Nashville SC vs. Charlotte FC
2026 MLS Regular Season | Matchday 9
Saturday, Apr. 25 | 7:30 p.m. CT
GEODIS Park | Nashville, TN
Broadcast Details
Watch | Apple TV
Listen | 104.5 The Zone
After a record-setting week which included three road wins — including the first-ever by an MLS Club at Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca — Nashville SC returns to GEODIS Park Saturday evening for a rematch with Charlotte FC. The Boys in Gold lead the Eastern Conference on 19 points with six wins in eight matches, five points ahead of Charlotte in third, with an opportunity to ascend even further ahead depending on Inter Miami’s result on Wednesday.
Key Storylines
More midfield magic?
Nashville’s 2-1 win against Charlotte two weeks ago was among its most impressive of the young season, especially considering its timing. The match was sandwiched between two tense Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal legs against Club América and acted as the first stop in a three-game road stand. To preserve legs, the Boys in Gold chose to rest all three of their Designated Players across the forward line and trust that their deputies — Ahmed Qasem, Woobens Pacius and Warren Madrigal — could provide enough offensive firepower in their stead. Nashville threatened on offense just as much as it has all season, a testament to the trio’s work rate and quality, but the breakthrough didn’t come from anyone on its attack. Instead, the midfield provided the difference.
Eddi Tagseth and Patrick Yazbek’s quality on the ball, hustle and vision have never been questioned. But for all their talent, the duo had combined for just one career goal in Music City ahead of their game against Charlotte, when each found his way onto the scoresheet. Tagseth’s opener from well outside the box was perhaps the best goal Nashville has scored all season, set up by Yazbek drawing a couple defenders toward him, while Yazbek’s 62nd-minute winner earned him MLS Team of the Matchday honors.
How far Nashville drives this season comes down to the efficiency of its engine room, and it’s been as impressive as can be so far. Tagseth, alongside goalkeeper Brian Schwake and center-back Maxwell Woledzi, is one of only three Nashville players to start every MLS game of the season. Yazbek has been trusted with the start in every Champions Cup match from the Round of 16 onwards. That duo holds six goal contributions to its name coming into Saturday’s rematch. If it can put in even half the shift it did two weeks ago, the Boys in Gold will fancy their chances of a series sweep.
A showdown of shot-stoppers
The abundance of attacking talent on display from both Nashville and Charlotte can distract from one of each team’s most impressive traits: their goalkeeping. Few players in MLS can compete with the shot-stopping chops of Schwake and Kristijan Kahlina, both of whom have been instrumental to their sides’ high-flying 2026 seasons. The pair of goalies have allowed just 14 combined goals through eight matches as their teams sit comfortably in the top echelon of the Eastern Conference.
Kahlina has been one of the league’s best keepers since joining Charlotte in 2022, accumulating 39 clean sheets with an average save percentage just over 74%. He earned MLS Team of the Matchday honors, the ninth of his career, for his seven saves in a 2-1 win at New York City FC over the weekend. But Schwake has been perhaps the standout star in net of any team across this campaign, saving 81% the shots he’s faced in MLS while logging four clean sheets and losing just once, the only time he has tasted defeat in his career as a starter. He also had a decisive penalty save in the clubs’ previous matchup, denying Idan Toklomati shortly after Yazbek’s goal.
As games at the top of the table often are, Saturday’s result will likely be decided by which side’s forward line can produce a bit of magic. Equally, however, it will depend on which team can prevent the other from finding those moments, and in Kahlina and Schwake, Charlotte and Nashville possess two of the best players at doing that. Two unstoppable forces meet two immovable objects; time will tell which gives first.
Series History & What’s Next
After its win in the Queen City, Nashville now owns the leg-up in the all-time competition against Charlotte 4-3-1, with the team from North Carolina holding a 12-11 lead in the goals ledger. The teams split last season’s series with 2-1 wins on each side’s home ground, with Hany Mukhtar and Jacob Shaffelburg scoring for the Boys in Gold in their victory at GEODIS Park last May.
Nashville remains home for the first leg of the Champions Cup semifinals against Tigres on Tuesday evening, slated for 7:30 p.m. CT, before hitting the road once more at Philadelphia next Saturday.
