After setting one MLS record and nearing another, it should come as no surprise that Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar is the league’s Player of the Week. Mukhtar earned 52.78% of the media vote by North American Soccer Reporters*, and 34.41% of the fan vote for a total of 48.19% of the vote.
The 26-year old scored three goals in the course of six minutes, the second-fastest hat trick from first to last goal in MLS history. By completing the feat in the 16th minute, it was the earliest in a game that any player had ever scored a hat trick. He took five shots, two on goal, in addition to those he put in the back of the net. He completed 73.7% of his 19 passes, including one key pass.
He is the seventh selection for Nashville this season, with Joe Willis getting the nod after Week Three, Alex Muyl and Walker Zimmerman both members of the TOTW after Week Four, Mukhtar himself after a brace in Week Seven, Luke Haakenson for his two-goal heroics in Week Nine, and Randall Leal in Week Ten.
Mukhtar was previously Player of the Week after a two-goal performance against Houston Dynamo last season, and made the Team of the Week in the regular season’s final weekend for a goal-and-assist substitute performance in a comeback win against Orlando City SC. For a dude making $1.5 million per year,
* Disclosure: I serve on the board of NASR and am in charge of running the organization’s portion of voting weekly.
Club and Country 