Nashville Soccer Club Extends Overall Home Unbeaten Streak to Nine with Shutout Victory

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (July 3, 2021) – Nashville Soccer Club extended its home unbeaten streak to nine with a 1-0 victory over the reigning MLS Supporters’ Shield Champions Philadelphia Union in front of a crowd of 21,822 at Nissan Stadium on Saturday night.

Dax Rising Up the Ranks: Dax McCarty surpassed Brad Davis for fifth all-time in MLS history in matches played by an outfield player with 393 games, as well as passing Bobby Boswell for sixth place all-time for matches started by an outfield player with 361 games.

Sharing Is Caring: With his assist tonight, Leal has four on the season and eight in his MLS career. He leads Nashville SC in assists in its MLS history, and this season in shots taken (27) and shots on goal (19).

Smith Remains Undefeated: Nashville SC Head Coach Gary Smith remains undefeated when his team scores a goal first in matches played at home in the regular season. Overall, Smith-led sides are now 31W-0L-12D when scoring the first goal of the contest as the home side.

Nashville SC will continue its Eastern Conference homestand Thursday, July 8 against Atlanta United FC at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are available at NashvilleSC.com/Tickets.

Match Timeline

NSH 2’: Randall Leal slides a pass to CJ Sapong at the top right of the box, who hits it past Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake into the bottom left corner

Notes

• Nashville SC enters Sunday in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with 18 points
• Nashville SC earned its fifth clean sheet of the season, tied for the second most of any MLS team behind Seattle Sounders FC with six
• Nashville SC had six players finish the match with 90%+ passing accuracy
• Nashville SC finished the night with 170 shots taken overall this season, tied for the most alongside D.C. United
• Nashville SC has registered 67 shots on target, the most of any team in the Eastern Conference
• Following tonight’s match, Aníbal Godoy (Panama), Alistair Johnston (Canada)and Walker Zimmerman (United States) will be reporting with their national teams as they prepare to participate in the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup
• Brian Anunga made his first start of the 2021 season
• Jhonder Cádiz made his first appearance since returning from the 2021 CONMEBOL Copa America with the Venezuelan National Team
• Dan Lovitz led the squad in touches with 79
• CJ Sapong scored his first goal against Philadelphia Union since playing for the side from 2015-18
• Sapong’s goal at the 1:06 minute is the second fastest goal in club history, after Dominique Badji found the back of the net 56 seconds into the contest against Atlanta United FC on Sept. 12, 2020
• Joe Willis tied his season high for saves in a match with four, which he has accomplished three times this season. Willis earned his 32-career clean sheet tonight

Box Score

Nashville SC (4W-1L-6D, 18pts.) vs. Philadelphia Union (5W-3L-4D, 19pts.)

July 3, 2021 — Nissan Stadium, Nashville, Tenn.

Final Score

NSH: 1

PHI: 0                      

Scoring Summary

NSH: CJ Sapong (Randall Leal) 2’

Discipline

PHI: José Martínez (Caution) 79’

Lineups

NSH: Joe Willis; Daniel Lovitz, Dave Romney, Jack Maher, Walker Zimmerman; Dax McCarty (C), Hany Mukhtar (Abu Danladi 90’), Alistair Johnston (Alex Muyl HT), Brian Anunga (Aníbal Godoy HT); Randall Leal (Luke Haakenson 87’), CJ Sapong (Jhonder Cádiz 82’)

Unused Substitutes: Jalil Anibaba, Daniel Ríos, Taylor Washington, Bryan Meredith

TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Sapong, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Three tied with, 1); FOULS: 9 (Brian Anunga, 2); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 4; POSSESSION: 48.6%

PHI: Andre Blake; Jack Elliot, Jakob Glesnes, Olivier Mbaizo, Kai Wagner; Daniel Gazdag (José Martínez 56’), Jamiro Monteiro, Alejandro Bedoya (C), Leon Flach (Quinn Sullivan 82’); Cory Burke (Sergio Santos 56’), Kacper Przybylko 

Unused Substitutes: Matt Freese, Matthew Real, Stuart Findlay, Jack McGlynn, Alvas Powell, Aurelien Collin 

TOTAL SHOTS: 8; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 2; POSSESSION: 51.4%

Referee: Robert Sibiga

AR1: Jason White

AR2: Gjovalin Bori

4th: Alyssa Nichols

VAR: Ismir Pekmic

AVAR: Eric Weisbrod

Weather: Clear, 76 degrees. 

Attendance: 21,822

Statistics are unofficial.