The 2023 MLS regular season begins in the Music City on Saturday as Nashville SC host New York City FC in a matinee affair at GEODIS Park.
Last season, the Boys in Gold were eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs, losing 1-0 to the Los Angeles Galaxy, while the MLS Cup reign of NYCFC ended when they were beaten 3-1 by the Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference Final.
Match preview
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After a temporary stay out west, Nashville are back in the Eastern Conference this season, taking on a side who have never beaten them in two previous meetings.
When Nashville last featured in the East in 2021, it was a highly successful campaign for Gary Smith's men, finishing third in the conference with 54 points, their highest-ever total in a regular season campaign.
While they had a dependable and prolific number nine in the attacking third last year, this team struggled along the backline, conceding 41 goals, more than in any other regular season since entering the league in 2020.
In 2022, they were missing the presence of a solid winger to provide some width and catch the opposition in transition, scoring a goal or fewer in their final four regular season encounters.
Last year, they had a challenging start to the campaign, having to play their opening eight matches away from home before GEODIS Park officially opened, and it seemed like all of that travelling took a toll on them as the season wore on.
Nashville have found the back of the net in all but one of their regular season affairs at GEODIS Park, earning points in three of four home fixtures against Eastern Conference sides last year.
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The two-time Eastern Conference finalists from the Bronx begin what will feel like a new era, with plenty of veterans leaving during the transfer window for opportunities with other clubs in MLS or abroad.
It will be up to Nick Cushing to bring the newcomers together and integrate them into his possession-based approach, something that will be a tall task seeing as they lost five players who were regularly in the starting 11 last season, including the MLS Cup MVP from 2021.
They may have failed to retain their MLS Cup title last season, but they still walked away with some silverware, capturing the Campeones Cup thanks to a 2-0 victory over Mexican side Atlas.
Despite losing the 2021 Golden Boot winner Valentin Castellanos on loan to Girona midway through last season, the Pigeons still managed to score 57 goals, which was one more than they had with the Argentine the previous year when they went on to win the MLS Cup.
That should be an encouraging sign to Cushing and this group, given how much turnover they suffered over the off-season as they aim to make the playoffs for an eighth successive campaign.
If you include their 3-1 victory at CF Montreal in the 2022 Eastern Conference semi-finals, NYCFC have won two of their last three away games not counting preseason, though three of their six regular season road triumphs a year ago came against non-playoff teams.
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Team News
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Ahead of the 2023 campaign, Nashville added an extra attacking option, acquiring New York-born striker Fafa Picault from the Houston Dynamo with the hope that he can take some of the pressure off 2022 Golden Boot winner Hany Mukhtar, who scored 23 times last season, while the Boys in Gold also brought defender Nick DePuy over from the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Long-time Nashville defender Dave Romney was traded to the New England Revolution, Ake Loba was loaned out to Mexican side Mazatlan, and the club exercised a purchase option on Jacob Shaffelburg, who initially came to them on loan from Toronto in 2022.
Sean Davis was a pivotal part of the Nashville midfield last season with the fourth-most interception in MLS (58), Joe Willis had nine clean sheets in goal, while Walker Zimmerman featured in every World Cup match for the US in Qatar, starting at centre-back on three occasions.
NYCFC will look very different from what we are used to seeing, as they added Matt Freese from the Philadelphia Union to replace veteran goalkeeper and 2021 MLS Cup MVP Sean Johnson, who signed with Toronto, while Mitja Ilenic will be expected to fill the void left by Anton Tinnerholm, who returned to his native Sweden.
In addition to losing Johnson, New York also saw Alexander Callens join Girona in La Liga, Heber became a member of the Seattle Sounders, Maxi Moralez is now at Racing Club in Argentina and the loan move of Santiago Rodriguez came to an end, but the club is reportedly negotiating a long-term contract for him to return to the Bronx with rumours that he does not want to play for his current club Montevideo City Torque.
Talles Magno had eight goals in the 2022 regular season, which was third behind Heber and Castellanos, while Rodriguez led them with 13 assists, the fourth most in MLS last year.
Nashville SC possible starting lineup:
Willis; Moore, Zimmerman, Maher, Lovitz; Leal, McCarty, Davis; Picault, Mukhtar, Sapong
New York City FC possible starting lineup:
Freese; Ilenic, Chanot, Martins, Amundsen; Parks, Haak; Pereira, Morales, Pellegrini; Magno
We say: Nashville SC 2-0 New York City FC
With so many new faces in the NYCFC lineup, we suspect it will take some time for them to gel together as a unit, particularly on the backline.
Containing the Nashville attack might be a little more challenging this weekend, seeing as Picault is a capable secondary scorer who can compliment Mukhtar, so we expect that quality will overpower the newcomers at New York City.
How to watch
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Joel Lefevre
