Nashville SC doused a visiting Chicago Fire side, blasting them 5-1 Saturday en route to their largest margin of victory so far this season.
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 – 6.8: Recorded three saves on the night, but was rather unfortunate to concede on the deflected shot that fell to Ignacio Aliseda for the tap-in.
Dave Romney – 7:  Romney remains the only outfield player who has played every single minute for Nashville SC this year, and he posted yet another solid defensive effort against a short-handed Chicago side. His only blemish was losing his man on the deflected shot that led to Chicago’s lone goal.
Jalil Anibaba – 7.3:  Anibaba has been a rock in the middle while Zimmerman has been away on international duty. More than anything, he does a lot of the commanding that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.
Jack Maher – 7: A much better performance from Maher on the right, who won 67% of his duels.
Daniel Lovitz – 7.8: Completed three key passes, including the cross to Hany Mukhtar for his second goal.
Dax McCarty – 6.8: Completed 100% of his passes in 65 minutes of play, an impressive feat considering his position in the middle of the park.
Brian Anunga – 8.3: Anunga’s finish on his first MLS goal was tidy, tucking it into the bottom corner from outside the box. Always a plus when your 6 gets on the scoresheet.
Dylan Nealis – 7.8: Recorded his first MLS start and assist with his pass to Anunga. We could potentially see more of him over the coming weeks with Alistar Johnston still on international duty for Canada in the Gold Cup.
Hany Mukhtar – 9.8: Fastest hattrick in MLS history and Nashville SC’s first hattrick in MLS. Yeah, enough said.
Randall Leal – 7.3: A rather quiet night for Leal, but it’s not like he was needed on this occasion.
CJ Sapong – 8.5: Sapong was excellent in putting pressure on Chicago’s backline, which resulted in a goal and assist for the number 9.
SUBS
Matt LaGrassa – 7: In limited minutes, LaGrassa recorded four tackles and was sound defensively as Nashville was trying to preserve it’s win.
Alex Muyl – 6.3: Got some minutes in after Nashville was comfortably ahead.
Jhonder Cadiz – 6.3: Brought in to relieve Sapong and recorded one shot.
Luke Haakenson – 6: Usually a super-sub off the bench, Haakenson didn’t need to make much of an impact considering the scoreline when he was introduced.
Abu Danladi – 6: Also an impact sub, Danladi just needed to see out the match with Nashville comfortably ahead.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 9: The 3-4-3 formation with the frontline playing extra tight together up top certainly seems to be paying dividends, at least for this match. Granted, it’s not every day your side has the fastest hattrick in MLS history, but Smith won’t complain. But, where was Ake Loba? This seemed like the perfect opportunity to make his Nashville SC debut and get some minutes under his belt. Guess we’ll have to wait until vs. FC Cincinnati for his debut.
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!
