Recap: Nashville SC frustrated in scoreless draw with DC United

NASHVILLE, TN - Nashville SC controlled the match on Saturday night at Geodis Park, but lacked the quality needed in the final third to find a winner against DC United, with the two sides settling for a scoreless draw.

The XI

With an eye on Wednesday's US Open Cup match against Orlando City, head coach BJ Callaghan made five changes to the side that beat New York Red Bulls on Wednesday.

17-year-old homegrown Chris Applewhite made his first MLS start, replacing Jeisson Palacios. Andy Najar, Alex Muyl, Jacob Shaffelburg and Sam Surridge also dropped to the bench, giving Nashville a chance to rotate ahead of Wednesday.

On the pitch

From the outset, Nashville controlled the flow of the game. THe Coyotes pinned DC back in their own half, cycling the ball around the penalty area in search of an opening, and quickly winning back possession after turning it over. The quality to create clear chances was lacking, though, with attackers often making the wrong decision or weighting a pass just off enough to miss the connection.

It looked as though Nashville had found an early opener. Teal Bunbury, making his first start of the season in league play, played the ball across goal for Hany Mukhtar to finish into an empty net. However, the linesman raised his flag for offside on Bunbury, and despite camera angles looking incredibly close, the goal was not given. The Professional Referees Organization said afterwards via the pool reporter process that "from the angles available, it could not be determined that there was a clear and obvious error."

For the rest of the match, Nashville struggled to find openings, and when they did, the choices they made were poor. On the other side, they limited DC to essentially nothing. DC's first shot on target came deep in the second half, with former Nashville attacker Randall Leal uncorking a speculative effort straight at Joe Willis.

At the end of the day, this looked like a contest between two rotated teams playing their third match in a week. There was nothing between them.

The big picture

If you'd told Nashville at the start of this week that they would take seven points from three home matches, they would have gladly taken it. However, ending with a drab tie with a poor DC United side wasn't the momentum boost they would have hoped for.

As has become typical under Callaghan, the Coyotes dominated the ball, and really controlled the flow of play. Yet once again, the finishing product went missing. It's clearly still a work in progress for Nashville, although the results have been coming well ahead of schedule.

Callaghan pointed out that these games happen, and he's right. In a 34-match season with 10 matches in the month of May, there are bound to be some suboptimal performances, and Nashville still got a point and escaped without injury. It puts them in good shape for Wednesday in Orlando, who play on Sunday in a Florida derby match against Inter Miami.

It's also important to point out just how impressive Chris Applewhite was. Playing against a club whose academy he spent many years with, he was dominant at the back, looking like a seasoned professional. The young centerback completed 97% of his passes, won seven of nine aerial duels, and more than held his own against one of the most direct and physical teams in MLS.

He has an incredibly bright future.

Up next

It's a midweek trip to Orlando for Nashville, who are looking to advance past the US Open Cup Round of 16 for just the second time ever.

Stats

Possession: NSH 59% – 41% DC
Passes completed: NSH 408 – 260 DC
Shots: NSH 8 – 3 DC
Shots on goal: NSH 5 – 1 DC
Penalty kicks: NSH 0 – 0 DC
Goals: NSH 0 – 0 DC
Expected goals: NSH 0.42 – 0.30 DC
Fouls: NSH 12 – 16 DC
Yellow cards: NSH 2 – 2 DC
Red cards: NSH 0 – 0 DC
Announced attendance: 25,110

Highlights