from defender Andy Najar.
In the 69th minute, Bukari scored again, bagging a brace and handing Nashville their first loss of the 2025 preseason.
BUKA BRACE!! #AustinFC x @StDavidsHC pic.twitter.com/UwuW031IT9
— Austin FC (@AustinFC) February 15, 2025
Post-match notes
Callaghan addressed some key absences after the match. Patrick Yazbek, Bryan Acosta and Hany Mukhtar all missed out, while Gastón Brugman hasn't played since the opening friendly against the US U-20s.
"I'd say for Gastón right now, we're trying to get a good timeline on him. He's probably furthest away in terms of being with an injury," said Callaghan. "Patrick and Hany are more in 'let's see how we get through the week'. It was very conservative. Bryan Acosta not starting and not playing was us trying to be extremely safe."
"Even the guys playing 45 minutes today, a lot of those guys could have played longer," he continued. "But again, I think we wanted to put our best foot forward for the opening night at Geodis. We felt like it was a good decision to stay as conservative as possible."
Even with health question marks ahead of the season opener, Callaghan was adamant that Nashville's depth is able to handle the pressure.
"Throughout this preseason, the way that we've performed, I think we've seen a lot of players step up, a lot of players gain great experience," he said. "We want to be a club that plays young players. And so for us, whether it's Jonny Pérez, Adem Sipić, Isaiah Jones, Matt Corcoran – we have a great amount of confidence in them. And they show a great amount of confidence in themselves, because the things that we're asking them to do, they're doing.
Full Nashville SC preseason player involvement
Updated February 17: A previous version of this post stated that Brandon Vázquez scored Austin's first goal.
