San Diego FC v Nashville SC: Callaghan's men to take front-foot approachShareNashville SC have charged up the Eastern Conference standings in recent weeks, but they face a tricky trip to San Diego FC this week.Nashville SC will travel to San Diego FC on Friday with every intention of extending their MLS winning streak to three games. Back-to-back victories over the Columbus Crew (3-0) and Toronto FC (1-0) have lifted Nashville to second in the Eastern Conference, just a single point behind FC Cincinnati.Callaghan's team have won seven of their last eight games in all competitions, with their only defeat in that span being a 2-1 loss at Inter Miami on July 12.They will face a difficult test at Snapdragon Stadium, against a San Diego team that sit top of the Western Conference with 43 points, 24 games into their expansion season.But Callaghan insists his team will look to play with positivity, telling reporters: "We're going into an environment in San Diego where it's going to be great support from their fans. They've had it all year."I think we've got a mentality where we want to go out and win on the road. We've had our moments of success with that, and our expectations are going to be the same when we go out to San Diego.".San Diego drew 1-1 with the Vancouver Whitecaps last time out, while their previous game was a 1-0 defeat at Toronto.But Callaghan remains impressed by the swift progress made by Mikey Varas' team, adding: "It's obviously really impressive for an expansion team to come in like that."The work they have done to build not only a really good roster, but a really intentional roster... you can see that there was clearly a style of play in mind."Now you see a very consistent team that players with a very clear identity week in, week out, even as they get injuries or lose players to the international breaks."PLAYERS TO WATCH San Diego FC – Ian PilcherPilcher scored his first MLS goal against Vancouver last week, with this his first campaign in the league.The centre-back is the ninth San Diego player to score their first league goal in 2025, with 30 of their 47 goals this year being scored by players playing in their debut MLS season.Nashville SC – Sam SurridgeSurridge scored his 18th goal of the regular season against Toronto last week, in Nashville's 24th game of the campaign. He is just the fifth player in the last decade to score 18 or more goals in a team's first 24 games of a season, including Lionel Messi, who has 18 goals in 21 games this season.Surridge also scored in Wednesday's All-Star game, as the MLS All-Stars beat their Liga MX counterparts 3-1.MATCH PREDICTION – SAN DIEGO FC WINSan Diego and Nashville will meet for the very first time, with the visitors going to a West Coast team for the 13th time in all competitions.Nashville are winless in their last five road games out West (D1 L4), with their last victory on the West Coast coming at Los Angeles FC on October 9, 2022.San Diego, meanwhile, are winless in their last three home matches (D1 L2), the team's longest stretch at Snapdragon Stadium without a win.They only lost once in their first 10 home matches (W6 D3), going down to Real Salt Lake on April 26. Varas' team will be desperate to get back to that kind of form.While home advantage makes San Diego favourites, they should not expect an easy ride as Nashville have scored in their last seven regular-season road matches, since a 3-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders in April. Nashville's only longer scoring streak on the road is eight games, spanning May to October 2022.OPTA WIN PROBABILITYSan Diego FC – 43.8%Nashville SC – 29.5%Draw – 26.8%San Diego FC v Nashville SC: Callaghan's men to take front-foot approachNashville SC have charged up the Eastern Conference standings in recent weeks, but they face a tricky trip to San Diego FC this week.Nashville SC will travel to San Diego FC on Friday with every intention of extending their MLS winning streak to three games. Back-to-back victories over the Columbus Crew (3-0) and Toronto FC (1-0) have lifted Nashville to second in the Eastern Conference, just a single point behind FC Cincinnati.Callaghan's team have won seven of their last eight games in all competitions, with their only defeat in that span being a 2-1 loss at Inter Miami on July 12.They will face a difficult test at Snapdragon Stadium, against a San Diego team that sit top of the Western Conference with 43 points, 24 games into their expansion season.But Callaghan insists his team will look to play with positivity, telling reporters: "We're going into an environment in San Diego where it's going to be great support from their fans. They've had it all year."I think we've got a mentality where we want to go out and win on the road. We've had our moments of success with that, and our expectations are going to be the same when we go out to San Diego.".San Diego drew 1-1 with the Vancouver Whitecaps last time out, while their previous game was a 1-0 defeat at Toronto.But Callaghan remains impressed by the swift progress made by Mikey Varas' team, adding: "It's obviously really impressive for an expansion team to come in like that."The work they have done to build not only a really good roster, but a really intentional roster... you can see that there was clearly a style of play in mind."Now you see a very consistent team that players with a very clear identity week in, week out, even as they get injuries or lose players to the international breaks."PLAYERS TO WATCH San Diego FC – Ian PilcherPilcher scored his first MLS goal against Vancouver last week, with this his first campaign in the league.The centre-back is the ninth San Diego player to score their first league goal in 2025, with 30 of their 47 goals this year being scored by players playing in their debut MLS season.Nashville SC – Sam SurridgeSurridge scored his 18th goal of the regular season against Toronto last week, in Nashville's 24th game of the campaign. He is just the fifth player in the last decade to score 18 or more goals in a team's first 24 games of a season, including Lionel Messi, who has 18 goals in 21 games this season.Surridge also scored in Wednesday's All-Star game, as the MLS All-Stars beat their Liga MX counterparts 3-1.MATCH PREDICTION – SAN DIEGO FC WINSan Diego and Nashville will meet for the very first time, with the visitors going to a West Coast team for the 13th time in all competitions.Nashville are winless in their last five road games out West (D1 L4), with their last victory on the West Coast coming at Los Angeles FC on October 9, 2022.San Diego, meanwhile, are winless in their last three home matches (D1 L2), the team's longest stretch at Snapdragon Stadium without a win.They only lost once in their first 10 home matches (W6 D3), going down to Real Salt Lake on April 26. Varas' team will be desperate to get back to that kind of form.While home advantage makes San Diego favourites, they should not expect an easy ride as Nashville have scored in their last seven regular-season road matches, since a 3-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders in April. Nashville's only longer scoring streak on the road is eight games, spanning May to October 2022.OPTA WIN PROBABILITYSan Diego FC – 43.8%Nashville SC – 29.5%Draw – 26.8%