Three red cards may make for en eventful match, but it doesn’t necessarily make for an entertaining one, especially for a Nashville SC fanbase that saw Dan Lovitz concede two penalties, the Philadelphia Union convert both, and an NSC attack that was all-too-capable of hitting posts en route to a 2-0 loss.
Nashville controlled the ball and much of the action in the early stages of the game, but Philadelphia’s Quinn Sullivan* ripped a shot in transition in the 25th minute from 30 yards away, with the first woodwork of the evening saving Nashville.
Seven minutes later, NSC nearly found the opener via a 2-v-1 breakaway with Hany Mukhtar playing in striker Teal Bunbury alone on the keeper, but his attempt to chip an onrushing Joe Bendik saw the shot sail high. It was but one of many frustrations for Nashville, with later stages seeing multiple uprights and even a second-half Mukhtar chip of Bendik catching just a little too much of the crossbar to either carom into the goal, or fall for a teammate to finish.
In the 38th minute, Daniel Lovitz conceded his first of two penalties on the evening. A shove on the goalmouth allowed him to head away a cross intended for Daniel Gazdag, but the full-arm extension was enough to turn a play that often gets missed into one that granted the Union a penalty, and Gazdag himself converted to give the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 40th.
A second penalty was awarded to Nashville in the 73rd after an apparent handball by Philadelphia defender Jack Elliott clearing a corner, but after VAR review, it was determined that an unintentional handling after a legal play of the ball – with his head – was not an infraction. A correct call, but a frustrating one for Nashville fans after their team was penalized for something that is often missed (or dismissed) by officials.
The game went from sloppy to out of control when Lovitz took a second yellow clearing out Mikael Uhre on a run to the endline. In the 84th minute (after yet another VAR review), Gazdag converted once more, and what had been a sloppy game turned into a dirty one. With the visitors taking a 2-0 lead, Nashville’s poor performance was emphasized by embarrassment from the stands, with the supporter’s section raining water bottles on Gazdag’s goal celebration (for which, in fairness, he was deemed to be behaving unsportingly to the point of receiving a card).
In the fifth (of 15!) minute of stoppage time, a tussle between Nashville’s Shaq Moore and Philadelphia’s Julián Carranza saw both sent off for violent conduct, but by that stage the match was decided, and it was simply about how few men each team would finish.
With the loss, Nashville drops its fourth in five games – worse given that this was just NSC’s seventh overall loss this season – and falls to third place in the East. For the second straight match against an opponent that the Boys in Gold should beat (in Chicago Saturday, Nashville played a bad team, this evening they played a shorthanded one), there was not enough in attack, and amn individual player was too mistake-prone on the defensive end.
NSC will try to break out of its funk with a trip to league-leading FC Cincinnati on Saturday, with a 7:30 local kick (6:30 in Nashville). The Knifey Lions may well get reinforcements, with striker Brandon Vazquez and defender Matt Miazga bowing out of the Gold Cup with the US Men’s National Team simultaneously with Nashville’s crash-and-burn.
* I do not know anyone, including myself, who has a daughter named this**
** This was not true, I absolutely have one of those
Nashville lineup
Match events
- 38′ NSH Yellow card – 2 Dan Lovitz (foul in the box)
- 40′ PHI GOAL – 10 Daniel Gazdag (right-footed penalty, earned by Gazdag and conceded by 2 Daniel Lovitz)
- 43′ NSH Yellow card – 8 Randall Leal (foul)
- 44′ PHI Yellow card – 27 Kai Wagner (foul)
- 45’+7 Half time
- 61′ PHI Substitutions
- On 7 Mikael Uhre, off 33 Quinn Sullivan
- On 6 Jack McGlynn, off 11 Alejandro Bedoya
- 63′ NSH Substitutions
- On 7 Fafa Picault, off 14 Jacob Shaffelburg
- On 19 Alex Muyl, off 8 Randall Leal
- 71′ NSH Yellow card – 12 Teal Bunbury (dissent)
- 72′ PHI Substituations
- On 2 Matt Real, off 27 Kai Wagner
- On 15 Olivier Mbaizo, off 26 Nathan Harriel
- 81′ NSH Red card – 2 Dan Lovitz (second yellow, foul)
- 84′ PHI GOAL – 10 Daniel Gazdag (right-footed penalty, earned by 7 Mikael Uhre)
- 87′ NSH Substitutions –
- On 23 Taylor Washington, off 54 Sean Davis
- On 24 Jan Greguš, off 12 Teal Bunbury
- 90’+1 NSH Substitution – On 26 Luke Haakenson, off 6 Dax McCarty
- 90’+5 PHI Red card – 9 Julián Carranza (violent conduct, fight with Shaq Moore)
- 90’+5 NSH Red card – 18 Shaq Moore (violent conduct, fight with Julián Carranza)
- 90’+15 Full time
Club and Country 