NEW YORK (Monday, Sept. 6, 2021) – Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar has been voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 23 of the 2021 MLS season.
Mukhtar scored a pair of goals as Nashville SC defeated New York City FC 3-1 at Nissan Stadium on Friday evening, winning a second game in a row and extending their undefeated streak to four games while remaining in a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference.
Mukhtar opened the scoring vs. NYCFC in the 30th minute. Latching onto a ball played over the NYCFC backline by Dax McCarty, Mukhtar brought it down with his chest before skirting around a retreating defender and putting a bouncing shot back across goal and inside the left post (WATCH HERE).
Mukhtar then doubled his count and extended Nashville’s lead to 3-0 in the 68th minute. On a quick counter from a midfield interception, CJ Sapong laid the ball into Mukhtar’s path from the right side and the German-born midfielder curled the ball home from inside the penalty area inside the left-hand post (WATCH HERE).
The two goals gave Mukhtar 10 for the season, now in a tie for seventh place in the running for MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi. It was Mukhtar’s third multiple-goal game of the season, tied for the league lead, which also included the fastest hat trick scored from the start of a game in MLS history on July 17, which also led to Player of the Week honors for Mukhtar.
Mukhtar and Nashville SC return to action on Saturday evening, Sept. 11, when they travel to face CF Montréal at Stade Saputo (8 p.m., TVA Sports; TSN; ESPN+).
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
