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Canada News.Net
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Sam Surridge ties Messi for MLS goals lead as Nashville blanks Toronto
(Photo credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images) Sam Surridge scored his MLS lead-tying 18th goal to push Nashville SC near the top of the Eastern Conference standings with a 1-0 victory over visiting Toronto FC on Saturday night. Surridge's first-half tally pulled him even with Lionel Messi, who scored his 17th and 18th goals earlier Saturday in Miami's 5-1 home win over the New York Red Bulls. The win ensured Nashville (14-5-5, 47 points) will finish the weekend no worse than second in the East, and first if Cincinnati fails to win its match at Real Salt Lake later Saturday. Nashville won their second straight and sixth out of seven, and have lost just once in their last 18 in all competitions dating back to April 26. Goalkeeper Sean Johnson made four saves to keep Toronto (5-12-6, 21 points) in the match, while Joe Willis kept his ninth clean sheet while not having to make a single stop. The Reds were shut out for the first time in six games, scoring in the last three despite the departure of Italian attacking stars Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne at the beginning of July. Two of Johnson's best stops came against 2022 MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar. The first of those came in the 28th minute when the German attacker unleashed a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty box that appeared bound for the bottom right corner. Unfortunately for Johnson, the rebound of his fine sprawling stop rolled only as far as the feet of Surridge, who finished before the keeper could regain his footing to attempt a second save. Toronto thought they had a precious chance to level the score when referee Sergii Boiko ruled Walker Zimmerman had hauled down Deandre Kerr in the penalty area in the 60th minute. Boiko was summoned to the replay monitor, and after a review, it was ruled the foul had occurred fractionally outside the box, resulting in a direct free kick. Johnson had another exceptional one-on-one save on Mukhtar in the 79th minute. On the other end, Toronto got into a few promising positions late but failed to make Willis stop any of their seven total shots.
Canada News.Net
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Canada News.Net
Nashville puts home streak on line vs. Toronto FC
(Photo credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images) Nashville SC will try to extend their home unbeaten run in MLS to nine matches on Saturday night against a Toronto FC side coming off arguably their best performance of the season. After a narrow 2-1 defeat at Inter Miami last Saturday, third-place Nashville (13-5-5, 44 points) responded with a decisive 3-0 home win over fourth-place Columbus to restore a three-point advantage over its Ohio foes in the Eastern Conference standings. Sam Surridge scored his 17th goal to regain the MLS lead from Miami's Lionel Messi, and Hany Mukhtar added his 11th. Defender Andy Najar continued his exceptional season as a provider from the back line, providing the secondary assist on both goals to bring his season total to 10. 'For us to grow as a group and grow as a team, we're going to have to find different ways (to score) when the game needs it,' Nashville manager B.J. Callaghan said postgame. 'And somebody like Andy I think provides that. He can play a 60-yard outlet ball, or he can dribble inside, or he can slip a ball in behind. For us, it just makes us a little bit more dynamic, a little more versatile. And I think it makes it hard to kind of key in on one guy.' Nashville is 6-0-2 during his home undefeated stretch in league play. Najar's influence could be required again against Toronto FC (5-11-6, 21 points), who are likely to be defensive-minded as they continue life without Italian stars Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi. Both wide attackers had their contracts with Toronto terminated by mutual consent at the beginning of the month, leaving the 12th-place Reds with an obvious deficit of attacking threat and likely looking at a longer-term rebuild. But TFC earned an impressive result Wednesday night with a 1-0 victory over Western Conference-leading San Diego FC, in which they took an early lead through Theo Corbeanu's penalty kick in the 20th minute and held the hosts to one shot on target. 'I thought (Wednesday) was a really good performance, a really disciplined performance,' manager Robin Fraser said postgame. 'And for us, this kind of is how we have to be. We have to work, we have to work together, we have to work as a team. And when we do, we can get some results.'
