Blog

Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC

While the talks around Nashville SC over the past few days have centered around next week’s matchup with Inter Miami CF in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the cost to occupy one of 30,000 18″ plastic seats for 90 minutes that evening, the focus of the squad is squarely set on its matchup with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night.

Fresh off a 7-0 thrashing on aggregate of Moca FC, Nashville showed a lively spark on offense that the club will need to carry into its upcoming match, the same spark that never ignited vs. Red Bulls in the MLS opener.

Nashville enters the match as the underdog, according to DraftKings Sportsbook (+215). The Boys in Gold dropped its final four matches on the road to conclude the 2023 season (including playoffs) with its last MLS win away from Geodis Park coming on September 20, 2023 at Sporting Kansas City. In that four-match span, Nashville scored once.

Here are three things to watch for as Nashville takes on Colorado:

1) Zimmerman, Lovitz Return

While Nashville squeaked out a clean sheet vs. Red Bulls in the MLS opener thanks to wonderful play from goalkeeper Joe Willis, the backline wasn’t exactly in top form. However, Walker Zimmerman subbed on late in the match as Gary Smith switched from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-5-2, and Nashville finally began to play with the ball at its feet. The Nashville captain then started his side’s match vs. Moca FC on Wednesday.

Left-back Dan Lovitz saw his first minutes of 2024 on Wednesday as well, a welcome sight after battling an injury throughout the offseason and throughout preseason as well. Both MLS veterans logged 62 minutes in the match, signaling both can likely play deep into Saturday’s contest, if not its entire duration.

2) Unanswered Questions Up Top

While Nashville’s defense received a recent boost, its offense has yet to be so lucky. Sam Surridge, Hany Mukhtar, and Randall Leal remain doubtful.

However, the breakout performance of 22-year-old striker and Duke University product Forster Ajago provides something for Nashville fans to get excited about on the attacking end in the future. Ajago bagged a brace and nearly earned himself a hat trick, but the Ghanian prospect came up inches short from converting a late penalty for his third goal of the match.

Ajago’s performance only serves to tease the Nashville faithful at the moment as the international player is currently ineligible for MLS competition. Nashville SC is out of international roster spots to award Ajago, and until it acquires another international spot or Ajago receives his green card, he won’t be able to appear in MLS matches.

It begs the question once again – with Teal Bunbury struggling to find the back of the net and few other options at striker for Gary Smith, who will score for Nashville SC? Jacob Shaffelburg? Tyler Boyd? Alex Muyl? Tactical adjustments will need to be made from last weekend to put these players in a position to score as the three combined for only three total shots vs. New York.

3) How Aggressively Does Nashville Play?

Nashville pressed the issue in both legs vs. Moca FC, scoring three and four goals between both matches. Obviously, Moca FC is nowhere near the challenge an MLS opponent presents and Nashville’s strategy will be significantly different against a domestic opponent. Will it open up aggressively and look to control the ball in Colorado, or if it will be content to sit back and defend without its stars up front?

Against Red Bulls, it seemed the trademark Gary Smith philosophy of defend and survive was the first option, but that changed in the second half after Nashville surrendered 62% of the ball and allowed 12 shots in the first 45 minutes of play.

Losing your two best attacking players certainly hampers the match plan, but Nashville looked significantly better in that second half vs. Red Bulls than it did in the first – which will we get to kick off Saturday’s match in Denver?

Scouting the Rapids (0 Pnts, 14th in West)

The Rapids were one of the more intriguing clubs entering 2024. After finishing last in the Western Conference a season ago with only 27 points, the second-fewest in MLS ahead of only Toronto FC, Colorado overhauled its roster in the offseason with the additions of several recognizable names such as the USMNT-capped GK Zack Steffen and LB Sam Vines, MF Lamine Diack on loan from top-flight French side Nantes, and MF Djordje Mihailovic on a club-record deal.

That excitement was extinguished rather quickly in its opening match at Portland Timbers. The Rapids conceded twice within 15 minutes and found themselves down 4-0 at halftime. Calvin Harris got one back for Colorado in the second half, concluding things at 4-1.

MLS had the Rapids ranked 20th in its power rankings heading into the season, then dropped the club to 29th after its disastrous Week 1 performance.

Projected Starting XI

Bunbury
Shaffelburg | Boyd | Muyl
Godoy | Davis
Lovitz | Maher | Zimmerman | Moore
Willis

Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC

Barring a catastrophic collapse on Wednesday night, Nashville SC is expected to cruise to a comfortable victory over Moca FC and advance to the Second Round of the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Nashville took care of business in the first leg of the matchup on the road by way of a 3-0 victory. Tonight, it will host the Dominican side at Geodis Park in the midst of a suffocating stretch that sees the Boys in Gold play four matches in 10 days to kick off the new season.

A victory sets up a rematch of the 2023 Leagues Cup final in the next round for Nashville vs. Inter Miami CF. Leo Messi’s Miami squad received a First Round bye as it was awarded the tournament’s third seed due to club rankings.

Here are three things to watch for during Wednesday’s match vs. Moca FC:

1) Commanding Victory

If there’s one thing Nashville fans want to see after its lackadaisical outing vs. Red Bulls last weekend, it’s a bounce-back performance in which Nashville gives nothing away. Not only would it be ideal, it’s expected.

Nashville comes in -20000 to win the match outright per DraftKings Sportsbook. In the first match between the two sides, Nashville controlled nearly 60% of the possession and peppered the goal with seven shots on target. Moca FC managed to steer one attempt on frame. Similarly, Nashville tallied 31 touches inside its opponents’ box while Moca managed only three.

Regardless of the lineup Gary Smith opts to deploy, the stats and scoreline should not be close when the full-time whistle blows.

2) Rotate the Squad

Again, Nashville finds itself in the middle of an exhausting run of matches to open the 2024 campaign. Expect Smith to heavily rotate the squad on Wednesday night and feature both young players and new signings.

With MLS threatening to pull out of the U.S. Open Cup, the tournament in which clubs regularly give their developing players competitive minutes, the Champions Cup could be one of the few opportunities for the likes of Amar Sejdić or Josh Bauer to crack the Starting XI.

3) Keep it Simple

Nashville SC is expected to win easily due to its massive talent advantage over Moca FC across the board. While it does hold a tactical advantage over the visitors as well, the talent disparity alone should be enough for Nashville to secure the victory. Don’t expect Gary Smith to run out with any out-of-character formation (besides maybe a 4-3-3 due to lack of depth up top at the moment with injuries to Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge) or the late substituting of key players.

The goal of this match is to get in and get out with an easy win, then shift sights ahead to Saturday when Nashville heads to Denver to take on the Colorado Rapids. Wednesday night’s win likely won’t be flashy, but it should be efficient.

Projected Starting XI

Bunbury
Shaffelburg | Muyl | M. Gaines
Sejdić | Anunga
Washington | Maher | Bauer | J. Gaines
Panicco

Up top, Teal Bunbury will likely see another start. There’s a good chance that Nashville GM Mike Jacobs, privy to the severity of Surridge’s injury, is making calls left and right to bring in another option at the striker position. But until then, the club is left without many options, the first of which is the 33-year-old veteran.

Nashville could easily line up in the aforementioned 4-3-3 formation in which Sejdić, Muyl, and Anunga share the middle plane, but of those three, Muyl is the most likely to advance higher up the pitch regularly and nestle between Shaffelburg and Gaines.

Across the back, we see Taylor Washington return on the left while Dan Lovitz remains sidelined with Jack Maher and Josh Bauer in the middle. There’s a chance Brett Kallman gets the nod over Maher, but a steady presence and veteran of the system at center-back goes a long way in coordinating a unified defense. Bauer makes his first start of the year at the neighboring CB spot while the 21-year-old Julian Gaines makes his Nashville debut at right-back, giving Shaq Moore an extra few days to recover.

Photo courtesy of Nashville SC

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The Boys in Gold opened up their MLS season with a 0-0 draw against the New York Red Bulls with the help of keeper Joe Willis putting on a clinic with four huge saves.

Nashville relied on Willis to keep the game scoreless while they were without 2022 MVP Hany Mukhtar and striker Sam Surridge. Both were injured during the team’s 3-0 Concacaf Champions League win against Moca FC.

The offense was extremely quiet, especially in the first half when NSC only attempted one shot. New York on the other hand took 12 shots along with three corner kicks. Fans got to see newly signed Tyler Boyd put in a lot of work to keep New York out of the Nashville net. In the second half, Nashville showed some offensive prowess, taking four shots and have three corners.

But it was Willis who came out as the star of the match. He made a massive save in the 44th minute on a shot from Emil Forsberg which would’ve found its way into the net eight out of 10 times. He saved another shot in the 63rd minute which he deflected off the crossbar. Without his efforts, Nashville may have walked away with a loss to start the season.

Despite the offensive struggles, Nashville showed that they can still be one of the best defenses in the league. Performances from Shaq Moore, Jack Maher, and Brian Anunga shined as NSC worked tireless to keep the ball in the midfield.

Walker Zimmerman and Anibal Godoy both came in halfway through the second half to help give a push on offense. This is when NSC saw its most opportunities but still failed to come up with a goal.

The obvious negative takeaways from the season opener were the loss of both Mukhtar and Surridge. The team needs to find a way to create offense without their two star scorers, especially if Surridge is out for an extended period of time. The team’s second biggest issue is speed. Outside of Jacob Shaffleburg, Nashville is incredibly slow. And without Fafa Picault this season, they will need to find someone on the bench or on the market, to add speed to the squad. If not, most of the play will take place in the midfield for at least 60 minutes per game.

Next up, Nashville hosts Moca FC for the second leg of Round One of the Concacaf Champions League on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 8:15 p.m. CT at GEODIS Park. No updates have been given on the status of Mukhtar or Surridge.

Photo: Courtesy of Major League Soccer

Nashville SC fans were treated to an impressive 3-0 win by their club over Moca FC earlier in the week in CONCACAF Champions Cup play, offering a glimpse into what the squad has to offer this season. Nashville looked aggressive, advanced the ball with ease, and played on the front foot throughout the full 90 minutes.

Considering Gary Smith’s tendency to play defensively and go long stretches without the ball, it was certainly a welcome sight. At times, goals have seemed to come at a premium for Nashville SC over the past four years, but Thursday’s performance seemed to signal a shift in tactical philosophy by the gaffer in his seventh season at the helm.

But that excitement and new-look attack came at a price.

Both Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge exited the match due to injuries, severely hampering the club’s potential offensive output. While Mukhtar appeared to be removed as a precautionary measure, Surridge was immediately taken to the locker room with an apparent shoulder injury. Surridge will likely be ruled out for Nashville’s opener at Geodis Park after scoring once for Nashville and assisting another goal at Moca FC.

Will the exciting and threatening attack that was on display last time out reappear in Nashville’s MLS debut, or will we have a match that feels lethargic between two perennial defensive powerhouses?

Recap Nashville’s 3-0 win over Moca FC here.

What to Watch For

1) Where will Nashville’s Offense Come From?

Should Surridge miss Sunday’s MLS opener, Nashville will need to quickly come up with an answer to this question. The forward group is thin, and we’ve seen that despite being one of the most talented players in the league, Mukhtar can’t shoulder the scoring burden alone.

Tyler Boyd was Nashville’s best player on Thursday night, and he will need to replicate that performance vs. New York. A solid shift from either Dru Yearwood or Jacob Shaffelburg opposite of Boyd will need to support the central-running Mukhtar to get on the board. A goal from Teal Bunbury wouldn’t hurt either, should he be Surridge’s replacement.

2) How will the Central Midfielders Link Up Play?

It’s no secret that one of the main reasons why Nashville SC struggled to play with the ball a season ago was its poor central midfield play. For as glimmering as Dax McCarty’s MLS career has been and may continue to be, he and Aníbal Godoy regularly failed to control the tempo of play and find the proper pass to advance the ball in 2023. While solid defensively, there was simply no creativity moving forward from that position.

McCarty joined Atlanta United in the offseason, leaving Godoy to likely pair with Sean Davis in the middle. The two will need to be at the top of their game to break down a stingy Red Bulls defense and control the rhythm of the match.

3) Will Zimmerman and Lovitz Go 90 Minutes?

Walker Zimmerman and Dan Lovitz both battled injuries throughout the offseason and through Nashville’s preseason, each playing only 15 minutes in the club’s final preseason match and zero minutes up until then. Both are questionable for Sunday, but should they appear in Smith’s Starting XI, do they have 90 minutes to give, or will we see more Taylor Washington at the left-back position and either Sean Davis or Lukas MacNaughton at center-back?

Scouting Red Bulls

There are plenty of question marks surrounding Red Bulls entering 2024. Sandro Schwartz was appointed manager of the club in the offseason after coaching for over a decade in Germany and Russia. Key departures for New York in the offseason included striker Tom Barlow and Omir Fernández, but the addition of attacking midfielder Emil Forsberg from RB Leipzig could prove to be one of the biggest MLS additions of the offseason.

Forsberg, a Swedish international, tallied 71 goals and 65 assists for the top-flight German side in 325 appearances across all competitions. New York is hoping that his addition alongside forward Dante Venzeir, who struggled mightily in his first season with Red Bulls in 2023, can establish some kind of attacking presence for a side that managed only 36 goals last season, the fourth-fewest in MLS.

A typical Red Bulls style of play closely resembles that of Nashville SC – very slow, featuring great defense in favor of a potent offense. Last season, New York conceded 39 times, the fifth-fewest in the league compared to Nashville’s MLS-leading 32 goals allowed.

Projected Starting XI

Bunbury
Boyd | Mukhtar | Shaffelburg
Davis | Godoy
Lovitz | MacNaughton | Zimmerman | Moore
Willis

With Surridge’s absence, Bunbury will likely serve as Nashville’s No. 9 up top. Expect him to frequently act as a Fale 9 with Mukhtar streaking forward with better pace than the the 33-year-old.

The winger position opposite of Boyd is a toss-up between Shaffelburg and Yearwood, as is the other center-back position alongside Walker Zimmerman. Shaffelburg’s finishing will be needed to compensate for the aging Bunbury up top, while Yearwood’s speed and defensive acumen likely pair better with the more explosive Surridge manning the striker position.

While either Davis or MacNaughton could get the start at center-back, we project MacNaughton here based on preseason minutes played.

Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC

For the first time this year, fans got to see Nashville SC in competitive action on Thursday night when the club took on Dominican Republic side Moca FC in the First Round of the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup. Nashville entered the match as the clear favorites and Gary Smith’s side lived up to the billing, winning the contest comfortably by a 3-0 margin.

With so many new faces in the squad, fans were excited to see what this younger, pacier squad would look like outside of preseason play, and here are four takeaways from the long-anticipated 2024 club debut.

1) Chemistry Up Top

There wasn’t much time for Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar to get on the same page a year ago with the former being acquired by Nashville SC in July 2023. This past offseason allotted time for the two to develop some attacking chemistry, something the club had been missing since it dealt C.J. Sapong to Toronto FC last April.

Although Mukhtar was subbed off before halftime, the spacing and anticipation between him and Surridge were noticeably improved from last season. The two combined twice for two goals in just 25 minutes, both emerging from perfectly-timed runs by their teammate. The spacing between Mukhtar and Surridge remained consistent throughout their shared time on the pitch as well, splitting drop-back duties off the ball and drifting into dangerous areas.

After Nashville managed to score in just one of its final seven matches a season ago, clear interplay improvement was shown between Nashville’s key men up top on Thursday night.

2) Boyd, Yearwood Sparkle on Wings

Nashville’s two new wingers brought in during the offseason were both brilliant. The argument can be made that Boyd was the best player on the pitch. Not only did he bag his first Nashville goal, but Boyd threatened the opposing goal relentlessly. He created four scoring chances, logged 10 touches inside Moca FC’s box, and concluded the evening having completed 88% of his passes.

Opposite of Boyd was Dru Yearwood who combined expertly with full-back Shaq Moore from the start of the match. Yearwood found his forward counterparts consistently throughout the match, created one scoring chance, and his ability to get back on defense to support Moore was key. Yearwood made six recoveries and won four of his five tackles.

3) Speed And Aggression

In the past, Gary Smith has been happy to sit back and play for nil-nil. That did not appear to be the case on Thursday.

Smith’s squad played quickly from the first minute and never looked content to sit back. Again, the quality of the opposition and the nature of the competition likely played a factor, but Nashville kept its line high and tackled aggressively. Full-backs Shaq Moore and Taylor Washington engaged in more challenges than they backed out from, and Nashville’s counterplay looked as good as it ever has.

4) Early Injuries Threathen MLS Opener

Time for the bad news. Despite how well Mukhtar and Surridge played on Thursday night, both men left the match with apparent injuries.

Mukhtar was the first to exit after going down off the ball in the 35′ minute. Luckily, the former MVP walked off without assistance, made his way to the bench, and was replaced by Jacob Shaffelburg. Surridge, on the other hand, was taken to the locker room after suffering an apparent shoulder injury in the 53′ minute, as reported by Valair Shabilla.

Nashville SC is already thin at the forward position, causing concern with only three days until the club kicks off the MLS regular season vs. New York Red Bulls.

Goals

12′ Hany Mukhtar (assist: Sam Surridge)
25′ Sam Surridge (assist: Hany Mukhtar)
76′ Tyler Boyd

Lineup

Surridge
Boyd | Mukhtar | Yearwood
Davis | Godoy
Washington | Maher | MacNaughton | Moore
Willis