Five-star Chattanooga slay Foxes
- Philip Farrell
- 17 hours ago
- 9 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
CHATTANOOGA, Tn --- It's becoming a legendary and well-known tale on the streets of the Scenic City, but it's one worth telling again and again. Alex Krehl, a 23-year-old from Naperville, Illinois, was driving a box truck delivering packages around his hometown at the beginning of this year. Fast forward seven months, and he has scored 17 league goals in the third tier of American professional soccer and is in second-place in his league’s Golden Boot race. One of the reasons we love soccer is because of its stories. Every sport has its underdogs, its rags-to-riches, its second chances, and its dark horses. But soccer has a broader global reach and a deeper ocean of clubs and leagues than other sports that enable its stories to become a fully shared human experience.
Krehl’s is one of ambition and belief. He backed himself to experience academy soccer in Brazil. He backed himself to venture to Spain, and spend four years dogging it out in the fourth and fifth tiers of that resplendent, fútboll nation. And after driving a delivery truck only six months ago, he backed himself to become Chattanooga Football Club’s most valuable weapon. On Saturday evening, he backed himself when it mattered, on the field, and delivered a sensational hattrick to etch his name into the annals of his club, and the community it represents.
Saturday evening seemed to be where the past and future met at Finley Stadium. The past, represented by the figure of club legend Markus Naglestad being honored for his 100 appearances at CFC, an achievement reached last season but fully honored on Saturday. This nod to CFC’s past and especially its NISA era was strengthened by the presence of Khalid Balogun and Corey Lundeen in the visitor’s roster. Both men have been to Finley before in the colors of the Maryland Bobcats in 2022 and Albion San Diego in 2023 respectively. Fond reminders of rivals past. The future was Krehl, in some ways Naglestad’s spiritual successor. A different kind of player to the Norwegian but with one thing in common…goals. There’s a feeling when Krehl takes the field, he’s guaranteed to score. There hasn’t been a player like this at CFC since Mehdi Ouamri in 2024, or arguably since Naglestad’s peak.
All three goals were brilliant, and they were all different. The first came in the 11th minute. CFC right-back Yves Tcheuyap, in an advanced position, fed the ball to attacker Alexis Arrúa. The Argentine floated a beautiful left-footed pass across the edge of the box to Tate Robertson who offered a crisp, one-touch and side-footed volley into the box where Krehl was there to muscle in and toe-poke it home. Krehl’s fourth in five matches and fifteenth of the season. It was also Robertson’s eighth assist of the year, more on him later but a word on Arrúa first.
The 21-year-old arrived at the club this season as an exciting acquisition from abroad, coming from Racing Club in Avellaneda. He’d mainly been consigned to bench appearances and hadn’t really hit his stride yet in Tennessee. On Saturday he was played out of position in central midfield, and it seemed to suit him. He had the hockey assist for Krehl’s first and got the full assist on the second. Early in the second half he collected the ball from teammate Daniel Mangarov in the box. While his touch wasn’t great, he still kept control of the ball and managed to get a low pass into the center of the box that Krehl was once again there to score. While it was Krehl that ran to the fans, you sensed that Arrúa had finally arrived.
“I thought he had a good game”, said Head Coach Richard Dixon after full-time. “Alexis is a really good footballer, though he is a wide forward as his natural position. He’s very good at ten as well. Very good with the ball at his feet, receiving under pressure and his ability to create under pressure as well is at a high level. We feel he’s one that can play out wide, he can also play as a ten, always happy to see him step up and have a good performance tonight”.
Krehl’s third came courtesy of another Robertson assist. A long ball found him, getting the run on two opposition defenders. Krehl held off their challenges, kept his composure and demonstrated his strength to control the ball and notch it past the advancing keeper. It was one heck of a solo effort and one that the man himself described as his favorite after the game. This was his first hattrick for the club (the first in his career, in fact) and was the first hattrick for CFC in an MLSNP match since April 13, 2024 when Jalen James bagged three in a 6-2 win over Inter Miami II.
“I’m over the moon right now”, Krehl reflected after the game. “I’ve been playing men’s football for five, six years now and this is the first hattrick I’ve ever scored. It's a really big accomplishment for me but I’m just happy to walk away with three points and put us in a better position in the league.”
He even ran to embrace Dixon after one of his strikes. I asked him about their relationship. “I owe it all to him. I was without a club. Living at home with my parents and he gave me the opportunity to come in on trial and made the decision to keep me on and I just never looked back. He put his full faith in me and I can’t thank him enough for it”.
In between Krehl’s second and third there was also a goal for CFC midfielder Isaiah Jones, who smashed home a left-footed shot from the middle of the box after a great cross from Mangarov and a headed-down assist from Nathan Koehler. Delight for Jones who has had his place in the team challenged of recent, but he got his second goal in CFC colors.
Chattanooga’s fifth came from the boot of Tate Robertson. After contributing two assists for Krehl he finished off a wonderful team goal that he had himself begun. On 68 minutes, he started a run down the middle and fed the ball to Arrúa lurking on the edge of the box. Arrúa sent it wide to Mangarov who drove a low-cross into the area that was pawed away by the keeper only for Robertson, who had kept running since first laying off the ball, to get there and bang it home. The 29-year-old from Springfield, Ohio now has nine assists and eight goals on the season. He’s now just two away from equalling his 19 goal contributions from 2025 and continues to be a lynch-pin in CFC’s attack.
I’ve been remiss for not even mentioning the visiting side, Carolina Core FC, so far in this article. That’s not to disrespect them, but the evening really was about the hattrick hero and Chattanooga’s march to the playoffs. The Foxes are led by the affable Jake Davis who, at 30 years old, is the youngest Head Coach in professional American soccer. Davis’s side conceded five goals a week after their chances of making the playoffs were killed off. It was a tough evening, as they faced a home side that was simply on fire. Nevertheless, the Core did manage to nab a pair of late goals themselves. And while these might have been mere consolation, they reflect a fighting spirit that Davis can be proud of and there may be something to build on there.
“Some young players did well”, he said after the game. “Bodie Ford came on and was phenomenal. I thought his energy was great and we had guys like Nick [Kaloukian] play to the end, it really just shows who they are as people. So, we never give up and those two showed that".
After finding themselves 5-0 down, Charles Orbaugh and David Diaz each scored to give them something to hold their heads up for. The latter was a fantastic strike, left-footed and from the edge of the area that curled around a helpless Eldin Jakupović. “We needed that energy a little bit earlier but the game is a true testament to who we are as people, who we are as a club, and who we want to be,” said Davis. “And I think it's important that we don’t shy away from that. We didn’t start as well as we wanted to but we have some guys in the squad that would do anything for the badge, would do anything for themselves, anything for the team and that really showed through.”
5-2 then the final score. Krehl may become known as the ‘Foxhunter’ given that he has scored five goals in three matches against the Core (he has scored in all three encounters this season), the most of any player in the short history of games between the two teams. He is now just one goal shy of the top of the league's Golden Boot race. That place is held by Arif Kovac (18 goals) who incidentally plays for Atlanta United 2, CFC’s next home opponent.
For the Core, Davis is desperate to win at home and at least end the season on something of a high before going into his first offseason as Head Coach. “We gotta win at home”, he said. “We gotta make our fans proud, we have amazing fans. It's about pride. It's about being proud of the growth that we’ve had. It's about showing who we are because we play 90 minutes of football but it's weeks and weeks worth of work that we get to show out on the pitch, whether it's to our fans, our owners, or our families. It's really important that what we put out on the field is a showcase of who we are as people. We didn’t start as well as we wanted to but everytime we step out on the pitch we want to show everyone who watches who the Core is. The work starts now. I’m super excited about the future of the Core. We have a really exciting project, the foundations have been set and we continue to play on that. But we are building for the future. We have an amazing product that we can put out on the field. We’ve got amazing fans. It's super exciting.”
The Core plays 6th place New England Revolution II at home on Friday 4th September.
For Chattanooga, they can enjoy a bye-weekend over Labor Day before a short trip to Huntsville on Wednesday, September 9th. Dixon stated that he’ll spend the free weekend scouting his rivals. “We’re always watching games and scouting every now and again. Because you never know what will happen in the playoffs and who you will be matched against. We'll always watch to make sure we know how everybody’s looking. Especially now, a team might be out of the playoffs but guys are playing for contracts. So they might be playing a team in a playoff spot and they’re gonna come and bring everything. We’re gonna see who’s in form, who’s not in form, the rotations and how everybody’s looking coming into the off-season”.
BOX SCORE
Chattanooga FC v Carolina Core FC
MLS Next Pro
Venue: Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, TN
Final Score: Chattanooga 5-2 Carolina Core
Attendance: 3,047
Referee: Braeden Frey (IL)
Scoring summary:
11’: A. Krehl (CFC)
47’: A. Krehl (CFC)
11’: I. Jones (CFC)
62’: A. Krehl (CFC)
68’: T. Robertson (CFC)
74’: C. Orbaughl (CCFC)
82’: D. Diaz (CCFC)
Discipline:
16’: A. Czech (CCFC) - yellow card
61’: Y. Tcheuyap (CFC) - yellow card
63’: A. Krehl (CFC) - yellow card
65’: N. Martinez (CFC) - yellow card
92’: C. Lundeen (CCFC) - yellow card
Man of the Match: Alex Krehl (CFC) - the evening’s hattrick hero. While a lot of credit has to go to Arrúa, Mangarov, and Robertson for their creativity, you just can’t argue against a guy who bags three.
Line-ups
Chattanooga FC (4-3-3): Eldin Jakupović; Steeve Louis-Jean, Nathan Koehler, Farid Sar-Sar (C), Yves Tcheuyap (Alex McGrath 87’); Tate Robertson, Isaiah Jones (Luke Husakiwsky 71’), Alexis Arrúa (Francis Amoateng 68’); Daniel Mangarov (Ameziane Sid Mohand 68’), Damien Barker-John, Alex Krehl (Yuval Cohen 68’)
Substitutes not used: Michael Barrueta, Mattias Hanchard, Darwin Ortiz, Ashton Gordon
Head Coach: Richard Dixon
Carolina Core FC (4-3-1-2): Nolan Anderson; Seth Hammond (Bodie Ford 64’), Nolan Evers (C), Charles Orbaugh, Andrew Czech (Nelson Martinez 53’); Ricardo Montenegro (Corey Lundeen 45’), Graham Ford (Thomas Raimbault 64’), Ryan Baer; Tony Pineda, Nicholas Kaloukian, Arnaud Tattevin (David Diaz 54’)
Substitutes not used: Trevor Jackson, Dominique Colon, Bryce Swineheart,, Khalid Balogun
Head Coach: Jake Davis
NEXT GAMES
• Wednesday 9th September, 19:00 (CT): Huntsville City FC v Chattanooga FC, Joe Davis Stadium, Huntsville, AL (MLS Next Pro)
• Friday 4th September, 18:30 (ET): Carolina Core FC v New England Revolution II, Truist Point Stadium, High Point, NC (MLS Next Pro)
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