The New England Revolution and Nashville SC were the two lowest-scoring squads in MLS last season, and they were on brand Saturday night when they played to a scoreless tie in the season opener for both teams in Nashville.
Both teams had a goal taken away via offside calls in the second half while earning a point for the draw.
Aljaz Ivacic made three saves for the Revolution while Joe Willis had one stop for Nashville.
New England finished 14th in the 15-team Eastern Conference last season and ranked last in MLS with just 37 goals.
Nashville finished in 13th place in the East and was next-to-last with 38 goals.
New England’s Mamadou Fofana was ruled offside in the 89th minute after kicking a close-range shot into the net.
The Revolution had placed a throw-in into the pile of players in front of the Nashville net and the ball squirted ahead to Fofana, who sent a right-footed shot into the net. The nearby official immediately ruled that he was offside.
Nashville had its own goal negated in the 67th minute when Sam Surridge received a pass from Hany Mukhtar and headed the ball into the net.
But Mukhtar was ruled to be offside when he received the ball, and that nullified Surridge’s goal.
Eleven minutes later, the two Nashville players hooked up again, and Surridge’s header was stopped by Ivacic.
In the 85th minute, Surridge had another chance, but Fofana blocked his shot.
Nashville had a 14-11 edge in shots and placed three on target to New England’s one. Surridge took six shots and Mukhtar booted five.
Surridge had a solid opportunity in the first half when he snapped a close-range header toward the net in the 19th minute. Ivacic was able to get a hand on the shot and knock it over the bar.
In the 25th minute, New England’s Ignatius Ganago sent a left-footed shot that Willis knocked away.
–Field Level Media
