The best in MLS lives in Middle Tennessee.
After the single most dominant regular season in MLS record, Nashville SC headed to longtime rival FC Cincinnati Saturday afternoon knowing a point would secure its spot in league folklore. The match itself was far from Nashville’s easiest or flashiest, but the Boys in Gold got the job done all the same in a 2-0 win at TQL Stadium, securing the requisite points to become the outright best side in regular-season history.
Here’s what we learned.
Two at the top
Among the multitude of stars across this Nashville SC constellation, few have shone brighter than goalkeeper Brian Schwake. The young American has been a revelation since assuming the starting spot from veteran Joe Wilis, leading the MLS clean sheet race almost wire-to-wire as he stacked spectacular saves week on week. He earned an All-Star nod this summer and the first U.S. Men’s National Team call-up of his career, where he secured a shutout in his debut start. Safe to say it’s been a season to remember.
Saturday was a day to remember, too. Schwake wasn’t made to work quite as hard in Cincinnati as some other points in the season — his five saves accounted for 1.03 goals prevented — but the performance itself mattered little in the year’s grander scheme. His shutout at TQL Stadium was his 16th and Nashville’s 17th of the regular season, tying the league’s all-time records for both. Schwake now sits level with Kansas City Wizards legend Tony Meola as the MLS single-season shutout leader, having played two games more, as his team conceded the fewest regular-season goals in league history and went undefeated at home. All the while, he topped MLS in save percentage and goals conceded per 90 minutes, sat second in goals prevented and saved the most penalties (three) of any goalkeeper.
Substantial credit should also go to the Boys in Gold’s defense, which conceded more than one goal just seven times all year and lost just three times. Center backs Maxwell Woledzi and Jeisson Palacios are firmly in the hunt for MLS Defender of the Year. Right back Andy Najar has earned two consecutive All-Star nods and solidified his status as one of the league’s best offensive full backs with 10 assists. Reed Baker-Whiting proved an underrated masterstroke of a signing at left-back, contributing vital goals against Columbus and Austin ahead of his first senior USMNT call-up this month.
Due to Schwake or any of the defenders ahead of him, Nashville’s goal has been near impenetrable all year, and it stayed locked on Saturday against one of the league’s most dynamic attacks. That’s no mean feat. But, given the Boys in Gold’s consistency, it’s also not a surprise.
He just needs a chance
Any soccer fan who spends a decent chunk of time on social media will likely have encountered some variety of this question:
Last kick of the game and you need a goal. Who do you want that chance to fall to?
Nashville supporters are spoiled for choice with this hypothetical. Najar offered the devastating final touch to complete a 3-2 comeback against Columbus in August. Woledzi stunned the Red Bull New York home crowd with a stoppage-time header to secure Nashville’s first-ever win at Sports Illustrated Stadium. Hany Mukhtar and Cristian Espinoza have each contributed vital goals at key moments, including at Miami and Club America in the Concacaf Champions Cup and at Columbus in March. But on Saturday, as in the previous weekend’s win against Red Bull at GEODIS Park and September’s trip to Nu Stadium, Sam Surridge was the one who offered the decisive clinical instinct.
Both of Nashville’s goals at Cincinnati were quintessential Surridge: a charge up the defense’s gut on a counterattack before zipping a shot past a helpless goalkeeper, once to seize the lead and again to double it. An inch-perfect Najar through-ball set up the first and a piece of midfield wizardry from Patrick Yazbek allowed for the second, each of which the Englishman finished coolly into the left side of the net. Those opportunities accounted for 40% of Nashville’s shots on target and nearly half of its expected goals, a testament to Surridge’s ability to put away chances when the occasion needs him to. He now has six goals in five career appearances against the Ohio club, including two of the most consequential in the Boys in Gold’s history.
Nashville will need similar levels of clinical finishing in the coming weeks. In a sport with as tight of margins and few goals as soccer, being able to put away the limited opportunities one gets can be the difference between knockout glory and knockout heartbreak. The Boys in Gold have some of the best offensive talent in MLS across the field as well as one of its premier target men. And, as Cincinnati once again showed, he’s in red-hot form.
No debate now
Ever since it became clear the Supporters’ Shield title was in reach for Nashville, many questions emerged about what else it could achieve. Staying unbeaten at home for the second time in team history. Club records for wins, goals and points. Matching or beating the league’s defensive and clean sheet records. But as the season progressed, it grew evident that even grander prizes awaited this group.
Out went club milestones and in came MLS milestones, including the fewest regular-season losses, best points-per-game average, best defensive record, best regular-season win percentage and biggest Shield-winning margin in league history all now call Tennessee home. Oh — and, as of Saturday, the MLS single-season points record.
In many ways, a relatively routine 2-0 win feels like the perfect encapsulation of Nashville’s history-making season. Few teams have been able to challenge it, including the rest of the East’s top five, which claimed just four points against Nashville all year. The Boys in Gold fell behind just seven times all season and rallied for at least a point in four of them. In addition to its 17 clean sheets, Nashville kept four Eastern Conference teams without a goal in either of their matches, including Cincinnati and Philadelphia. Nashville went unbeaten in both of its matches with Miami, won its games against New England by an aggregate 7-1 and never conceded more than two goals in a single game. It had routine competitors for the Golden Boot and assist lead, the runaway shutout leader and a league-best four All-Stars. Dominance and control, no matter how you slice it.
Nashville, of course, wants bigger prizes. It already has two trophies; it yearns for a third. And while regular-season success pales in comparison to postseason triumphs, two things can be true at the same time. This is the best team in regular-season history. And it will be a tall task for anyone in another campaign, or any potential playoff opponent this year, to catch them.
