Louisville City’s 2-1 win over visiting Nashville SC is bound to be a confidence booster for the team. The home side rebounded from a 0-1 first half deficit to take all three points from a team just higher in the table and end a three match winless streak in style, thanks to Antoine Hoppenot’s game winner.
In spite of the unconvincing 3-4-3 experiment tried last week in Indianapolis, John Hackworth rolled with it again against Nashville with a nearly identical starting XI, changing only Luke Spencer for Cuatro (not positionally, of course). Nashville played the same formation, and frankly had the better of the run of play in the match leading up to Daniel Rios’s banger of a goal in the 14th minute. NSC would look a little dangerous the rest of the half, but Rios’s goal shot to the back post would actually prove to be their only shot of the entire half. Losing Lancaster to some kind of injury early certainly didn’t help matters for the Big Birds.
Speaking of personnel losses, though, Paolo DelPiccolo’s injury before halftime hopefully isn’t too much cause for concern. I saw him come out of the locker room after the first half noticeably limping on his left leg, but he wasn’t wrapped up or wearing a boot. I haven’t seen any print or video on his status, so fingers crossed for his speedy recovery.
With the captain and defensive midfield general out, Napo Matsoso moved a little deeper, Antoine Hoppenot came on to play on the wing, and Niall McCabe dropped centrally. It worked out fairly well, as Nashville didn’t score again and Toine scored the game winner. Hats off to Chris Hubbard for a big three saves in the second half, plus adapting to a formation change when Sunny Jane came on for Alexis Souahy about ten minutes after the whistle.
I think Hack’s 3-4-3 is borne out of necessity, as there isn’t really another fullback on the roster that can push play upfield as high as Morados can when Oscar and Shaun Francis are actually available. To compensate, he’s started Alexis, Paco and Taylor Peay as three center backs. It hasn’t actually been bad, but City has given up early goals in both iterations of the formation. Hack waited a little longer to switch back to a back four in this match, playing Peay alongside Paco when Sunny came in, and Niall sort of started playing stopper on the right as Magnus dropped in to try and partner with Matsoso in central midfield. Again, it wasn’t pretty, but it worked.
Let’s talk numbers. City completely dominated possession 65%-35%, attempted nearly 500 passes and completed over 80% of those, which is pretty good. Morados also were over 70% in the opposing half, also very good. For a supposedly defense-oriented team, Nashville didn’t do well at all to interrupt Morados’s possession, though after their opener and Lancaster’s exit, they seemed fairly comfortable with the idea of sitting back and absorbing pressure.
City took 16 shots in the game with five on target, while NSC attempted six shots with four on frame. As I mentioned, just one of those shots came in the first half, so while City definitely grew into the game after halftime, Nashville still had some decent opportunities.
I thought Peay and Paco had very good games. Peay had six tackles, won 12 of 17 duels, and Paco won 11 of 13, plus 8 of 9 in the air and (finally) a goal. Alexis was a little more anonymous but did create a scoring chance in his hour on the field.
Oscar had one of his better games, completing nearly 80% of his passes in Nashville’s half and creating five scoring chances, plus his assist on Paco’s goal. Niall quietly did quite well also, creating three chances of his own. Napo was probably my standout for the game, however, as he took over midfield once Paolo went out and completed over 90% of his passes in NSC’s half and won three of four duels in the air, plus a scoring chance.
Luke Spencer was a warrior up front, winning ten of sixteen duels and doing as much as he could to put Connor Sparrow under pressure with four shots. Ownby had the amazing assist on Hoppenot’s goal, but otherwise seemed to be kind of spinning his wheels. Magnus was asked to to a lot in this game and did most of it pretty well, the penalty miss notwithstanding. Toine was steady and had a fabulous finishing touch on the game winner, not to mention keeping the Nashville back line stretched so Luke had more room to roam.
All in all, a good result and a tough win for Morados. It wasn’t the best soccer you’re going to see from our Boys in Purple, but at this point beggars for points can’t be choosers and we’ll take it. Let’s go finish the drill on Sunday up in Canada.
