After a weekend loss against the Eastern Conference’s best team in Columbus Crew, Nashville SC was able to bounce back with a 1-0 win against 10-man DC United.
Below are our player ratings for the match.
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 of our evaluation process.
- A rating of 6 denotes and 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 : Was a relatively quiet night for Willis, but he probably won’t complain. The clean sheet ties his career high in a season.
Taylor Washington – 7.5: Washington’s first career MLS start was a promising one, as he whipped in some teasing crosses that had to keep the DC defense honest.
Walker Zimmerman – 7.3: Zimmerman continues to be the anchor in the Nashville defense, as he was putting pressure on DC attackers and cutting off passing lanes well.
Dave Romney – 7.8: Solid in defense as always, and also had a couple of good looks on goal during set pieces. He also provided the assist to Daniel Rios for his first MLS goal.
Alistar Johnston – 7.5: DC United seemed to be targeting Johnston in their pressing efforts when he was on the ball. He had a few mishaps, but also provided a great ball in that set up the goal.
Dax McCarty – 7.3: McCarty sent a few great balls over the top, and also had an opportunity on goal with a half-volley that ended up going straight to the keeper.
Anibal Godoy – 7.8: Godoy had a few errant mistakes on the ball that led to some DC chances, but was still a rock in the middle of the park like always.
Alex Muyl – 7.3: Worked really hard on the flanks pressuring the backs and distributing. His engine and work rate are valuable traits that make him too important not to start.
Derrick Jones –8.2: An excellent performance from Jones. His dribbling at the defense was sublime, even if the final pass was missing, but him taking on the defense led to a number of opportunities due to being fouled outside the box, as well as drawing the red card.
Dominique Badji – 6.2: Started on the left wing and had some good runs, but was forced off early due to injury.
Daniel Rios – 8.2: Rios finally opened up his MLS account with a well-challenged header in the 70th minute. He also created a few great chances on his end prior, including a teasing free kick. Perhaps this is the goal that opens up the floodgates for Rios to start banging them in left and right?
SUBS
Alan Winn – 7.3: Came on in relief for Badji after his injury, and looked very threatening, including a header that should have been the first goal of the match.
Randall Leal – 7: Leal returns after a short inactive stint. He was once again lively in his efforts. If he’s fully healed by now, look for him to regain his starting spot on the left against Houston Dynamo.
Jalil Anibaba – 6.5: Came on late for defensive purposes to help preserve the victory.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 7.5: Smith’s side was in complete control throughout the match, but was missing the final product throughout the match. Normally, he would pull of his striker earlier in the match, but perhaps decided to leave Rios on due to depth concerns and Badji going off injured. His patience definitely paid off in a game that could’ve been labeled as must-win by some.
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!
