WHO: Nashville SC, 17W-7D-7L, 58 points, 3rd place, Eastern Conference
WHAT: a regular season USL Championship match
WHEN: Tuesday, October 8, 2019, 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: First Tennessee Park, 19 Junior Gilliam Way, Nashville, TN 37219
WATCH: A bunch of folks have made the trip to Music City to see the game. It’s fall break or somewhere thereabouts for lots of people with kids in school, so that helps. If you can’t get a leg up with that excuse, just call in sick tomorrow. NBD.
Failing that, you can watch the game on WBKI-58, listen on 840, and stream it on ESPN+. I don’t think there’s a watch party for this one officially, but keep an eye out on LouCity’s social media channels, or, perhaps better yet, just throw your own and invite me. I’m fun!
WHO, AGAIN? Nashville. Boring, stodgy, vanilla, unremarkable Nashville. Watching Nashville play soccer makes me think, “you know, Bob Lilley’s teams sure are entertaining.”
They’re actually better on the road than they are at home this season. Probably because their fans don’t travel.
They’ve got 14 clean sheets. Nothing says Nashville like plain old white sheets.
They wear yellow. Not yellow and black, or yellow and purple, or yellow and blue. Just yellow. No one looks good in yellow all the time. No one. Not even Beyonce, or The Man in the Yellow Hat. It’s not even an interesting yellow, it’s like the Sysco or Kroger-brand knock-off French’s Yellow Mustard yellow. It’s bad, is what I’m saying.
NSC, to their credit, generate most of their scoring chances in the 18, and put away a more than respectable 16% of their shots.
Daniel Rios remains a dangerous player and has hit the score sheet 18 times this season. Cam Lancaster might be regretting his career move down I-65 when he looks at his five goals this season, but then he probably checks his bank balance and feels a little better. Lebo Moloto is fun to say, and also is one to watch as he leads the team in chances created.
Nashville haven’t played in over ten days. LouCity just played on Saturday. That’s not ideal.
Maybe Akil Watts started on Saturday to give Pat McMahon enough time to get a ton of rest? That’s a possibility.
Is Paulo DelPiccolo ready to go 90 minutes? Or at least 65? We might find out!
I honestly wouldn’t hate seeing a 4-4-2 out there with Thiam and Spencer on top, as redundant as that might be. They’re fresh, and it could, in theory, take some of the pressure off a tired midfield. That could, also in theory, play right into Nashville’s boring, boring hands.
This is a big game, and the fact that Nashville is the opponent has nothing to do with it. I’ve never been so apathetic about a team that exists so close in proximity to Louisville as I am about Nashville. I have literally zero feelings about them, and you probably don’t either.
But this game is important because of the stakes. Win this match, and the draw against Tampa doesn’t matter anymore. City is back in the conversation for a Top Four finish and a home playoff game. Lose it, and all of the sudden you’ve got North Carolina and Ottawa Fury to worry about behind you. A draw would be okay, but it would also be an opportunity wasted.
No question this is a difficult position for our Morados to be in, but they’ve miraculously been gifted a chance to take some control of their destiny back after last weekend’s league results. It’s going to take a lot of focus, stamina, and guts to get three points out of Nashville’s yellow, dopey paws, but I think it’s possible. Let’s go do it.
VAMOS MORADOS.
