WHO: Nashville SC
WHAT: A meaningless preseason friendly, I keep telling myself
WHEN: Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: IMG Stadium in Bradenton, FL
WATCH: As far as we know, you can’t unless you happen to be in central Florida and can bribe the security guard to let you in. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck watching the clubs’ twitter accounts like the rest of us.
WHO, AGAIN? MLS’s newest mistake entrant, Nashville SC. No one in the Nashville soccer media could be bothered to write a preview of this match for me to crib from. That’s likely because they’re too busy agonizing over whether they’ll even have a club for much longer. Apparently Nashville’s mayor is holding up their stadium construction project to the extent that the club had to file a lawsuit for an injunction against him so they could get the project off the ground. In a statement a week ago, MLS commissioner Don “The Don” Garber told the mayor that Nashville wouldn’t have gotten a franchise from MLS if it wasn’t for the stadium. While that’s surely posturing, it might also be true!
None of this has anything to do with today’s friendly, it’s just yet another opportunity for me to laugh at Nashville’s general ineptitude as an organization. Let’s get down to business.
Today’s match is Nashville’s third of the preseason, and LouCity’s first. NSC’s first two matches were against Swedish side IF Elfsborg which finished 0-0 and against Chicago Fire which saw the fire win 3-1. Good thing they shipped Cameron Lancaster off to LouCity, what with all that goalscoring prowess.
Nashville seemingly ignored FC Cincinnati’s inaugural MLS season in 2019 and built their roster out of some USL holdovers and MLS also-rans. There’s some decent talent in the squad, like Daniel Lovitz and Dax McCarty, but not enough to make me think they’ll compete for a playoff spot in the ever-improving MLS. If this team scores more than 30 goals this season I’ll be surprised.
Nonetheless, Nashville is going to be a good test for Louisville City today. They’ll be organized defensively and will likely try to focus on creating chances when in possession. You could say that about literally any team for any game, of course, but Nashville has always struggled to create offensively under Gary Smith and there’s nothing out there yet that makes me think this season will be any different.
My brief attempt at scouting leads me to think NSC will roll out its traditional 4-4-2 and try to get a high center forward the ball from his deeper-lying counterpart. City will have its work cut out for them trying to find space between the lines in possession. We probably won’t see how any of this will work, but it’s fun to imagine.
We don’t know a ton about how City might roll out, but my ear perked up on Thursday when John Hackworth said Napo was playing at the six for City. VERY interesting, in that it frees up either Speedy or Niall to go hunt balls or draw defenders so the 10, wither that’s Bone or MagRam, to operate in space with three attackers in front of him. City has played like that fairly often, but not necessarily with a dedicated single defensive midfielder, and equally as often using a double pivot in midfield. Something to keep an eye on, maybe. If you’re in Florida, anyway. Which I’m not.
So: find a few of your finest ales, open up your Twitter platform of choice, and agonize with the rest of us for a few hours this afternoon! VAMOS MORADOS!
