Nashville SC vs. New York City FC
2026 MLS Regular Season | Matchday 25
Wednesday, September 9 | 6:30 p.m. CT
BMO Field | Toronto, Ontario
Broadcast Details
Watch | Apple TV
Listen | 104.5 The Zone
Nashville SC’s weeklong road trip continues after a 0-0 draw at New York City FC on Friday evening, making a short hop to Canada Wednesday night for a matchup with 11th-placed Toronto FC. Even with a draw last time out, the Boys in Gold are the runaway leaders in MLS, topping both the Supporters’ Shield and Eastern Conference tables by 10 points.
Key Storylines
Present vs. past
Few players had as hulking a pair of boots to fill last offseason for Nashville than Maxwell Woledzi. The Ghanaian defender, a superstar in his own right after an award-laden spell in Norway, moved to Music City in the wake of Walker Zimmerman’s departure from the club as a free agent — the end of his Designated Player era in Nashville and, with it, one of the most celebrated tenures for a center back in modern league history. Woledzi has proved a more than able successor for the American. But on Wednesday, the pair of Rolls-Royce defenders suit up against each other for the first time: a matchup between an all-time Nashville great and a player well on course to become one.
Let’s start with Woledzi. The 25-year-old’s campaign at the heart of Nashville’s back line has been nothing short of exceptional. He trails only goalkeeper Brian Schwake for total MLS minutes (1,991), has started more matches than any outfield player and leads his team in passing success. The defense he marshals has 11 clean sheets and 17 goals allowed through 23 games, just five and nine shy of the league record, respectively. He also fired home a pair of vital winners, once in a hard-fought 2-1 triumph against NYCFC at home in May and again in stoppage time to seal the Boys in Gold’s first-ever victory at Red Bull New York last month. Zimmerman has endured a more up-and-down season but remains the talisman of Toronto’s defense, starting 18 of the 19 games he’s appeared in for a squad riding a six-game unbeaten run.
The Boys in Gold will fancy their chances against a Toronto backline which has surrendered 42 goals in 2026, let in four in its last match and does not have a shutout since mid-July. But they are also familiar with the former club captain at its center and the influence he can have on games when playing at full capacity. Regardless of Wednesday’s winner, one thing is for certain: Nashville’s present and future meets one of the stars of its past.
A side reborn?
If you were to judge Toronto based on the first half of its season, you’d likely peg it among the back of the Eastern Conference peloton. It had enough offensive firepower to beat Cincinnati, Columbus and Colorado, keep it tight with FC Dallas and star striker Petar Musa and go blow-for-blow in 3-3 ties with Austin and Philadelphia. But it also struggled to shut anyone out, securing a solitary clean sheet through the end of April — a trend it maintained through the summer break — and struggled to put anyone away, securing just one league win across all of April and May.
After the near-two-month FIFA World Cup hiatus, however, the Canadians have emerged as one of the trickiest teams in MLS to beat, largely because of their ability to overcome a fragile defense with a dynamic attack. The summer signing of Josh Sargent has added a focal point for Toronto’s offense, aiding the playmaking abilities of Daniel Salloi and Alonso Coello to create a rarely in control but often explosive forward line. The team’s second and third clean sheets of the season arrived in 0-0 draws to resume play in July before enjoying an undefeated August, taking down New England 2-1 at home and Miami 2-1 on the road amid a 3-3 tie with Charlotte and 1-1 handshake with NYCFC. Their latest match, a 4-4 thriller with Chicago, encapsulated everything good, bad and confusing with this team, going behind in the 13th minute before seizing a 3-1 lead, only to trail 4-3 in the second half and equalize in stoppage time.
The Boys in Gold are six unbeaten, too, sandwiching four wins with a pair of road draws. Unlike Toronto, however, Nashville’s streak is a product of its defensive rigidity and ability to control matches. It has fewer losses (two) in 2026 than Toronto has clean sheets, two players with more goals than Sargent and three with six or more assists, as well as the league’s joint shutout leader in Schwake. Wednesday thus presents an interesting contrast in styles and trends: Toronto’s ability to inject matches with chaos versus the Boys in Gold’s ability to put them in a vice grip.
Series History & What’s Next
Nashville has dominated the all-time series with Toronto, winning five of their 10 previous meetings with a further three ties. The Boys in Gold have not lost to their Canadian opponents since the 2022 season and have taken maximum points from each of their last four meetings.
Things don’t lighten (or cool) for Nashville upon the conclusion of Wednesday’s match, with a trip to Inter Miami looming on Saturday evening. That matchup is guaranteed to be a showdown of the two best teams in the East and potentially the two best in MLS outright, with a season sweep on the line for the Boys in Gold following their 4-1 win at GEODIS Park in August.
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