Nashville SC vs Club América
Concacaf Champions Cup | Quarterfinals
Tuesday, Apr. 7 | 7 p.m. CT
GEODIS Park | Nashville, TN
Nashville SC vs Club América
Tuesday, April 7 at GEODIS Park | 7 p.m.
Nashville SC faces Club América in Leg 1 of the Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinals
Broadcast Details
Watch | FS2, TUDN, OneSoccer, ConcacafGO
Nashville SC is back at home for the first time in nearly three weeks for a monumental CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal first leg against Mexican titan Club América. The Boys in Gold have enjoyed a remarkable start to the 2026 campaign, sitting top of the MLS Eastern Conference with just one loss in 10 games across all competitions, including a thrilling Round of 16 aggregate win against rival Inter Miami.
Key Storylines
More chaos at The Castle?
Nashville has had its fair share of heart-stopping matches at GEODIS Park throughout its history: the 2023 Leagues Cup Final, last season’s final-minute winner against Philadelphia, even last month’s Champions Cup Round of 16 first leg against Miami. But perhaps no match the Boys in Gold have played contained as much drama as their 2023 Leagues Cup Round of 16 matchup with Club América.
That game truly had it all. Walker Zimmerman opened the scoring for Nashville with a bullet header in the 61st minute. Attacking midfielder Diego Valdés Contreras canceled it out in the 78th minute. A Lukas MacNaughton handball gave Julián Quiñones the opportunity to settle the match with a penalty kick for the visitors in the 94th minute, which he converted, only for Sam Surridge to log his first goal for the club in the ninth minute of extra time off the bench, sending it to penalty kicks. América goalkeeper Luís Malagón saved Jack Maher’s attempt to seemingly win the match but was adjudged to have jumped off his line before the kick, letting Nashville re-take it and ultimately triumph 6-5. It would not be hyperbole to call that August night the craziest in club history.
Nashville enters this season’s series against América with only seven players who saw game time in 2023. Just three of them — Dan Lovitz, Hany Mukhtar and Alex Muyl — started that match. América, meanwhile, started five of the same players in its latest Liga MX match as it did three years ago, with Malagón only absent because of an Achilles tear. It’s the new-look, high-flying Boys in Gold versus a tried-and-true giant of Mexican soccer seeking revenge. That’s as close a recipe for another classic as one could ask for.
A defense built for the occasion
Nashville’s three-headed monster in attack of Cristian Espinoza, Surridge and Mukhtar has been, by far, the standout story of its season. From Espinoza’s decisive goal against Miami in the Round of 16 to Mukhtar’s last-minute winner at Columbus to Surridge’s league-leading seven goals, few teams lay claim to as skilled or productive a front line as the Boys in Gold.
That trio will need to play at the top of its game Tuesday against América, a team which has not conceded more than one goal in a match since a February 28 loss to Tigres UANL. But perhaps more vital to Nashville’s hopes of advancing is the equally dominant group of players behind them — a defensive unit that ranks joint-best of the remaining teams in the Champions Cup with just one goal surrendered across four matches. It hasn’t just been in this competition either; of the remaining three goals Nashville has conceded in 2026, two of them were consolations and the other occurred in the first 20 seconds of a match, with the remaining nine shots from the opposing team (last weekend vs. Chicago) causing less than 0.5 expected goals.
Although it has been good at keeping goals out, América has not possessed the ability to overwhelm opponents on the offensive end as of late. It is winless in its last three matches, drawing twice and losing once, and has not scored more than two goals in a match since October of last year. If Brian Schwake, Maxwell Woledzi, Jeisson Palacios and the rest of Nashville’s defensive setup can play to the high standards they have set throughout this campaign, it will pose a formidable challenge for the Mexican side.
Series History + What's Next
Nashville and América have only met twice previously: their iconic Leagues Cup clash and a 2022 friendly that Nashville won on penalties after full time ended 3-3. Las Águilas are the most successful club in Mexican history as well as the joint-record winners of the Champions Cup, with seven titles to their name. Tuesday’s quarterfinal marks the furthest the Boys in Gold have advanced in the competition.
Nashville returns to MLS play over the weekend with a Saturday evening trip to Charlotte FC, slated for 7:30 p.m. CT, ahead of a trip to Mexico City for the second leg next Tuesday, April 14, at 10:30 p.m. CT.
