Union Clinch a Playoff Spot and Hold Nashville SC to 0-0 as the Shield Winners Set a Home Points Record

While they were busy at GEODIS Park on Wednesday night, the Philadelphia Union's season got officially better without them touching the ball. Up in Foxborough, Dániel Gazdag, the Union's own all-time leading scorer, scored a late winner for New England against Red Bull New York, and that result sent Philadelphia into the playoffs.

Then the Union made sure nobody could say they backed into it. Without their top three goalscorers, Philadelphia held the Supporters' Shield winners to a 0-0 draw, keeping Nashville SC to one shot on target all night. Nashville still left with history of their own, setting the MLS record for home points in a single season, but their record chase got a little more complicated.

Ninety Minutes of Locked Doors

If you came for goals, sorry. If you came for structure, this was a buffet.

Interim head coach Ryan Richter had to improvise. Bruno Damiani was suspended for yellow card accumulation, and Cavan Sullivan and Milan Iloski were out injured, so Homegrown forward Malik Jakupovic made his first MLS start up front alongside Ezekiel Alladoh. On paper, that is a lineup you send out hoping to survive. In practice, it was a wall.

Philadelphia did not allow Nashville a single shot in the first half. Cristian Espinoza was flagged offside three times before the break, and the Union created the more dangerous looks. Indiana Vassilev just missed from outside the box in the 13th minute, and Philly piled up corners. Edvard Tagseth was booked in the 22nd for tripping Vassilev, and Jovan Lukic went into the book in the 40th.

Nashville head coach BJ Callaghan went to his bench early. Bryan Acosta replaced Tagseth at halftime and fired wide in the 49th. In the 58th, Callaghan sent on his two leading scorers, Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge, at once. The Boys in Gold finally started to lean on the game.

The Union nearly punished them first. In the 71st minute, Quinn Sullivan crossed for substitute Ben Bender, whose left-footed shot from the middle of the box was stopped by Brian Schwake. It was the best chance of the night for either side.

From there, Nashville pushed. Mukhtar had a shot blocked in the 75th, Jeisson Palacios and Maxwell Woledzi both headed wide off set pieces, and Andy Nájar narrowly missed from the right side of the box in the 86th. In stoppage time, Mukhtar had another attempt blocked from point-blank range, and Elias Saad sent the final chance wide.

Who Stood Out

Andre Blake only needed to make one save, but it was the one that mattered. When Surridge got his head on a Palacios ball in the 88th minute, Blake was there.

Brian Schwake earned Man of the Match honors from Nashville, and his stop on Bender kept his clean sheet alive. According to the club, it was his 15th shutout of the regular season, making him just the fourth goalkeeper in MLS history to reach 15 in a single season. Another on Sunday would tie Tony Meola's league record of 16, set in 2000.

Neil Pierre and Japhet Sery Larsen anchored a reshuffled back line, with Nathan Harriel moved across to right back. It held up beautifully.

Ben Bender, on for Jakupovic in the 59th minute, produced Philadelphia's best look of the night and was unlucky to find Schwake in the way.

Danley Jean Jacques did the dirty work in midfield, though his stoppage-time yellow, per the Union, rules him out of Saturday's game at Cincinnati.

Turning Point: Blake Shuts the Last Door

With two minutes left in regulation, Nashville finally created the moment their crowd had waited for. Palacios nodded the ball into the middle, Surridge rose and directed a header toward the top of the goal, and Blake got to it. That was Nashville's only shot on target in 90-plus minutes.

Had it gone in, Nashville would already be level with the league's single-season points record and the Union would be scrambling. Instead, the visitors walked out with a point and a playoff ticket.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Nashville had 62.9 percent of the ball and completed 396 passes to Philadelphia's 191.
• Shots on target: Nashville managed one from nine attempts. Philadelphia put two of their six on frame.
• Corners: The Union won eight to Nashville's two.
• Offsides: Nashville were flagged six times, four of them on Espinoza.
• Fouls: Philadelphia committed 15 to Nashville's eight, a measure of how often they were happy to break up play.

What It Means

For Nashville, the record book keeps filling up. The club says this result gave them 44 home points, an MLS single-season record, and 71 points, the most in league history through 32 matches. They remain the only team unbeaten at home this season at 14 wins and two draws, though the AP noted that their 10-game home winning streak ended. They are unbeaten in eight overall and five straight against the Union, and both meetings this season finished 0-0.

The bigger chase is the single-season points record of 74, held by Inter Miami. Nashville need four points from their final two games to pass it, starting Sunday at home against the Red Bulls.

For Philadelphia, this was about arrival. The Union are 13-8-11 with 47 points, sixth in the East and three behind fifth-place Charlotte, per the AP. The club says this is its 10th playoff appearance and eighth in the last nine seasons. And remember where they started: a 15-match unbeaten run from July into October took them from the bottom of the East into the playoff places.

The Closing Take

This felt like the episode where the guest star, booked for one scene, walks off with the whole thing. Philadelphia were supposed to be the obstacle Nashville stepped over on the way to history. Instead, they made the record chasers sweat and had their own ticket punched along the way. Nashville still have the Shield and the records. The Union have something just as useful in late October: proof they can make anyone uncomfortable.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Additional details from The Associated Press, NashvilleSC.com and PhiladelphiaUnion.com.