RCU Travel To Chattanooga To Face New Champs

Rocket City United will make their way up Route 72 to Chattanooga tomorrow night for their regular season finale where they'll take on the newly crowned NPSL Southeast Region champion in front of a raucous crowd expected to reach nearly 4,000 at Finley Stadium.  Chattanooga FC locked up the title with a 3:2 win over Pumas last weekend and booked their ticket to the NPSL Final Four to be hosted by RCU at the Madison City Schools Stadium from July 29-31 .

Chattanooga's hopes of an NPSL championship took a major hit, however, as star forward Chris Ochieng suffered a broken ankle during training Thursday night.  Ochieng has been a big part in the success of CFC this year scoring 5 of the Blue's 15 total goals.  The team will now have the RCU match and an exhibition match against MLS club DC United's Under 20 squad to work on the strike partnership of local Chattanooga players Luis Salazar and Ivin Espinal before the NPSL Final Four.

In the meantime, RCU will travel up to Finley Stadium hoping to remain unbeaten against CFC, but will face a Chattanooga team that is intent on changing the recent history.  “Rocket City is consistently a tough opponent for us,” CFC coach Brian Crossman told the CFC website. “We’ve never beaten them before, so our guys are pretty motivated for this one.”

If you've never gone to an RCU away match, this would be the one to attend.  RCU's traveling contingent will be meeting prior to the match at the Big River Grille (222 Broad St. next to the aquarium) for food and drinks at 5:30pm Eastern.  If you can't make it to Chattanooga, you can follow the action on Chattanooga's ESPN affiliate, 105.1 The Zone.  Follow the link and click the the listen live button to hear John Moran and myself join a true radio professional, Nick Bonsanto, call the came.  The game kicks off at 6PM Central.

Finely Stadium before kick-off.  Big-time atmosphere!

Finley Stadium is the best atmosphere in the NPSL with a rowdy bunch of supporters who consistently sing and beer stands in the seating area to provide the consumer a view of the action while they wait to be served.  Chattanooga leads the league in attendance, averaging over 3,000 per match and would like to get over 5,000 for the RCU match.  Chattanooga's NBC affiliate WRCB a nice little video of what you can expect at the game on Saturday.