While Nashville SC are in position to make club history, Western Conference-leading St. Louis City SC must start winning matches on the road.
Looking to extend its MLS unbeaten streak to a franchise-record 10 games, Nashville tries to keep St. Louis without a road victory for the fifth consecutive contest on Saturday night.
Second in the East, Nashville (9-3-5, 32 points) is 6-0-3 since a 2-1 loss at New York City FC on April 15. Its 12 goals conceded are the fewest in MLS and star Hany Mukhtar (10 goals, seven assists) is contending for league MVP honors for a second consecutive season.
Nashville kept that unbeaten run alive when Randall Leal netted the equalizer in the 69th minute of last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Toronto FC.
“The game was managed terrifically by the group,” Nashville coach Gary Smith said.
“I’m pleased about a number of things.”
Nashville returns home where it has outscored opponents 16-5 while going 6-1-2 and riding a franchise-record four-match MLS winning streak. Mukhtar has five goals and six assists at home in 2023.
That might not bode well for St. Louis (9-5-2, 29 points), which remains a great story during its expansion season. However, it allowed an 85th-minute tying goal in Sunday’s 1-1 home draw with the Los Angeles Galaxy and has been outscored 7-1 during an 0-3-1 road rut, after holding a 9-3 goal advantage in winning its first three away from home.
St. Louis, which failed to score while losing its last two road matches, could also be without star talisman Eduard Lowen (five goals, six assists) as he deals with a quad issue.
Meanwhile, striker Joao Klauss (five goals) is still bothered by a quad injury, while talented midfielder Njabulo Blom is away with the South African national squad. However, Nicholas Gioacchini has recorded half of his team-leading six goals in the last four matches.
“We commit to our group,” St. Louis coach Bradley Carnell told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
“We’ve shown that we can get good depth in the squad…(Saturday) will be a good test of our character, and a test of our principles.”
–Field Level Media
