New York City FC aim to end Nashville SC's unbeaten run

Nashville SC will put a nine-game unbeaten streak on the line Saturday when it hosts New York City FC in an Eastern Conference battle.

Nashville (8-4-4, 28 points) enters the contest third in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference. The Boys in Gold are on a 6-0-3 run in all competitions and a 4-0-3 surge in MLS play.

NYCFC (7-6-3, 24 points) is just four points behind Nashville but is in eighth place in the East standings.

Nashville returns home after playing to a 2-2 draw at 2023 MLS Cup winner Columbus Crew on Wednesday.

Sam Surridge and Hany Mukhtar scored for Nashville, which won despite being outshot 21-13 and finishing with 38.1 percent of the ball possession. The Crew needed an own goal by defender Jeisson Palacios in the 81st minute to earn the draw.

"Tough game in general," Mukhtar told the Tennessean. "Credit to the group, we fought. I think it shows the mentality of this group. If we're not on top of a team, we still fight, and it's very difficult to break us down."

NYCFC posted back-to-back home wins over the New York Red Bulls (2-0 on May 17) and the Chicago Fire (3-1 on Sunday) before its three-game unbeaten streak was snapped by the visiting Houston Dynamo 3-0 on Wednesday at rainy Yankee Stadium.

New York, despite owning the ball 62.2 percent of the time, managed just one shot on goal in the sloppy conditions, and that one didn't come until the 58th minute. Meanwhile, former NYCFC striker Gabe Segal scored a brace, and the Dynamo also got an own goal from New York City's Justin Haak.

"We didn't create anything, nothing at all," New York coach Pascal Jansen said. "They made it really tough on us. They were defending very, very aggressive, with a lot of bodies in the middle."

It marked the third time in the past five MLS matches that New York was blanked.

--Field Level Media