Woledzi's late header rescues Nashville SC against New York Red Bulls

Nashville SC snatched a dramatic 0-1 win over New York Red Bulls in an MLS match at Sports Illustrated Stadium that looked headed for a scoreless draw until Maxwell Woledzi popped up deep into stoppage time to settle it. The defender got a head on a Cristian Espinoza cross that arrived from a free kick played into the box, glancing it in from close range next to the left post, and with that, in the 91st minute, Nashville locked up three points that had seemed to be slipping away.

A stalemate broken in stoppage time

The first half was even and goalless, with New York Red Bulls creating the clearer chances. Julian Hall tested the right post in the 9th minute, Matthew Dos Santos forced a save from Matt Freese shortly after, and Emil Forsberg also probed the visiting defense in the 32nd minute. Nashville answered through Sam Surridge, who fired straight at the goalkeeper in the 38th minute without catching the home side off guard. The first half ended scoreless after three added minutes.

The second half followed a similar script, with both sides creating chances but failing to finish them off. Hany Mukhtar threatened with a header for Nashville, while Jorge Ruvalcaba and Mijahir Jimenez, both introduced off the bench, kept pushing for the home side. The closing stretch grew scrappy, with more fouls than clear chances, until the referee added seven minutes of stoppage time. It was right there, just as the scoreless draw seemed all but certain, that Espinoza's delivery and Woledzi's header sparked wild celebrations among the visitors.

By the numbers

The stats reflect an evenly matched contest, with New York Red Bulls controlling possession and outshooting their opponents but lacking precision: they managed just 1 shot on target out of 13 attempts, compared to Nashville's 3 out of 11, a gap that ended up making all the difference.

The post-match xG, calculated from shot locations, came out nearly even: 1.517 for New York Red Bulls against 1.484 for Nashville, confirming that this was a match of shared merit, decided by a single moment rather than any clear superiority from one side over the other.

Projection versus reality

Ahead of kickoff, our projection gave Nashville a 45% chance to win, versus 27% for New York Red Bulls and 28% for a draw, with expected goals of 1.56 for the visitors and 1.16 for the home side. The result lined up with that forecast: Nashville, the favorite, came out on top, though it had to wait until the final gasp to confirm it.

What the result means

With this win, Nashville SC remains atop the Eastern Conference with 46 points from 20 matches played, while New York Red Bulls, in eighth place with 25 points from the same number of games, watched a point they had all but secured slip through their fingers. The 21-point gap between the two sides in the standings already hinted at the contrast in form, but it was a stoppage-time header that sealed it, leaving the home side with the feeling they deserved more than the final score showed.