Match Recap: Nashville SC come unglued, lose 3-0 to Seattle Sounders
In the mid-afternoon sun of Seattle, Nashville SC looked to defeat the home Sounders and further climb up the Eastern Conference table. They did not. A barrage of first half goals proved the difference, and the gap was too large for the Boys in Gold to claw back from.
Let’s look at why.
Before we do, however, apologies for not getting your match preview ready before the game, had some technical issues with my Macbook, ended up having to re-install the OS. Shouldn’t be a problem moving forward.
The Lineup
Just one change was made to the side that beat Real Salt Lake a week ago. Eddi Tagseth got a well-earned rest, with Patrick Yazbek taking his spot next to GastĂ³n Brugman in midfield.
The frontline was, yet again, unchanged as Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge were flanked by Alex Muyl and Ahmed Qasem. At the back, things were unchanged from a week ago, as Jeisson Palacios made his second successive start alongside Jack Maher, Andy Najar, and Dan Lovitz, with Joe Willis in goal.
Off the bench, the trio of Jacob Shaffelburg, Josh Bauer, and Eddi Tagseth entered at halftime. Two further substitute appearances were given to Jonathan PĂ©rez, and an MLS debut for homegrown centerback Chris Applewhite.
The Numbers
Nashville SC
Shots- 13
Shots on target- 8
Corners- 7
Possession- 50.3%
xG- 1.3
Yellow Cards- None
Seattle Sounders
Shots- 13
Shots on target- 7
Corners- 2
Possession- 49.7%
xG- 2.1
Yellow Cards- 4 (Obed Vargas, Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, Kim Kee-Hee, Joao Paulo0
Analysis
Look, we’re going to skip the Between the Whistles section, because frankly it would’ve been pretty short, and I think our time together is better used explaining why things happened, rather than what did.
For clarity, Seattle pumped Nashville for all three goals they won by in just a 15 minute span. Danny Musovski earned my finish of the day with a clever flick in the 19th minute, followed by goals from Pedro De la Vega in the 30th, and Paul Rothrock in the 34th.
So what happened? Nashville started the game incredibly bright, and frankly, Musovski’s goal kind of came out of nowhere. Originally Musovski was called offside, but he was clearly held on by Andy Najar, so the goal was given.
I don’t know if that goal broke something in the mentality of Nashville, but for the rest of the half they just could not get off the canvas.
The changes at half provided some spark, a couple Sam Surridge headers in the early stages of the second 45 being the highlight, but the hole was dug too deep for the Boys in Gold to climb out of.
B.J. Callaghan talked in the pregame presser about not changing Nashville’s tactical approach home or away, which, to be fair to him, has proved fruitful thus far. Perhaps the tactics of Callaghan vs. Schmetzer were just tilted in favor of the Sounders from the jump.
The real lone bright spot in this game for Nashville was the debut of Chris Applewhite, who has been seriously impressive the last year or so in Huntsville and in the academy long before that. I first saw him play with the under-15s, and the growth he’s shown since then is remarkable.
Next up for Nashville is a home date next weekend against Chicago, we’ll be back with a preview as always (seriously this time), see you then!