Chattanooga Football Club’s Aldo Heredia (22) shoots on keeper Wezley Barnard (28) during a scrimmage at Finley Stadium.The Chattanooga Football Club was hoping to play its first-ever U.S. Open Cup game at Finley Stadium. Instead, U.S. Soccer, via a blind draw, has sent the squad north to face the Pittsburgh Riverhounds in the first round on June 14.
“In some sense, because we’re the new kids on the block, it wasn’t surprising that we didn’t get to host,” CFC general manager Sean McDaniel said. “We’ve not done anything to prove ourselves to U.S. Soccer at this point, but if we continue down this road next year, we feel like we may have established ourselves a little more.”
Chattanooga FC earned a spot in the first round by winning the six-team qualifying regional it hosted last week, beating the Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves in the final, 1-0 in overtime.
An amateur team comprised of current and former college players, many of whom have full-time jobs, CFC will be facing a professional Riverhounds team that plays in the United Soccer Leagues Pro division.
McDaniel said U.S. Soccer covers some of the travel costs for the road teams. Because Pittsburgh is about 600 miles from Chattanooga, CFC would prefer to fly, he said.