WHO:

Nashville SC, 2-3-2, 9 points, 9th place Eastern Conference

WHAT:

A USL regular season match

WHEN:

Sunday, Mothers Day, May 13, 2018, 18:00 (that’s 6:00 p.m., noobs) EDT

WHERE:

First Tennessee Park, 19 Junior Gilliam Way, Nashville, TN 37219. There couldn’t be a more Tennessee name for a road than one named for a guy who goes by Junior.

WATCH:

This was a game I was really lookin forward to attending until I figured out it was on Mothers Day. My wife, and the mother of my soccer loving children, is a wonderful person but has little to no interest in soccer herself. She loves Nashville, but getting her to take three or so hours out of her day to go watch soccer on Mothers Day was going to be a hard sell to begin with. But then, she started warming to the idea! Until she found out it kicked off at 6 pm, which would mean we’d be getting home at about 11 pm or so on a school/work night. So we aren’t going. But you should! You can still buy tickets!

If you can’t go, the game will be on WBKI 58, 840 WHAS, and ESPN+.

WHO, AGAIN?

Last time I wrote a Nashville preview, it was their first-ever game. We knew they were going to be defensive, but that’s about it. Turns out, that’s a pretty good description of their season so far: defensive, and that’s about it.

Nashville’s game plan against City at home is probably going to be pretty simple: gum up the midfield. It’s not a new tactic, and it can be very effective if you can pull it off. See, e.g., Indy last week, the playoff game against Rochester (RIP) last season, etc. Paolo and Speedy are fantastic USL midfielders, but if the opposing defense decides they’re going to double them both or force them to play facing their own goal, it slows down the Purples’ ability to transition from defense to offense when they play out of the back. As we will recall from last season, most of the time, City manages to just play their way out of those kinds of traps. However, when they don’t, you get games like last week and the Rochester (RIP) playoff match. I kind of doubt O’Connor is going to totally change the instructions he gives the team and deploy a totally new system or formation on Sunday, but I am interested to see how the team solves the “overwhelm the midfield” tactic once again.

Anyway, back to Nashville. They’ve scored five goals in seven games, and conceded the same number. Two of those came from City, so one has to respect only surrendering three in the following six matches. One interesting stat for them is that they’re just 40% on successful dribbles. I don’t think they really attempt a lot of one on ones, but when they do, they aren’t very good at it. That’s good for City, considering the banged-up defense. NSC’s also already conceded 95 fouls, which is in the top half of the conference.

Players to watch for are leading scorer Ropapa Mensah in the midfield, Alan Winn, and Lebo Moloto. Central defender Taylor Washington surprisingly/unsurprisingly leads the team in chances created. I don’t think that’s a good thing for them. City will be missing Richard Ballard for this match again. Shaun Francis is listed as questionable, which means he’s probably still getting around with the assistance of a Hoveround. No news about anyone else, but I don’t anticipate seeing Pat McMahon out there on Sunday, either, as much as I’d like it.

VAMOS MORADOS, VAMOS A GANAR!