One of the newest clubs in the country takes on one of the oldest (the oldest among those that have operated continuously, in fact) in the Holy City tomorrow evening. What should fans be looking forward to in this battle of the No. 3 and No. 10 teams in the USL East?
The essentials
Opponent: Charleston Battery (5-3-3, No. 3 Eastern Conference, 13 GF, 9 GA so far in 2018, No. 5 in USL East Power Rankings)
The Line: None available (will update if I find one)
Time, Location: 6:00 p.m. CDT, 7:00 p.m. local • MUSC Health Stadium, Charleston, S.C.
Event: USL Regular season
Weather: 79ºF, 81% humidity, 5% chance of rain, 10 MPH Southerly winds
Watch: Live and local on MyTV30. Stream on ESPN Plus. See the list of soccer bars in Nashville if you want to watch in a game atmosphere.
Events: Tailgate with The Assembly at Von Elrod’s, Eastern Front at Germantown Depot, The Roadies at Pastime. Nashville SC will be giving away flowers for Mother’s Day and wearing Project 615 shirts to support victims of the Waffle House gun violence.
Follow: @NashvilleSC, @ClubCountryUSA, USL gametracker page, @Chas_Battery #CSHvNSH @SoccernSweetTea
Etc.: Postgame presser from Wednesday had some Charleston questions. Q&A with Soccer n Sweet Tea.
Elsewhere: Nashville SC official site preview. Charleston official site preview. Golden Goal match preview. Soccer n Sweet Tea preview.
Charleston Battery
The longest continuously-operating soccer club in the United States, the Battery boasts a lot of history. In the current iteration of the USL (since 2011), they’ve been champion once and made the playoffs every single year. It’s a good club.
They currently sit third in the Eastern Conference Table, with 13 goals in 10 games, but nine allowed in those games (albeit five in one game against NYRBII). They have done it against a relatively easy slate, though: I have them for ninth-toughest in the East to date, with only Pittsburgh and Charlotte seeing an easier schedule among likely playoff teams (or maybe calling all of them likely playoff teams is presumptuous, given that they might falter when it gets tougher). Drew Bartow of Soccer n Sweet Tea takes issue with my characterization of that schedule, though.
“Easy schedule is a misnomer,” he said. “Any team is capable of beating the #1 team or a undefeated team. Ask anyone in Indy about Lou City or Charlotte about FCC. Everyone predicted FCC to crush Charlotte who had not scored in four games and not won in over a month, but they upended FCC 4-1, only to turn around and lose to a PDL team in Open Cup play.”
I disagree that “anyone can beat anyone” is an argument that the Battery’s schedule has been tough. Even if it’s true, the fact remains that two games against Penn, two against Bethlehem, and one against Ottawa making up half your schedule is indeed easier than if those first ten games had included even a single contest against Louisville, Indy, Nashville, or Pittsburgh (they did lose at home to Cincy). Still, an easy schedule doesn’t mean the Battery isn’t good, it just means we don’t know yet.
Charleston’s identity is firmly rooted in their 3-4-3 formation. Ataulla Guerra plays the center striker in that look, and he’s tied for a league-leading five goals. The Trinidadian (no, he wasn’t in the squad that beat the USMNT in October, knocking the Americans out of the World Cup) is a 6-2, 190-pound target man, but despite that size he prefers to play it on the ground. Left winger Gordon Wild is second on the team with three goals, while midfielder Tah Anunga has a pair (both against NYRBII when the game was already decided in a 5-2 loss).
Left midfielder Jarad Van Schaik and right centerback Skylar Thomas join Anunga on the roster of players who have earned every USL minute to date for this team, while middle centerback and captain Taylor Mueller has missed only four minutes of gameplay this year (Neveal Hackshaw at left centerback is sixth on the team in minutes, and has fully settled into the starting lineup).
It may be somewhat surprising to not see a keeper among those players who get the majority of the playing time.
“The biggest difference is one we did not see coming,” Bartow explained. “That was the change at goal: Joe Kuzminsky has changed the gameplay for the Battery. Five starts, four clean sheets and the only goal conceded was a PK against Bethlehem on a ‘handball’ in the box.”
The Battery’s defense has been solid most of the year, and while “has played a lot of inept offenses lately” may be as big a factor in the improved performance, it’s clear there’s much more confidence in Kuzminsky than there had been in Odisnel Cooper.
The formation of the Battery allows them to be very offensive while remaining defensively sound: the wide midfielders tend to work back into the defensive third and the wingers drop into a more (still offensive, but not out-and-out non-defenders) midfielder position when the team is in a defensive posture. That allows their 3-4-3 to look like a 5-4-1 at times, and with plenty of variety in between, as well.
“They’re physically well-equipped, and their 3-4-3 shape has caused teams problems,” Nashville SC head coach Gary Smith said. “We’ve been able to go on the road and pick up points, perform well, and I see no reason why that can’t be the case on Saturday. Every game throws up different challenges, of course, but I would expect that we’ll be as tough a test and challenge for them as they will be for us.”
The Boys in Gold
Nashville SC has something of an advantage here: while most USL teams had two Wednesday US Open Cup games sandwiching a regular-season game (except those that lost in the second round of the Cup, of course), NSC had a bye week between the Inter Nashville and Mississippi Brill mid-weeks. They’re still a little fatigued, but likely less so than the opposition.
“There might be some changes for Saturday,” Smith said. “But, I need to see how
the guys are when they come in. As you can imagine, some sore limbs, a few lumps and bumps, we won’t have long to turn around and we’ll be on a flight Friday morning and trying to compete again in a very tough fixture in Charleston.”
That sounds to me like we’re less likely to see players who had earned significant playing time in each of the past two games than those who have been resting. That probably means heavy use of the players who have looked first-choice in USL play, but weren’t involved in 180 minutes over the past two Wednesdays: keeper Matt Pickens, right back Kosuke Kimura, midfielder and captain Michael Reed, and midfielder/striker Lebo Moloto most prominent among them.
I also think a striker rotation up top is likely, with both Ropapa Mensah and Brandon Allen getting time (and Allen’s effectiveness alongside a target-forward in Tucker Hume may indicate they make more sense on the pitch together than it had previously seemed).
Golden Goal’s idea of going back to the 5-3-2 is an interesting one against the 3-4-3, but I’m not sure it’s the best tactic. Even though that gives NSC a bit of width (with the fullbacks pushing forward) and carves out a role for two target-strikers to get on the end of crosses, it seems to me a way to get outnumbered in the central midfield and in the final third, especially with the way Charleston can use their wingers to work back and pressure from behind, and NSC’s forwards more comfortable beating man-marking than getting space in between centerbacks.
Projected lineups
With that, I’m expecting the continuation of a 4-4-2 lineup, and Charleston remaining in its base formation:
With an important stretch coming up, I think NSC tries to get Alan Winn a bit more rest for his foot injury (he’s listed as questionable for the game), and I think LaGrassa is a better like-for-like replacement than other options. The rest of the lineup sort of goes without saying: it’s been the first-choice group in this formation.
I could see Ish Jome playing on the right as well (the lefty serving as an inverted winger, though playing along with a lefty winger on the left in Washington could make that a bit more of a 4-3-3 look). I also believe Brandon Allen will get significant playing time in this one. Ropapa Mensah is the most likely player for him to replace, but depending on game situation, it could be any of a number of other guys.
Predictions
Charleston is a pretty good team, but I’m not sold on them as a top-3 team in the East, as the table indicates they are right now (at least until we learn division, which apparent far too many folks who observe the USL have not done). NSC has a good chance to head to town and get a result.
- Charleston draws first blood, but it’s not Guerra getting the job done. Nashville keeps a solid eye on him (and marking players as they try to dribble in the box has not been a weakness), and that frees up either Wild or Higashi to strike from outside.
- Nashville responds through either Mensah or Allen (depending on which gets the start – I do think it’s most likely that one replaces the other as NSC tries to keep both fresh for a busy two weeks), bringing the score level at halftime.
- Matt Pickens doesn’t face as much action as you might expect facing a high-scoring offense. Nashville keeping Guerra limited means the shots come from more ambitious angles and distances, ultimately ending up off-frame.
- Both teams have opportunities to score in the second half. My current prediction is that neither does, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see one team or the other take the result.
The game ends in a 1-1 draw. As I said above, I could see 2-1 either way (I actually think more likely in favor of Nashville than Charleston), but a draw seems like the right result between these two sides.
Club and Country 