Nashville SC was made to work for it Wednesday night at Sports Illustrated Stadium, overcoming two disallowed goals and a barrage of Red Bull New York chances to secure a vital 1-0 win in stoppage time, its second victory in a row following a 4-1 hammering of Inter Miami on Saturday. The three points propels the Boys in Gold more than two games ahead in the Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield standings, keeping them as the runaway favorites for the regular-season and MLS Cup title with 14 games yet to play.
Here’s what we learned.
The Maxwell for the moment
Maxwell Woledzi may be just eight months into his Music City career, but boy has he made an impact in that time. And boy did Nashville need him Wednesday.
Woledzi’s performance at Sports Illustrated Stadium has a strong argument as the best of his career with the Boys in Gold since joining last December. In addition to being the highest-rated player on the field for either team — the 25-year-old accumulated Nashville’s highest-xG shot of the match — was one of just two starters with a 95% pass success rate or better and helped his team to a club-record 14th clean sheet in all competitions. His eventual winner, a powerful header off a Cristian Espinoza cross,was a story of seconds: in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, the second goal of Woledzi’s season, the second against a New York team after he decided a 2-1 bout with NYCFC in May, and almost his second of the game, had his foot not been marginally offside from a Sam Surridge pass earlier on.
This abundance of seconds comes with a pair of historic firsts, too. Before Wednesday, Nashville had never scored, let alone beaten, Red Bull at its home ground.
The immense individual impact he made on Wednesday’s match is unusual for a player in his position. It’s rare, after all, for a defensive player to be one of his team’s most dangerous attackers. But anyone who has watched Woledzi in 2026 will know just how great a fit and tough an assignment he is for opposing teams, a large reason he is an undisputed contender for MLS Defensive Player of the Year honors come this winter. The Ghanaian leads a Nashville back line that holds MLS’s best defensive record, with 15 goals through 20 matches, the fewest by this point in the season in club history. He has held Lionel Messi to one total goal involvement in three matches against Inter Miami in 2026 and helped his team stay undefeated at home, the only side to do so. He has zero yellow or red cards in MLS play. And in New Jersey, he earned Nashville’s 14th win of the MLS season — the most of any team.
As if the cake didn’t have enough cherries, he added MLS Team of the Matchday honors on Thursday afternoon, too. Not bad, Maxwell. Not bad at all.
History for Schwake
Speaking of defensive stalwarts, we need to talk about Brian Schwake. Again.
It would be disingenuous to say we learned anything new about the American on Wednesday. He has been by far the best goalkeeper in MLS in 2026, earning an All-Star nod in his first season as a starter. But that shouldn’t take away from another incredible performance by the 24-year-old, who seems to keep stacking them match on match.
Schwake’s accolades across the season are innumerable. He leads MLS in save percentage and goals prevented, sits second in the league in clean sheets and has saved half of the penalties he has faced, including one last weekend against Messi. He has also been Nashville’s highest-rated player on FotMob three times, hit an 8.0 rating or better seven times and is the lone player to play every minute of the MLS season. The stats are comparatively unimpressive for his showing Wednesday, but you’d be mistaken to conflate that with the quality of his performance.
New York accumulated 1.2 more expected goals than Nashville, logged 51 touches in its box to 33 and outshot it 13-10, but Schwake stood tall to each one. He was only awarded one save — a trailing-foot denial of Emil Forsberg on the doorstep — but that save alone prevented 0.85 goals on target. He closed down Julian Hall expertly on the 10-minute mark to force the youngster to fire wide on a one-on-one. Otherwise, he didn’t surrender a single chance worth more than 0.3 expected goals, meaning New York’s shots grew increasingly speculative and long-range as the game wore on. And by full time, Schwake had earned his 14th clean sheet in all competitions with another Man-of-the-Match performance. That’s the first time a Nashville goalkeeper has ever reached that mark.
A midfield reunited
Nashville endured a brief MLS slump — if you can even call it that — after the summer break. Tight wins against Atlanta United and CF Montréal preceded two games without a victory: a 1-0 loss at Orlando and thrilling 2-2 draw at D.C. United. Rust from nearly two months off was partially to blame, but so was a laundry list of injury absences or players working their way back from one, be it Warren Madrigal, Andy Najar, Eddi Tagseth, Jeisson Palacios, Reed Baker-Whiting or Espinoza. Each of those players have earned starts since then, coinciding with Nashville’s uptick in form over the last two games.
The longest drought in appearances, though, belongs to Patrick Yazbek. The midfielder had been out with a knock he suffered in warmups during the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals in April, depriving Nashville of one of its hardest runners and best ball-progressors. Matthew Corcoran and Eddi Tagseth have been more than capable deputies in the meantime. But getting the Australia international back in the rotation has been a key priority as the Boys in Gold chase silverware at the end of the season.
Consider that priority an achievement. Yazbek made his long-awaited return in the 70th minute of Wednesday’s match, taking Corcoran’s place alongside Tagseth to reunite one of MLS’s most effective midfield tandems for the first time in four months. Yazbek looked right at home in his cameo, too, completing all nine of his passes and taking 12 touches as his team put together the most threatening offensive sequences of the evening.
Yazbek’s minutes will still likely be managed carefully in the coming games, including this weekend’s clash with Columbus. But finally seeing Nashville’s workhorse No. 8 back on the field will have brought a smile to fans’ faces. It certainly has brought a boost to the Boys in Gold’s depth and midfield energy. By his excitement after the game, it’s brought a boost to their attitude, too.
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