Chattanooga Football Club seeks win on Knoxville Force field

photo Chattanooga Football Club coach Bill Elliott

New Chattanooga Football Club coach Bill Elliott said he liked the play of his soccer team overall in last week's 1-0 season-opening loss to the Knoxville Force. It was the result that still had him grimacing Friday.

Tonight, CFC will try to pick up its first win, and hand Knoxville a home loss, at the University of Tennessee's Regal Stadium. To get that win, CFC needs goals, which it could not get last week despite a 19-3 shooting advantage.

"We've got players that are technical and athletic and can pass the ball very well," Elliott said. "I think the one question mark that remains to be seen for us is, can we score goals? We created opportunities to score goals, and I think we're going to continue to create opportunities."

CFC is a tenth of the way through its 10-game National Premier Soccer League schedule. The Southeast Conference is split into East and West divisions this season, with the winners of each meeting in a championship game for a spot in the Final Four.

Tonight's game isn't a must-win, Elliott said, but at the same time there isn't a great deal of margin for error.

"It's important. We don't know what the other teams looks like, so to say either one of us [CFC or Knoxville] can run the table afterward is probably unrealistic," he said. "Is it a must-win game? I don't think so, really, from a league standpoint.

"I know the players and the coaching staff are going to be very disappointed if we don't get a result. We're all very hungry to right the wrong, as we see it."

CFC wasn't at full personnel strength in the first meeting with Knoxville, and it won't be tonight. Elliott said it will be hard for the club to be at its best until everyone is available and has spent a lot of time on field together.

"We learned a lot about individuals [last week] and sometimes played as individuals, which is understandable since some of the guys arrived on Friday and played on Saturday," Elliott said. "I don't know that there's another minor league sport around the world where that happens."

CFC visits the Mississippi Storm next week and hosts Rocket City United on May 26.

Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.

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