Nashville SC To Face Orlando City SC In First Round Of MLS Cup Playoffs

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Photo: Courtesy of Nashville SC/MLS

Nashville SC will take on Orlando City SC at Nissan Stadium in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs on Nov. 23. Tickets for the match are on sale now. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT and will be aired on Fox Sports 1.

This will be the first time the club will host a MLS playoff game at Nissan Stadium. With the draw, Nashville finished the 2021 campaign with a record of 12W-4L-18D and 54 points. At home, Nashville SC completed the season unbeaten, owning a record of 8W-0L-9D.

This year, Nashville became only the seventh team in MLS history to finish a regular season without a home loss, while maintaining the league’s longest active home unbeaten streak. Nashville SC has gone 18 consecutive games without a home loss, dating back to last season with a 3-0 win in the 2020 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs against Inter Miami CF.

The biggest stars to watch this postseason will be goalkeeper Joe Willis, 2021 All-Star Walker Zimmerman and MVP contender Hany Mukhtar.

Willis has been one of the best goalkeepers in all of MLS this season, tying the league leader in clean sheets with 13. He set career highs in games started and played (34), minutes (3,060), shutouts (13), wins (12), saves (100), and goals against average (0.97). For Willis, his GAA was tied for the best in MLS among players who played 27 matches or more.

Zimmerman is a back-to-back MLS Defender of the Year and the anchor for the club. NSC has a record of 8W-3L-14D with Zimmerman in the lineup this season and ranked first among qualified Nashville SC outfield players in duel percentage at 65%.

This season, has scored 16 goals and registered 28 goals + assists, the most of any player in MLS. Mukhtar finished the season strong, scoring nine goals and registering eight assists in his final 15 matches of the season. In those 15 matches, Mukhtar went just three games without recording a goal or registering an assist in a match.

Mukhtar finished the regular season tied for fifth in MLS in goals, tied for fourth in assists with 12, tied for second in shots on target with 43 and finished fifth in shots with 94.

Steven Boero
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