Match Preview: Chattanooga FC vs Huntsville City FC
Fourth meeting of the season between local rivals
Chattanooga FC hosts Huntsville City FC at Finley Stadium in the MLS NEXT Pro Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Sunday.
This will be the fourth time this season that these sides will have met. Chattanooga achieved a regular season series sweep over their visitors across the three previous meetings. Back in March they earned a 1-0 win thanks to Daniel Mangarov’s first professional goal. At Joe Davis Stadium in May, goals from Mangarov and Nathan Koehler sealed a 2-1 comeback win for CFC after Alan Carleton had opened the scoring for Huntsville. A header from midfielder Luke Husakiwsky helped Chattanooga to a 1-0 win at Finley Stadium in their final meeting.
The game kicks off at 7pm (Eastern) / 6pm (Central) and will be officiated by Elvis Osmanovic. The broadcast will be on MLSNextPro.com and the league’s account on YouTube.
Match Details
Date: Sunday 19th October, 2025
Time: 7PM EST / 6PM CST
Location: Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Watch: MLSNextPro.com
Head Coaches: Chris Nugent (CFC), Chris O’Neal (HNT)
Chattanooga Lineup Prediction
Barring injuries, I don’t expect Head Coach Chris Nugent to deviate from the 4-3-3 and much of the starting XI he’s used for the past several games. This week, goalkeeper Eldin Jakupović and right-back Tate Robertson were named to the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro Best XI for the 2025 season. The former was named the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year, while Robertson also finished as a finalist for Defender of the Year. Alongside captain Farid Sar-Sar, Jakupović played every single minute (2,520) of Chattanooga’s regular season campaign and finished as the league leader in clean sheets (10) and total saves (124). Robertson contributed nine league goals and 10 assists, leading the club in both categories.
The defense will be completed by Nathan Koehler (who has scored against Huntsville this year) and left-back Milo Garvanian (2 goals, 3 assists). The midfield is typically composed of three of Nick Mendonca, Steeve Louis Jean (1 goal), Callum Watson (1 assist), Gavin Turner (1 goal, 1 assist), and Luke Husakiwsky (2 goals). The latter two joined the club mid-season and have played a large part in the team’s resurgence since August.
Up front, Anthony Garcia and Yuval Cohen have been preferred lately. Cohen scored his first goal for the club in their last regular season game at home against Atlanta. A crucial goal, it evened up the tie allowing for a penalty shootout that CFC then won to leapfrog Huntsville into fourth. I fully expect Daniel Mangarov (9 goals, 5 assists) to join them.
Huntsville Lineup Prediction
I’m going to roll with a nearly unchanged lineup to the one that beat Carolina Core in the final game of the regular season.
Erik Lauta starts in goal, behind Tyshawn Rose, Chris Applewhite, Zach Barrett and Jordan Knight in defense. With Blake Bowen having been out since early September, this is the best back four Huntsville can field, in my opinion.
Midfield is settled. As has been the case the majority of the year, Pep Casas and Phillip Mayaka lock down the two midfield spots, supporting a front four of Christian Koffi, Alan Carleton, Damien Barker John and Maximus Ekk.
Ekk has provided a different spark than we’ve seen from any of the other options in the striker slot for Huntsville this year, so he gets the nod from me.
Analysis & Predictions
Philip Farrell:
Can Chattanooga really heap a fourth loss on Huntsville? Can they really, once again, steal a win in spite of Huntsville dominance? There’s an ill feeling that this trick cannot possibly be repeated for a fourth time. Mind you, people said the same thing before their third meeting.
I feel this game will be tight with the midfield battle being key. The difference could well be from a set-piece and if that’s the case, expect Tate Robertson or Daniel Mangarov to have their say should it be CFC that prospers.
I think this will be a nail-biting 0-0 or 1-1 tie. With extra time and penalties…who knows?
Ronan Briscoe:
I feel like we already know the basic script to this game, because it’s been played out the exact same way three times already.
In the three games in this series this year, Chattanooga won by a combined score of 4-1, despite being outshot by Huntsville to the tune of a combined 69-19 in favor of Sunday’s visitors.
The two games in Chattanooga this year? Huntsville outshot the hosts 50-12, and still lost both times by 1-0 margins.
Chattanooga this season is, to put it incredibly mildly, very comfortable without the ball. They make their living picking their spots to burst forward, and be the more efficient team in the final third.
Huntsville is going to have about four trillion shots in this game. Chattanooga will probably have few enough shots you can count them on your hands.
Who scores more of their opportunities? I’ve been wrong picking this game a lot, because the stat profile tells you that Huntsville is just dominating the game, every time, and yet Chattanooga finds a way. It is incredibly difficult to beat a team three times in one season. What about a fourth?
Give me Chattanooga 2-1, with Huntsville’s goal coming from Maximus Ekk.