Nashville SC welcomed a star-studded LAFC to Geodis Park, losing 2-1 Sunday night.
Below are our player ratings.
Each member of the Speedway Soccer crew gives each player that saw the pitch a rating based on their match performance. Below is a quick guideline for our evaluation process.
- A rating of 6 denotes an average performance. Each player starts out with a 6 and their performance either adds or subtracts from that rating.
- Scores are determined after re-watching the match and looking at the stats, and are the averaged total of each Speedway member’s ratings.
Joe Willis – 5.3: Had some quality saves, and the two goals he conceded weren’t his fault by any means, as the defense in front of him did him no favors.
Dan Lovitz – 5.3: Did his normal offensive contributions with two key passes, but only won one ground duel the entire match.
Jack Maher – 6.3: Maher completed the most passes out of any Nashville player, but he was also responsible for both LAFC goals by not clearing the ball properly on the first and getting caught ball-watching on the shot off the post for the second.
Walker Zimmerman – 7.3: Zimmerman was quite involved in making sure the LAFC attack was in check as much as possible, logging four clearances.
Eric Miller– 5.3: Mistimed his jump on the cross that led to the second goal. Miller’s recent performances as a right back have been somewhat streaky, but that could change soon….
Dax McCarty – 5.8: Did a good job controlling the midfield with his linkup play, but that point blank miss he had will certainly haunt him.
Brian Anunga – 6: Completed 92% of his passes and actually had some decent forward runs with the ball at his feet to set up some attacks.
Alex Muyl – 5.5: Muyl was pretty reckless all match up until his departure with some pretty stiff challenges, which led to his yellow.
Randall Leal – 6.8: Leal continues his solid play with his dribbling and two key passes. He also worked hard at winning the ball with two tackles.
Hany Mukhtar – 7.8: Mukhtar continues his good goal-scoring form with his 12th of the season by converting on the penalty opportunity given to him. Surprisingly, he had the least amount of touches of any Nashville SC player, but perhaps that was part of the LAFC defensive game plan to mark him tight and limit such opportunities.
CJ Sapong – 5.7: Sapong was quite lively this match, getting on the end of a few crosses, and drawing the penalty on a corner kick. However, his goal drought has now extended eight matches, and there are some legitimate concerns about him moving forward as Nashville’s number 9 given the nonexistent goal form.
SUBS
Teal Bunbury (on 69′) – 5: Bunbury once again put in a subpar performance, not providing enough of a spark for Nashville coming off the bench when they were down a goal.
Sean Davis (on 69′) – 5.5: Only had 10 touches on the ball, but did complete one long ball.
Ake Loba (on 81’) – 5.3: Loba did have one shot upon his entrance, but it was blocked.
Luke Haakenson (on 81′) – 5.8: Completed both of his passes, but was a nonfactor due to entering the match so late.
Taylor Washington (on +90′) – 5.3: Only on for a few minutes, so did not make too much of an impact.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 4.8: Smith’s side matched up really well with LAFC in the first half and had some really excellent buildup play, but in the second half, they never seemed to recover from conceding that early goal and barely got any promising looks at the target. Even so, his substitutions had little impact on the match as a whole. With the Shaq Moore deal basically being reported as being wrapped up, that will certainly provide some help, along with other potential reinforcements being rumored. Now, the Boys in Gold face a trip to a suddenly resurgent FC Cincinnati Saturday.
What say you? Do you agree or disagree with our match ratings? Feel free to reach out to us on Twitter and let us know your thoughts.
