Match Recap: Resilient Nashville SC defeat New England Revolution 3-2
Twice on Wednesday night did Nashville SC fall behind to the hosting New England Revolution, and twice on Wednesday night did Nashville respond.
The scoring was opened 15 minutes in by Tomas Chancalay after an excellent quickly taken free kick by Carles Gil caught both Nashville centerbacks Chris Applewhite and Jeisson Palacios flat footed.
However, Nashville would find a goal of their own just before halftime, with Sam Surridge finding the back of the net. Coming out of the break, New England quickly reestablished their advantage in the 49th minute, with Brayan Ceballos scoring off another dead ball situation.
Nashville would again respond, as a flicked on header from Dan Lovitz was tapped in by Surridge just two minutes later in the 51st. The goal was initially credited to Lovitz, but later given to Surridge, who found what would be his third from the penalty spot in the 58th minute after Hany Mukhtar was fouled in the area.
The win keeps Nashville in third in the East, as all of the conference’s top five sides in the table collected maximum points on Wednesday. Surridge’s hat trick gives him an unreal tally of nine goals in his last five games, and puts him solely on top of the Golden Boot table, with fifteen strikes in 19 games.
This matches Surridge’s total in all competitions last season, which was already the most he’d scored in a season in his career.
Let’s take a gander at the game that was, shall we?
Lineup
Joe Willis, as always, stood between the sticks, but there was some change in front of him perhaps with an eye at the weekend, considering Jack Maher’s reported small injury to his foot.
Ahead of Willis, 17 year-old Chris Applewhite started alongside Jeisson Palacios, MLS All-Star Andy Najar, and Dan Lovitz. The midfield pairing of Eddi Tagseth and Patrick Yazbek is becoming more familiar, and feels like a first-choice pairing at this moment.
The front four featured Alex Muyl, Sam Surridge, Hany Mukhtar and Jonathan Pérez. Off the bench, head coach B.J. Callaghan called upon the services of Ahmed Qasem, Teal Bunbury, Bryan Acosta, and Jack Maher.
The Numbers
Nashville SC
Shots: 16
Shots on goal: 6
xG: 2.0
Possession: 47.5%
Corners: 6
Yellow Cards: 3 (Alex Muyl, Eddi Tagseth (suspended), Jonathan Pérez)
New England Revolution
Shots: 9
Shots on goal: 4
xG: 1.4
Possession: 52.5%
Corners: 5
Yellow Cards: 2 (Maxi Urruti, Alhassan Yusuf)
Analysis
What a great, scrappy win for Nashville here. Both goals conceded, as honest as I can be and as unfortunate as it is to say, are on the shoulders of the young Applewhite. However, it’s nothing a 17-year old can’t learn from, and Nashville won anyway so it’s not as disappointing in the end.
Sam Surridge, tell the All Star voters how you really feel. Taking a commanding lead in the Golden Boot race, and that’s even if you consider that second goal to belong to Lovitz.
Super important win on the road, especially with the rest of the top five also winning. This team is a serious MLS Cup contender, and I’m not the only one saying it at this point. There’s a pack of about six teams in the East that are juuuuuust beginning to separate themselves, and Nashville are right there.
For clarity, that pack is Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Nashville, Columbus, Orlando and Inter Miami, who sit four points behind fifth place Orlando, but with three games in hand as they continue their FIFA Club World Cup journey.
Anyone of those six clubs, I think, could realistically represent the East in MLS Cup this year. Interestingly, we could very realistically see two of them, Philadelphia and Nashville compete against one another in an Open Cup semifinal come September.
But for that to happen, both would need to win their quarterfinals first, of course. Nashville’s quarterfinal is against DC United on July 9th, and their next match is actually a bit of a test run, so to speak. The Boys in Gold are headed to the nation’s capital on Saturday to take on DC United in one final road game before returning to GEODIS Park for the first time since May 31st. We’ll see you Saturday morning for the preview!