The Major League Soccer season is beginning to get into a real rhythm as all clubs involved find their feet and start to build some momentum. There are plenty of reasons to believe this could be the best MLS campaign yet, with teams across North America getting better and better. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what should be a fascinating encounter between Nashville SC and San Jose Earthquakes.
Nashville Form GuideNashville, for the longest time, were really pushing the tempo towards the top of the Eastern Conference - until they fell away massively. They wound up finishing 7th in the division and, to the surprise of nobody, went out of the playoffs pretty quickly at the hands of Orlando City. At this point, it’ll be interesting to see how they’ve been able to rebound from that disappointment.
Across their last six games, Nashville’s only win was a 2-1 success at home to Charlotte. They’ve also managed to draw 2-2 with LA Galaxy and Columbus, but in addition to that, they’ve slipped to defeats at the hands of Los Angeles FC, Philadelphia and Miami.
San Jose Form GuideThe Earthquakes have two MLS Cup triumphs to their name, but you could argue it’s been over two decades since they’ve really been taken seriously as contenders. They crept into the playoffs last year and made a decent account of themselves, and while they may not be the strongest side from top to bottom, there’s a lot of grit and self-belief in this squad.
San Jose picked up a nice 3-2 win at home over Seattle last month but across their last six games, that has been their only source of joy. That’s because they’ve lost their other five at the hands of Kansas City, Houston, Austin, Colorado and LA Galaxy.
Match PredictionNashville and San Jose both have talented players in their ranks but in terms of making a real impact from start to finish, we just don’t think they’re at the point where they can blow teams away. For an official prediction, we’re going to be bold and shoot for under 2.5 goals scored.
