Match Preview: Chattanooga FC v Carolina Core FC

Philip Farrell
13 hours ago
5 min read

**Carolina goalkeeper Nick Holliday during the last meeting between these sides. Photo credit - Carolina Core FC Communications**

NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com

Match: Chattanooga FC vs. Carolina Core FC

Date: Saturday, August 29th, 2026. 19:00 (Eastern)

Venue: Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, TN. Capacity: 20,412

Watch: OneFootball, MLSNextPro.com, YouTube

Listen: Mixlr (call by Gabriel Schray)

Tickets: https://www.mlsnextpro.com/chattanoogafc/tickets/

In the week that MLS Next Pro announced that it would switch to a Summer-to-Spring season in 2027, the final ‘Battle of the Independents’ for 2026 takes place tonight at Finley Stadium. Chattanooga Football Club hosts Carolina Core in a tie that matters more for the home side. CFC are well-and-truly in the mix for playoff soccer. Their visitors have been eliminated from playoff contention and are playing only for pride. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.

Chattanooga (W:11 D:7 L:6 SOW:4 GF:44 GA:35 GD:+9) are coming off a hard fought 3-1 loss away at first-place Crown Legacy. That result closed what had been an unbeaten 11 game run and the club’s best summer form since they joined the league in 2024. The side are chasing the seven or so points it needs to guarantee play-off soccer but will really be aiming for a home tie. With 14 goals in the league in 2026, Alex Krehl is the side’s top scorer. He’s also the joint-second highest goalscorer in MLS Next Pro (four behind Atlanta’s Arif Kovac). Solid at home, CFC have won eight of their 12 league games at Finley this season.

Carolina Core (W:5 D:8 L:11 SOW:3 GF:33 GA:43 GD:-10) named Jake Davis full-time head coach after he had held the role on an interim basis since late May. In the interim role, he led the Core to a 4-4-4 record. Last week, in his first game as full-time gaffer, the Foxes lost 3-1 at home to FC Cincinnati 2, a result that eliminated them from playoff contention. Arnaud Tattevin leads the team with 12 goals, ranking joint-fifth leaguewide. The Core has a 0-4-7 record on the road.

The match starts at 7pm Eastern and we’re expecting hot and dry conditions with temperatures of about 89 degrees come kick-off. Streaming will be available on MLSNextPro.com, the league’s YouTube channel, and the OneFootball app. Illinois-based referee Braeden Frey will officiate. Frey refereed CFC’s 2-2 draw at Huntsville City in March.

The History

Chattanooga: W:4 D:2 L:2 SOW:1 GF:11 GA:6 GD:+5

Carolina Core: W:2 D:2 L:4 SOW:1 GF:6 GA:11 GD:-5

Sunday’s hosts boast the dominant record in the short history of bouts between these sides, stretching back to 2024. At Finley Stadium though, Carolina Core have bagged a win and a draw + shootout win in four games played.

The two teams have faced off twice so far in 2026. On May 24 CFC beat the Foxes 1-0 at home, a result that led to Carolina Core sacking almost its entire coaching and front office leadership. Alex Krehl was the scorer that day. On a rainy Sunday afternoon at Truist Point on July 12, CCFC and CFC played out a 1-1 draw that ended in a 4-2 shootout win for Chattanooga. Krehl was again CFC’s goalscorer, while Arnaud Tattevin netted for the Core.

Krehl and Tate Robertson (also of CFC) are the joint-top scorers in the fixture, with two goals each.

Report Cards and Lineups

Chattanooga

Head Coach Richard Dixon, also elevated to his role full-time after an interim spell, has overseen Chattanooga FC’s best summer form in three years. In 2024 and 2025, the club endured difficult spells during the hot months; that changed in 2026. CFC recently went on an 11-game unbeaten binge. The team is coming directly off a loss, however. Mind you, that was away at the league’s best side and CFC were arguably the better team. Attacker Daniel Mangarov scored their only goal in the 3-1 defeat.

Probable lineup (4-3-3): Eldin Jakupović; Anthony Sorenson, Mattias Hanchard, Farid Sar-Sar, Yves Tcheuyap; Isaiah Jones, Tate Robertson, Alex McGrath (C); Daniel Mangarov, Damien Barker John, Alex Krehl

Dixon has a settled team to work with. He has stuck with a tried-and-true 4-3-3 and a core group of players he trusts who have given him a strong set of results. The backbone of Jakupović, Sar-Sar, McGrath, and Robertson bring experience and leadership, as well as performance levels that demand the most of the players flanking them. Krehl has also become as integral as those above, his 14 goals the biggest reason for Chattanooga’s place near the top of the table.

Tate Robertson is the real key to this team. He ended last season with nine goals and ten assists, his side’s leader in both. This season, having reverted to a central midfield role he played earlier in his career, he’s on seven goals and seven assists with four games of regular season soccer still to play in return. He has provided the assist for four of Krehl’s goals, who has in-turn assisted him twice. Earlier this season, Robertson equalled and then overtook Juan Hernandez’s all-time club assists record (24). He’s now on 26. Hernandez was inducted into the club Hall of Fame a few days later, somewhere Robertson may find himself too one day. When I spoke to him recently he talked about putting that record in the far distance behind him, this is a competitive player!

Carolina Core

Jake Davis’s Foxes are playing for pride. Sitting third-from-bottom in the Eastern Conference and no longer capable of qualifying for the playoffs, they have nothing to play for tonight. That can make them dangerous, however, as they will be playing without nerves and Davis and his charges can take chances. Their season was effectively ended last weekend when they were beaten 3-1 at home by Cincinnati. An 82nd minute Tony Pineda goal was mere consolation on a bitterly disappointing day in which they’d dominated possession and chances but came up short, and despite being 0-0 at halftime. Next season, Davis needs to get this XI to play 90 minutes.

Probable lineup (3-4-1-2): Nick Holliday; Nolan Evers (C), Charles Orbaugh, Bryce Swinehart; Ricks Ford, Ryan Baer, Ricardo Montenegro, David Díaz; Thomas Raimbault; Arnaud Tattevin, Nicholas Kaloukian

Like Dixon, Davis has also settled on a preferred setup (4-3-1-2) and a core group of trusted players. Holliday is a good keeper who endured a poor game against Cincinnati, as did Orbaugh in front of him. Raimbault and Montenegro lead the side in assists, with four each.

Arnaud Tattevin is the main man in High Point. Named MLS Next Pro player of the month in July, the 26-year-old leads the team with 12 goals scored in 20 matches played. Against Atlanta United 2 on July 31, he scored a hat trick that was highlighted by an appearance on SportsCenter Top 10. Although born in Paris, France, he represents the Central African Republic (the birthplace of his mother) at international level. We don’t often see internationals pass through Finley Stadium, although CFC’s Eldin Jakupović has a cap for Switzerland. At youth level, Tattevin played for France alongside the likes of Aurélien Tchouaméni and Maxence Caqueret. He played professionally for five clubs in France before coming to the U.S. to play for UNC Greensboro, Vermont Green, and eventually The Core. He represents the type of player we don’t often see in MLS Next Pro, a player with a past, an international cap, and a considerable resume.

Analysis and Predictions

Despite Tattevin’s talents and the Foxes being pressure-free, I cannot see them winning at Finley. Their away record is poor and they are visiting the second-placed side who have everything to play for, that also is home to one of the league’s top scorers. The recent loss in Charlotte notwithstanding, Richard Dixon’s side are on a roll, and playing at a level of performance that has momentum. With a big, late-summer crowd behind them, Chattanooga are clear favorites. Mind you, they have a habit of laboring to beat weaker sides at home. Carolina Core has a chance, not a very big one. 1-0 to CFC.