SUNDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2026
While the soccer world spent Saturday night talking about Super Sunday at Anfield, the best team in America went to Austin and did what it always does. Nashville SC beat Austin FC 4-1 at Q2 Stadium — four different goalscorers, a late salvo that turned a nervy 2-1 into a rout, and a rookie goalkeeper making the saves that keep historic seasons alive. It was Nashville's third straight win, their 19th of the league season, and it made them the fastest to 63 points in the 30-year history of Major League Soccer. Nobody outside Tennessee is talking about it. Everybody should be.
The night it became official
There's a symmetry to this one that Nashville fans will savor. Last October, the Boys in Gold walked into Q2 Stadium and lifted the U.S. Open Cup. Saturday night they walked back in and put on a clinic. Reed Baker-Whiting — the former Seattle Sounder who went 61 MLS games without scoring before this season — headed home the rebound of Patrick Yazbek's shot off the post in the 31st minute. Elias Saad, in his 11th league appearance, swept home the rebound of Cristian Espinoza's shot in the 67th for his first career MLS goal and what proved the winner. Brandon Vázquez pulled one back for Austin in the 76th, and for about ten minutes the home crowd believed. Then 23-year-old Shak Mohammed picked the ball up outside the box, danced through the defense and whipped one into the bottom corner in the 88th. Hany Mukhtar added the exclamation point in stoppage time — his 14th of the season, his fourth in three games.
Mohammed told The Tennessean afterward that he never felt the panic, even at 2-1: Nobody was talking negative, we were all positive, and I could see the energy… This is a team that is built on character from top to bottom.
The numbers back up the vibe. Rookie Brian Schwake, 25 years old, made five saves on the night and has allowed just 22 goals in 27 starts. Austin's eight-game unbeaten run — a franchise record, their first league defeat since Aug. 16 — is over. Nashville have now gone 7-1-3 since the start of August, and they're unbeaten in 20 of their last 22 league matches.
The record book is being rewritten weekly
Let's lay out what Saturday actually did to the record book, because it's a lot:
63 points through 28 games — the best start in MLS history, full stop. 13 points clear atop the Supporters' Shield table with six to play. A club-record 23 wins across all competitions in a single season. A club-record 59 regular-season goals. Unbeaten in 32 of 39 matches across all competitions this season (MLS, Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup) — 23-7-9 overall. And the man in charge: B.J. Callaghan now owns the MLS record for most wins through 71 games coached, with 38. This isn't a hot streak. It's a machine.
The math: 11 points from 18
Inter Miami's 74 points from 2024 is the number. Nashville need 11 from their final 18 — basically, keep doing what they've done all year and the record falls with room to spare. They entered Saturday with a 14-point lead in the Eastern Conference; they left Austin having snapped the second-longest unbeaten run in the league and extended every cushion that matters. The remaining schedule starts Wednesday at home against Sporting KC — the kind of game this Nashville team has turned into a formality. Six games, 11 points, immortality. That's the assignment.
The men making it happen
What makes this team different from other great MLS sides is how many different players have carried them. Mukhtar's 14 goals lead the line, with Sam Surridge — goalless Saturday but a menace, twice denied by the woodwork and Brad Stuver — right there with him. Behind them, Schwake has been the story of the season in goal: a 25-year-old rookie with five more clean-ish performances than anyone had a right to expect. Baker-Whiting earned Man of the Match honors Saturday with his second goal of the season. Shak Mohammed has four goals and two assists in just 18 appearances — a super-sub turning into a star in real time. Jeisson Palacios recorded his career-high sixth assist of the season. Cristian Espinoza keeps creating. Andy Najar keeps grinding. There's no single hero here, which is exactly why they're so hard to beat.
The double is on
Here's the part that should scare the rest of the league: Nashville have already clinched their playoff spot, the Shield is all but mathematically theirs, and they're the reigning U.S. Open Cup champions. A league-and-cup double — with the points record as the cherry — is genuinely on the table. MLS has seen great regular seasons before, but the combination of this start, this depth, and this mentality is something else. And here's the strangest part: it's all happening in plain sight, and barely anyone outside Tennessee has noticed. The playoffs are a different beast and everyone knows it. But right now, on Oct. 11, Nashville SC are playing the best soccer in the league's history, and they're doing it in front of crowds that are only now starting to realize what they're watching.
