Nashville SC will hope to regain their footing away from home when they visit Toronto FC on Wednesday night.
The league-leading Boys in Gold (16-2-5, 53 points) have won just one of four road games since the World Cup break. New York City FC held them to just two attempts on target in their scoreless draw on Friday.
The rest of the stat line remains flattering to Nashville, which is off to the most dominant start in league history through 23 matches. Goalkeeper Brian Schwake has recorded clean sheets in three of his last four matches and is tied for the league-lead with 11.
Nashville has conceded the fewest goals in MLS (17) and holds a 10-point lead over Inter Miami and the Vancouver Whitecaps in the race for the Supporters’ Shield.
“I think there’s a lot of positives that we’re going to walk away from, a lot of things that we’re going to be able to take with us as we turn the page and look to Toronto,” head coach B.J. Callaghan said after the draw against New York City.
As with its opponents, Toronto (5-7-11, 26 points) enters the match on a six-game MLS unbeaten run (2-0-4), though the Reds’ 4-4 draw with the Chicago Fire on Saturday caused them to fall down a spot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Club record signing Josh Sargent scored his first career hat trick in the action-packed encounter. Substitute Derrick Etienne Jr. nabbed the equalizer in second-half stoppage time with a perfectly curled effort from the edge of the box.
Head coach Robin Fraser, who bemoaned his team’s tendency to play from behind before the match, was not nearly as entertained as the home crowd.
“I think we’re too good to be in a hole every week,” he said after the game. “We show how good we are because we kind of climb our way out of it.”
Toronto FC have now come from behind to preserve a draw on four separate occasions since the World Cup break. Nashville SC are undefeated in their last six encounters against the Reds.
Djordje Mihailovic (hamstring) will be unavailable for the home side, but Niklas Dorsch has reportedly resumed full training. Warren Madrigal (lower-body injury) will likely remain sidelined for Nashville.
–Field Level Media
