Nashville SC Rolls Past FC Cincinnati 4-0, Sets MLS Record With 52 Points Through 22 Games

For 42 minutes, FC Cincinnati survived. Then Cristian Espinoza got loose near the right end line, sent a cross toward the far post and watched Sam Surridge rise there to head it into the top left corner from point-blank range. GEODIS Park, already loud, got louder, and the most dominant team in MLS was off and running again.

Nashville SC beat FC Cincinnati 4-0 on Saturday night, and the numbers attached to this one are getting silly. The win gave Nashville 52 points through 22 matches, which both the AP and the club say is the most in MLS history at that point of a season. Nashville also said it matched the best home start in league history through 12 matches, with 11 wins and a draw.

A Siege, Then a Breakthrough

Nashville came out like it had somewhere to be. Espinoza nearly scored inside the first minute, Elias Saad forced Roman Celentano into a save in the third, Andy Nájar fired wide the same minute and Celentano had to stretch to keep out a Hany Mukhtar drive in the sixth. Patrick Yazbek forced another save in the 37th minute, and Jeisson Palacios headed just wide moments later.

Cincinnati's attacking output in the first half amounted to one shot, an Evander attempt from distance in the 13th minute that Brian Schwake saved. FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan admitted afterward that his team had to rejig its shape just to survive the half.

"We just didn't control the tempo of the game very well and then had to change our defensive structure just to have some stability going into the break," Noonan said, per FC Cincinnati.

The breakthrough came in the 43rd minute through Surridge's header. A minute later, Obinna Nwobodo was booked, and at halftime Noonan replaced him with Bryan Ramírez and swapped Kenji Mboma Dem for Ayoub Jabbari.

Cincinnati Rallies, Nashville Counters

The changes worked, at least for a while. Evander sent a direct free kick just over in the 49th minute, and Gerardo Valenzuela went close in the 51st. Then Nashville did what elite teams do and struck on the counter. In the 53rd minute, Nashville broke quickly, Saad found Mukhtar in the middle of the box, and the captain finished with his left foot into the bottom right corner for 2-0.

Cincinnati kept coming, and Schwake kept answering. He saved from Kévin Denkey in the 58th minute and from Jabbari in the 71st, and when Evander pounced on the rebound, Maxwell Woledzi raced across to block it, according to FC Cincinnati's account. Schwake added two more stops on Evander and Jabbari in the 88th.

The visitors also lost Samuel Gidi, who was replaced because of an injury in the 66th minute.

Then the bench took over. Bryan Acosta entered in the 87th minute and needed two minutes to make an impact, drilling a right-footed shot from outside the box into the bottom left corner off a Mukhtar set piece. After 10 minutes of stoppage time were announced, Ahmed Qasem came on in the 95th minute and scored a minute later, slotting home a Reed Baker-Whiting pass with his left foot. Two subs, two goals, three minutes on the field between them before they scored.

The Big Three Stay Hot

Surridge's header was his 13th goal of the season, a team high per Nashville, and Espinoza's cross was his league-leading 11th assist, according to the club. Mukhtar scored and set up Acosta, which Nashville counted as his sixth match this season with multiple goal contributions, and the AP noted he has four goals in his last four matches. MLSsoccer.com pointed out that Nashville's three Designated Players all got on the scoresheet and are up to 53 combined goal contributions this year.

The forgotten man was Schwake. Cincinnati put eight shots on target, and the rookie made six saves to earn his 10th shutout of the season, which the AP said tied him with Jonathan Bond and Yohei Takaoka for second in MLS behind Hugo Lloris' 11.

"Credit to the keeper, he made some big saves," Noonan said.

For Cincinnati, Evander and Jabbari each put three shots on target. Neither found a way past Schwake.

The Turning Point: Minute 53

Cincinnati's best stretch came right after halftime, and Noonan said as much. Valenzuela's near miss in the 51st minute was the moment the game could have tilted. Instead, Nashville turned defense into offense two minutes later, and Mukhtar's goal took the air out of the comeback before it could really start. Defender Miles Robinson put it plainly.

"I think it would have been a different game if one of those went in," Robinson said, per FC Cincinnati.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Nashville 19, Cincinnati 15.
• Shots on target: Cincinnati 8, Nashville 7. The visitors tested Schwake more than the scoreline suggests.
• Saves: Schwake 6, Celentano 4.
• Possession: Nashville held a slight edge at 51.6 percent.
• Bench impact: Nashville substitutes scored two of the four goals.

What It Means

Nashville moved to 16-4-2 with 52 points. Per the club, it has the longest active winning streak in MLS at four, has earned the most points in the league since the World Cup break with 19, and matched its club record for regular-season wins with 12 matches still to play. The AP added that Nashville has lost once in its last 16 games, a 1-0 defeat at Chicago on April 4. MLSsoccer.com put the gap between Nashville and Inter Miami at 10 points. Next up is a trip to New York City FC on Friday, Sept. 4.

Cincinnati fell to 8-7-7 with 31 points and, per the club, sits sixth in the Eastern Conference. The AP noted it is winless in four straight, and FC Cincinnati said it was the first time the team had been shut out since March 8. Noonan was not interested in chasing the leaders.

"I'm not worried about the gap," he said. "We're not trying to catch Nashville right now."

Cincinnati hosts D.C. United on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Headliner Energy

Nashville is the band every festival wants at the top of the poster right now: tight, loud and somehow still adding new material. Cincinnati showed up, played a decent set and got drowned out by the headliner. The record books are getting crowded in Music City, and with 12 matches left, Nashville is nowhere near the encore.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by fccincinnati.com. Additional details from the AP, nashvillesc.com and mlssoccer.com.