Nashville SCoop: Building a Team Through the MLS Expansion Draft
Are you a member of The Roadies?!
As Hank Williams jr. famously sang, “Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!” But this week, we’re not talking about the Titans. Instead, it’s time to focus on that other sort of football, the kind you probably call soccer. It’s only a few months until our boys in gold and blue, Nashville SC will take the pitch at Nissan Stadium for their first game as a member of the top level of American soccer, the MLS. They will face off against Atlanta United FC, another recent expansion member of the league who has seen immediate success both on the field and with attendance, and who will certainly soon become a major rival to Nashville SC thanks to their geographic proximity. Mark your calendar for Saturday, February 29 and buy your tickets here. (Yes it’s going to be such a special event that it happens on a date that only occurs once every four years!)
Nashville SC is building a modern new stadium at the fairgrounds, but first they have to build a new team with only a few holdovers from their previous roster that played at the lower USL level. They have already announced some exciting free agent signings and have traded for veteran leadership, including ex-Chicago Fire midfielder Dax McCarty who should immediately become a fan favorite. Another major tool that Nashville SC employed to fill their roster was through the MLS expansion Draft held November 19 at Blake Shelton’s Ole Red on Lower Broad. The structure of the draft allowed Nashville to select players from other MLS rosters, although several teams had exemptions from losing players due to having lost team members in previous drafts.
While Nashville was the host of the MLS Expansion Draft, they weren’t the only new team involved. Inter Miami FC will also enter the league in 2020, so they actually ended up with the first pick at the draft. True to Nashville form, Ole Red was filled with rowdy fans, many of them dressed out in their team gear as members of the core fan group “The Roadies,” known for their motto “First to Come. First to Leave,” just like the real roadies who load music gear in and out at big concerts. The crowd chanted and sang, already sharing their particular dislike for some specific rival teams whenever their names appeared on the massive screens at Ole Red. (FC Cincinnati is a particular target of their derision.) Also in attendance were many members of local youth soccer teams, suspiciously absent early from their respective schools…
Also, because it’s Nashville, the crowd was warmed up by a rollicking country music act, former contestant on The Voice, Adam Cunningham. As soon as Cunningham finished the last note of Travis Tritt’s “Here’s a Quarter,” event emcee Susannah Collins of MLSsoccer.com took the stage to fire up the crowd even more. She introduced McCarty who shared how excited he was to be a new member of the team.
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“I told my wife Nashville is where I want to be!’ McCarty told the rabid fans. “I’ve heard the buzz about this city, and it’s ready for an MLS team!” After the crowd chanted his name and sang to him (in pretty decent harmony,) Dax promised his new fans, “If I hear that at a game, I’m gonna run through a brick wall for you all!”
Once the actual drafting began, the action was fast and furious with only five minutes between picks and players changing teams through trades for other players and special allocation money that could be used toward future acquisitions. Team owner John Ingram stepped to the microphone to make the team’s first pick while a brain trust of team executives looked on from a desk at the front of the stage.
Ingram proudly announced the selection of forward Abu Danaldi from Minnesota United FC. Dinaldi is known as an exciting attacker, and he was the No.1 overall pick of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft. He should definitely be someone to watch next season. Other local sports heroes were in the house to show their support for Nashville’s latest major league team. Titans running back Derrick Henry made the team’s second pick, Zarek Valentin from the Portland Timbers. Valentin’s career as a member of Nashville SC was a short one as he was almost immediately traded to the Houston Dynamo for goalkeeper Joe Willis who should be in net on opening day.
Nashville SC went for defense with their third pick of Jalil Anibaba from the New England Revolution. Ironically, the pick was announced by local baseball hero Mookie Betts who plays for the Boston Red Sox. He didn’t seem too unhappy about participating in the theft of another player from a Boston area team. Nashville pulled off another pick and trade in the fourth round, shipping forward Brandon Vazquez from Atlanta to Cincinnati while pocketing some valuable allocation dollars in the process. With their final selection, Nashville SC plucked defender Jimmy Medranda from the roster of Sporting KC. As soon as the final pick was announced, the MLS re-opened the league-wide trade window, and Nashville used some of their accumulated allocation money to pick up U.S. Men’s National Team defender Daniel Lovitz from the Montreal Impact and another promising goalkeeper, Adrián Zendejas.
While there still may be some more tweaking done to the roster before the first game, a significant core of the team is now in place. Here’s the roster as of last week so that you can start to memorize the names of your next new favorite Nashville footballers:
FORWARDS (5):
- Accam, David
- Danladi, Abu
- Lancaster, Cameron
- Rios, Daniel
- Winn, Alan
MIDFIELDERS (6):
- Godoy, Anibal
- Jones, Derrick
- LaGrassa, Matt
- Leal, Randall
- McCarty, Dax
- Mukhtar, Hany
DEFENDERS (6):
- Anibaba, Jalil
- Lovitz, Daniel
- Medranda, Jimmy
- Romney, Dave
- Tribbett, Ken
- Washington, Taylor
GOALKEEPERS (2):
- Willis, Joe
- Zendejas, Adrian
You might also want to start rehearsing some of the Roadies favorite chants, because they promise, “We’re gonna sing! We’re gonna yell!” Come on, you boys in gold!
