Nashville hosted Cincinnati at GEODIS Park in the Major League Soccer regular season and saw out a comfortable 4-0 victory. The hosts moved clear at the top of the table after two hours and twenty minutes of control. And here's the thing, the result was never really in doubt after the opening goal.
S. Surridge broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute, finishing a well-worked move. The visitors had just brought on K. Mboma for O. Nwobodo and looked unsettled. Nashville pressed forward and doubled their advantage five minutes later when H. Mukhtar made no mistake from close range.
Cincinnati tried to respond but found themselves chasing shadows. The hosts switched off at a set piece in the first half, but came out with more purpose after the interval. By then the scoreboard told the real story.
B. Acosta added a third in the 89th minute before A. Qasem sealed the win in stoppage time. Nashville made four changes on the hour mark and still had enough energy to punish their visitors. The old head settled them down when it mattered.
The statistics do not tell the full picture. Nashville registered 79 attacks compared to Cincinnati's 85, yet created more clear-cut opportunities. Expected goals favoured the visitors 1.93 to 1.8, but Nashville's shots on target found the net while Cincinnati's 8 attempts on goal came up empty.
The result moves Nashville further clear in first place with 52 points from 22 games. Cincinnati sit sixth with 31 points and now face a difficult run-in. To be fair, the visitors have been inconsistent all season and this result exposes that reality.
