Kacper Przybylko scored on a first-half penalty kick for his team-leading 11th goal to help the Philadelphia Union hold onto second place in the Eastern Conference with a 1-0 win over visiting Nashville SC on Saturday night.
Philadelphia (14-8-10, 52 points) moved three points ahead of third-place Nashville (11-5-16, 49 points) with three games remaining in the regular season after entering the match tied for the No. 2 seed in the East.
Goalkeeper Andre Blake did not face a shot on net until the 91st minute for the Union, who earned their fourth straight home victory and improved to 11-3-3 at Subaru Park. Philadelphia snapped a two-match winless stretch and improved to 3-1-1 in October.
Nashville struggled to generate chances without leading scorer Hany Mukhtar and Luke Haakenson. The two midfielders served one-game suspensions for yellow card accumulation following Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against Columbus.
Mukhtar, who has 14 goals and nine assists this season, drew his sixth yellow of the campaign while Haakenson received his fifth versus the Crew.
Joe Willis recorded three saves for Nashville, who entered coming off five consecutive draws. The visitors finished one tie short of the MLS record for consecutive draws within a single season.
Przybylko’s penalty tally put Philadelphia on top in the 18th minute after Nashville defender Taylor Washington’s handball in the box. Przybylko fired a right-footed shot to the high center of the net as Willis dove to his left.
Przybylko’s tally moved him within two goals of former Union forward and current Nashville striker C.J. Sapong (36 goals with Philadelphia) for second on the club’s all-time goals list.
Sapong recorded Nashville’s first on-target shot in the first minute of second-half stoppage time as his header was saved by Blake.
The teams split their two-game regular season series after Nashville earned a 1-0 home victory over Philadelphia on July 3.
–Field Level Media
