3 Miami players to miss game with COVID issues
Inter Miami and Nashville SC took divergent paths to the MLS Playoffs opening game Friday. Both teams overcame obstacles in a COVID-19 interrupted season.
On the surface, it might seem Inter Miami and Nashville SC have a lot in common. They are both expansion teams that overcame obstacles to reach the 2020 MLS Playoffs, and Miami’s struggles continue as the club confirmed Thursday night that “at least three regular players” did not travel to Nashville and will not be available for Friday night’s playoff game at Nissan Stadium (9 p.m., ESPN2).
The three players were “not medically cleared” to play, which is the phrasing MLS uses for players dealing with COVID-19. The club would not name the players, but as many as two are believed to be starters.
Despite both being nascent clubs, Inter Miami and Nashville took divergent paths to reach Friday’s game.
Six years ago, Nashville SC was a fourth-tier, fan-owned minorleague club known as Nashville
FC. Supporters paid $40 to become part-owners and the team played in the NPSL in front of 1,800 fans. The club worked its way up the U.S. soccer ranks and evolved into an MLS club.
Six years ago, global soccer icon David Beckham, wearing a suit and flanked by dignitaries, stood on the edge of Biscayne Bay and announced he was bringing an MLS team to Miami. After much glitz and fanfare, Beckham and his co-owners spent the next five years navigating complicated politics and stadium roadblocks.
Nashville built its inaugural roster quietly, among its biggest splashes a trade for Los Angeles FC Walker Zimmerman, who on Wednesday was named MLS Defender of the Year. Six players
were holdovers from the minor-league team. Its most prominent internationals are German midfielder Hany Mukhtar, Costa Rican winger Randall Leal and Panamanian midfielder Anibal Godoy.
Inter Miami’s roster building was publicized and scrutinized globally, partly because of its high-profile ownership group and Miami being a popular tourist destination. Almost every big name in the sport was linked to the new club, from Lionel Messi to Luis Suarez to Edinson Cavani to James Rodriguez to David Silva.
In the end, after an 0-5 start, Miami eventually signed Juventus teammates and World Cup veterans Blaise Matuidi and Gonzalo Higuain. The Frenchman Matuidi joined in August, and Argentine star Higuain was added in September for an MLS-high $7 million salary.
Nashville retained coach Gary Smith, an Englishman who led the club’s USL team in 2018-19 and had previously coached the Atlanta Silverbacks and
Colorado Rapids.
Miami conducted a world-wide coaching search and on Dec. 30, 2019 hired Diego Alonso, the Uruguayan who had been coaching in Mexico’s Liga MX.
Nashville made its home debut against Atlanta United in front of 59,069 fans at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. Miami’s long-awaited inaugural home game, scheduled for March 14 against Los Angeles Galaxy, was called off two days before when COVID-19 shut down the league.
Asked on a Wednesday teleconference what he made of both clubs reaching the same place with different approaches, Nashville coach Gary Smith replied: “When you say the ‘same place,’ what do you mean by that? Because we’re seventh and they’re tenth. I don’t quite get that part. In any normal year, they wouldn’t have made it.”
Nashville finished in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, while Miami finished 10th. To account for the abbreviated regular season because of COVID-19, MLS expanded the playoff field to 10 of 14 Eastern Conference teams and eight of 12 Western
Conference teams. Typically, only the top seven in each conference would advance.
All eight teams from the West earn automatic playoff spots. Because the East had more teams, there is a play-in round for Seeds No. 7 through 10. New England and Montreal play Friday night in the No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup.
Inter Miami and Nashville have played twice this season. Nashville won 1-0 on Aug. 30 and the Sept. 6 game ended in a 0-0 tie.
Nashville is known for its defense, posting the best goals against average (0.956) of any expansion club in league history. Zimmerman and goalkeeper
Joe Willis led Nashville to nine clean sheets, tied for most in the league. They allowed 22 goals all season, third-fewest in the league.
“They’ve shown all year that they’re a very organized opponent,” said Miami midfielder Wil Trapp. “Their collective defending is one of their greatest strengths. For us, it’s really understanding what the weaknesses are within that structure. It’s a formation in which they can be aggressive, but at the same time they love to absorb pressure.”
Trapp and Alonso both
stressed that the key for Miami will be moving the ball well and imposing its possession style.
“You look at their defenders guys like Walker Zimmerman and Dave Romney that are excellent in the air and winning balls crossing, so it’s how can we pull them into situations where they’re not comfortable,” Trapp said. “Getting them exposed in space versus being set up in their penalty box to defend crosses. Ultimately it will take a lot of movement, both on and off the ball, rotating possession to expose those weaknesses.”
Miami midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro is expected to be in the starting lineup after taking a charter flight back from Austria, where he was playing with the Mexican national team. Defender Nico Figal and midfielder/defender Brek Shea are due back from injuries.
Nashville will have a limited home crowd on its side.
“Them being the home team, wanting to be the aggressor, they’ll try to control the game more than if they were the away team,” Trapp said. “Their central midfielders Dax
McCarty and Godoy are very comfortable in possession and are their links to finding their most dangerous players Leal and Muktar. For us that’s beneficial because it gets them out of their shell. If they want to be the aggressor it will help us gain confidence by pressing and winning balls and creating space.”
Alonso said both teams have improved since they last met.
“Nashville has gotten more confidence with their results. They started off more of a defensive team, but have improved their attack, movement with the ball,” he said. “They’re a very dangerous team. We have to be ready for set pieces and counter attacks.”
Smith added: “I would suspect that there’s probably a little bit more disappointment in their camp in the way that things have gone this year,” he said. “However, they’ve certainly finished the season off in a decent run, and they’ve clinched that final spot, so they’ll be dangerous, there’s no doubt about it. We’re by no means taking this game lightly and shouldn’t be.”