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Nashville SC defeats previously unbeaten Philadelphia Union 3-1 for second straight win
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- Nashville SC defeats previously unbeaten Philadelphia Union 3-1 for second straight win
B.J. Callaghan certainly enjoyed his homecoming.
Nashville SC won its second straight game on Sunday, beating the MLS Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Union 3-1 at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. NSC improved to 2-1-1 (seven points) in its first full season under Callaghan, a Union assistant coach from 2014 to 2018.
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"Nashville hasn't won in Philadelphia, so that's a great step for us as a club," Callaghan said. "(The Union) gave me my opportunity, but at the same time, we're here to compete, we're here to win and I'm here to represent Nashville. Collectively, today was a good representation of the team and club we are and the team and the club we're trying to become."
Nashville got goals from Sam Surridge , Ahmed Qasem and Hany Mukhtar to hand Philadelphia (3-1-0, nine points) its first defeat of the season. Nashville beat the Portland Timbers 2-0 last Saturday at Geodis Park.
Nashville is at home on Saturday, March 22 to face CF Montreal .
Nashville finds space behind Philadelphia defense
Shaky defending by the Union allowed Nashville to go into halftime with a 2-1 lead. Surridge opened the scoring in the 15th minute and Qasem put Nashville back in front minutes before halftime.
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Both goals came off long balls, which Nashville used to create havoc against Portland last week. Callaghan thought the wind helped Nashville do the same on Sunday. Surridge beat Philadelphia's Francis Westfield to Walker Zimmerman 's pass and slipped by him and Jakob Glesnes with a pair of cutbacks before firing the ball into the net. Qasem snuck behind his man to collect a lobbed pass from Dan Lovitz , dribbling down the left and sneaking a shot inside the far post for his second goal in as many games.
"It was a goal that we worked on in training," Surridge said of his goal. "We knew that they had space in behind them."
The Union had scored 10 goals through their first three games, using an aggressive, transition-oriented style to shoot out of the gates. But Nashville countered and held them to their lowest scoring total so far, surrendering only a 33rd-minute goal from Jovan Lukic.
VAR goes Nashville's way, but not Philadelphia's
The second half was marked by two controversial plays in the penalty box.
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In the 61st minute, Lovitz slid to tackle Quinn Sullivan and knocked the Philadelphia midfielder to the ground without getting a foot on the ball, though no penalty was given upon video review. Twenty minutes later, Mukhtar and Glesnes bumped heads while in midair, this time resulting in a penalty for Nashville after a VAR check.
Mukhtar, who missed a penalty against Portland — Surridge missed one as well — scored on a chip down the middle for his first goal of 2025.
"We have the utmost confidence in our guys to step up and take penalties," Callaghan said. "One penalty miss at the beginning of the season doesn't define anybody. Hany was fouled hard in the box, responded and that's the type of mentality we want for the entire team."
MORE: Five bold predictions for Nashville SC: Can Hany Mukhtar rebound in 2025 MLS season?
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Late-game fireworks
Joe Willis made four saves for Nashville, and easily the two most impressive came when he denied a stoppage-time penalty from Sullivan. After he dove left to deny the initial effort, he blocked a rebound try by Bruno Damiani .
Moments after that, Jacob Shaffelburg fouled Philadelphia's Olwethu Makhanya , who retaliated by throwing the ball at Shaffelburg's head. Makhanya received a red card as a result.
Shaffelburg, coming off injury, was making his first appearance of the season for Nashville. Callaghan said the Canadian forward is on a minutes limit.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC beats MLS Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Union
