LouCity drops friendly to Nashville 1-4
Nashville SC head coach Gary Smith apparently used my match preview yesterday as bulletin board material as his squad put four goals past Morados yesterday at IMG Academy. The Walking Bananas got on the board very early on, and were up 2-0 before Abdou Mbacke Thiam cut the lead in half before the break. Nashville put two more in during the second period and that’s how it ended.
Hackworth started a, shall we say, interesting eleven for the first half:
I was pretty excited about this group, actually, and would have loved to see how they played. The second half starters were the more traditional group:
We know Elijah Wynder got some time, too. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that whoever’s down there trialing with the team also saw some minutes. Who they are, how much time they got, and how they played will remain a mystery, unfortunately. Also, it’s a little odd that Rasmussen isn’t on either list. I hope it’s either an omission or he just was held out for a knock. Same with Lancaster.
It’s a preseason game, and results don’t matter. Given the fact that so much of the roster are returnees, you could be forgiven for wondering what’s new about Hackworth’s system or philosophy that they need to learn. However, the game is always changing, and the USL is getting better every year. I have some confidence that Hackworth is trying to install some new ideas and patterns of play for 2020. Preseason games like this one are good opportunities to see those ideas in action. The man himself said as much:
We definitely corrected some aspects of what we did against D.C. United here today and that showed, specifically our re-press. Some of our reactions today were excellent at the end of the first and beginning of the second half. And those are some things we can build on.
LouCity press release 2.9.20
He also believes the boys have some work to do on transitions from attack to defense, something that has plagued this group for years now:
The boys are hitting Ali International Airport today at 4 if you want to come welcome them home, bee tee dubs!
Other stuff:
- Birmingham City fans recently discovered Birmingham Legion existed and appear to be having lots of fun with it online.
- Sporting KC II finally announced a preseason roster, and it’s predictably filled with names you won’t recognize, plus Christian Duke.
- On Friday, LouCity announced two more preseason friendlies, on Tuesday, February 25 at Thurman-Hutchins Park against Forward Madison and Saturday, February 29 at UK’s Bell Soccer Complex against the Wildcats.
