Nashville SC ready to challenge Union in clash of East powers

Two of the top teams in MLS meet on Saturday night as Nashville SC hosts the Supporters' Shield leading Philadelphia Union.

Nashville (11-4-5, 38 points) enters the night just two points behind the Union (12-4-4, 40 points) and on an 11-match unbeaten streak in MLS play (8-0-4) that goes back to APril 26.

That comes thanks in part to Sam Surridge (16 goals), who scored from the penalty spot in a 1-0 win against D.C. United last Saturday. That gave the Golden Boot leader 10 goals in his last six matches.

"We know where Sam wants to score goals from," Nashville head coach B.J. Callaghan said. "And so, our job is to continue to build opportunities and build ways for, I would say right now, for Sam to score goals, but it's for everybody."

Callaghan noted the play of Hany Mukhtar (eight goals, eight assists) as instrumental to Surridge's success.

"Hany's been making great levels of contributions to (Surridge). He's the one that draws the penalty kick (against D.C.) and has drawn multiple penalty kicks this year," Callaghan said. "So, we know the way that we want to play. We know the way that we want to create high quality goal-scoring chances."

Beyond creating chances for themselves, Nashville's objective will be to limit opportunities for their opponent. Philadelphia's Tai Baribo, an MLS All-Star selection, is just three goals behind Surridge in the Golden Boot race.

The Union, who lost 3-1 to Nashville on March 16, saw their own 11-match unbeaten streak (8-0-3) end with a 1-0 loss to the Columbus Crew on Sunday.

"Unfortunately, we fell asleep for one action, one moment," Union head coach Bradley Carnell said. "If you ask any neutral eye and any professional eye, maybe a draw would have been a fair result of that game. It wasn't meant to be."

Carnell shrugged off the fact of the potential effect the game could have on the table and his club's league-leading position.

"(I'm) not interested in the standings right now," he said. "For sure, we have the status, and for sure have a target on our back. But at the end of 34 matchdays, that's when you round up the table and see where you finished.

"... There's other teams that have a shout and a say, too. So at the end of 34 matchdays, we'll know where we stand."

--Field Level Media