Nashville SC striker Jhonder Cádiz arrives in Nashville

Designated player Jhonder Cádiz has arrived in Nashville at long last. The striker was signed by the expansion club on September 9, but delays with his paperwork and visa meant that Cádiz could not travel to Nashville immediately after his signing.

“Given the current climate and circumstances, he has to serve a quarantine period, as have a lot of guys that have obviously joined the league,” Nashville SC head coach Gary Smith said after their match on Saturday. “We hope that once that quarantine period is done, we can have him as part of the group, and it will be a much-needed shot in the arm, I believe, for everyone.”

Cádiz will have to quarantine before he’s able to train with Nashville, and hasn’t played a match since Dijon’s 2-1 win over Toulouse back in March.

“We’ll make sure that he’s in the right place,” Smith said on September 10. “We’ll get him in the 18 or 20 as quickly as we possibly can. But I want to make sure of course he’s in the right place. In terms of how that will affect the group, I genuinely hope that he hits the ground running, he mixes and creates a good relationship immediately with the players that we’ve got in the group.”

Nashville SC are currently short of options at the forward position. Dom Badji, David Accam and Abu Danladi all missed the match against Houston with injuries, and Daniel Ríos hobbled off with an apparent groin injury. Whenever Cádiz is able to get on the field, he’ll be a much-needed boost for Nashville.

Author: Ben Wrightis the Director of Soccer Content and a Senior MLS Contributor for Broadway Sports covering Nashville SC and the US National Team. Previously Ben was the editor and a founder of Speedway Soccer, where he has covered Nashville SC and their time in USL before journeying to Major League Soccer since 2018. Raised in Louisville, KY Ben grew up playing before a knee injury ended his competitive career. When he is not talking soccer he is probably producing music, drinking coffee or hanging out with his wife and kids. Mastodon

Comments

  1. So, how does his callup for International play affect this? Does he literally turn around and go back to VEN and then we get him back and he goes through quarantine again – so maybe back for play around the 24th?

    1. Hey Mike, he was called to the preliminary roster for Venezuela, but didn’t make the final squad, so he won’t have to worry about international duty this window. Gary Smith said on Thursday that he’ll start training on Wednesday, and he expects Cádiz to be ready to start pretty soon. It sounds like the first time we could see him would be Sunday the 11th against Sporting KC.

Leave a Reply