San Jose Earthquakes defender Carlos Akapo (29) kicks the ball past Nashville SC midfielder Jacob Shaffelburg during the first half at Geodis Park in Nashville on Sat April 27, 2024 (AP News photo)
By William Espy
The San Jose Earthquakes are in Tennessee to take on Nashville SC for their fourth matchup against each other in history. The previous three meetings had all ended in a draw, the Earthquakes desperately needed a win as did Nashville.
Both sat 14th in their respective conference entering the night, San Jose at the bottom of the West while Nashville was ahead of only the New England Revolution in the East. Nashville entered the night with a defensively minded 5-3-2 formation while the Quakes stuck with their standard 4-3-3. The Quakes came back after Nashville took a 1-0 lead to tie up the game 1-1 for the draw at Geodis Park in Nashville.
Nashville Starting XI: Willis, Muvi, Maher, Kallman, Lovitz, Shaffelburg, Yearwood, Godov, Davis, Mukhtar, Surridge
San Jose Starting XI: Yarbrough, Costa, Bradon, Rodrigues, Akapo, Tsakiris, Gruezo, Yueill, Kikanovic, Ebobisse, Espinoza
Earlier this week, the Earthquakes announced their record signing of midfielder Hernan Lopez from Godoy Cruz of the Argentine Primera Division. Although he has yet to join the team he will certainly be a difference maker when he gets into the lineup in the near future.
The first opportunity of the game came in the fourth minute when a throw-in got Cristian Espinoza behind the defense, he passed it to Niko Tsakiris who ran out of time and was unable to convert on the opportunity. The first booking of the night came at the end of the fifth minute when Daniel Lovitz’s challenge didn’t go as planned and he ended up with a yellow card.
Tsakiris would get a yellow in the 14th minute as he cut across into the box with the ball and put himself in a dangerous situation to try to get a penalty called. Nashville took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Hany Mukhtar fired a shot from well outside the box and it found the left side of the netting. As they had multiple times this season, San Jose dug themselves a hole that they had to try to climb out of early on.
By the 27th minute, the game had been all Nashville, they led in shots 8-1 and on the scoreboard 1-0 despite the Earthquakes having 58% possession to that point. Nashville would maintain their lead for the remainder of the first half but were unable to build on it.
The Earthquakes would need a much stronger showing in the second half if they hoped to walk away with any points. At this point, they still had yet to record a shot on target. Other than the single goal, it was a pretty uneventful half as neither team was able to create high-quality scoring chances despite Nashville getting an abundance of shots.
Luchi Gonzalez made a couple of substitutions to start the second half with hopes that they’d provide a spark to a team that desperately needed it. Skahan and Pellegrino came on for Tsakiris and Benjamin Kikanovic. The Earthquakes got their first quality scoring opportunity of the night in the 53rd minute when Jeremy Ebobisse kicked the ball wide-left.
If he had aimed the shot on target, it could’ve easily tied the game at 1 but instead, it was still in favor of Nashville. An hour into the match, the Quakes still hadn’t tested Nashville’s keeper Joe Willis. In the 62nd minute, Nashville got a chance to make it 2-0 but William Yarbrough was able to make the save to deny a header from Sam Surridge from point-blank range.
The Earthquakes went straight down the pitch to score their first of the night, as a perfectly timed run by Jack Skahan got him behind the defense while remaining onside. The only person he had to beat was Willis, and he did just that to make it 1-1. Ebobisse was then subbed off for Preston Judd as Gonzalez hoped to keep the offensive momentum running. In the 66th minute, Brent Kallman received some medical attention.
At the end of the 71st minute, the Earthquakes nearly made it 2-1 however Skahan’s shot went just wide. Nashville made a few substitutions of their own, trying to swing momentum back in their favor as time started to run out. Rodrigues went down and caused a short delay with less than ten minutes remaining, he’d be substituted off as the Quakes could not afford to take any chances.
Nashville brought pressure and tested Yarbrough at the beginning of stoppage time getting a couple of solid opportunities before the ball was knocked out of play. Neither team would be able to break the deadlock, it would end in a 1-1 draw which was a decent result for two struggling teams however either one could’ve won. Nashville would certainly feel disappointed with the result given how strong they were in attack though.
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