San Diego FC and Nashville SC both have three All-Stars and are among the best teams in MLS.
The two squads will meet Friday night in San Diego.
Expansion San Diego FC (13-7-4, 43 points) have been among the league’s biggest surprises, leading the Western Conference.
Nashville (14-5-5, 47 points) has thrived in B.J. Callaghan’s first full season as coach. His club is 10-1-4 over its past 15 MLS matches and is tied for second place in the Eastern Conference with the Philadelphia Union and sits one point behind leader FC Cincinnati.
“For us, it’s the strive for consistency,” Callaghan said Wednesday. “Our objective from the beginning of the season was to establish our culture, establish our style of play and earn our way into the playoffs.”
San Diego has hit a dip in July with a 1-2-1 record, including 0-2-1 at home. The club played Vancouver to a 1-1 home draw last Saturday to remain one point ahead of the Whitecaps in the West.
San Diego features big-time offensive forces in All-Stars Anders Dreyer (11 goals, league-high 15 assists) and Chucky Lozano (six goals, eight assists). Midfielder Jeppe Tverskov (one goal, eight assists) is the team’s other All-Star.
“Everyone can see their quality,” Tverskov said of Dreyer and Lozano. “Luckily for us as a team, they’re also good team players, and that’s the big part of how we want to play. If we had two guys who just stood up there and waited for us to defend, and then got the balls and scored goals, I didn’t think we would work as good as we have been.”
San Diego ranks second in the league in goals (47) behind Inter Miami (49).
Nashville’s Sam Surridge scored on a header during Wednesday’s All-Star Game, when the MLS All-Stars recorded a 3-1 victory over the LIGA MX All-Stars in Austin, Texas.
Surridge is tied with Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi for the league lead of 18 goals. Fellow All-Star Hany Mukhtar has 11 goals and eight assists as the duo has combined for 29 of Nashville’s 42 goals. Nashville’s other All-Star is defender Andy Najar (one goal, 10 assists).
Nashville is coming off back-to-back shutout wins, but Callaghan is wary of San Diego FC.
“You see a very consistent team that plays with a very clear identity week-in and week-out,” Callaghan said of San Diego. “It’s really impressive. I’m not surprised they’re having success. It’s going to be a difficult match going to the West Coast.”
–Field Level Media
