Nashville SC held the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw on Saturday at GEODIS Park as Teal Bunbury equalized Javain Brown’s efforts.
The tie leaves Nashville in sixth place on the Western Convention desk with 32 factors in 23 video games and a file of 8W-7L-8D. With solely 11 video games left to be performed, head coach Gary Smith has only one objective: the MLS playoffs.
“There’s a lot to battle for right here. We’ve bought so many video games that we are able to sit up for, however they’re not going to be simple. No person goes to provide us factors, however we’ve bought to verify we don’t give any to anybody else,” Smith stated after the match.
“It’ll be an actual problem on this Western Convention given what we’ve bought to cope with to be above that line. The truth is, I’d go so far as to say that if we’re above the road on the finish of this season, will probably be the most important achievement of this group since I’ve been right here.”
Expectations are excessive for Nashville after qualifying for each postseason since their Main League Soccer debut in 2020 as an enlargement crew. The crew dominated the Japanese Convention, however they’ve since been switched to the West for the season, inspiring a number of new challenges.
The crew additionally kicked off the 2022 marketing campaign with an eight-game highway swing, seeing simply three victories. Although their file has since improved, Smith insists extra consistency is required from the squad with the intention to attain the playoffs.
“It’s about consistency. We’ve got produced some very nice moments. We’ve got put ourselves in an excellent place once more. However you’ve bought to again that up with a constant stage of efficiency with and with out the ball,” Smith stated.
“When it doesn’t attain an ordinary, you enable the opposite crew to get again into the sport and you realize full properly, there’s no simple sport in MLS. So in case you don’t reap the benefits of being in entrance, reap the benefits of the arrogance it’s best to have, the way in which we began, you enable the opposite crew to get somewhat little bit of a stranglehold.”
However their subsequent few video games received’t make for simple wins. They return to the pitch on Wednesday when touring to face the Portland Timbers at Windfall Park.
“We’ve bought to search out that ruthless streak once more,” concluded Smith. “That’s what being at house is all about. We’ve simply barely shifted away from being that crew [where] we’re very, very troublesome to play in opposition to at house. We’ve bought to search out that once more, that groove.”
