Sam Surridge had not played in two weeks. He came on at the start of the second half against Charlotte FC on Saturday at GEODIS Park, scored in the 60th minute, scored again in the 74th, and walked off tied for the MLS lead in goals with nine.
It was Charlotte's second straight road defeat by multiple goals. Three nights after the 4-1 loss at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, the Crown conceded four more goals against the highest-scoring team in the Eastern Conference. The final at Nashville was 4-2.
The Boys in Gold scored first and they scored often. Hany Mukhtar opened the scoring in the 19th minute on a feed from Ahmed Qasem and Warren Madrigal. Qasem doubled the lead six minutes later, finishing from a Cristian Espinoza and Andy Najar combination. Charlotte got one back on the stroke of halftime — Morrison Agyemang found space at the back post on a set piece, met an Ashley Westwood delivery, and pulled it back to 2-1. But Nashville's restart for the second half ended any sense that the deficit was manageable. Surridge made it 3-1 in the 60th minute. Pep Biel cut it to 3-2 in the 68th, finishing from Kerwin Vargas and David Schnegg. Surridge's second, in the 74th, sealed the result.
The match-flow numbers tell the wider story. Charlotte registered two shots on target to Nashville's five. Nashville took six more shots than Charlotte over ninety minutes and completed more than two hundred more passes. There was no stretch of the second half when the visitors looked likely to level.
The defensive line that took the field at GEODIS Park was already stretched. Tim Ream had missed the Orlando match three nights earlier. Harry Toffolo, who started Saturday, came off in the 35th minute for David Schnegg — an early substitution worth noting before the May 2 trip to New England. By the time of Toffolo's exit, the visitors had already conceded twice, and the rest of the half was Charlotte trying to absorb without the ball.
Pep Biel's goal Saturday followed an assist on the road three nights earlier. He set up Agyemang's only Charlotte goal at Orlando off a corner. He scored at Nashville off a Vargas-Schnegg combination. He has produced in both road blowouts, even as the team has produced little else.
Morrison Agyemang's goal made it back-to-back finishes for the young defender. He scored at Orlando off a 33rd-minute corner from Biel. He scored Saturday off a Westwood set piece. Two MLS goals in five days from a player whose previous season output had been zero. Charlotte has found, almost by accident, a set-piece option it had been lacking.
The standings effect is clean. Charlotte FC entered the Orlando match in third place in the Eastern Conference. The Crown leaves Nashville in fifth, sitting on 14 points from 10 matches — even on goal differential at zero, one point clear of Toronto FC, eight points back of conference-leading Nashville. Five teams (Columbus, Cincinnati, NYCFC, D.C. United, NY Red Bulls) sit at 12 points apiece, two beneath Charlotte rather than even. Chicago Fire FC sits in third at 17 points with a match in hand.
The home schedule, which had been the base of Charlotte's first-quarter form, returns on May 9 against FC Cincinnati. Before that comes a road trip to New England on May 2. The Revolution sit fourth in the East at 16 points. A loss in Foxborough makes it three straight road defeats by multiple goals. A result salvages a stretch that has otherwise gone in one direction.
Saturday's match completed Nashville SC's 2026 sweep of Charlotte FC. The Boys in Gold won 2-1 at Bank of America Stadium on April 11 and 4-2 at GEODIS Park on April 25. Charlotte plays at Bank of America Stadium next on May 9.