Nashville 0-1 Seattle
May 16, 1997 — Ezell Park (Nashville, Tenn.)
Scoring Summary
SEA — Chugger Adair (78′)
Metros find spark, but not victory
(Nashville Tennessean, 05.17.97)
By Jim Wyatt
Brian Johnson hasn’t spent too much time with the Nashville Metros this season, but he likes what he has seen so far.
On loan from the Kansas City Wizards of Major League Soccer, Johnson arrived in town Thursday and started on defense last night in Nashville’s 1-0 loss to Seattle.
Today he’ll board a plane back to Kansas City, then catch another flight with his MLS teammates to play in tomorrow’s game at the New York/New Jersey MetroStars.
All the time in the air should give Johnson, 23, plenty of time to think about the opportunities his A-League teammates let slip away last night against Seattle (5-3), the league’s two-time defending champ.
However, Johnson is not discouraged after his second stint in Nashville this season.
“It’s a great situation,” said Johnson, who played at Fresno State with the Metros’ Mark Foster. “I understand they’ve had some trouble scoring goals but I know a lot of new guys played for the first time tonight … this team will get there.”
Before the biggest crowd (2,814) of the season at Columbia Soccer Complex, the Metros (3-2) showed signs of life offensively against a tough Seattle team. Still, after 500 minutes of regulation, the team has just one regulation goal to show for its work.
But until Seattle’s Chugger Adair scored with just over 11 minutes left, it looked as if the Metros would once again force overtime.
Meanwhile, Metros coach Greg Petersen seemed pleased with what he saw, even in defeat. Two of his new players, Aytekin Ozcan and Mourat Dahlal, created numerous scoring chances while another newcomer, Jamal Mitchell, showed explosive speed on the offensive end, nearly matching Adair’ goal in the final minutes.
“We’ve had some physical practices and our guys want to win,” Petersen said. “What we have to do is figure out a way to keep from beating ourselves.”
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