Some years ago, I had a roommate who—seemingly out of nowhere—made a spontaneous decision to become a Detroit Lions fan for the year. She found the local bar where the other Lions fans get together to watch games, and she went to every single one of them. And she had a really good time! This was thought-provoking for me. In spite of the fact that I was raised in a super sports-heavy culture and was even an NCAA Division 1 athlete in college, I have never been all that into sports as a fan.

But when the pandemic started, I decided to change that. I decided to become a soccer fan.

Huge shout-out to my dude Chris who has graciously educated me on the beautiful game. At this point, I am IN IT!

At a time when the world was shut down, my social calendar was suddenly blank, and international travel was definitively off the table, soccer not only put things back onto my calendar (thus providing some uplift and structure to my bleak new reality) but also provided a natural point of connection not only to people in my own community but to the international world at large. I started by following Serie A (the Italian league) but quickly branched out to follow Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany), Champions League / Europa League (pan-European all-star leagues), and eventually, the U.S. League (MLS).

To the unindoctrinated, the European leagues are where all of the world’s top-flight teams and players are generally located. MLS is perhaps only the ~10th most competitive league in the world right now, depending on who you ask. But, regardless, it’s still fun to go to MLS games! Soccer is growing fast in the U.S., and MLS is getting more compelling every season, with beautiful new stadiums being erected and major European stars being lured in with increasing frequency.

Because soccer and travel are natural bedfellows, I’m going to start documenting all of the different soccer-related experiences I have around the world on this blog. And that’s going to start at the newly opened Geodis Park in Nashville, Tennessee where I got to see some of those aforementioned stars play in their first MLS games.

MLS Debut: Gareth Bale + Georgio Chiellini

⚽️ Nashville SC v. LAFC
📍 Geodis Park, Nashville, Tennessee

To start, let me tell you who these guys are.

The Welshman Gareth Bale has been one of the most notable players in the world since the late 2000s when he transferred from Southampton to Tottenham Hotspur. This was before my days of fandom, but I think he really became a star after his 2013 transfer to Real Madrid. His is a name that American kids grew up knowing, mostly likely, thanks to the FIFA video games. He’s a big deal. But he’s getting older now and hadn’t been playing much at Real Madrid anymore, so ahead of his appearance in the 2022 World Cup, he made a surprise transfer to LAFC. Honestly, the golden age of Gareth Bale was a bit before the start of my fandom, but this was a huge “get” for MLS! You can find his insane highlight reel here.

UPDATE: Gareth Bale announced his retirement from the sport on January 9, 2023, so it looks like this was one of the last chances to see him play. I’m extra glad I made this happen now.

Before his transfer to LAFC, Giorgio Chiellini was both the captain for Juventus, and for the Italian National Team. During his time at Juve, they won the Scudetto 9 years in a row. And in spite of somehow being knocked out of the Qatar World Cup running by North Macedonia, his Italian squad won the 2020 Euros the year prior. I don’t like Juventus, but I am an Italy fan and I freaking LOVE Chiellini. The dude is hilarious. At Juve, when asked about his working relationship with his fellow defenders, he was quoted saying “I know Bonucci better than I know my wife.” 😂 Another one of my favorite Chiellini moments was his infamous yank of Bukayo Saka in the 2020 Euros. Perhaps not the classiest move, but given the situation, it was definitely worth the foul and Italy was better off for it. Afterward, he said “It was probably one of the only mistakes I made during the Euros … my reaction was to grab him. And I grabbed him good!” This was so hilariously flagrant that I’m not sure it was a mistake, but he took the penalty like a champ and hearing him own up to this made me laugh.

So, starting in the summer of 2022, both of these guys became MLS players for LAFC. And I was very lucky that their very first games with LAFC both happened to be played 15 minutes away from my apartment in Nashville, Tennessee. We balled out and bought some more expensive than usual tickets for this match behind the LAFC goal. This put us closest to Chiellini during the first half, and closer to Bale when he was subbed on in the second half.

It was oppressively, uncomfortably hot during this game. And the humidity was so intense that we were all dripping in sweat before we even walked into the stadium. But it was well worthwhile to see these legends play. I felt like I was learning life lessons about leadership watching the way Chiellini interacted with his teammates on that field. Regardless of their MLS allegiance, half of the crowd went nuts when Bale was subbed in… and the other half—who just came to watch a random MLS game—had no idea who he was. But it was clear that every single player on that field knew exactly who he was because, the moment Bale stepped on the pitch, you could feel the whole dynamic shift. In the end, LAFC won this game, and later the entire MLS season.

MLS Debut: Lorenzo insigne + Federico Bernardeschi

⚽️ Nashville SC v. Toronto FC
📍 Geodis Park, Nashville, Tennessee

Again, let me tell you who these guys are.

Lorenzo Insigne is a Left Winger who played for and eventually captained Napoli for a full decade between 2012 and 2022, scoring 122 goals in 433 games. Standing at only 5’4, he’s a small dude. To give you an idea of just how small, check out this hilarious shot of him shaking Lebron James’ hand. However, in the world of Italian soccer, this guy casts quite a long shadow. During his tenure at Napoli, they were runners-up for the Scudetto 4 times and won the Coppa Italia twice. However, his biggest achievement was probably winning the 2020 Euros alongside Chiellini. When he transferred to Toronto FC, I was stoked to see him play. I had this game on my calendar 6 months in advance.

Federico Bernardeschi is definitely the least notable of these 4 players, but because I am an enthusiast for all things Italian, it was a nice bonus that he transferred to Toronto FC at the same time as Insigne. In following Serie A, I had been watching him play alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and the aforementioned Giorgio Chiellini at Juventus for some time. Prior, he played for Fiorentina, which is also a notable team. He was also on the victorious 2020 Euro squad for Italy alongside Chiellini and Insigne, which is huge. So, after all that, he was poised to make a huge impact in MLS, even if he was relatively unknown outside of the Italian sphere.

It was a gorgeous summer night in Geodis Park and Insigne and Bernardeschi did NOT disappoint. Bernardeschi scored on a penalty kick, and Insigne scored his first MLS goal with a sick long-distance kick to help Toronto edge out Nashville in a 4-3 victory. That is a super high-scoring game in soccer, so it was a really exciting match. It didn’t go Nashville’s way, but whatever. Nashville is not my primary MLS fandom, and they still made the playoffs that year.

Soccer is fun. I would recommend it.

In terms of my MLS allegiance, I believe I am honor-bound to support my hometown’s team: the Columbus Crew. But I have been having a good time going to Nashville SC games. I will always have some affection for Nashville SC, and their brand new stadium, Geodis Park, is actually awesome. In the future, I hope to do articles on some of the iconic soccer stadiums from around the world, but I think this article is an appropriate start to that series.

For the track of the day, here’s the official song of Nashville SC. Judah & the Lion (one of Nashville’s favorite exports) wrote this song custom for Nashville SC, and win or lose, the whole stadium sings this at the end of each match. It’s very cool.