Nashville clinches playoff berth with second-half surge vs. Houston

Sam Surridge and Andy Najar scored early in the second half to give Nashville SC a 3-1 win over the visiting Houston Dynamo on Saturday.

The victory officially clinched a playoff berth for Nashville (16-11-5, 53 points) and moved the team up to sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Hany Mukhtar also scored for Nashville, tallying his 16th goal of the season. Goalkeeper Joe Willis stopped two of three shots faced.

Nashville SC are 11-2-3 at home this season and their 36 home points are the third-highest total in MLS.

Houston (9-14-9, 36 points) remains below the Western Conference playoff line with just two matches remaining in the regular season.

Junior Urso had the only goal for the 10-man Dynamo. Erik Sviatchenko was issued a red card in the ninth minute, leaving Houston undermanned for almost the entire match.

Goalkeeper Jonathan Bond allowed three goals on six shots on target.

The pressure started quickly for Nashville SC with a goal in the second minute. Mukhtar pounced on a loose ball in the box and fired a shot that deflected off a Dynamo player and past Bond.

Houston's ugly start continued with Sviatchenko's ejection. The center back shoved Mukhtar just as the forward was entering the box for a clear scoring opportunity. The blatant foul earned Sviatchenko a straight red card.

Despite the shorthanded lineup and with Nashville dominating, the Dynamo still found the equalizer on their only real scoring chance of the first half. In the 40th minute, Urso buried a spectacular shot from outside the box that curled into the top-right corner.

Nashville SC reasserted their advantage after halftime, starting in the 48th minute with Surridge's 22nd regular-season goal. Daniel Lovitz sent a header into the box that Surridge tapped into the net with a back-footed heel touch.

Two minutes later, Surridge almost scored again on a close-range header that Bond denied with a tremendous save. Najar was in position in front of the net to convert the rebound for his second goal of the season.

--Field Level Media