FT: Nashville SC 3-4 Toronto FC - Game thread, preview, how to watch

Live Game Thread

FT: Final whistle blows as Toronto FC pick up their first road victory of the MLS season!

90’ - Six minutes of added time to play in the second half.

84’ - GOAL NASHVILLE SC. Walker Zimmerman heads the ball in off of a corner.

77’ - GOAL TORONTO FC. CHE GOAL DI LORENZO INSIGNE. THE WINGER DRIBBLES PAST TWO NASHVILLE PLAYERS EN ROUTE TO SENDING THE BALL PAST WILLIS AND IN.

64’ - Richie Laryea comes off, and is replaced by Marshall-Rutty. What a shift by Laryea in his first game back with his hometown club.

54’ - GOAL TORONTO FC. BERNARDESCHI WITH A BEAUTIFUL PENALTY.

53’ - PENALTY FOR TORONTO FC. Laryea gets brought down by Daniel Lovitz inside the box.

50’ - Bernardeschi takes a shot from outside the box, Willis saves.

46’ - No substitutions for either side to start the second half.

HT - Nashville SC 2-2 Toronto FC.

45’ +4 - GOAL NASHVILLE SC. The hosts tie it up through Bunbury.

44’ - GOAL TORONTO FC. OSORIO GETS HIS SECOND OF THE MATCH AFTER LARYEA PLAYS A PASS TOWARDS THE BACK POST, OSO DOES THE REST.

41’ - GOAL NASHVILLE SC. Mukhtar makes no mistake from the spot and picks out the top corner.

38’ - Penalty for Nashville after Bono brought down C.J. Sapong.

19’ - GOAL TORONTO FC. JONATHAN OSORIO OPENS THE SCORING IN NASHVILLE. Great passes from Domenico Criscito and Jayden Nelson before a great piece of individual skill by Oso leads to a goal.

17’ - Good build up play by Toronto between Laryea and Federico Bernardeschi. The ball finds Insigne’s feet, his shot doesn’t trouble ‘keeper Joe Willis.

14’ - Big save by Alex Bono on a shot from Teal Bunbury.

8’ - Richie Laryea has not skipped a beat, showing the exact same skills the TFC faithful came to know and love.

4’ - Big chance for Nashville to take the lead off of a set piece. Hany Mukhtar’s sends a cross to McCarty, but his shot hits the side netting.

2’ - Lorenzo Insigne is the centre of attention so far, being fouled twice. Dax McCarty has been shown a yellow card for a foul on the Italian winger.

1’ - And we’re underway!

7:30 pm EST - Don’t forget to put your final scoreline guesses in our prediction league.

7:20 pm EST - Canadian defender Richie Laryea is back with the club, on loan from Nottingham Forest. He starts his first match for the club since November 7th of last year.

7:05 pm EST - The Reds are looking to keep a third straight clean sheet tonight. They have not conceded a goal in MLS play since July 16th in their match against Montréal.

7:00 pm EST - Toronto FC goes up against Nashville in Music City for the first time since last year, when they were defeated 3-2 on June 23rd. Goal-scorers for TFC that night were Jonathan Osorio and Noble Okello.

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Starting XIs

Head Coach Bob Bradley makes one change to Toronto’s starting XI after their scoreless draw in Foxborough last weekend. Richie Laryea makes his highly-anticipated return to the club as he comes in for Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.

Former Toronto FC defender Daniel Lovitz starts for the hosts, while MLS veteran Dax McCarty captains their squad.

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Match Preview via Aasim Hashim

Heading into Saturday night, there is just one objective that Toronto has in mind. Pick up all three points.

While the Reds have slowly started to look better and a more cohesive unit - which includes clean sheets in back-to-back matches in league play - it will be all for naught if they cannot pick up meaningful points and push up the Eastern Conference.

Toronto’s next test will be against Nashville SC at GEODIS Park, with kickoff on Saturday evening scheduled for 8 pm EST.

After a flying start to the season, Jesus Jimenez has cooled off and is now goalless in his last six matches. Jimenez was pretty much the only source of offence for the Reds for the first half of the season and that might be taking a toll on him. Bob Bradley will want his number nine to get back to his early season form as soon as possible. Bradley has had a preferred starting lineup since the inclusion of Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi, and it should come as a surprise if the Reds’ front three remains the same.

With Quentin Westberg unavailable due to a lower body injury, preferred starter Alex Bono will continue to keep his place. The two spots the Reds could see some changes are at right back and at midfield. Mark-Anthony Kaye, who missed out on last weekend’s draw in New England, is listed as questionable heading into the weekend. If the Canadian international is healthy, he should draw back into the midfield alongside fellow Canadian Jonathan Osorio and captain Michael Bradley.

The Reds announced the acquisition of Richie Laryea on Friday, and the Toronto native is set to make his second TFC debut in the Music City. The addition of Laryea will come as a huge boost to the Reds who have struggled to find an adequate solution in that spot since Laryea’s departure last winter.

Nashville will come into this match having picked up points in four of its last five matches (1-3-1), including draws in their last three. Currently sitting in sixth in the Western Conference, Nashville sports a 8-9-7 record, and has scored 30 goals, while conceding 30 times.

The Reds will be all too familiar with Nashville’s main goal threat, Hany Mukhtar. Mukhtar scored the winner that eliminated the Reds in the first round of the playoffs in 2020. This season, through 23 games, of which Mukhtar has started 22, he has scored or assisted on 18 of the 30 goals Nashville has scored. Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against the Portland Timbers, was the first time since the middle of June that Mukhtar failed to score or provide an assist in.

Safe to say, the Reds’ game plan should be simple. Stop Mukhtar and you can effectively stop the Nashville offence.

The Reds will need to be wary of Nashville’s fast start. In their last three contests, Nashville has scored the first goal and done so inside the first 20 minutes. While Nashville has gone on to concede and draw each of those matches, the Reds have had a tendency of making things go from bad to worse when conceding an early goal.

Nashville has played 10 matches at GEODIS Park this season. Through those 10 matches, Nashville has a 3-5-2 record. Nashville has clearly shown their willingness to play to a scrappy draw, however this still represents the best chance for the Reds to potentially pick up their elusive first win on the road this season.

Since Nashville has entered the league, this has been a closely matched contest. Toronto and Nashville have battled three times in the regular season and once in the playoffs. In the regular season, each team has won once, and the clubs have played to a draw once. On each occasion, the winning team has won the match by a one goal margin.

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Match Details

Opponent: Nashville SC

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

Watch: TSN

Stadium: GEODIS Park, Nashville, Tenn.