Luca Orellano scored a brilliant free-kick goal in the 52nd minute, and FC Cincinnati twice came back from one-goal deficits en route to a 2-2 draw against Nashville SC on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.
Luciano Acosta added a goal for Cincinnati (17-8-5, 56 points), which remains in second place in the Eastern Conference with four matches remaining but is tied on points with the Columbus Crew, a 4-3 winner over Orlando City SC. Columbus also has a match in hand.
Nashville (8-13-9, 33 points) saw its two-match winning streak come to an end. It finished the evening a point behind the ninth and final playoff spot in the East with four matches remaining, but with four teams above it in the table.
Trailing 2-1 in the first half, Cincinnati appeared to have made it 2-2 in the 39th minute before an offside call negated what would have been Nicholas Gioacchini’s first goal for the club. But Orellano eventually knotted things up in the 52nd minute with his ninth goal of the season, a well-struck free kick from beyond the box that sailed past a diving Joe Willis.
Nashville opened the scoring in the fourth minute. Jonathan Perez’s cross from the right side of the box deflected off Taylor Washington in front of goal and found its way to Sam Surridge, who deftly booted it into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
After Acosta tied it at 1-1 in the ninth minute with a strike from outside the box that was assisted by Orellano, Surridge scored his second goal of the night in the 25th minute — and his third in two matches — heading a Hany Mukhtar corner kick past Roman Celentano to make it 2-1.
The lead lasted until the 52nd minute, as Orellano’s goal put an end to the night’s scoring.
Sergio Santos added an assist for Cincinnati.
–Field Level Media