Preview: Nashville SC v New England Revolution

For the second straight match, Nashville SC scored three goals and extended their win streak to two matches. On Friday, New England makes their first visit to Nissan stadium as they look to bounce back from their 1-2 loss to the Philadelphia Union. Will Nashville be able to extend their win streak alive? How will Nashville cope with such short rest? Let’s take a look at that and what else we can expect from the match.


Nashville SC

On Tuesday night, Nashville picked up their second muli-goal win with a 3-0 win over FC Dallas. The win took the Boys In Gold to 8th place in the Eastern Conference, and only three points off 6th place. A win against New England puts them in pole position for a playoff finish. Performing well at home has been paramount for this team as they have yet to lose at Nissan Stadium. Can they keep that up against New England?

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Nashville has seen their offense improve over the past two matches with three goals coming in each of the past two matches. There have been a few deflections on some low percentage shots but Nashville is scoring.

Tonight against New England, Nashville will look to continue building on their offensive success. Unfortunately, they will be doing so without the services of Hany Mukhtar. After scoring a brace and getting an assist, Mukhtar will miss his second consecutive game with an undisclosed injury. Fortunately for Nashville, Randall Leal is rounding into form nicely, Daniel Ríos has returned from injury and Johnder Cádiz seems to rounding in to match fitness. New signing Handwalla Bwana will not be available as he is in the midst of the MLS-mandated 10 day quarantine process.

After playing a back three against Houston, Coach Gary Smith returned to his favored 4-2-3-1 formation. Going up against New England, Smith should continue to utilize the formation that brought him success against FC Dallas. The team will look mostly the same personnel wise with a few tweaks.

Tuesday night was filled with standout performances from Nashville’s attack and against New England will look to build on that success. Abu Danladi has done a good job filling in for the injured Dominique Badji and Daniel Ríos, but now that Ríos is healthy, I expect Danladi to make way for Ríos. Jhonder Cádiz is still gaining match fitness and should not be far off from starting but New England comes a bit too soon.  In the three behind Ríos, Randall Leal will line up on the left with Alex Muyl on the left. Behind the striker, Derrick Jones will continue to fill in for the injured Hany Mukhtar.

The return of the Aníbal Godoy and Dax McCarty partnership was a much welcomed sight against FC Dallas. They both do such a great job running the Nashville midfield and allowing the front 4 to press higher of the field. Nashville transitions much quicker with Godoy and McCarty.

At the back, we saw the reunion of the Daniel Lovitz, Dave Romney, Walker Zimmerman and Alistair Johnston. They continue to be the cornerstone of Nashville’s success on the field. The ensure that Nashville is able to at least be able to compete against every single opponent.


New England Revolution

The match between these two teams in Massachusetts was a hard fought affair headlined by some defensive performances on both sides. Tonight’s match should look a bit different. Nashville will come out and attack more by virtue of having fit strikers and New England have Matt Polster, Alexander Büttner, and Charles Gill back from injury.

While New England will have added dimensions to their team Gary Smith feels confident about what to expect from this New England team. “What we know is after an incredibly tough 90 minutes plus in New England, this group coming in have got all the qualities necessary to cause us a lot of problems. Well organized, they are an incredibly tough group, competitive, and with some really nice, creative dimensions to their team.”

Bruce Arena will continue to line up the team in his favored 4-2-3-1 and will look to be compact and hit Nashville on the break. They are a defensively solid team, allowing only 18 goals so far this season. Nashville will find it much more difficult to score against this Revolution team.

On the offensive side, Teal Bunbury and Tajon Buchanan have been in decent form and the offensive leaders over the past few matches especially while Gustavo Bou has been out. Though not listed on the injury report, Bruce Arena mentioned that he is still recovering from his injury but could return soon. Even if Bou is not fit, they have plenty of offensive threats.


INJURY REPORT

Nashville SC

NOT MEDICALLY CLEARED: David Accam, Dom Badji, Hany Mukhtar, Ken Tribbett

New England Revolution

NOT MEDICALLY CLEARED: Luis Caicedo, Cristian Penilla


POD PICKS

Ben Wright

Score: Nashville 2 – 0 New England
Scorers: Daniel Ríos, Randall Leal
MOTM: Randall Leal
Bold Prediction: Rios gets the start, and Leal picks up a goal and an assist.

Andy Simmons

Score: Nashville 1 – 0 New England
Scorers: Jhonder Cádiz
MOTM: Joe Willis
Bold Prediction: No shots on target for Nashville

Jonathan Slape

Score: Nashville 2 – 1 New England
Scorers: Alex Muyl, Jhonder Cádiz
MOTM: Randall Leal
Bold Prediction: Leal picks up both assists including a late winner from Cádiz.

Davey Shepherd

Score: Nashville 2 – 0 New England
Scorers: Daniel Ríos, Alex Muyl
MOTM: Dave Romney
Bold Prediction: Cádiz with an assist.

John Sloop

Score: Nashville 2 – 1 New England
Scorers: Jhonder Cádiz, Randall Leal
MOTM: Jhonder Cádiz
Bold Prediction: New England only gets two shots on goal.


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Match Info

Teams: Nashville SC (8th place, 6-6-6) vs New England Revolution (5th place, 7-5-7)
Date: Friday, 10/23/20
Time: 7:30 PM Central, Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tennessee
TV: MyTV30, ESPN+ (out of market)
Radio: 94.9 The Game 2 (English); El Jefe 96.7 (Spanish)
Forecast: 81°/52°. Scattered Thunderstorms. 60% chance of rain. 72% humidity.

Author: Jonathan Slapeoriginated from outside of Atlanta but has lived in Nashville since 2005. Original member of Speedway Soccer and has been talking and occasionally writing about Nashville SC since the USL days. Self proclaimed official fashion correspondent. Outside of Nashville SC you can find him singing the praises of Jurgen Klopp, discussing the latest in sneakers and soccer fashion with a good stiff drink.

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