It’s spooky soccer season.
Nashville SC (12W-4L-16D, 52 pts.) travels down to Florida this Sunday for a ghoulish showdown against Orlando City SC (12W-9L-11D, 47 pts.) on national television.
The Boys in Gold clinched a spot in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs on Wednesday with a 6-3 win over FC Cincinnati. Now, the squad will look to secure home field advantage in the playoffs. A win over Orlando, or a draw combined with results around the league, could do just that.
Here’s everything you need to know about Sunday’s match:
Date: Sunday, October 31
Time: 3 p.m. CT
Location: Exploria Stadium (Orlando, FL)
TV: TUDN, UniMás*
Stream: Twitter
English Radio: ESPN 94.9
Spanish Radio: El Jefe 96.7
Watch Party
*Sunday's match will air on TUDN and UniMás in Spanish. Fans can hear English commentary by utilizing the SAP button on their remote. The Twitter stream will be in English.
Momentum Mash – With a playoff spot wrapped up, Nashville SC now turns its attention to securing a home match in the playoffs and entering the postseason with the right tune.
Head Coach Gary Smith says that clinching a playoff spot with time to spare helps the team focus on the remaining tasks at hand.
“The main focus of any coach is to be in that postseason,” Smith said. “The second focus is going to be ‘do we go into that postseason with confidence and some belief and some momentum?’ We still have that to achieve, but we’ve clinched with two games to go, gotten back to that second spot and are staring down the barrels of a possible home tie. There’s still a lot of work to be done to achieve that.”
Spooky Scary Scenarios – Nashville SC could clinch a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference and guaranteed home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs with the following:
Nashville SC win vs. Orlando City SC
OR
Nashville SC tie vs. Orlando City SC AND
New York City FC lose or tie vs. Inter Miami CF
OR
Nashville SC tie vs. Orlando City SC AND
Atlanta United lose vs. Toronto FC
OR
Nashville SC tie vs. Orlando City SC AND
Philadelphia Union lose or tie vs. FC Cincinnati
The Lions’ Den – Orlando City SC and Nashville SC have played two tight matches this season. On August 18, the two sides played to a 1-1 draw at Nissan Stadium. On Sept. 29, Orlando clawed back from a 2-0 deficit to force a 2-2 stalemate. That draw ended a four-match losing skid for the Lions and started what would become a five-match unbeaten streak that was snapped on Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss at the Columbus Crew.
Now, Orlando and Nashville face off for the third and final time in the regular season at Exploria Stadium. The last time both teams played in Orlando was Decision Day 2020 when a Jhonder Cádiz header in stoppage time sealed a thrilling come-from-behind victory for the Boys in Gold.
