MLS: Nashville and San Diego off to flying starts as Portland clinch last-gasp win

Sam Surridge picked up where he left off in 2025 as Nashville SC made a brilliant start to their MLS campaign.

Surridge scored twice as Nashville cruised to a 4-1 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday.

The striker netted a club-record 24 goals last season, and he made an early statement of intent when it came to his Golden Boot aspirations by scoring twice inside 16 minutes at GEODIS Park.

Hany Mukhtar made it 3-0, and though Leonardo Campana pulled one back for New England early in the second half, Warren Madrigal swiftly re-established Nashville’s three-goal cushion, which they maintained from then on.

There was also a big win for San Diego FC, who hammered 10-man CF Montreal 5-0.

Star player Anders Dreyer supplied two assists as San Diego had five different scorers, with Christopher McVey, Amahl Pellegrino, Onni Valakari, Marcus Ingvartsen and Bryan Zamble on target, while Tomas Aviles saw red for Montreal.

That’s a dub pic.twitter.com/fZ1ErGcEJ7

— San Diego FC (@sandiegofc) February 22, 2026

The Portland Timbers, meanwhile, left it late to snatch a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew.

Wessam Abou Ali put the Crew ahead inside six minutes, but Felipe Mora quickly restored parity before Antony put Portland ahead.

Diego Rossi dragged the Crew level before half-time, but in the 88th minute, substitute Ariel Lassiter was on hand to win it for Phil Neville’s team.

Data Debrief: Surridge makes a statement

In his MLS career, Surridge has now netted seven goals in six career regular-season games against New England.

It makes the Revs his joint-favourite opponent, along with the Chicago Fire (seven goals).

Surridge had five of Nashville’s 14 attempts, getting all of those on target, while he was responsible for 1.63 of their 2.77 expected goals (xG).