Hany Mukhtar scored a pair of goals – one in either half— as Nashville SC continued their solid home form, beating New York City FC 3-1 at Nissan Stadium on Friday evening.
With the win, Nashville improved their record in the Music City to 8W-0L-6D while moving into second place in the Eastern Conference standings. NYCFC are now winless in their last six away matches.
Muhktar's first goal came in the 30th minute, as he took a nice pass from Dax McCarty and fired it past Sean Johnson to give the Boys In Gold a 1-0 lead. Just over two minutes later, the lead was doubled via an NYCFC own goal when a cross from Daniel Rios took a deflection off the foot of defender Vuk Latinovich and into the net.
Tensions boiled over between the two sides in the 43rd minute following a McCarty foul on Maxi Moralez, ultimately leading to referee Tim Ford showing red cards to both players to reduce the teams to 10 men.
Muhktar appeared to make it a brace for himself in the 56th minute but was ruled offside in the buildup. The German did eventually make it a double just over 10 minutes later by calmly finishing off a pass from CJ Sapong to further secure Nashville's grasp on the match.
NYCFC finally found the scoreboard in the 90th minute when Valentin Castellanos spoiled Joe Willis' clean sheet, but the night firmly belonged to Nashville.
Goals
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: No Alistair Johnston, Anibal Godoy, Randall Leal and Walker Zimmerman for Nashville? No problem, as they soared to yet another victory at Nissan Stadium. And it comes at an important time as they're set to head on a four-match away trip. NYCFC, meanwhile, with four players of their own on World Cup qualifying duty, saw their road struggles continue. They remain in search of their first away win since May 29 at LAFC.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: With Nashville holding a 2-0 lead over NYCFC, tempers flared just before the halftime whistle between a pair of teams that had never faced each other before Friday evening. When the dust settled, McCarty and Moralez were given their respective marching orders.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: The easy call is for Mukhtar, whose two goals put him at 10 for the season and one clear of Sapong for the club lead. He also helped Rios force NYCFC's own goal to double Nashville's advantage just past the half-hour mark.
Next Up
- NSH: Saturday, September 11 at CF Montréal | 8 pm ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+, TSN, TVA)
- NYC: Saturday, September 11 at New England Revolution | 7:00 p.m. ET (MLS LIVE on ESPN+)
