Nashville SC hosts San Jose Earthquakes: Score prediction, scouting report
Nashville SC badly needs points. The San Jose Earthquakes might need them even more.
Nashville (1-3-4, 7 points) hosts the Earthquakes (1-8-0, 3 points) at Geodis Park on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). Both teams are on four-match winless streaks, and both sit in 14th place in their respective conferences.
Here's our score prediction and scouting report for Saturday:
Earthquakes can score, but concede plenty too
San Jose, which made the Western Conference play-in game last season, was mediocre in attack but gave up just 43 goals, which ranked among the better defenses in MLS.
This season, the Earthquakes have given up multiple goals in every game, and 24 in total. They've blown leads in over half their games, and have surrendered three game-winning goals after the 80th minute. However, their attack has produced three three-goal games already. Jeremy Ebobisse leads them with three goals and Argentine designated player Cristian Espinoza has six assists.
"There’s been a decent output going forward," Nashville coach Gary Smith said of San Jose. "They’ve certainly shown that they’re capable of scoring goals. They’ve been in good positions in games, not dissimilar to themselves, and haven’t been able to seal the deal."
All-time series between Nashville, San Jose has been even
San Jose is the only team in MLS that Nashville has never beaten nor lost to. The teams' three previous meetings, two of which took place in 2022 and the most recent one last September, all ended in draws, by scores of 2-2, 0-0 and 1-1 respectively.
Last season, Nashville went ahead 1-0 on a goal by Teal Bunbury before the Earthquakes equalized on Matt Hoppe's 74th-minute goal.
Walker Zimmerman to return, MacNaughton out
Nashville's defense should get a boost with the return of center back Walker Zimmerman, who is healthy enough to play for the first time since March. Zimmerman injured his knee in Nashville's CONCACAF Champions Cup meeting with Inter Miami on March 7 and missed seven straight games, during which Nashville gave up 18 goals.
However, the United States international won't be able to pair with Lukas MacNaughton, who hurt his left leg in last Saturday's loss at Inter Miami and was taken off the field with a stretcher. Smith said Thursday that MacNaughton required surgery and his injury is "reasonably long term."
Winger Tyler Boyd is expected to return against the Earthquakes after a three-match absence, while Smith said defender Shaq Moore is unlikely to play. Like Boyd, Moore hasn't played since March 23.
MORE: How a packed, unforgiving schedule has led to Nashville SC's worst MLS start since 2020
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Nashville SC vs. San Jose score prediction
Nashville 3, San Jose 1: Hany Mukhtar, Sam Surridge and Boyd score as Nashville takes advantage of a porous San Jose defense.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC score prediction vs. San Jose Earthquakes