Nashville SC Aims to Bounce Back Against D.C. United Following Champions Cup Exit
Nashville SC will attempt to move past the disappointment over their exit from the CONCACAF Champions Cup when they host D.C. United on Saturday night.
Nashville’s 1-0 loss on Tuesday night at Tigres UANL in Mexico completed a 2-0 aggregate defeat in the Champions Cup semifinals, keeping Nashville (7-1-2, 23 points) a match shy of reaching a second continental final in its history.
Saturday’s home clash will mark a fifth match in 15 days for manager B.J. Callaghan’s squad, which also hasn’t scored in its last three games across all competitions.
But after a strong start to MLS play overall, which still has Nashville four points clear atop the Eastern Conference, Callaghan believes the loss could rejuvenate his team.
“When it’s over, it’s over. So you kind of almost see a refreshed-ness in the group, that we know we have a full focus on MLS play and MLS play only,” Callaghan said. “We’ve got a great sense of hunger out of the Tigres game. And I think we just want to continue to fuel that kind of fire in our eyes, fire in our belly.”
Sam Surridge was the last Nashville player to score, registering his eighth and ninth goals of the season in the second half of a 4-2 home win over Charlotte on April 25.
And he’ll be part of an interesting subplot Saturday: the meeting of two of MLS’s most productive strikers since the start of 2025, with D.C. striker Tai Baribo expected to return from a thigh injury that has kept him out of his team’s last two matches.
Baribo has six goals for D.C. (4-4-3, 15 points) after leading Philadelphia with 16 a season ago. But even without the Israeli international, the Black-and-Red have looked much improved as they continued a four-match unbeaten run with consecutive victories, 3-2 at home against Orlando on April 25 and 2-0 at New York City FC last Sunday.
“It gives us this confidence boost,” D.C. manager Rene Weiler said. “We know that we are able to play good games against all of the teams in our league. But it will be a tough game. And of course we know how difficult it is to win games. It hasn’t changed after this win.”
Club-record offseason signing Louis Munteanu scored once against Orlando and twice in New York for his first three career MLS goals.