Nashville rallies to tie MLS points record, oust Red Bulls from contention

Sam Surridge headed in his team-leading 19th goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time from Cristian Espinoza's menacing corner kick, and Nashville SC rallied to a historic 3-2 victory over the visiting New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

Surridge's header to complete a comeback from two goals down helped Nashville (22-3-8, 74 points) tie the MLS single-season points record held by the 2024 Inter Miami squad with one match left to play.

It also dumped the Red Bulls (11-16-6, 39 points) out of playoff contention, marking the first time the MLS founding member has missed the postseason in consecutive campaigns.

Julian Hall scored his team-leading 13th goal and Rafael Mosquera also struck before halftime for the Red Bulls, who were the better team for most of the first half but succumbed to relentless pressure in the second.

Ethan Horvath made seven saves for the visitors, which was nearly enough to preserve a point until the late set piece.

The consistently menacing Espinoza found Surridge unmarked at the top of the 6-yard box for a relatively easy header beyond Horvath's dive and inside the left post.

Before that, Nashville cut it to 2-1 in the 45th minute when Andy Najar got forward down the right and served a cross to the near post. With two Nashville attackers lurking, defender Tim Parker tried to intervene but instead sent the ball into his own net.

The tying goal felt like it was not going to come.

Nashville twice had apparent goals ruled narrowly offside in the first 15 minutes after the break, and Reed Baker-Whiting, Surridge, Maxwell Woledzi and Espinoza all struck the woodwork before the match's second own goal arrived in the 78th minute.

Espinoza took down a ball over the top on the right and tried to pick out Hany Mukhtar with a low cross. This time it was Julian Bazan who couldn't get his intervention right, redirecting it past Ethan Horvath at the near post.

Nashville goalie Brian Schwake (two saves) saved Cade Cowell's 19th-minute penalty, but the visitors still roared to an early lead.

Hall opened the scoring in the 34th minute to complete a slick attack after Sekou Kone and Adri Mehmeti combined through the middle of the field.

Mosquera doubled the advantage six minutes later, reaching Cowell's ball to the back post for a one-time finish after Devin Padelford's excellent diagonal pass to the flank sparked the counterattack.

--Field Level Media