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?
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.
Nashville scored off a couple deflected goals off low probability shots against Dallas. After a slow start to the season, Nashville has started to see its goals:xG ratio creep up towards 1 as their "luck" has improved as shots are finding the back of the net. #EveryoneN https://t.co/JKpcfjBvU4 pic.twitter.com/JgWqW2Vb5m
— Eliot McKinley (@etmckinley) October 21, 2020
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 RÃos 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 RÃos, but now that RÃos is healthy, I expect Danladi to make way for RÃos. 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 RÃos, 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 AnÃbal 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 RÃos, 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 RÃos, 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.
Have a prediction for this week’s match? Vote in our Fan Forecast.
After two straight wins, #everyoneN welcome #NERevs to town as the look to move up the table. Vote in our #FanForecast, and reply with your Bold Prediction.
— Speedway Soccer (@SpeedwaySoc) October 22, 2020
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.
