Seemingly left for dead following an eighth consecutive Major League Soccer loss last month, Nashville SC appears to have found new life in the past week.
The Boys in Gold head into Saturday’s home game against FC Cincinnati riding a two-game winning streak that has the team once again in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
Nashville (8-13-8) has 32 points in 29 games and trails the ninth-place Philadelphia Union (8-12-9) by just one point.
The top nine teams in the 15-team Eastern Conference make the postseason, with the eighth- and ninth-place teams playing a one-game wildcard contest to determine which squad faces the No. 1 seed — likely to be Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF — in a best two-of-three series.
Nashville has reached the MLS playoffs in its first four years of existence, one of just four expansion teams to do so.
The team’s eight-game losing streak began in late June and lasted through July and August. The Boys in Gold were outscored by a combined total of 21-3 in those contests, shut out in the last four.
But the turnaround began Saturday, in new head coach B.J. Callaghan’s third game in charge. Nashville won 2-0 in Atlanta, getting goals from Alex Muyl and Hany Mukhtar — the first of which snapped the team’s goal-scoring drought at 436 minutes.
Then on Wednesday, Nashville returned to Geodis Park and blanked Chicago Fire FC 1-0, breathing life into playoff hopes. Sam Surridge scored his team-high ninth goal of the season, Mukhtar collected his team-best eighth assist and goalie Joe Willis recorded his second straight shutout.
It was not an especially impressive victory, as Nashville was outshot 10-5, mustered an expected goal total of just 0.44 and held possession of the ball for only 42 percent of the contest.
But it was a win nonetheless.
“I thought without the ball we were a team that was connected, compact, difficult to play against and able to force them into areas that were predictable for us,” Callaghan said. “I think we denied the ability for them to play in the penalty box. I thought with the ball we could’ve been better, we could’ve controlled the game a bit better, a bit more brave to play.”
Starting Saturday, Nashville will have five remaining games left in the season to climb into playoff position.
Three of those contests are against teams within three points of Nashville in the standings.
“Slowly I think we’ve all trusted the process,” Surridge said of the recent surge. “It’s been hard, it’s been really tough, but everyone’s been training super, super hard. That’s probably the main thing I have to say — off the pitch we’ve all been working hard. No one’s put their head down, and that’s the main thing.”
