Nashville SC puts the Music City on soccer map - Nashville Post

Nashville SC puts the Music City on soccer map - Nashville Post

Walker Zimmerman has had a lot of career firsts. But his goal in the 28^th minute of Nashville SC’s Major League Soccer debut against Atlanta United Saturday at Nissan Stadium — a score that brought 59,069 fans to their feet — is one he won’t soon forget.

It was the first-ever MLS goal scored in Nashville SC history and it was done in front of the largest soccer crowd in the state of Tennessee.

“It’s really special,” Zimmerman said. “I mean, it’s history. It’s never going to be erased and will stay in club lore forever.

“It’s funny, I almost always freak out when I score. I always think before the game, of having some preconceived celebration or thing. Normally, I just scream or run around and stare at my teammates and it never goes as planned.”

Nashville SC lost the match 2-1, and at times they looked every bit the part of an expansion club. Yet a club that has played together for barely a month and still gave one of the top teams in the league — and a former MLS Cup champion — everything it could handle and then some.

“I think we are working towards what our identity will look like,” Nashville SC coach Gary Smith said. “You [saw] snapshots of that tonight. Consistency is always going be the most difficult thing for a brand-new group, but what I’ve think you’ve seen is a group that's full of energy, positive where possible in their play, we have players in the group that want to make things happen.

“With regards to the group in general, I think you can see a very good team ethic and for me, there was a good balance to the game. We look to threat, for the most part we look to defend very well and looked organized. Guys have taken on both roles and individual workloads very well.”

On paper, it appeared as if Nashville SC was the better team. They outshot Atlanta United 14-6, had two more shots on goal (4-2), had a higher passing accuracy (83 percent to 82 percent) and won more duels (54-45).

However, Atlanta controlled the possession 55.3 percent to 44.7 percent and made NSC pay when they had some defensive miscues, communication breakdowns and missed offensive chances.

“The attacking side of the ball is always is going to be the last thing that always clicks,” midfielder Dax McCarty stated. “When you’re putting together a team from scratch, I think we got ourselves into really promising positions and some really good opportunities to get our dangerous attacking players in 1v1 positions, create chances, try to get some shots on goal.”

In the ninth minute, David Accam and Eric Miller couldn’t get on the same page, and Atlanta’s Ezequiel Barco made them pay as he buried one past NSC keeper Joe Willis for United’s first goal.

Dominique Badji had two prime scoring chances, just missing on his first attempt as he split two defenders and sailed a shot wide left of the net. Randall Leal narrowly missed scoring as well, banging a shot off the post as he had an out-of-position United goalkeeper Brad Guzan dead to rights.

“I think we didn’t test Guzan enough,” McCarty continued. “I think when we got the ball on some promising positions out wide, maybe our service was just a bit lacking in key moments. We talked about that, we talked about how we’re going to have to get better and get sharper.

“Defensively felt solid, like I said, two shots on goal, one of them obviously is a World Class finish, little bit of confusion on that one. You lick your wounds and you move on. I think we’re going to learn from it this week, we’ll watch video and keep growing as the season moves on.”

Despite the loss, the city of Nashville shined on yet another big stage. Judah and the Lion set the tone early as they fired up the crowd with their “Never Give Up On You” anthem — think Dropkick Murphys meets Mumford & Sons.

Grammy-winning Halestorm lead singer Lzzy Hale began what will become a Nissan Stadium tradition, firing up the crowd with the pre-match “Gibson Guitar Riff,” a new sponsorship deal that will become an NSC staple that features different artists playing guitar riffs prior to kickoff at all home matches.

Then there was Soccer Moses, the uber fan who was featured in the NSC supporters’ section holding up a sign that read: “Let my people goal.”

While it was only one match, Nashville showed potential. The talent is there. The coaching staff is capable. Ownership is committed. The consensus in the locker room is the wins will come as the cohesion develops.

"More games is what it takes,” Badji said. “I’ll tell you after a couple more games, then you will really see what we have to offer. You saw glimpses of it today, but we’ve got so much more to offer.”        

2020-03-02 12:03:02Z
https://www.nashvillepost.com/sports/nashville-sc/article/21119256/nashville-sc-puts-the-music-city-on-soccer-map

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