Union unable to break down stingy Nashville defense in 0-0 tie

The Union were held to a scoreless tie by Nashville SC on Saturday at Subaru Park.

Though the Union held a 14-7 advantage in shots, including 5-1 in shots on target, they weren’t able to beat the team that has long owned Major League Soccer’s stingiest defense.

The result ended the Union’s hopes of finishing second in the Eastern Conference, with a further nail put in the coffin by second-place Orlando’s win over New England. But the Union (15-8-10, 55 points) held on to third place thanks to Atlanta’s 97th-minute equalizer at Columbus, which kept the Crew in fourth.

The Union had most of a first-choice starting lineup, including Kai Wagner in his return from a suspension for yellow card accumulation. (He was greeted not just by a long chorus of “Pay Kai!” chants pregame, but signs with those words front and center in the River End.)

There still was a bit of rotation, though, to keep bodies fresh. Damion Lowe swapped in for Jack Elliott at centerback, and Quinn Sullivan swapped in at forward for Mikael Uhre.

José Andrés Martínez’s night started off in painful fashion when he slid to block a shot with his right ankle in the 10th minute. In the 24th, he caused himself further pain by swinging an elbow backward and landing it in Dax McCarty’s face. Referee Armando Villarreal promptly booked Martínez, and rightly so.

It was Martínez’s third yellow card in his four games since his last yellow card suspension, which means he earned another suspension. This time, it will be for the regular season finale, Oct. 21 at New England.

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The first half lacked goals, but it did not lack entertainment. The Union outshot Nashville, 8-3, including all three of the half’s shots on target, and landed seven tackles, seven clearances, six interceptions, and three blocks.

Many of those defensive efforts went toward shutting down Hany Mukhtar, the reigning MLS MVP. He’d have a good shot at a second straight honor, too, if not for FC Cincinnati’s Luciano Acosta piling up 16 goals and 13 assists for the Supporters’ Shield winners.

Mukhtar entered the night with 15 goals — Nashville as a team had 36 — and 10 assists this year. But the Union held him to just one shot and 14-of-16 passing in the first half. That shot proved to be his only one of the game, even though he registered 58 touches.

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Uhre was the Union’s first sub of the night, entering for Sullivan in the 57th minute. As Uhre had suffered a slight hamstring tweak in Wednesday’s win over Atlanta, it wasn’t surprising to see him not start.

Sullivan did the job to help Uhre get some rest, with a number of positive forays upfield even if they didn’t produce goals. The Bridesburg native’s stat line on the night was 30 touches, 19-of-22 passing, one scoring chance created, one defensive recovery, and one duel won out of five contested.

Now to see if he and other young Union players, get invited to the U.S. under-23 team’s training camp during the upcoming FIFA window. Jack McGlynn and Nathan Harriel are the other notable candidates as the U.S. program starts to look toward next year’s Olympics, an under-23 age group tournament (with three over-age players per squad).

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Nashville manager Gary Smith lined up a double-substitution in the 66th minute: $6.5 million striker Sam Surridge for Teal Bunbury and midfielder Alex Muyl for U.S. national team right wingback Shaq Moore. Nashville had started the night in a 3-4-1-2 instead of its usual four-back setup, and while Muyl is much more of an attacking player than a defender, he took up Moore’s same position.

The game dragged into the last 15 minutes with Chris Donovan, Tai Baribo, Olivier Mbaizo, Matt Real, and Jeremy Rafanello all in the warmup area. Smith made another sub before any of them came close to entering, sending in Luke Haakenson for midfield playmaker Randall Leal in the 77th.

It took Alejandro Bedoya cramping up when he slid toward a cross that was over him in the 87th for Union manager Jim Curtin to finally make another move: withdrawing Bedoya for Elliott.