It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled is here to dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. Let’s get right to it!
Winner: Order in the MLS universe
MLS can be messy. Because of the parity-propping roster rules and due to where the league sits in the global market, things can be unpredictable. A single player, or on rare occasions a coach, can completely change the fortunes of a team. However, with the first match of the now-concluded weekend, we saw logic prevail.
With a 2-0 victory over CF Montreal, Nashville SC secured the Supporters’ Shield as 2026’s best regular season finisher. The whole affair marked two years in a row with a trophy for Nashville following their U.S. Open Cup win last season – and the team is still on pace to break the single-season points record, too. This very much feels like a culmination of the great work the franchise has done since joining the league in 2020, having missed the playoffs just once along the way. That lone down year in 2024 led to a roster refresh and appointment of head coach BJ Callaghan and has seen the ‘Yotes rise to the very top of the league.
Even beyond the trophy, there was something poetic about the win. The goalscorers were Sam Surridge, the second star they’d long searched for to pair with Hany Mukhtar, their original DP and the other goalscorer. Mukhtar’s goal was such a good example of what’s made this team so good. Your foundational piece pressing and creating the turnover before scoring the goal? That’s the stuff you love to see.
Hany Mukhtar's 17th goal of the season extends @NashvilleSC's lead! pic.twitter.com/0lUJbL6tsF
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 24, 2026
Pretty much every move Nashville has made over the past couple of seasons has been spot on. Between swooping in for DP Cristian Espinoza in free agency, elevating Brian Schwake to the starting goalkeeper spot, bringing in Reed Baker-Whiting, who helped create the first goal for Surridge, building a top-tier center back duo, and adding Elias Saad to further strengthen the attack in the summer, the list goes on. They've made so many savvy moves this year alone and have been so consistent all throughout that the Shield is well earned.
On the other end of Saturday’s result? Well, there’s CF Montreal, the opposite of a model franchise. We’ve dug into the issues with Montreal here at Backheeled before. Whether it’s their propensity to fire coaches a handful of matches into the season or their club culture, we’ve covered it. Yet, this franchise continues to find new ways to disappoint.
