Mike Meredith/Club and Country
The game did not get off to a good start! In the second minute. Columbus Crew’s Yaw Yeboah uncorked a shot from outside the box, and gave the visitors the lead on a shot Joe Willis had no chance to stop. It even looked like Columbus might bookend the game with positives, to the chagrin of Nashville SC fans. In the second minute of second-half stoppage time, Cucho Hernandez attempted a wild scissor kick that forced a fine save from Joe Willis. Four minutes later, Willis again stood tall to stop a shot from Jaycen Russell-Rowe, who found himself in alone on goal. Instead, it was Nashville that would find the game’s final goal, with Hany Mukhtar blasting home.
Given that his team had scored on two second-half corner kicks, that was merely the insurance goal, and the end of a nail-biting finish that will go into the record books as a comfortable-appearing 3-1 victory in front of a sellout crowd.
Fafa Picault backheeled home service from Mukhtar in the 56th minute, and Teal Bunbury headed one through the wickets of Columbus keeper Patrick Schulte for the go-ahead score in the 79th. A Nashville team that had tilted the field over the course of the match suddenly had to hold on for the result.
In the end, the reigning MLS MVP proved to be the difference-maker. Though he was squared off against a pair of attacking dynamos for the opposition (Hernandez and 2020 MLS Cup MVP Lucas Zelarayan), there was never any mystery about who the best player on the pitch was. While Columbus sits outside the playoff positions, the Crew shouldn’t be there for long. A Nashville team that has found the right complementary pieces around Mukhtar may just be among the league’s most dangerous over the remainder of the season.
A trip to FC Dallas on Saturday will be the next chance to put a stake in the turf as one of the league’s front-runners. The game kicks at 7:30 p.m. CDT from Frisco, Texas, and is available on Apple TV without an MLS Season Pass subscription.
Starting lineup
Match events
- 2′ CLB GOAL – 14 Yaw Yeboah (right-footed, outside the box after dribble), assisted by 9 Cucho Hernández (layoff pass)
- 5′ CLB Yellow card – 12 Gustavo Vallecilla (foul)
- 19′ NSH Yellow card – 6 Dax McCarty (foul)
- 45’+4 Half time
- 56′ NSH GOAL – 7 Fafa Picault (right footed, backheel), assisted by 10 Hany Mukhtar (in-swinging righty corner kick)
- 60′ NSH Yellow card – 18 Shaq Moore (foul)
- 65′ CLB Substitution – On 25 Sean Zawadzki, off 14 Gustavo Vallecilla (injury)
- 72′ NSH Substitutions –
- On 8 Randall Leal, off 19 Alex Muyl
- On 14 Jacob Shaffelburg, off 7 Fafa Picault
- 77′ NSH Yellow card – 20 Aníbal Godoy (foul)
- 79′ NSH GOAL – 12 Teal Bunbury (headed, bounced in), assisted by 2 Dan Lovitz (in-swinging lefty corner kick)
- 81′ NSH Substitutions –
- On 24 Jan Gregus, off 20 Aníbal Godoy
- On 54 Sean Davis, off 6 Dax McCarty
- 84′ CLB Substitution – On Jaycen Russell-Rowe, off 6 Darlington Nagbe
- 87′ NSH Substitution – On 25 Walker Zimmerman, off 12 Teal Bunbury
- 87′ CLB Substitution – On Christian Ramirez, off Malte Amundsen
- 90′ CLB Yellow card – 8 Aidan Morris
- 90’+7 NSH GOAL – 10 Hany Mukhtar (right-footed to the roof, after dribble), assisted by 2 Dan Lovitz (longball)
- 90’+9 – Full time
Club and Country 