Nashville SC will look to halt a three-match slide and regain sole possession of third place in the Eastern Conference on Saturday when they host red-hot Orlando City SC.
Nashville (14-8-5, 47 points) was shut out by expansion San Diego FC to end July before dropping 3-1 and 2-1 decisions to St. Louis City and New York City FC, respectively.
Jacob Shaffelburg scored his second goal of the season to give Nashville the lead at the 10-minute mark before falling to NYCFC on Sunday.
“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t feel this one as the third loss,” Shaffelburg said, per the Tennessean. “Going into these games, we don’t think about the losses we just had, you feel it more after. Every game has its own storyline, like (coach B.J. Callaghan) said. We just haven’t been at our best.”
Hany Mukhtar notched his ninth assist on Shaffelburg’s goal to boost his goal contribution total to 21, one shy of Sam Surridge (22 — 18 goals, four assists) for the team lead.
Nashville, which boasts a sterling 9-1-3 record at home, finds itself even in points with Orlando City (13-6-8, 47 points).
The Lions are unbeaten in their last eight matches across all competitions and have erupted for 12 goals during their current four-match winning streak in MLS play.
Martin Ojeda leads the team in goals (14) and assists (14).
Orlando City SC advanced to the semifinals in the Leagues Cup on Wednesday after defeating Deportivo Toluca in a penalty-kick shootout following a scoreless draw in Carson, Calif. The Lions will face Sunshine State rivals Inter Miami CF in the next round on Aug. 27.
“We tried to measure some minutes for the boys that have had a lot of volume in the last few games and traveling. Hopefully we can recover soon because we have an important game on Saturday as well,” Orlando coach Oscar Pareja said. “Now thinking about that semifinal and trying to measure it with how can we rotate and take care of the boys? The good thing is that it is easy when you get results to do that and it is much, much better.”
–Field Level Media
