Nashville SC Host LAFC With 27-Point Lead — Nashville Vs Lafc
nashville vs lafc lands this weekend with Nashville SC leading the Eastern Conference on 27 points after 12 regular-season matches. They bring a +18 goal differential into Sunday Night Soccer at 8 pm ET on Apple TV, and the matchup arrives with both clubs already through to the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals.
Jacobs Sizes Up LAFC
Mike Jacobs called LAFC one of the standard bearers of MLS and tied Nashville’s own goals to that level of success. The comparison comes as Nashville host a club that entered the league two years before them and has become a reference point for sustained winning.
“They’re one of the standard bearers of our league when you see the success they’ve had,” Jacobs said on Thursday about LAFC. He also said, “When we entered as an expansion team, we had aspirations of trying to do the things that they’ve done with their club.”
Nashville have backed that ambition with results. They won the 2025 US Open Cup, reached their 100th win across all competitions earlier this week and have qualified for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in all but one of their first six seasons.
Mukhtar Sets Nashville Pace
Hany Mukhtar remains at the center of it. Signed in 2019 as Nashville’s first Designated Player, he is now the full-time captain and this season became the third-fastest player behind Landon Donovan and Preki to reach 150 regular-season goal contributions.
He is also two goals away from his 100th goal with Nashville in all competitions. Mukhtar won the 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP award, and B.J. Callaghan said, “Through the history of his time here in Nashville, he’s been obviously a massive piece to the success of the club.”
Callaghan added, “I think ambition comes in many shapes and forms, and I think what we’re doing here in Nashville suits us with our vision,” while also saying, “That’s the beauty of the MLS, is that each club can pick how they define ambition, how they define their strategic goals. We have, as a club, lofty goals.”
Espinoza Joins Surridge
Cristian Espinoza’s arrival has sharpened the attack alongside Mukhtar and Sam Surridge. The three Designated Players have combined for 15 goals and 12 assists, giving Nashville a more varied front line as they sit on top of the East.
That edge will matter over the next two matches, because Nashville have only two games left before the regular season pauses until mid-July for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Jacobs said, “I can’t imagine there’s a team in our league that will benefit more from the break than we will,” while noting injuries to Surridge, Patrick Yazbek and Eddi Tagseth.
The LAFC game is the direct test of that form. Nashville have the points, the margin and the results; now they face one of the league’s benchmark clubs with the same spring run already carrying both teams into the semifinals of the continental competition.
