Nashville SC vs. Red Bull New York
2026 MLS Regular Season | Matchday 37
Sunday, November 1 | 3:30 p.m. CT
GEODIS Park | Nashville, TN
Broadcast Details
Watch | Apple TV
Listen | 104.5 The Zone
Nashville SC’s home finale is here. At least, its regular-season home finale.
Following one of the most consistently dominant campaigns in league history, the Boys in Gold enter Sunday’s match at GEODIS Park as Supporters’ Shield winners and the favorite for next month’s MLS Cup Playoffs. Nashville can match the league’s all-time points record with a win against Red Bull New York, which would also preserve its unbeaten season in Music City.
Key Storylines
One game from invincibility
Few teams in MLS history can claim as overwhelming a home-field advantage as Nashville in 2026. The Boys in Gold are unbeaten in league play at GEODIS Park, have won 14 games and trailed just twice. Their 44 points in Music City are the best in the league’s regular-season history, with a potential to further balloon that record on Sunday. Only six other clubs — Nashville also went undefeated at home in 2021 — have finished a season without a loss on their own turf, most recently Philadelphia in 2022.
Perhaps more impressive than Nashville’s record, however, is the way they’ve dominated at home. Of the Boys in Gold’s 16 home games, they’ve held their opponents scoreless in eight and to more than one goal just four times. They’ve scored four goals or more on six occasions and beat the No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 teams in the Eastern Conference by a combined 15-4. The only times they’ve dropped points came via a pair of draws, once in which they rallied from a two-goal deficit against D.C. United and again on Wednesday, a shutout against one of the league’s most in-form teams. That’s not to mention Nashville’s ability to triumph amidst chaos, be it Hany Mukhtar’s hat trick in a five-goal thriller against LAFC or a two-goal salvo in stoppage time to salvage three points against Columbus.
Red Bull has been a tricky team for Nashville in the past. The Boys in Gold had never beaten New York before last May and their victory at Sports Illustrated Stadium this summer was the first in their history. But Nashville’s resolute home form, the potential for league records and to shut the door on an unbeaten home season will ensure that it’s up for the task. If it does, elite company awaits. And given the season it’s put together to this point, you wouldn’t put it past it to do it in style.
Another defensive masterclass?
Nashville’s home form has moved in lockstep with its league-leading defense. The back line combination of Brian Schwake, Maxwell Woledzi, Jeisson Palacios, Reed Baker-Whiting and Andy Najar has been the undisputed best in MLS effectively since a ball was kicked in February, leading the league in goals allowed, goal difference and total clean sheets. And like the team at large, they too could make history with a performance against New York.
It’s already been an accolade-ridden season for many of these players. Schwake earned an MLS All-Star nod in his first season as a starter as well as the first U.S. Men’s National Team call-up of his career. Najar made his second-straight All-Star team in his second season with Nashville. Palacios and Woledzi are both well within the Defender of the Year conversation, the latter in his first season with the club. Baker-Whiting has long been touted as one of the best young full-backs in the league and was rewarded with MLS 22 Under 22 designation earlier this month. If the group preserves a clean sheet on Sunday, Schwake will match Tony Meola’s MLS record 16 shutouts in a single season. If the Boys in Gold don’t concede more than three goals in their final two games, they will also match or exceed Philadelphia’s record 26 goals allowed.
Nashville has greater aims than defensive or even points records. A first MLS Cup reigns above all. But the ability to match and exceed such high standards is as equal a testament to Nashville’s talent as its confidence for a postseason run. Another shutout against Red Bull — maybe even another goal from Woledzi, August’s match winner — would serve as more proof of the Boys in Gold’s already hefty title credentials.
A first-ever home trophy lift
Speaking of title credentials, these Boys in Gold love their silverware. Nashville is now just seven seasons into its MLS journey. But after its 2-0 win at CF Montréal last weekend, it now is a two-time trophy winner, holding the 2025 U.S. Open Cup as well as this year’s Supporters’ Shield title. That makes the Boys in Gold one of just four MLS clubs to win at least two pieces of domestic silverware since 2020, alongside Miami, Columbus, Philadelphia and LAFC.
Perhaps more impressive than the trophies, however, has been Nashville’s consistency; it has made the playoffs in six of its first seven seasons and won at least a game in three of them. Mukhtar, a Designated Player since Nashville’s inaugural season, is an undisputed league legend, former Golden Boot winner and MVP and has made five consecutive All-Star games. Head coach B.J. Callaghan has stewarded his team toward club records for single-season wins and goals, as well as league records for a manager. That’s not to mention the astute moves of Nashville’s front office, which has hit home run after home run with its roster construction decisions. Sam Surridge, Cristian Espinoza, Jeisson Palacios, Eddi Tagseth and Patrick Yazbek all come to mind in this regard.
Few other teams can claim that level of sustained success, let alone squads as relatively new to MLS as the Boys in Gold. In that way, the Supporters’ Shield is validation of the continued high standard Nashville has set for itself — the ripest of fruits for its labor. And once the final whistle sounds on Sunday, the Boys in Gold will get to lift a trophy in front of home supporters for the first time (last year’s Open Cup was in Austin). Should Nashville keep its standards high, the Eastern Conference and MLS Cup titles may not be far behind. Both of those, too, would be celebrated at GEODIS Park — a direct byproduct of its Shield triumph and the No. 1 seed accompanying it.
Series History & What’s Next
Red Bull has been one of Nashville’s more frustrating foes throughout its history. Its last two wins are the only two in its ledger compared to New York’s three, with four ties sprinkled between. Mukhtar accounts for two of the Boys in Gold’s four total goals against Red Bull, with Surridge owning a pair of assists.
After the full-time whistle and ensuing trophy lift, Nashville takes six days of rest before jetting up to a high scoring if inconsistent Cincinnati for Decision Day, potentially with the points record at stake.
Nashville SC vs Red Bull New York
Sunday, Nov. 1 at GEODIS Park | 3:30 p.m.
