The Boys in Gold (or Acoustic Blue in this case. Thanks, Tony Husband) traveled north of the border for the first time in their MLS history for a match, drawing 1-1 against Toronto FC Sunday.
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: Could not deal with the quick set piece and header accordingly, but still saved the other shot on target that came his way.
Dave Romney – 7.3: .The Dave Romney long throw assist finally came to fruition, but Romney also did well in his defensive duties per usual. He also had a clever assist on a cheeky flick as well.
Robert Castellanos – 8.5: It’s a shame that Castellanos’ only hiccup was losing Omar Gonzales that led to the set piece goal. Other than that, he was superb winning balls in the air and disrupting Toronto’s buildup with 14 clearances.
Eric Miller – 7.5: Miller has been quite the surprise at RCB, but he continues to impress. He won 75% of his duels and provided some great service to Johnston in space to spring the attack.
Taylor Washington – 7.8: Washington was a menace down the left flank and put in some superb crosses. Many fans called for him to be MOTM even though he wasn’t included in Nashville SC’s Twitter poll for the award.
Dax McCarty – 7: McCarty picked up a yellow on a tough tackle, but registered two other tackles.
Brian Anunga – 7.3: Anunga also put in some superb tackles, including one on Jozy Altidore as he was going towards goal.
Alistar Johnston – 7.3: What a testament to Johnston’s fitness that he was able to come in after playing 90 minutes of international soccer Thursday and put in a great shift down the flank, which included a diving header that was cleared off the line.
Hany Mukhtar – 7.8: Led the way with five key passes, and also had a header he unfortunately hit too hard into the ground that went over the goal on the bounce.
Randall Leal – 6.8: Had a pair of key passes himself. Leal actually led the side in XA with a .43 and was only behind Mukhtar (.66) in XG+XA with .49.
CJ Sapong – 6.5: Led the team in shots with three, including a superb header on target that needed a special save.
SUBS
Alex Muyl – 6.5: Was asked to replace Anunga in the midfield, which changed the formation a bit.
Jack Maher – 6.3: Stepped in to relieve Johnston and swap places with Miller at RCB to close out the match.
Ake Loba – 6.8: Loba had some good service during his limited time on the pitch. Sapong may be the man in form with Leal and Mukhtar, but don’t be surprised to see Loba crack the starting 11 sooner rather than later.
Jhonder Cadiz – 6.3: Cadiz is always good for at least one fantastic through ball each time he’s come on as a sub, which was the case again here.
MANAGER
Gary Smith – 7.3: The pros of the draw were that it was a point on the road with a somewhat depleted squad against a Toronto side that’s much improved from the last time these two have squared off (now five straight unbeaten matches including a victory against New England). The cons was that the three points were also there for the taking after Castellanos evened up the match and Nashville had plenty of chances to grab the match winner. Some will view this as a missed opportunity, while others believe this was a hard-fought point. Either way, a tough outing at New England awaits midweek.
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!
