Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar remains MLS's hottest player

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, May 29, 2023

Nashville SC moved into second place in MLS's Supporters' Shield race with a 3-1 win over Columbus Crew on Sunday night in front of a sellout crowd of 30,109 at GEODIS Park.

The win extended Nashville SC's unbeaten streak in MLS play to seven consecutive matches, the longest active streak in the league. It trails FC Cincinnati, a 1-0 winner at Colorado on Saturday night to improve to 10-1-3 play, by five points.

• MLS Saturday: Carranza brace gives Philadelphia victory at New York City

Hany Mukhtar, the 2022 MLS MVP, led Nashville SC with a goal and an assist to give him six goals and five assists in the last five games and a league-high 16 goal contributions (9 goals + 7 assists) in 2023.

Fafà Picault and Teal Bunbury scored off corner kicks in the second half to erase the Crew's 2nd-minute lead on a goal by Yaw Yeboah before Mukhtar sealed the win with a goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

"It didn’t feel like that two minutes into the game when Yeboah hit an absolute rocket that I don’t think any goalkeeper that I’ve ever seen could do anything about," said Nashville SC coach Gary Smith. "But beyond that, I thought the guys did an excellent job of disrupting a team that is based around possession and can be extremely frustrating and difficult to play against."

• The game marked Walker Zimmerman's his first appearance since April 29 against Atlanta United. He had been sidelined with a groin strain.

Results ...
Saturday, May 27
CF Montreal 1 Inter Miami 0. (Goal: Offor 53. Att.: 19,619.)
New England 3 Chicago 3. (Goals: Buck 38, Wood 40, Altidore 83; Koutsias 10, own goal 22, Haile-Selassie 78. Att.: 27,293.)
NYCFC 1 Philadelphia 3. (Goals: Gabriel Pereira 30; Carranza 45+1, 45+3, Gazdag 53 pen. Att.: 22,830.)
Orlando City 1 Atlanta United 1. (Goals: Smith 30; Wolff 86. Att.: 20,127.)
Toronto FC 2 D.C. United 1. (Goals: Kerr 14, Thompson 72; Benteke 87. Att.: 27,065.
Houston 2 Austin FC 1. (Goals: Herrera 37, Franco 87; Zardes 21. Att.: 16,055.)
Minn. United 1 Real Salt Lake 1. (Goals: Own goal 31; Savarino 28. Att: 19,912.)
St. Louis City 3 Vancouver 1. (Goals: Loewen 10, own goal 45, Perez 90+4; White 83. Att.: 22,423.)
Colorado 0 FC Cincinnati 1. (Goal: Badji 33. Att.: 15,438.)
LA Galaxy 0 FC Charlotte 1 (Goal: Swiderski 73. Att.: 17,434.)
San Jose 1 FC Dallas 1. (Goals: Kikanovic 70;.Tafari 90+4. Att.: 13,409.)
Seattle 1 NY Red Bulls 0. (Goal: Morris 22. Att.: 31,032.)
Sunday, May 28
Sporting KC 4 Portland 1. (Goals: Thommy 33, Salloi 66, own goal 68; Hernandez 90+3; Boli, 8. Att.: 18,514.)
Nashville SC 3 Columbus 1. (Goals: Picault 56, Bunbury 80, Mukhtar 90+7; Yeboah 2. Att.: 30,109.)

Schedule ...
Wednesday, May 31
*Atlanta United vs. New England 7:30 pm. (free)
Columbus vs. Colorado 7:30 pm.
DC United vs. CF Montreal 7:30 pm. (free)
Inter Miami vs. NY Red Bulls 7:30 pm.
NYCFC vs. FC Cincinnati 7:30 pm.
Philadelphia vs. Charlotte FC 7:30 pm. (free)
Toronto FC vs. Chicago 7:30 pm.
Austin FC vs. Minn. United 8:30 pm. (free)
Sporting KC vs. FC Dallas 8:30 pm.
Real Salt Lake vs. LA Galaxy 9:30 pm. (free)
Seattle vs. San Jose 10:30 pm.
Vancouver vs. Houston 10:30 pm. (free)
*Also on FS1 and Fox Deportes.

Saturday, June 3
NYCFC vs. New England 3:30 pm. (free)
Seattle vs. Portland 4:30 pm. (free)
FC Cincinnati vs. Chicago 7:30 pm. (free)
Columbus vs. Charlotte FC 7:30 pm. (free)
Inter Miami vs. DC United  7:30 pm. (free)
NY Red Bulls vs. Orlando City 7:30 pm. (free)
Philadelphia vs. CF Montreal 7:30 pm. (free)
Austin FC vs. Real Salt Lake 8:30 pm. (free)
FC Dallas vs. Nashville SC 8:30 pm. (free)
Minn. United vs. Toronto FC 8:30 pm. (free)
St. Louis City vs. Houston 8:30 pm. (free)
Colorado vs. San Jose 9:30 pm. (free)
Vancouver vs. Sporting KC 10:30 pm. (free)
Note: All times ET.

Photo: Steve Roberts/Cal Sport Media/ISI Photos