Sam Surridge scored four goals and Nashville set the franchise mark for largest margin of victory Saturday, beating the visiting Chicago Fire 7-2.
Hany Mukhtar added two goals and one assist for Nashville, while Jeisson Palacios scored as well.
Nashville (5-4-1, 16 points) opened the scoring in the 14th minute after Chicago defender Jack Elliott was called for a foul on Jacob Shaffelburg, resulting in a penalty kick. Surridge powered the ball down the middle of the goal to give Nashville an early 1-0 lead.
Nashville doubled its lead in the 22nd minute when defender Palacios got on the right end of Mukhtar’s out-swinging cross and sent a powerful header toward the goal. The header caught Chicago goalkeeper Chris Brady by surprise, giving the Colombian his first goal with Nashville.
Chaos broke loose minutes after Palacios’ goal. Shaffelburg brought the ball up the field off a counterattack and launched a cross toward Alex Muyl. His diving header then found Mukhtar open at the back post, and Mukhtar tapped in an open shot to bring Nashville’s lead to three goals.
Nashville found its fourth goal within the game’s first 31 minutes, throwing Chicago’s defense into disarray. Mukhtar started an impressive passing sequence when he completed a give-and-go with Andy Najar (three assists).
Najar found Mukhtar open in the middle of the box, who clinically slotted his shot into the bottom left corner.
Chicago (3-4-3, 12 points) conceded another penalty just before halftime when Omari Glasgow and Surridge collided while fighting for a cross. After a brief VAR check, the referees upheld the penalty. Brady dived in the correct direction, but Surridge’s penalty escaped Brady’s outstretched hands and bounced past the line for a 5-0 lead in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
Minutes after the restart, Najar sent a bouncing long ball toward a streaking Surridge, who beat his marker in a foot race before powering his shot into the bottom-right corner to make it 6-0 in the 50th minute. He added a fourth later, scampering onto a Najar long ball and tucking the ball in the bottom corner in the 57th minute to cap the scoring for the hosts.
Phillip Zinckernagel got Chicago on the board in the 64th minute when he curled an outside-the-box free-kick over Nashville keeper Joe Willis at a tight angle. Hugo Cuypers scored seven minutes to later round out the scoring in the match.
–Field Level Media
