Nashville SC ruined Colorado Rapids’ Rocky Mountain High, snapping their 23-game home unbeaten run with a convincing 3-1 victory 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.
Elliott Panicco – 5.7: Widespread Panicco continues to run rampant as he makes his first-ever MLS start. Had some decent saves logged, but ultimately could not complete the clean sheet when he let in the free kick goal. No matter, it will be interesting to see if Panicco continues to get more starts after the International break in relief of Willis.
Dan Lovitz – 6.5: Played the short pass from the flank to Hany Mukhtar in which Hany did the rest of the work with the incredible turn and shot.
Dave Romney – 6.3: Had no clearances and logged a couple of fouls. Not his best outing by any means, but he should be able to bounce back accordingly.
Walker Zimmerman – 7.3: Zimmerman scuffled his shot on target in the box in the early goings of the match, but it ultimately fell into Sapong’s lap for the easy tap-in at the back post, so he logs the assist.
Jack Maher – 6.8: Completed 86% of his long balls and had nine clearances. Also won half of his ground duels and 71% of his aerial duels.
Brain Anunga – 7.3: Anunga continues to get the nod in the middle of the park with his good form, winning tackles and recovering on the ball seven times. He even had a decent long-range effort from outside the box.
Sean Davis – 6.5: Davis was on cruise control by his lofty standards that he’s set. Although he logged no duels, he still completed 67% of his long balls.
Eric Miller – 6: Miller put in a solid shift on the flanks, whipping in some excellent crosses and even had a quality chance on target.
Hany Mukhtar – 9: Is there any number 10 that’s playing as well as Mukhtar in MLS? Two quality goals and might’ve had a hattrick if his other two chances break right. Regardless, he continues to terrorize defenders with his unpredictable dribbling and shots on target.
Luke Haakenson – 7.2: The break and buildup between Mukhtar and Haakenson for the third goal was sublime, as Haakenson dinked in a perfect cross to Mukhtar wide open in the box. Haakenson hasn’t had the most prominent of performances recently, but this performance should give him some confidence moving forward.
CJ Sapong – 7.2: Sapong was in the right place at the right time on the initial goal that started Nashville’s flurry of offense in the first 20 minutes. With five goals on the season so far, Sapong is on a good run of form. As always, we’ll have to see if he can consistently keep the form going.
SUBS
Dax McCarty (on ′74) – 6.3: Completed all six passes and both of his long balls, as well as had two clearances to his name.
Taylor Washington (on ′74) – 6:  Washington got dribbled past three times during his limited minutes. Did show some flashes of speed to get the ball back for Nashville on one of those.
Anibal Godoy (on ′82) – 5.8: Only had three touches in his limited minutes, but still played the enforcer role well in trying to secure the victory.
Ake Loba (on ’82) – 5.8:  Completed one dribble past a defender and both of his passes.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 8.3: Smith’s return to Denver saw his side snap the Rapids’ impressive home match run in convincing fashion. It certainly helps that Mukhtar and Sapong are firing in the goals, but he now has an embarrassment of riches in the midfield with all four of his selections playing well, which certainly help contribute the goals. Now an International break awaits before returning back to Geodis Park to face San Jose and Sporting KC, an opportunity to climb the Western Conference from both of those matches.
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.
