Early explosion powers New York City FC to 3-1 win over Nashville SC

By Chris Tsakonas

HARRISON, N.J. - New York City FC scored three early goals in the opening 21 minutes to beat Nashville SC 3-1 in the penultimate match of the regular season this afternoon at Red Bull Arena. Santi Rodriguez had two goals and an assist for New York City in the win, while Alonso Martinez scored his 16th goal of the year.

Rodriguez’s record-fast goal set the tone for New York City
New York City took only 19 seconds to open the scoring in this match, as Rodriguez got on the end of his own rebounded shot and beat Joe Willis to take the 1-0 lead. The opener also set a new club record as the fastest regular season goal scored, beating Alexandru Mitrita’s previous record of 31 seconds against FC Cincinnati in 2020.

Rodriguez’s opener also continues New York City’s trend of fast starts this season, as it was the sixth time across all competitions with a goal scored inside the opening five minutes.

Rodriguez helps New York City pull away early
New York City kept pushing on the attack after Rodriguez’s early goal, and the effort paid off in the 18th minute. Hannes Wolf made a run down the right hand side, setting up a cross to the back left post that Rodriguez finished to score his second of the match and make it 2-0.

Rodriguez would then set up the third goal of the match three minutes later, when he delivered a cross off of a corner kick that was finished by Martinez to make it 3-0.

“We didn’t score enough goals last year,” head coach Nick Cushing said. “We set a target of wanting to score 55 goals. We believed we would be in or around [fourth in the conference].”

Defense weathers late Nashville storm to clinch win
While New York City FC led by three goals just 21 minutes into the match, Nashville didn’t make it easy to close out the win. Nashville finished with 21 total shots in the match, although only five of those shots ended up on target.

Hany Mukhtar pulled one back in the 58th minute to make it 3-1, and it nearly became a one-goal game in the 79th minute when Matt Freese made a double save on a first effort from Walker Zimmermann and a second shot from Jack Maher before Zimmerman fired the third effort over the bar.

“One thing I said to all the staff was ‘if this team plays the way I want to play, we’re going to concede more goals this year,” Cushing said. “We will get to 55 [goals scored], maybe more - but we will also concede more than last year because we’re going to be aggressive.”

Next Up
After the international break, New York City will head north of the border for a Decision Day matchup with CF Montreal on Saturday, Oct. 19. Montreal will be playing for a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs, with a three-point lead at ninth place over both the Philadelphia Union and Atlanta United.

Live radio coverage with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence will get underway at 5:45 P.M. at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.