NEW YORK (Monday, July 19, 2021) – Nashville SC midfielder Hany Mukhtar has been voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 13 of the 2021 MLS season.
Mukhtar scored the fastest hat trick from the start of a game in MLS history, scoring all three goals in the opening 16 minutes of Nashville’s 5-1 win over Chicago Fire FC at Nissan Stadium on Saturday evening (WATCH GOALS).
The 26-year-old gave Nashville the lead in the 10th minute when he received a pass from CJ Sapong at the top of the box and rifled a first-time shot into the bottom left corner of the net. His second came just three minutes later, this time set up by Daniel Lovitz from the left side of the field. Mukhtar took Lovitz’s pass in stride before beating his defender with a few stepovers and curling a low shot into the bottom right corner of the net.
Mukhtar completed his hat trick in style again just three minutes later, scoring directly from a free kick that hit the bottom of the crossbar on its way into the net. The goal was Mukhtar’s second to come directly from a free kick in MLS and his first since scoring one against Houston Dynamo FC in October 2020.
The six-minute span for the hat trick was the second-fastest in elapsed time in MLS history, behind only a 5-minute hat trick scored by Harut Karapetyan of the LA Galaxy on June 4, 1998. Mukhtar is now tied for third in the race for the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi, with seven goals for the season.
Mukhtar will look to score for a third consecutive game on Wednesday, July 21 when Nashville travel to Lower.com Field to take on the Columbus Crew (7:30 p.m., ESPN+).
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 voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
