Nashville SC’s return to action after an international break saw the Boys in Gold pick up a much-needed three points in a 1-0 win against the Columbus Crew Saturday.
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 – 7.3: Easily Willis’ best match so far in 2022. Had four saves and was wonderful in his positioning, denying the Crew opportunities at an equalizer on multiple occasions.
Taylor Washington – 7.8: Washington always seems to put in a great shift every time his name is called for the starting lineup. Not only did he provide the cross to Alex Muyl for his goal, but he also had four interceptions and was tough to get around on the flanks.
Dave Romney – 7.3: Romney stepped up his aerial presence with Zimmerman on the bench to start the match, winning 83% of his aerial duels.
Jack Maher – 7.8: Had to orchestrate the defense as the center of the back three and was assertive at the back with five clearances. He also completed an astonishing 97% of his passes and was really important in advancing Nashville’s lines.
Eric Miller – 6.5: Wasn’t great with his long balls, but did contribute a handful of clearances and registered a tackle.
Sean Davis – 6.5: Only won 43% of his duels, but did complete a couple of tackles and registered one key pass.
Brian Anunga – 7.3: Anunga’s first start in 2022 saw him register a couple of tackles and win 60% of his duels. A good outing for the backup midfielder who hasn’t seen much action early on with the addition of Sean Davis.
Alex Muyl – 8.0: Muyl was very composed on his back-post header which ended up being the lone goal on the day. He also performed admirably on the wings with a couple of clearances and made three recoveries.
Hany Mukhtar – 7.5: Probably has a goal to his name if his effort on goal is a few inches further after it hit the far post. Either way, it was still another tremendous outing for Mukhtar, completing two key passes and completing the most dribbles past the opposition.
Randall Leal – 6.0: Leal had one long effort from range that ended up resulting in nothing, but was good with his passing (83%). It’s been a quiet start to the season for Leal, but he’s still dangerous enough on the dribble that he could take off at any given moment.
CJ Sapong – 5.5: Sapong’s passing was quite subpar on the night, and only one of his two shots went on target. Could Gary Smith look elsewhere on his squad if Sapong puts in another below-average performance?
SUBS
Walker Zimmerman (on 71′) – 6.3: Making a short cameo after helping the United State secure its World Cup bid, Zimmerman logged a couple of clearances in an effort to help ensure Nashville’s victory.
Anibal Godoy (on 71′) – 6.5: Also making his return from international duty with Panama, Godoy got in for a few minutes to help clog the midfield and completed four of his five passes.
Luke Haakenson (on 81′) – 5.5:  Haakenson came in and logged only five touches, but did not do anything significant in his limited minutes.
Aké Loba (on 81′) – 5.8: Loba continues to come off the bench in limited minutes. Although Nashville was able to preserve the victory, the Loba conversation will continue to linger until he makes an actual impact coming off the bench.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 7.7: With two of his marquee players returning from the international break and a couple missing due to injury and suspension, we saw Smith rotate his squad for the first time this season and changed his tactics up a bit. The win should show that this squad has impressive depth, and they stood their ground despite being outperformed in xG (1.66-0.88). Regardless of the metrics, Nashville won the stat that mattered most, which was the scoresheet.
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.
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