Welcome to The Wrap! I don’t want to leave any past game, uh, unwrapped, so in the name of not getting too far behind, here’s the NYRB contest, albeit with less written along the way than I would have preferred.
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Red Bull would go on to double the lead just 10 minutes into the second half. It was an even more innocuous situation, with right back Kyle Duncan collecting the ball outside the Nashville penalty area. However, there was no close-out, and the US international slotted into the bottom corner with his weaker left foot.
June 18
The game column with quotes from the postgame press conference:
A free kick from within Red Bull territory seemed innocuous enough. However, the long service from Sean Nealis bounced over nearly everyone – and found striker Patryk Klimala inside the penalty area. He nodded the ball back to his unmarked strike companion Fábio, and the Brazilian’s right-footed volley kissed the far post before settling into the back of Joe Willis’s net.
Although NSC recovered from the shocking 37th-minute strike, the Boys in Gold never managed to get enough of a foothold in the game to find an equalizer.
“The initial ball got flicked on, and it kind of got flicked on to their other forward,” defender Dave Romney said. “Surprisingly, the ball checked up. I think both Walker [Zimmerman] and the forward were kind of playing as if it was going to skip. The ball was skipping, and the field was wet the whole time. The ball checked up, for some reason – like the field was dry. So the ball went kind of short, and then he flicked it on, and the guy had an amazing finish.
June 21
The Graphical was extraordinarily timely, publishing in the immediate aftermath of the game almost two weeks later than usual. However, a look at the disruptiveness of the Red Bulls helps tell the story of the game in a major way:
McCarty was nearly 20 points below his usual passing percentage, and Muyl about 15 points below his (with a much lower starting point). Of course, that’s what Red Bulls force out of the opposition: if you don’t have incredible technical skill, New York is going to make life tough on you. There are only a few teams in MLS who would look at that New York press and shrug their shoulders while continuing to build out of the back.
I singled out the above two players because of their history with the Red Bull organization, but you can basically go down the line and say everybody fell into their trap of disruption. It happens.
June 30
No Film Room in the name of getting The Wrap up.
And finally, the voting post, and your results for the Community ratings:
Don’t forget you can type comments in the box below the numerical votes each week!
- Man of the Match GK Joe Willis: 6.63 Community comment:
- Not much he could do on the goals, though he had that scary moment
- D Dave Romney: 6.48
- D Dan Lovitz: 6.36
- D Walker Zimmerman: 5.90 Community comment:
- Hard to say, but was probably to blame on the goal
- D Alistair Johnston: 5.75 Community comments:
- “Tough positioning on the goal and didn’t track the runner on the goal. Passing was below average “
- “As a RB or RWB Alistar needs to develop his attacking/playmaking at speed. Example good set shooter , almost average off the bounce creating his shot”
- M Hany Mukhtar: 6.03
- M Dax McCarty: 5.88
- M Randall Leal: 5.62
- M Alex Muyl: 5.59 Community comment:
- Lots of effort and energy. Little offensive production
- M Matt LaGrassa: 4.38 Community comments:
- Rough one
- Tough day …typically is not rushed or makes bad passes
- LaGrassa’s toughest day in a Nashville SC uniform …He’s better than what we saw
- F CJ Sapong: 5.93 Community comments:
- Effort is there, but major downgrade skill-wise from Cádiz
- “Tons of effort and donkey work. CJ gave very good workman performance “
- Warrior effort …team first leader
- M Koze Donasiyano (63′ sub): 5.68
- D Jalil Anibaba (63′ sub): 5.77
- M Luke Haakenson (63′ sub): 5.50
- F Abu Danladi (77′ sub): 5.38 Community comment:
- Worked hard in a short period of time
- M Handwalla Bwana (84′ sub): 5.00
- Head coach Gary Smith: 5.52
- Overall Team Rating: 5.38 Community comments:
- Learn from the loss and get Aníbal Godoy back as son as possible
- “Nashville SC will get back to basics with: Energy, Effort, Grit, Belief and Purpose “
Don’t forget you can vote in the Community ratings after each game. Indeed, there are three games backlogged that you can vote in right now! (Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia)
Elsewhere
Analysis from Mainstreet Nashville. Vavel game story from the Red Bull end. The unbeaten streak ended. Red Bull report from NewsDay. Broadway game story.
Club and Country 