Match Preview: Nashville SC vs DC United
Nashville SC are set to end a fairly lax month of June before kicking it right back into high gear in July. Saturday, they take a trip to the nation’s capital to take on DC United, with the Boys in Gold looking for a third consecutive win in as many road games, and an extension to their 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
Nashville is sitting pretty in third in the Eastern Conference, while DC United is currently in a lowly 12th, already seven points adrift from the playoff line. Nashville has, of course won each of their last two since the mini-pause for Gold Cup and Club World Cup festivities began, while DC United has had the opposite results, dropping each of their last two.
Let’s take a look.
Match Details
Date: Saturday, June 28th, 2025
Time: 7:30PM EST (local), 6:30PM CST (Nashville)
Location: Audi Field, Washington, District of Columbia
Referees: Ricardo Fierro (REF), Ian McKay (AR1), Stephen McGonagle (AR2), Sorin Stoica (4TH), Brian Dunn (VAR), Sergii Demianchuk (AVAR)
Head Coaches: B.J. Callaghan (NSH), Troy Lesesne (DC)
Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+
Listen: WGFX 104.5FM The Zone (Nashville)
Injury Report
Nashville SC
OUT- Taylor Washington, Wyatt Meyer, Tate Schmitt, Tyler Boyd, Maximus Ekk, Jacob Shaffelburg (int’l), Walker Zimmerman (int’l), Eddi Tagseth (suspended)
QUESTIONABLE- None
DC United
OUT- Kristian Fletcher, Lukas MacNaughton, Aaron Herrera (int’l)
QUESTIONABLE- Christian Benteke, Joao Beglow
Lineup Prediction
Joe Willis starts in goal, commanding a first-choice(ish) back four of Dan Lovitz, Jack Maher, Jeisson Palacios, and Andy Najar.
The midfield, with Tagseth’s suspension, is shaken up to feature Gastón Brugman and Patrick Yazbek. It’s worth noting two other players could go here instead. Matthew Corcoran was given the starting nod against New York City on May 31st, and Bryan Acosta has been the favored option off the bench recently.
Yazbek feels nailed in, but his partner less so. I expect to be wrong here.
The front four I think remains unchanged from midweek, with Alex Muyl joining Jonathan Pérez, Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge at the front. Perhaps Pérez’s start against New England was an eye towards starting Ahmed Qasem here, but Perez played so well in that game I have a hard time seeing a world he doesn’t start here.
Analysis & Prediction
There’s no sugarcoating it. DC United is a bad team. But, that bad team did stifle Nashville once this season to a 0-0 draw at GEODIS Park, so maybe there’s a lifeline. Still, those last two games they’ve played and lost? They did so by a combined score of 9-1.
DC has the worst defense in the East, and is just one goal ahead of Montréal or they’d have the worst attack in the East also.
Injuries have ravaged DC United of two of their few good attacking threats in Fletcher and Benteke, and they really couldn’t afford that.
Give me Nashville 2-0, and it seems like free money at this point to bet on the duo of Surridge and Mukhtar to score, so I’ll do so here as well. See you postgame!