Nashville SC: Gary Smith’s positivity vindicated

Nashville SC head coach Gary Smith stated that his team proved they belong in MLS in the first two matches of the 2020 season. Despite losing both, his positive outlook is justified.

We may only be two games into the new Major League Soccer season, but that does not mean that coaches cannot draw tentative conclusions from what they saw. Play was suspended in mid-March due to the coronavirus. It is not expected to return until mid-to-late June at the earliest, and even once it does, it will look and feel extremely different.

Nevertheless, those two games have formed the basis of opinion for several teams in the league, especially those that were playing their first games in MLS. And for no team were those weeks more significant than expansion team, Nashville SC.

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59,069 people were in attendance for their season-opener against Atlanta United. It is the third-largest crowd at a home debut behind the LA Galaxy and Orlando City and set the record for the number of people at a soccer match in the state of Tennessee. But the good news was not resigned to the stands.

In both matches, Nashville SC showed terrific progress under head coach Gary Smith. They lost to Atlanta and then the Portland Timbers, two of the premier organisations in the league, but their performances were extremely encouraging. Smith made his team difficult to break down against Atlanta. They defended deep, remained compact in midfield, and were extremely awkward to play through. Atlanta boast one of the best attacking groups in MLS and they struggled to create many clear-cut chances.

And then, in Week 2, Nashville dominated. Away from home, in Portland’s home-opener, they out-shot the Timbers 14-3. They had nine corners to the Timbers’ zero, had seven shots on target to the Timbers’ two, and entirely controlled the match throughout, especially in the second half. They lost 1-0.

Smith, however, is able to see the positive side of his team’s work. “I was delighted to see the group in action, a lot of work went into preseason,” Smith told mlssoccer.com this week. “There were concerns heading into the season: Are we going in the right direction? Are we going to compete? But we felt as if we belonged. There were some very good performances, some really good chemistry shown early on. It wasn’t borne out in the results, of course, but my hope is that we can quickly pick up where we left off.”

His positivity is justified. Nashville SC showed excellent structure, shape, and the defensive foundation that every good team requires in the first week, before then building on that the following week, adding greater control in midfield thanks to the experienced Dax McCarty, and showing off attacking flair in the form of Hany Mukhtar and Randall Leal. They lack the cutting edge in the final third and depth could be an issue, but they have MLS veterans in midfield and defence and an exciting attack that just needs a prolific centre-forward.

Nashville SC likely won’t be a contender this season, not without filling out their two remaining DP slots. But despite losing their first two matches of the year, there were plenty of positives for Smith to draw. The future is bright in Tennessee.