Nashville SC falls to Toronto FC 4-3, winless streak reaches five games
The streak of draws came to an end Saturday night at GEODIS Park, but Nashville SC allowed a season-high four goals in a 4-3 loss to Toronto FC.
Nashville entered the night following consecutive 1-1 ties with Cincinnati, Vancouver and Portland, while Toronto had yet to win a road game during the season.
A back-and-forth first half ended with the teams tied before Toronto (8-12-5, 29 points) jumped ahead of Nashville (8-9-9, 33 points) on goals in the 54th and 77th minutes.
Walker Zimmerman brought the game back within a goal in the 84th minute but Nashville wasn't able to muster another.
"We set up to be aggressive with the way the game unfolded," Nashville SC coach Gary Smith said. "Unfortunately, there were occasions where we were chasing the game instead of getting in front of it."
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A high-octane first half
Nashville found itself behind in the 19th minute as Toronto took the lead on a goal by Jonathan Osorio.
Despite several opportunities that just went wide of the net, Nashville wasn't able to tie the game until 21 minutes later, as CJ Sapong went down in the box and Hany Mukhtar buried the penalty kick for his first goal in three matches.
"It was lovely to see him get on the sheet again," Smith said. "Bright and purposeful as ever."
Toronto didn't wait long to counter. Richie Laryea weaved his way through the Nashville defense and found a wide-open Osorio, who fired a shot past Joe Willis.
Teal Bunbury flipped momentum back to the hosts before halftime, tying the game 2-2 as he headed a corner that bounced in off the post two minutes into extra time. Bunbury has scored in four consecutive games.
Fouls, fouls and more fouls
The referee was busy from the opening whistle Saturday night.
An early foul, followed up by a hook, led to a Dax McCarty yellow card two minutes into the game. Sean Davis later received a yellow following another hard tackle, and Laryea was given Toronto's first yellow in the buildup to Mukhtar's goal.
A total of 10 fouls were called in the first half, with eight going against Nashville.
The foul trouble continued nine minutes into the second half as Laryea went down in the box. Toronto was award a penalty kick that Federico Bernardeschi converted for the go-ahead goal.
Nashville ended the night with 11 fouls to Toronto's five.
Struggles at home
Fans at GEODIS Park haven't witnessed a home win in nearly a month now.
Since a 1-0 win over Seattle on July 13, Nashville has two losses and a draw at home, and 3-5-3 at GEODIS Park for the season.
Scoring goals during this stretch has also been a struggle so while the game ended with a loss, the three goals against Toronto were a welcome change.
Nashville had only managed to only score six total goals in its previous four home matches, including a pair in a 2-2 draw against Portland in early July.
"We have an fabulous stadium and an immaculate surface for teams to come and play on and a great fan base," Smith said. "We have to find a way of course to making this arena as difficult to play in as we did at Nissan Stadium and it may take a little bit of time. It was always the hope that we could maintain that sort of form but it's a very different dynamic we're dealing with and we're a different team as well."
Reach Joe Spears at jspears2@gannett.com. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @joe_spears7.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC winless streak reaches five games in 4-3 Toronto FC loss
