Oumar Ballo signed with Nashville SC on November 30 in the big group of first signings that also included GK Matt Pickens, Midfielder Matt Lagrassa, and forward Robin Shroot. Check out the profile for Matt Pickens here.

Ballo, 26, was born in Bamako, the capital and largest city of the landlocked West African country of Mali, and moved to the United States when he was just nine years old with his family. Ballo started playing soccer once he got to the US, and first started to come into the soccer scene in college, first at Community College of Baltimore County in 2011, and then the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) from 2012 to 2014. While in college, Ballo made 80 career appearances (caps) for both schools and scored 7 goals. While in college, he also played in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of US soccer, appearing in 21 games with the Baltimore Bohemians from 2012 to 2013, and in 7 for Reading United AC in 2014.

Upon graduating from UMBC, Ballo was selected in the second round with the 30th overall pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft by the Houston Dynamo. However, Ballo would be released by Houston in April of 2015 without making a first team appearance, either for the Dynamo, or for the Charleston Battery, the club he had been loaned to. Ballo would not be signed by any professional club until January 2016, when the Swope Park Rangers, the USL team affiliated with Sporting Kansas City, acquired him. In the next two seasons with Swope Park, Ballo would make 36 starts, and 45 total caps for the Rangers. He would also score a goal and assist on another in his time playing in Kansas City.

Sadly, there isn’t as much video of Ballo as there is of Matt Pickens, but that’s to be expected. Pickens had the benefit of playing in MLS for several years, and then playing for a heavily televised USL team down in Tampa Bay. Ballo has not yet played in MLS, so the pickings for highlights are scarce. However, I did manage to find a video showing Ballo scoring some goals for UMBC (skip to 0:50 to see his goals)

At 6’2″ tall, Ballo can be a dangerous target man during set pieces and corner kicks. We can expect to see him in the box often, where he can have the opportunity to work some of the magic we saw him perform while in college. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any videos of his work as a defender, but Ballo has played primarily center back, and will be a solid option for Gary Smith to start as one of his center backs. In his two seasons with Swope Park, Ballo has helped keep 11 clean sheets in the games he started and played all 90 minutes.

At 0:25 in the below video, take a look at Ballo’s only goal for SPR:

Now, for the stat-heavy portion of the article. With so few highlights to show, hopefully the statistics of his play with SPR the past two seasons will shed some light on what we can expect from Ballo in 2018. In his two seasons with Swope Park, Ballo played 3205 minutes in 45 games. He made 87 clearances, blocked 16 shots (all in 2017), and made 44 interceptions. His tackle success rate was 84% for both seasons. In one-on-one duels, Ballo won 76 of 129, for a success rate of about 59%, with that rate improving from 2016 to 2017, and he won 65% of the aerial duels he attempted. Overall, these are good numbers for a center back, and we can see through his clearances, blocks, and interceptions that he isn’t afraid to get the ball out of danger by whatever means necessary.

Ballo attempted 1030 passes in both seasons, and completed 85% of them. His pass success rate per 90 minutes was 24.6, with most of those coming within his own half, as to be expected from a center back. Ballo looks to be solid in the defensive half of the field, completing 92.6% of passes in his own half in 2017. This is exactly what one would want in a central defender: the ability to retain possession in the most vulnerable part of the pitch. He shouldn’t just be giving the ball away by squandering possession through bad passing, and he really shouldn’t do it when he’s less than 40 yards from his goalkeeper.

Overall, Ballo looks pretty good on paper. He’s got a good track record of being able to get the ball away from danger by tackles, interceptions, or clearances, and once he’s got the ball, he helps keep possession through great passing numbers. We’ll know more about exactly where Ballo slots into Gary Smith’s formation and tactical shape come February and the preseason friendly against Atlanta United, but don’t be surprised if Ballo puts in a great showing of what he’s capable of.