Column: With Just Nine Games Left, Is Nashville SC At A Breaking Point?

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Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC

The 2022 MLS All Star break is over and the regular season is coming to a close, but the Western Conference standings are far from being decided as only six points separate third and 11th place.

Nashville SC is sitting in sixth place with 33 points and a record of 8-9-8. Portland is in seventh, also with 33 points, and Seattle is in eighth with just 32. Things are tightening up a lot and have been for a while, yet Nashville hasn’t found a way to move ahead of the pack despite the amount of home games they’ve had.

So far this season, NSC is 3-5-3 at the new GEODIS Park, which is the second to worst home record in the Western Conference. Since June, the Boys in Gold have only won two of 11 matches–one on the road and one at home. Despite playing seven of these games in front of a boisterous home crowd, Nashville hasn’t become the dominant home team that both the club and fans had hoped.

With only nine regular season games left, of which six are at GEODIS Park, it begs to ask the question: Is Nashville SC at their breaking point?

In recent weeks, Nashville has been able to come out of the gates attacking well, and even scoring and getting ahead at halftime.

Hany Mukhtar. Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC

Hany Muktar was been nothing short of amazing this season, earning himself a spot in the All Star game and the All Star Skill Competition, which he went on to win for the MLS against Mexico’s Liga MX. Mukhtar is on pace to win the 2022 MLS MVP award, scoring 13 goals and five assists with an expected goals of 14.3.

Another standout for NSC recently has been Teal Bunbury, who has been red hot.

Bunbury joined the club in the offseason and started off very slow, but has now scored in each of the last four matches. The goals he scored against Cincinnati, Vancouver and Portland were the team’s only goals and ended all the matches with a draw. His goals have accounted for the team’s three points over four games, which could’ve easily been losses.

Teal Bunbury. Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC

Even with Mukhtar and Bunbury showing off these past few weeks, why is the club still struggling to pull-off a win?

Almost all equalizing or game-winning goals against Nashville have come in the second half of these matches. Late game substitutions would be the easiest thing to blame, which can be viewed as a reason for conceding a late goal–Vancouver is a good example. However, quite a few of these second half goals have come within 15 minutes of the second half starting.

The team has lacked early second half discipline, giving up the goals when momentum should be moving their way. In a press conference in July, Mukhtar attributed teams being more aggressive when playing Nashville at home, pushing for a win rather than playing safe to secure a draw.

“In the first two years, I felt like it was clubs coming to our place to get the three points,” Mukhtar explained. “Now, they’re coming to our place and they’re very happy with one point. We saw that with the Portland players. They were so happy with the point, but it felt like a loss for us. They had the expectation to come here and get the point, and that’s a good result for them.”

Shaq Moore. Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC

Even though the team has given up late equalizers, the defense led by Walker Zimmerman, Dax McCarty and the newly signed Shaq Moore aren’t solely the issue. The offense has failed to create anything to help their defense, but the defense hasn’t helped their case when looking at second stats.

This season, Nashville has scored 20 first half goals compared to only 13 second half goals. They have conceded only 10 first half goals all year compared to 24 second half goals, according to soccerstats.com. On top of that, at home they’ve conceded 10 second half goals.

These next two home games can be huge for the club if they can pick up six or at least four points.

They face Minnesota on Sunday (Aug. 14) who they drew very early in the season with. Minnesota sits in fourth place with 35 points–just two above Nashville.

A week later, on Aug. 21, NSC will host Dallas who they lost to 2-0, also very early in the season. Dallas is sitting in third place with just 36 points.

Each of the next four clubs NSC faces is within three points of Nashville’s 33. The month of August obviously will not determine the season, but these next four matches will either put Nashville in a top three spot or make each minute of playing time in September mean that much more.

One thing is for sure, Nashville cannot survive on draws alone,. They must win to secure a spot in the postseason this fall.

Steven Boero
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