Rumba Munthali believes his Nashville SC side are in a good spot ahead of Saturday's clash with New York City, having continued their climb up the standings by beating Toronto FC 2-1 in midweek.

Sam Surridge's 90th-minute strike handed Nashville their second win in their last four MLS matches on Wednesday, and they now sit eighth in the Eastern Conference.

Interim boss Munthali has overseen a resurgence since taking over from the fired Gary Smith last month, and he is excited by the chance to keep it going against NYCFC.

"It's really good to pick up more points and move up the standings," Munthali said. 

"I thought the guys showed some heart and had a good second half and deserved to win.

"Now we just have to talk to our staff, make sure the guys are in a good place for Saturday in the space we have and hopefully again have good performances."

Nick Cushing's visitors sit six points clear of Nashville in fourth place, though they have lost ground on those above them by recording back-to-back losses.

Having gone down 3-2 at home to the Columbus Crew last week, they were beaten 2-0 at the LA Galaxy on Wednesday.

Cushing knows acclimatising to different conditions on their travels is somewhere his team can improve, saying: "We made changes, but we've got a squad that allows us to make changes.

"If you want to be a consistently winning team, a team that is successful in MLS, you have to cope with travel and time zones and all of those things, the heavy schedule too."

PLAYERS TO WATCH 

Nashville SC – Sam Surridge

Surridge scored both of Nashville's goals in their midweek victory over Toronto, his third match with two or more goals in MLS.

Of Surridge's nine MLS goals, seven have arrived in the three matches where he scored more than once (one hat-trick, two braces).

New York City – Santiago Rodriguez

Rodriguez led NYCFC on Wednesday with five shot involvements (two chances created, three shots attempted), extending his team-leading shot involvements tally to 95 for the season. 

If he maintains his lead, he will have led the team for shot involvements in each of the last three seasons, joining David Villa (2015 to 2017) as the only NYCFC players to do so in three straight campaigns.

MATCH PREDICTION: NASHVILLE SC WIN

The home team has not lost any of the four all-time meetings between these teams, with Nashville winning both of their home games and NYCFC recording a win and a draw on their own turf.

New York's 2-0 defeat to the Galaxy last time out was their fifth shutout defeat of the year, tied with the New England Revolution and Orlando City for the joint-most in MLS.

Nashville, meanwhile, have only lost one of their last seven regular-season games (three wins, three draws), and are chasing their first pair of consecutive wins since May-June 2023.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Nashville SC – 44%

New York City – 29.2%

Draw – 26.8%

Alonso Martinez scored a hat-trick as New York City FC maintained their impressive MLS form with a 5-1 rout of San Jose Earthquakes.

Hannes Wolf and Santiago Rodriguez were also on target for Nick Cushing's side, who made it five wins on the bounce to move into third place in the Eastern Conference.

After a goalless first half at Yankee Stadium, the hosts broke through within five minutes of the restart through Wolf. However, the lead only lasted three minutes, with Amahl Pellegrino levelling the contest.

Rodriguez drove City back in front in the 80th minute before Martinez took centre stage late on. The Costa Rica international struck with five minutes remaining, while completing a quickfire treble with a further goals in stoppage time.

Data Debrief: Martinez makes franchise history

That was, indeed, a quickfire hat-trick from Martinez - in fact, it was the fastest registered by an NYCFC player in MLS history.

The hosts have now won five successive matches for the first time since 2019, while their ninth win of the season matches their tally for the whole of last term.

The morale in New York City FC’s squad is good, so says coach Nick Cushing, as his team aim to extend their winning streak when they take on the Colorado Rapids.

NYCFC have won their last three MLS games, and are unbeaten in five, heading into Saturday’s fixture.

It is their final game of a five-match home run, with Cushing’s team up to sixth in the Eastern Conference.

"The morale is really good," Cushing said. "As a coach, you like it when the mood is happy and vibrant and everybody is flying but you also want to make sure the feet are on the floor and the eyes are facing forward.

"We looked at the performance [against Charlotte FC], and I agree we have to score more goals. The process of scoring more goals was about how do we create more chances. I think now we're in a place where it is about how do we score more of the chances we create.

"The aim is to make sure that we prepare ourselves well so that we get ourselves mentally to a place where we can perform well and control the game against a really difficult Colorado team.

"We know they’re going to press and be aggressive. The area of development for the team is to take the chances we create and score goals and continue to be an attacking team.

"Every time we’re hard to play against we give ourselves a chance of winning. When I look out at the guys on the training field I see hungry guys."

The Rapids, meanwhile, are sixth in the Western Conference.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

NYCFC – Santiago Rodriguez

Rodriguez assisted on New York City FC’s stoppage-time winning goal on Saturday, his sixth goal contribution of the season (four goals, two assists), all at home. Since the start of last season, Rodriguez has recorded 15 goal contributions in 22 home matches compared to four in 19 away matches.

Colorado Rapids – Rafael Navarro

Navarro is the Rapids’ leading scorer this season, with four goals in MLS. All of those have come from his right foot, with Navarro averaging a goal every 201 minutes.

MATCH PREDICTION: NYCFC WIN

Colorado’s four-match unbeaten run ended last week with a 2-1 loss at FC Cincinnati. The Rapids are winless in their last nine away matches against Eastern Conference opposition in all competitions (D3 L6).

NYCFC have won three straight regular-season matches for the first time since the last three matches of the 2022 season. NYCFC had managed only two wins in their previous 10 matches dating back to the end of last season.

NYCFC are unbeaten in six all-time meetings with the Rapids (W3 D3). The Rapids are one of two teams (San Jose Earthquakes) NYCFC have played more than three times and never lost against.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

NYCFC – 52%

Colorado Rapids – 21.1%

Draw – 26.9%

Nick Cushing is pushing for more as New York City bid for a third successive victory against Charlotte FC at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. 

NYCFC are eighth in the Eastern Conference standings after back-to-back 2-0 home wins over the New England Revolution and D.C. United, having gone four unbeaten (two wins, two draws).

Their consecutive wins have come after a run of just two victories in their previous 10 (three draws, five losses), but Cushing does not want his team to stop there.

"I think the three-game run is something that we have a huge desire to achieve," Cushing said.

"I said after the game in the locker room, it has been a long time since we've gone back-to-back. It's been too long, really, since we went back-to-back, so it's good to enjoy that after the game.

"Now we have the opportunity to do a three-game run. We have to make sure we do that before we think about anything else."

Charlotte have gone the opposite way in recent weeks, losing two of their last three games to leave them behind New York on goal difference.

Former Aston Villa boss Dean Smith acknowledges they need to show more in the forward areas after averaging just one goal per game in 2024. 

"That's certainly an area where we need to be better, I think we all know that. We've been working on it for the last three or four weeks," Smith said.

"I think defensively we've been really solid. In terms of our creativity, we've had some big chances that we haven't taken. 

"Last week [in a 3-0 loss to Minnesota United] there were some moments we didn't take as well, technically we just failed on that."

PLAYERS TO WATCH 

New York City – Santiago Rodriguez 

Rodriguez recorded a goal and an assist in NYCFC's win over D.C. last week and now has four goals and one assist this season, with all of those involvements coming at home. 

Since the start of last season, 14 (seven goals, seven assists) of Rodriguez's 16 goal contributions in regular-season matches have come at home.

Charlotte FC – Ashley Westwood

Charlotte have failed to score in two of their last three games, and a lack of creativity has been a theme of their campaign to date.

Captain Westwood leads all Charlotte players for chances created this season, with 13, and he could be key if they are to hit the goal trail. 

MATCH PREDICTION – NEW YORK CITY WIN

Charlotte are unbeaten in five all-time meetings with New York (four wins, one draw), including a 1-0 win over them in the teams' season opener on February 24.

The Crown are the only team NYCFC have faced more than once in MLS play and never defeated, but that may just change this week.

New York have won back-to-back matches to nil, a major defensive upturn after they managed just one clean sheet in their previous 10. Charlotte, meanwhile, have only earned one point from four road games in MLS this year, losing their last three in a row. 

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

New York City – 51.8%

Charlotte FC – 21.1%

Draw – 27.1%