Nashville capped off a two-match home stint with a 1-1 draw against Orlando City SC Wednesday.
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: Had two spectacular saves, including one at full-stretch on a header from Akindele.
Dave Romney – 7:  Had a late chance cleared off the line in addition to his usual exceptional defending.
Walker Zimmerman – 7.3:  Made his first start for the Boys in Gold since July 3rd and picked up right where he left off, winning plenty of headers in the box and also had a 1-on-1 stop that could’ve resulted in an Orlando game-winner.
Jack Maher – 6.8: Had a couple of blocked shots, but had to pick up a missed marker on the set-piece that ultimately led to Orlando’s equalizer.
Daniel Lovitz – 6.8:  A rather underwhelming showing for Lovitz by his standards, only winning 43% of his duels and completing 70% of his passes.
Alistar Johnston – 7: Won 71% of his duels and was also in contention for a penalty shout that was ultimately ignored.
Brian Anunga – 7.8: Anunga was excellent in the midfield with his challenges, and also tied Mukhtar for key passes with three on the night.
Anibal Godoy – 7: Tied Anunga in passing accuracy for players that played over 45 minutes at 94%.
Hany Mukhtar – 8: Provided the pass for Sapong on the break for Nashville’s goal. He also had a free kick at an acute angle go off the crossbar.
Randall Leal – 6.8: Leal progressive dribbling caused problems for Orlando throughout the match, and had a few low crosses into the box that was ultimately cleared, but still dangerous.
CJ Sapong – 8: Scored the lone goal on an intercepted back pass and give-and-go with Mukhtar for his ninth of the season. Hard to find another forward in MLS that’s in the same form as him right now.Â
SUBS
Dax McCarty – 7: Put in a really strong shift off the bench winning balls and distributing them accordingly. He’ll, unfortunately, miss the next match due to yellow card accumulation, but the foul he had that drew the yellow might’ve saved the match.
Alex Muyl – 6.5:  A quiet showing for Muyl off the bench after his two goals Sunday against DC United.
Daniel Rios – 6.8:  Put some real pressure on the Orlando backline, but didn’t create any real chances on goal after his introduction.
Taylor Washington – 6:  Was given the green light to push forward as a right wingback, with Johnston slotting into the center back slot, and had some good progressive passes.
Ake Loba – 6:  Was only given a few minutes to try and score the equalizer, which wasn’t enough time to make his impact.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 6.8: A surprising result considering Orlando City was missing offensive threats Nani and Darryl Dike, but Smith seemed to wait too late to respond with the proper firepower in Ake Loba after his side conceded the equalizer. Nashville’s newest DP was only given a few minutes to try and help produce a late winner, and even then, it seemed that the side was really struggling to put away the match with a few great chances even before Loba’s introduction. Nashville now gets a bit of a break until their next match (August 28 at Atlanta United), but they might be kicking themselves on another missed opportunity that resulted in a draw.  Â
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!
