Nashville SC host LAFC on Sunday Night Soccer at 8 pm ET, a meeting that arrives with both clubs still carrying the weight of spring success and a reason to believe this one matters beyond one weekend. Nashville lead the Eastern Conference with 27 points through 12 regular-season matches, and they will try to keep that grip on first place against a Los Angeles side that reached the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals this spring as well.
Mike Jacobs, Nashville’s general manager, framed the matchup this week as more than a test of standings. He called LAFC one of the standard bearers of MLS and said Nashville entered the league in 2020 with the same kind of ambitions that have helped shape the club they are still trying to become. Nashville came into MLS two years after LAFC, but they have moved quickly: they have qualified for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in all but one of their first six seasons, won the 2025 US Open Cup and earned their 100th win across all competitions earlier this week.
At the center of that rise is Hany Mukhtar, who signed for Nashville in 2019 as their first Designated Player and remains the club’s full-time captain. The 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP has become the face of the team and one of the league’s most efficient creators. This season, Mukhtar became the third-fastest player behind Landon Donovan and Preki to reach 150 regular-season goal contributions, and he is two goals away from his 100th goal with Nashville in all competitions.
That production has helped Nashville’s attack hit another level, especially since the arrival of free-agent winger Cristian Espinoza from the San Jose Earthquakes. Espinoza, Mukhtar and Sam Surridge have combined for 15 goals and 12 assists, a haul that has kept Nashville near the top of the conference while also making them one of the teams most often mentioned as a Supporters’ Shield contender.
Coach B.J. Callaghan said the club’s idea of ambition fits the way it is built. He said ambition comes in many shapes and forms and that Nashville’s vision suits the club’s goals, adding that MLS allows each team to define success in its own way. He also said Mukhtar has been a massive piece of the club’s success and noted that casual viewers may miss how much off-ball work and unselfish movement he does to create space for teammates.
The match also lands at a tricky point in Nashville’s schedule. The club has two games left before the MLS regular season pauses until mid-July for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and Jacobs said he cannot imagine another team in the league will benefit more from the break than Nashville will. That is because the group is not whole. Jacobs said the team is dealing with injuries to key players including Surridge, Patrick Yazbek and Eddi Tagseth.
That is the tension in Sunday’s game: Nashville have the points, the home field and the league’s sharpest early-season profile, but they also arrive with some of the names that have powered that start either hurt or less than fully available. LAFC, meanwhile, come in with their own pedigree and the kind of opponent profile that can expose any drop in level. For Nashville, the next step is not just holding first place. It is proving they can do it now, while the schedule is still crowded and the World Cup pause is still two matches away.
