The Nashville Metros were an American soccer team based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, United States. Founded in 1989, the team most recently played in the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the South Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The Metros were the longest continuously operating soccer club in the

United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

before their last season in 2012. In the side's later years its home games were contested at Ezell Park and E. S. Rose Park.

History

The Nashville Metros were founded by Lynn Agee and Devinder Sandhu and began indoor play in the

Sunbelt Independent Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

in 1990. Due to a lack of facilities, the team played their entire first season on the road, before settling in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

. The Metros continued to play indoors until 1996, but only won six matches in six seasons. During much of the same period, the outdoor team played in the USL's amateur Premier League with significantly better results. Nashville's first winning season came in 1995 with a 12–6 record and their first playoff appearance. The 1996 team witnessed the Metros' Pasi Kinturi score a league-leading 19 goals as he was named that season's league MVP. The Metros moved up to the second division A-League in 1997. After several years of playing at various high school and municipal stadiums in Nashville and Franklin, the team settled into their new home at Ezell Park. Nashville made their first U.S. Open Cup appearance in the 1998 tournament where they routed the third division

Delaware Wizards The Delaware Wizards were a professional soccer club based in Wilmington and New Castle, Delaware. The team played their first game in 1993 and their last in 2000. They played in the USISL. They were considered DC United's farm team but ended ...

before advancing to face the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer. A heavy underdog, the Metros pulled off the upset of the tournament with a victory over the first division club in front of an ecstatic home crowd. Nashville eventually fell in the quarterfinals to MLS'

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

. In 1999 due to financial circumstances, the club was forced to reorganize. The side was renamed the Tennessee Rhythm and moved from Nashville to Franklin, but returned to their original venue in 2001, reverting to their original name at the same time. This time period featured an unsuccessful rematch against the Dallas Burn in the 2000 U.S. Open Cup and a nationally televised game against the

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

in the 2001 tournament. In 2002 the Metros moved down from the A-League to the Premier Development League, mainly due to Ezell Park's substandard facilities, such as the lack of a press box. Beginning with their first playoff appearance in 1994, Nashville made eight postseason trips over the next 11 years.

Players

Final roster

''Source''

Notable former players

''This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.'' *

Jay Ayres Jay Ayres (born February 25, 1986 in Valrico, Florida) is an American soccer defender. Ayres played college soccer at Belmont University, and for Nashville Metros in the USL Premier Development League, before being signed by the San Jose Earthqu ...

* Kainoa Bailey * Kalin Bankov * Trevor Banks * Ian Borders * Jon Busch * Danny DeVall * Tanner Redden * Gabe Eastman * Albert Edward * John Jones * Pasi Kinturi * Patrick Parker * Steve Klein * Tony Kuhn * Jamel Mitchell *

Richard Mulrooney Richard Mulrooney (born November 3, 1976) is an American former soccer player. He is the current men's soccer coach at the University of Memphis. Career College Mulrooney played four years of college soccer at Creighton University, where he re ...

* Dimitry Shamootin * J. P. Rodrigues * Daryl Sattler

Year-by-year

Indoor

Honors

* USISL A-League ** Central Conference Champions (1): 1998

Head coaches

* Greg Petersen (1998–1999) *

Brett Mosen Brett Mosen is an English football coach currently coaching with the Oakville Blue Devils FC in Canada. Managerial career Mosen started his professional coaching in 1995 as Head Coach of the Nashville Metros in the USL A-League, United Soccer Le ...

(2000–2001) * Andy Poklad (2002–2004) * Rico Laise (1999, 2007–2008) * Richard Askey (2009) * Obed Compean (2005–2006, 2010) * Ricardo Lopez (2011) * Brent Goulet (2012)

Stadium

* Stadiums in Nashville and

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454 ...

; (1990–1996) * Stadium in

; (1999–2000) * Ezell Park;

(1997–1998, 2001–2011) ** Siegel Park; Murfreesboro, Tennessee 5 games (2007–2010) * E.S. Rose Park;

; (2012)

Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20131208011525/http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html. * 2005: 307 * 2006: 392 (8th in PDL) * 2007: 361 * 2008: 308 * 2009: 162 * 2010: 215 * 2011: 349

References

{{reflist

External links

Official PDL site
Defunct soccer clubs in Tennessee Association football clubs established in 1989 Association football clubs disestablished in 2012 Sports in Nashville, Tennessee USL League Two teams A-League (1995–2004) teams USISL teams Defunct indoor soccer clubs in the United States 1989 establishments in Tennessee 2012 disestablishments in Tennessee