Welcome to The Wrap, running through all the postgame content after Nashville SC’s 1-0 win over fellow expansion club Inter Miami CF.
Local content
Aníbal Godoy was the difference in his first game as Nashville SC’s captain. His typical midfield partner, Dax McCarty, began the game on the bench (he’d ultimately replace Godoy in the second half, taking over his typical duties wearing the armband), and Godoy made the most of his time as the team’s official leader.
The game column with postgame quotes from Gary Smith, Tah Brian Anunga, and Aníbal Godoy:
In Waiting for Godot, Beckett left plenty up to interpretation (and then spent a lot of the rest of his life complaining when people interpreted the play in ways he didn’t like). On both days of the duration of the plot, Vladimir and Estragon are visited by a character named Pozzo. He’s widely believed to secretly have been the otherwise-absent Godot all along. Perhaps the main characters didn’t know that the man they were waiting for had made himself available all along.
Likewise, Nashville SC wasn’t waiting for Godoy. He was here all along, just waiting to be revealed.
No that pull-quote is not a joke, I literally wrote the whole dang thing themed around a play from 1955 that nobody likes, just in the name of a pun. The #brand is strong.
The Graphical got hyped up about Anunga’s debut, and the ways in which a position shift for Randall Leal could break him out of a slump in his typical role:
That’s not to say he looked like a star, but it was very clear that Anunga fit in at this level. Aside from one potentially-crucial mistake, he had a very solid outing:
Anunga had 55 touches (eclipsed only by defenders Alistair Johnston, Walker Zimmerman, and Dan Lovitz, with 62, 60, and 56, respectively), and completed 39 of 43 passes. He made two tackles and an interception, and recovered nine loose balls.
No Rooms Film this week on the condensed schedule. Hopefully tonight’s(!!) game provides some good moments to break down, since there’s a little more time to do it.
And finally, the voting post for Community Ratings, and your results:
A smaller proportion of folks shared their thoughts this week. Don’t forget you can type in the box below the numerical value each week!
- Man of the match – M Aníbal Godoy: 8.98 Community comment:
- “Man of the Match. 93% passing and a goal.”
- GK Joe Willis: 7.22 Community comment:
- “Once again, wasn’t asked to do much, but did it.”
- D Dave Romney: 7.24 Community comment:
- “Best defender”
- D Walker Zimmerman: 7.16
- D Alistair Johnston: 7.15 Community comments:
- Solid all night from the rookie.
- On a star track.
- D Dan Lovitz: 6.44
- M Tah Brian Anunga: 7.82 Community comments:
- “We just might have our third DM.”
- “Like you tweeted during the game, he fits.”
- M/F Alex Muyl: 6.96 Community comments:
- A lot of energy. Needs to clean up his touches.
- Good defensively. Would be higher if the (unnecessary foul) didn’t take his goal off the board.
- M/F Randall Leal: 6.66 🤘 Community comment:
- “I like him at the 10.”
- M/F Abu Danladi: 5.97
- F Dominique Badji: 6.23
- M/F Hany Mukhtar (HT sub): 5.44 Community comment:
- Missed pen 😦
- M Dax McCarty (61′ sub): 6.42 Community comment:
- A little hard done with the early yellow.
- F Daniel Ríos (61′ sub): 6.01
- “When he is the lone forward and we are up a goal and sitting, he has to run more to keep the opponent’s back line from getting comfortable.”
- D/M Taylor Washington (74′ sub): 5.16
- D Jalil Anibaba (84′ sub): 5.41
- Coach Gary Smith: 7.23 Community comment:
- Minor player mistakes or this would have been a blasting.
- Overall team rating: 7.23
Elsewhere
NSC official site recap. The valiant return of GhanaSoccerNet to this space (did I somehow miss a story on David Accam’s game-winner after the first Dallas game?). Five observations from Drake Hills. The Seattle Times is this week’s beneficiary of an AP repost from me. MLSSoccer.com on Anunga and Muyl, and same from The Tennessean. League roundup from Yahoo. Nashville up to No. 20 in ESPN Power Rankings. Nashville Post recap. Broadway recap.
Elsewhere on Orlando
I didn’t have the energy – or really, desire to look at on-field soccer stuff – after the Orlando game. I transcribed the postgame presser and put up a postgame quick story tho.
Here’s some material from around the diaspora. Óscar Pareja says OCSC would have delayed the game if they’d “had all the information,” which after the past week of news and leaks is deserving nothing more than an eyeroll from these parts. Tennessean recap from Drake Hills.
Club and Country 