Nashville SC visited the Emerald City with the goal of starting the MLS 2022 season in the best possible way. A persistent rain greeted the players as they jumped onto the pitch and remained throughout the fixture. Nashville SC was in its element and started the game with very good ball possession, pressing Seattle’s transition at the very top of the eighteen-yard box. Seattle managed to break the pattern after the 7th minute and went on to control the game with the ball at the feet of Albert Rusnak and Joao Paulo. The tactical formation of 4-3-3 plugged in by coach Gary Smith on the synthetic court of Lumen Stadium complicated the efforts of Brian Schmetzer’s boys, who struggled to step up throughout the match. Stefan Frei was the first to prevent the fall of his frame after an excellent shot from Hany Mukhtar from outside the area in the 22nd minute. Seattle only had one opportunity in the 37th minute when Yeimar Gomez took a shot from the front of the box but it went wide. The sides alternated dominance in the first half, with few options inside the boxes but plenty of divided play in the middle of the pitch.
In the second half, Nashville SC kept the same pressure in front of the Seattle area. The tone seemed to be the same as the first half, as Seattle managed to counter and assert itself in the Nashville end. The Sounders had their chance in the 79th minute when Leo Chui took advantage of Eric Miller’s sweeping error and finished with a very good left-footed shot that flew high above the goal. A minute later Nashville also had theirs and did not miss it. Randall Leal recovered a ball after a Seattle’s clearance, dodged Nouhou Tolo in great fashion and angled a tremendous cross for Anibal Godoy to finish with a very strong shot to open the scoring.
Nashville SC closed out its great triumph and began its victorious trajectory in the MLS 2022 season.
In front of 30,013 fans at Lumen Field in Seattle this is how we saw Nashville SC:
Joe Willis (1): A very quiet first half and without any major setbacks in the second half. Joe finished as he likes best: With his net at zero.
Eric Miller (15): Full-back Nouhou gave him a lot of work from the start and never allowed him to step up. Eric’s performance went from weak to strong towards the end of the game. He was beaten but never gave up.
Walker Zimmerman (25): He imposed his will in the center of the area and allowed nothing from Seattle’s forwards.
Dave Romney (4): Dave had a very complete game exchanging responsibilities with Walker.
Daniel Lovitz (2): He started nervous but later managed to control, although Cristian Roldan always complicated Daniel’s chances of stepping up more freely.
Sean Davis (54): He had a very good debut with Nashville because of his great dynamic and contribution in transition. Sean’s game was more sporadic in the second half which considerably reduced his offensive contribution, but he still managed to get involved.
Aníbal Godoy (20): He connected very well with Dax and Sean to dominate the main sector of the pitch. Anibal’s experience proved to be fundamental in this game.
Dax McCarty (6): He stood strong in the middle of the field and took advantage of any space to join Nashville’s offensive efforts.
Randall Leal (8): Huge contributions trying to create offense by carrying possession and helping on defense. Randall’s great movement and subsequent assist to Godoy confirmed his excellent game.
Hany Mukhtar (10): He managed to cause serious problems for the Sounders defense by himself. He looked for his own chances continuously, but this time the goal was not there.
CJ Sapong (17): He showed great dynamics at the front of the attack, but he was always very well marked by Arreaga and Gómez. C. J. still managed to complicate their game.
Substitutions:
Aké Loba (9): (Minute 81) He tried to do more with less for the team’s collective effort.
Alex Muyl (19): (Minute 81) Came in to give Randall a break and close ranks for the win.
Jack Maher (5): (Minute 89) Change to take up time only.
Teal Bunbury (12): (71st minute) Teal’s physical presence helped keep Nashville’s pressure. We need to see many more minutes of Teal.
The Twelfth Man: The Nashville SC fans in and around Lumen Field before, during, and after the game deserve a space to themselves, and here we give it to them. We will be simple but forceful with their performance: Spectacular!
Coach Gary Smith: The maestro wrote his score and his guys performed with mastery against a very qualified rival in Seattle. It was very evident that Gary’s tactical intention was to tie up Seattle Sounders’ transition and surprise them, although due to the quality of their players, Seattle would manage to get out of the pressure on several occasions. The Emerald City’s team could not overcome that the pressure was maintained for so many minutes in the match. The coach and his Boys in Gold always knew that opportunities would be very scarce and that it was essential to take advantage of one of them, which happened at the end of the game. Gary’s wise decision to play with Sean, Dax and Aníbal in the middle was essential because it complicated Seattle’s transition, and they were never confident or dangerous with the ball in possession.
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