The grudge match between Nashville SC and Austin ended up as a 1-1 draw Saturday in Austin.
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 – 6.5: Only one save for Willis and conceded the equalizer five minutes after Nashville scored first.
Daniel Lovitz – 7.5: Made a key goal-line clearance that led to Nashville’s penalty opportunity and conversion. Also won two tackles and 75% of his duels.
Shaq Moore – 7.3: Moore continues to play excecptionally well on his right flank, hitting 67% of his crosses and had three tackles. Also won all four of his ground duels.
Dave Romney – 7.8: Won all six aerial duels and completed the most passes by any Nashville player (36), along with logging seven clearances.
Jack Maher – 7.8:  Filled in for the suspended Walker Zimmerman and put in a fine shift, logging two tackles and completing 75% of his long balls.
Dax McCarty – 7: McCarty’s clearance led to Mukhtar’s run and penalty conversion, so it won’t count as an assist on his end due to the nature of how the ball was played out, but he did set up the opportunity. Nashville’s captain also had one shot from afar that hit off the woodwork as well.
Sean Davis – 6.8: Completed 86% of his passes, but was not as involved on the ball, which continues to be an interesting trend over the past couple of games.
Jacob Shaffelburg – 6.5: Shaffelburg has cooled down a bit since his hot start in Nashville, but still had two good looks in the box, despite both shots being blocked.
Randall Leal – 6.3: Leal continues to be a catalyst for creating chances for the ‘Yotes, as he created two chances and completed 81% of his passes.
CJ Sapong – 5.8: Sapong not only extended his goal drought, but he also lost an astonishing 11 duels, with only one attempted shot. It might be time for Mike Jacobs and the front office to start looking into other options at the number 9 position.
Hany Mukhtar – 8.3: Made the run with the ball that set up the penalty shout and, as expected, converted on the opportunity. Mukhtar has now brought his tally of goals to 23, as the MVP and Golden Boot race heats up heading down the stretch.
SUBS
Alex Muyl (on 70’) – 6.5: Won his only ground duel and had two of his shots blocked.
Teal Bunbury (on 79′) – 6: Only won 20% of his aerial duels and completed 50% of his passes.
Eric Miller (on 86′) – 5.5: Completed his only pass after being brought on for defensive duties.
Brian Anunga (on 86′) – 5.5: Won his lone aerial duel during his limited time.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 7.5: Make that two straight draws for Nashville, but also make that six matches unbeaten as well for the ‘Yotes. All things considered, the match was fairly even, with Nashville holding the edge in xG (1.4-0.87). Smith seems to have his preferred formation locked in for the rest of the regular season. They’ll now welcome Club America to Geodis Park for a friendly before finishing things up against Houston Dynamo and at LAFC on decision day.
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.
