Josh Bauer

Right Back - Nashville SC
20 Jun 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Josh Bauer

44 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Hany Mukhtar out for 19 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nashville SC will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A falling-out at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Uriel Iehara gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Looking ahead

The leaders are next for Nashville SC

Inter Miami CF top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

Market

The Patrick Yazbek talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nashville SC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Josh Bauer asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Squad

Uriel Iehara still has not settled

A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Nashville SC would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.

The dugout

A door opens for Beau LeRoux

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Squad

Cristian Espinoza takes up the language

The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.

In brief

Back issues
40 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Hany Mukhtar out for 51 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nashville SC will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Nashville SC win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Toronto FC will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Market

Andy Najar asks to leave Nashville SC

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Elias Saad runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Transfer targets

Nashville SC baulk at the price for Dániel Gazdag

New England Revolution wanted more than $9.7M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Player ratings

Bryan Acosta scores twice — 8.10

Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Woobens Pacius wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Nashville SC know it.

Transfer targets

San Martín SJ tell Nashville SC: Luciano Riveros is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Nashville SC get the job done against Toronto FC

A 2‑1 win over Toronto FC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

39 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Woobens Pacius hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nashville SC can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

An offer of $9.5M for Dániel Gazdag

Nashville SC have gone to New England Revolution with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

The dugout

Khiry Shelton says Nashville SC went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

No end in sight to Nashville SC's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nashville SC has to find a result from somewhere.

Transfer targets

Uriel Iehara’s move to Nashville SC collapses on the table

Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Estudiantes; Nashville SC go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.

Boardroom

Nashville SC close the window on a squad of their own making

8 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

Nashville SC may not be able to give Cristian Espinoza what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Cristian Espinoza wants continental football; whether Nashville SC can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Transfer targets

Nashville SC rebuffed over Jordan García

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leon have kept their man, and Nashville SC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Appearance number 100 for Isaiah LeFlore

100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

In brief

37 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Nashville SC

0‑4 against Charlotte Football Club, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Market

Bryan Acosta puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Nashville SC, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Nashville SC sign DeJuan Jones for $6.0M

The paperwork is done: DeJuan Jones joins from San Jose Earthquakes in a deal worth $6.0M. Now comes the harder part.

Transfer targets

Jordan García is a medical away from Nashville SC

The deal with Leon is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

The terraces

The town asked, and Nashville SC paid $6.0M

DeJuan Jones was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $6.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.

Transfer targets

Colegiales tell Nashville SC: Rodrigo Monserrat is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The dugout

Edvard Tagseth gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

A falling-out at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Nashville SC dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief

33 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Patrick Yazbek puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Nashville SC, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Nashville SC bid $9.9M for Luca Langoni

The offer went to New England Revolution this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Kevin Kelsy

Nashville SC asked and Portland Timbers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Jeisson Palacios wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Nashville SC know it.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Nashville SC walk away from Frankie Westfield

$260.0K was the most the club would pay and Philadelphia Union were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Match

Hany Mukhtar the difference as Nashville SC beat New York Red Bulls

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hany Mukhtar. 1‑0 against New York Red Bulls, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Hany Mukhtar was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.39. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Squad

A falling-out at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Andy Najar left off the list on the foreign quota

A rule about passports rather than about football has decided he cannot play. Nashville SC had more of them than the form allows, and somebody had to be the name that did not fit.

In brief

31 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Too dear: Nashville SC walk away from CJ dos Santos

$6.8M was the most the club would pay and San Diego Football Club were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $4.3M sale of Jack Maher

He is going to New York Red Bulls, the club has $4.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Market

Jack Maher moves on

New York Red Bulls pay $4.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Transfer targets

Nashville SC make their move for Stuart Hawkins

$1.5M on the table at Seattle Sounders. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Home is on Hany Mukhtar's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Nashville SC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Jeisson Palacios wants to finish where he started

Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Nashville SC now know that too.

Squad

Woobens Pacius left off the list on the foreign quota

A rule about passports rather than about football has decided he cannot play. Nashville SC had more of them than the form allows, and somebody had to be the name that did not fit.

Squad

Tempers go at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets

Nashville SC try to borrow Gabe Segal

DC United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

29 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Nashville SC bid $3.7M for CJ dos Santos

The offer went to San Diego Football Club this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Isaiah Jones hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nashville SC can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

An offer of $1.9M for Beau LeRoux

Nashville SC have gone to San Jose Earthquakes with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Market

Jack Maher attracts admirers

The name of Jack Maher has come up in conversations Nashville SC were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

A falling-out at Nashville SC

Edvard Tagseth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

No place for Hany Mukhtar in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hany Mukhtar has his answer from Nashville SC; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bryan Acosta

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Transfer targets

Nashville SC try to borrow Chris Brady

Chicago Fire have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Squad

A season on the outside for Jeisson Palacios

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Nashville SC has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

24 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Josh Bauer in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nashville SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Adem Sipić stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Adem Sipić and Nashville SC agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Isaiah Jones gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

23 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Tempers go at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Cristian Espinoza knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cristian Espinoza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Aidan Dausch slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Aidan Dausch is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

In brief

22 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Woobens Pacius wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Nashville SC can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Squad

Words exchanged at Nashville SC

Edvard Tagseth and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

Cristian Espinoza asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

17 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A falling-out at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

No hiding place for Khiry Shelton

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Khiry Shelton, and the manager let it.

Market

The Edvard Tagseth story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edvard Tagseth signs something — a contract at Nashville SC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

16 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Hany Mukhtar hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nashville SC can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Josh Bauer in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nashville SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Bryan Acosta gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Market

The Patrick Yazbek question follows Nashville SC around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Patrick Yazbek’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Maxwell Woledzi called up by his country

A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Nashville SC that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.

The dugout

A door opens for Anthony Fontana

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

10 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Home is on Cristian Espinoza's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Nashville SC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Words exchanged at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bryan Acosta

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bryan Acosta, and the manager let it.

Squad

Nashville SC have started building around Zidane Yañez

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

The dugout

Anthony Fontana has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Anthony Fontana has written the date down.

The dugout

Xavier Valdez knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Xavier Valdez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

9 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jeisson Palacios has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Nashville SC can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Match

Nashville SC end the wait against New York City

It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

The terraces

Nashville SC supporters have found a favourite in Ahmed Qasem

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ahmed Qasem has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

Match

Nashville SC find a way past New York City

New York City made Nashville SC work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Elias Saad

Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

A falling-out at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Nashville SC

12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

A satisfied Brandon Sargent

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Brandon Sargent could afford to be generous.

Player ratings

Hany Mukhtar beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

8 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Nashville SC

7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Edvard Tagseth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nashville SC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Aidan Dausch arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aidan Dausch has, at Nashville SC, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Match

Inter Miami CF take the points off Nashville SC

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Cristian Espinoza runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Joe Willis gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Brandon Sargent: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Market

Nashville SC buy the years ahead of Aidan Dausch

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

The formation has left Aidan Dausch behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Nashville SC will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief

3 Edition

The Nashville SC Post

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Nashville SC through in the cup

A 0‑0 win over Chicago Fire, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Squad

Joe Willis decides it from twelve yards

1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

Player ratings

Hany Mukhtar beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Sam Surridge attracts admirers

The name of Sam Surridge has come up in conversations Nashville SC were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Transfer targets

Nashville SC rebuffed over Nelson Quiñones

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Houston Dynamo have kept their man, and Nashville SC go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at Nashville SC

Josh Bauer was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bryan Acosta

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

The dugout

Brandon Sargent on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Brandon Sargent after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Squad

The formation has left Anthony Fontana behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Nashville SC will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief