Sam Surridge scored his long-awaited first two goals in MLS play and Nashville SC held on to a 3-2 victory over the visiting New England Revolution on Saturday night.
Dax McCarty added his first regular-season goal since September 2020 for Nashville (13-10-10, 49 points), which pulled within a point of sixth place Atlanta and three of fifth place New England (14-9-10, 52 points) in the Eastern Conference standings with one match left to play.
If any of those three teams finish even on points, the difference in playoff seeding would be decided by the second tiebreak of goal differential, since they can only finish even if they have the same amount of wins.
Tomas Chancalay scored his fifth and sixth goals for New England in the second half in just his 10th appearance since signing on loan from Argentina’s Racing Club.
But the Revolution conceded multiple goals for a sixth time in eight matches. They have now lost four games out of six since the resignation of full-time manager Bruce Arena and the appointment of Clint Peay as the team’s second interim boss of the season.
After signing from Nottingham Forest during the MLS secondary transfer window, Surridge scored three goals across three substitute appearances in the 2023 Leagues Cup.
But he had come up empty in his first seven league appearances until striking for a first-half brace.
Nashville already had a credible penalty shot denied and a potential opening goal from Surridge disallowed for being offside before McCarty finally put the hosts in front in the 19th minute on a thunderous half-volley from outside the box.
Then Surridge pounced for his first in the 30th minute on an open header from close range, set up by Jacob Shaffelburg’s precise cross from the left after he ran onto Daniel Lovitz’s initial ball down the flank.
Surridge’s second finish, coming in first-half stoppage time, took more precision and came after Hany Mukhtar did the hard work of turning a missed New England chance into a dangerous Nashville counter.
Eventually, Mukhtar got to the edge of New England’s box and fed the ball left to Surridge, who side-footed a first-touch finish neatly beyond goalkeeper Jacob Jackson and inside the far-right post.
–Field Level Media