Nashville Soccer Club Takes Sole Possession of Second Place in the Eastern Conference with Victory over New York City FC

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 3, 2021) – Nashville Soccer Club took sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference with a 3-1 home victory over New York City FC on Friday night at Nissan Stadium in front of a crowd of 20,126.

Even More Mukhtar Magic: Hany Mukhtar netted his ninth and 10th goals of the season to overtake CJ Sapong as Nashville SC’s leading goal-scorer this season. In his Nashville SC career, Mukhtar has scored 15 goals in all competitions, the most of any player in the club’s Major League Soccer history.

Sitting in Second: Nashville SC took sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference, moving past Orlando City SC in points. The Boys in Gold now have 38 points on the season, and the fewest losses in MLS with two.

Not in Our House: Nashville SC extended its unbeaten home streak to 15 matches, which remains the longest active home unbeaten streak in MLS. Gary Smith’s side is the only team in MLS to have not lost a home match in the 2021 regular season and has not lost a match in Nissan Stadium since November 4, 2020. Nashville SC owns a record of 8W-0L-6D at home this season.

Nashville SC will travel to Montreal to face CF Montréal on Saturday, September 11 at 7 p.m. CT. Fans can follow all of the action by tuning in to MyTV30, as well as ESPN 94.9 (English radio) or El Jefe 96.7 (Spanish radio).

Match Timeline

NSH 30’: Dax McCarty sends a ball from beyond midfield to Hany Mukhtar, who beats two defenders and sends the ball past the outstretched goalkeeper into the right corner of the net

NSH 32’: Daniel Ríos receives the ball from Hany Mukhtar just inside the 18-yard box, and sends a ball in to find the right corner of the net after deflecting off an NYC defender for an own goal 

NSH 68’: Hany Mukhtar receives a ball from CJ Sapong after the two connected in midfield and fires the ball inside the far post as he charges into the box

NYC 90’: Valentin Castellanos receives the ball from Alfredo Morales as he drifts into the box and sends the ball into the lower left corner of the net

Notes

• Nashville SC now owns a record of 10W-0L-0D all-time in MLS play when scoring three goals or more in a match
• Nashville SC owns a 7W-1L-1D record in the 2021 season when netting the first goal of the match
• Nashville SC improves its record to 8W-0L-1D when leading at the half
• Nashville SC’s 37 goals are tied for the second most in the Eastern Conference
• Nashville SC improved its goal-differential to plus 16, the second best in the Eastern Conference
• Nashville SC owns an overall home record of 12W-2L-11D
• Nashville SC have the fewest losses in MLS with two
• Nashville SC now owns a record of 4W-0L-4D against teams in the Eastern Conference above the playoff line 
• Dax McCarty recorded his first assist of the season tonight on Hany Mukhtar’s goal
• McCarty received the first red card of his MLS career at 45’
• Hany Mukhtar is now tied for the MLS league lead with Dániel Sallói of Sporting Kansas City with a combined 18 goals and assists through the season
• Dave Romney remains the only Nashville SC outfield player to play all 1,980 minutes this season and all 4,380 minutes in Nashville SC’s history

BOX SCORE

Nashville SC 9W-2L-11D vs. New York City FC 10W-7L-4D

September 3, 2021 – Nissan Stadium

Final Score

NSH: 3

NYC: 1 

Scoring Summary

NSH: Hany Mukhtar (Dax McCarty) 30’

NSH: Vuk Latinovich (OG) 32’

NSH: Hany Mukhtar (CJ Sapong) 68’

NYC: Valentin Castellanos (Alfredo Morales) 90’

Discipline

NYC: Jesus Medina (caution) 38’

NSH: Dax McCarty (ejection) 45’

NYC: Maxi Moralez (ejection) 45’

NYC: Valentin Castellanos (caution) 64’

NSH: Alex Muyl (caution) 71’

NSH: Hany Mukhtar (caution) 73’

NYC: Nicolas Acevedo (caution) 73’ 

Lineups

NSH: Joe Willis; Daniel Lovitz, Dave Romney, Jack Maher, Eric Miller, Taylor Washington (Luke Haakenson 88’); Dax McCarty (C), Hany Mukhtar (Jhonder Cádiz 84’), Tah Brian Anunga (Matt LaGrassa 84’); Daniel Ríos (Alex Muyl 45’), CJ Sapong (Aké Loba 79’)

Unused Substitutes: Jalil Anibaba, Abu Danladi, Dylan Nealis, Bryan Meredith

NYC: Sean Johnson (C); Anton Tinnerholm, Malte Amundsen (Chris Gloster 74’), Vuk Latinovich; Alfredo Morales, Maxi Moralez, Jesus Medina (Thiago 72’), Nicolas Acevedo (Gedion Zelalem 74’), Santiago Rodriguez (Talles Magno 72’), Keaton Parks; Valentin Castellanos

Unused Substitutes: Luis Barraza, Tony Rocha, Isamel Tajouri-Shradi, Andres Jasson, Cody Mizell 

Referee: Tim Ford

AR1: Claudiu Badea

AR2: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho

4th: Silviu Petrescu

VAR: Fotis Bazakos

AVAR: Matthew Nelson 

Weather: Partly cloudy, 82 degrees. 

Statistics are unofficial.