Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar has taken home MLS Player of the Week honors for Week 23 after leading his team to a 3-1 victory over New York City FC with a goal in each half.
This is Mukhtar's second Player of the Week nod of the 2021 season. Back in Week 13, he tallied the fastest-ever hat trick to start a match in MLS history during a blowout victory over Chicago Fire FC.
Mukhtar was the catalyst behind Nashville's emphatic win Friday, starting right on the half-hour mark when he collected a feed from teammate Dax McCarty and cashed home past NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson for the opener.
Nashville pushed their lead to 2-0 through an own goal off NYCFC's Vuk Latinovich just two minutes later that was forced by Mukhtar, who lashed in the cross that took a deflection off the sliding defender and into the net.
Mukhtar effectively put the match to bed in the 68th minute, this time finishing off an assist from CJ Sapong that ensured a late consolation tally from Valentin Castellanos would be a moot point.
Mukhtar's heroics helped deliver a huge result for Nashville, who were playing without key contributors like Alistar Johnston, Anibal Godoy, Randall Leal and Walker Zimmerman due to international duty. Now, they've got some positive momentum ahead of a four-game road trip away from Nissan Stadium. Nashville SC currently occupy the No. 3 spot in the Eastern Conference standings with a 9W-2L-11D record.
Mukhtar, meanwhile, continues a stellar individual campaign. The German attacker is now up to 10 goals and eight assists across 21 league matches (18 starts).
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 the vote. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
