Sam Surridge is the hero as Nashville condemn Toronto FC to a second consecutive home loss
Sam Surridge scored a brace, one coming in the 90th minute to earn a thrilling win for Nashville at Toronto FC.
Toronto FC were dominant in the first half and created a host of chances, but ultimately collapsed in the second half.
It has been the story of TFC this season, where they fail to finish off their opponents. They paid for it again after a flurry of missed chances.
Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi both ran the show for TFC. The two Italians combined effectively from the wings, especially Insigne who dictated play and got into scoring positions.
Bernardeschi eventually forced a tackle in the penalty area to get the call from the referee. Insigne initially grabbed the ball and was set to take the penalty, but he handed the ball to his fellow citizen. However, Bernardeschi slipped and missed from the spot. It was his third penalty miss of the season, although he scored from the rebound when his penalty was saved against FC Dallas.
Shortly after, Alonso Coello scored his first career MLS goal for TFC in the 34th minute after some good interchange of passes between Derrick Etienne and Bernardeschi, with the later beating a defender and keeping the ball in play before setting up the goal.
Nashville struggled to create clear-cut chances in the first half. They eventually got their equaliser after some horrendous defending by TFC. Sam Surridge finished beautifully from a pass by Hany Mukhtar in the 65th minute.
TFC did not create as many chances in the second half. They looked out of sorts when a tired Insigne was substituted in the 62nd minute for Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty. They struggled all through and lacked ideas in the final third.
Just when it looked like the game would end in a draw, Tyler Boyd produced a scintillating move from the right and squared for Surridge, who finished beautifully from the near post.
“The last goal was horrendous. It’s really poor,” John Herdman told reporters after the game. “We’ve got to figure some stuff out because the stats don’t lie. We are dreadful in [those] last 30 minutes of games. We’ve just got to stop making excuses in that last 30 minutes and for us as a coaching staff, as well.”
Toronto FC are now winless in five matches, and they will be looking to avoid a third consecutive defeat when they face New York Red Bulls this Saturday. They will miss Sean Johnson, Richie Laryea and Jonathan Osorio, who are away for Copa America. Nashville will host New York City FC.
