Nashville SC drops eighth straight MLS game in loss to Orlando City

Nashville SC's overall losing streak hit 10 games Saturday with a 3-0 loss at Orlando City.

The defeat was the eighth straight in MLS play for Nashville (6-13-8, 26 points), which hasn't won since a 1-0 victory over New York City FC on June 22. New coach B.J. Callaghan, who arrived on July 22, has lost three of his first four games in regulation, the exception being a defeat on penalties to the New England Revolution in the Leagues Cup.

Nashville showed signs of a breakout on Saturday: it was nearly even with Orlando (10-10-7, 37 points) in shot attempts and generated 1.9 expected goals to Orlando's two. But imprecise finishing and lackluster defending meant Nashville remained at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, five points out of playoff position with seven regular-season games remaining.

First half flips with Nashville near-miss, Orlando goal

Eight minutes after the opening kickoff, Alex Muyl found himself one-on-one with Pedro Gallese after nifty combination play from Sam Surridge and Jacob Shaffelburg delivered the midfielder the ball in the middle of the field. But Muyl had his shot saved by the Orlando goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Iván Angulo scored to give Orlando a 1-0 lead in a momentum swing made possible by an error from Gallese's counterpart. Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis cleared the ball directly to Martín Ojeda, who passed to Angulo.

"The position that we're in, the margins are really fine," Callaghan said. "We don't execute, and we give up a goal. It's a mistake at the back. I applaud the bravery of the group to try to come out and play, but we don't execute, we concede, and we're back on the back foot where we have to dig."

MLS shutout streak reaches four for Nashville

The last goal Nashville scored in MLS play was Tyler Boyd's first-half tally at D.C. United on July 13. Since then, NSC has gone more than 400 minutes without finding the net.

It had a number of chances to break that drought Saturday. After Facundo Torres scored in the 14th minute, Surridge headed a lofted pass from Hany Mukhtar off the goalpost. The striker had another opportunity on a counterattack right before halftime but shot wide of the net.

Forster Ajago, who substituted on for Nashville after halftime, hit the crossbar in the 63rd minute on a shot that would have cut the deficit in half.

"We can get in the penalty box, we're doing a really good job doing that, and we're getting numbers in the penalty box," Callaghan said. "Now it's creating penalty box entries into shots on goal. . . . That's the next step, just becoming a little bit more clinical."

Nashville has week off before heading to Atlanta

Due to the FIFA international break Sept. 2-10, Nashville won't play again until Sept. 14, when it travels to face Atlanta United, its second game of the season against its southern rival. Nashville and Atlanta drew 1-1 at Geodis Park on May 18.

The international break means Nashville will have played just four games in the previous 55 days by the time it faces Atlanta. Nashville had been off July 20-31 prior to the Leagues Cup, and then Aug. 6-24 after its elimination from the tournament.

Callaghan plans to "open up some competition for positions" during the off week, calling it an opportunity for Nashville to evaluate its progress five weeks after his arrival.

"There's two sides to it," said defender Julian Gaines, who appeared in his first MLS game with Nashville. "We want to be playing to keep that rhythm and keep that speed, because it's hard to replicate games in training. It is tough having that break between games. But I think we can also use it to our advantage, because we have a new coach, we're learning a new system and we're still learning to embrace that system."

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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 MLS losing streak hits eight games against Orlando City