Nashville SC 3, FC Cincinnati 0 (07.24.21)

Nashville Soccer Club moves to second place in the Eastern Conference with victory over rival FC Cincinnati

(NashvilleSC.com, 07.24.21)

NASHVILLE — Nashville Soccer Club dominated rival FC Cincinnati in a convincing 3-0 shutout win at Nissan Stadium on Saturday night behind masterful offensive performances from CJ Sapong and Hany Mukhtar.  

Rising up the Table: With the win on Saturday night, Nashville SC officially finished the night in second place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 6W-1L-8D and 26 points. The victory extended its current overall unbeaten streak to seven matches owning a 4W-0L-3D record in that span. 

Spectacular Sapong: Forward CJ Sapong flourished in tonight’s win, being directly involved in all three goals, scoring two and notching an assist. Sapong’s brace was his seventh of his career and first since Sept. 14, 2019 against FC Dallas as a member of Chicago Fire FC. 

Music City Magic: The Boys in Gold continued their stellar play in front of the home crowd at Nissan Stadium extending their undefeated home run to 12 since November 2020. 

Nashville SC will return to action Sunday, August 1 when it visits Toronto FC in the club’s first ever MLS match north of the border. Fans can tune in to the action on MyTV30 or live stream the game on www.NashvilleSC.com at 6 p.m. CT to watch the pregame show.

Notes
  •  Nashville SC improved to 1W-0L-1D against rival FC Cincinnati in its MLS history
  •  Nashville SC has out-shot on target FC Cincinnati 17-2 in two matches this season
  •  Nashville SC are tied for the highest goal differential in the Eastern Conference +10
  •  Nashville SC owns a 5W-0L-0D record when scoring the first goal of the match this season and when leading at halftime. They are 10W-1L-0D all-time when leading at the half
  •  Nashville SC held FC Cincinnati to 0 shots on target
  •  Tonight’s attendance was 23,832, the largest crowd of the season
  •  Gary Smith led squads are 47W-7L-20D when scoring the first goal of the match and 33W-0L-12D record when scoring the first goal of the match at home
  •  Brian Anunga holds a 9W-2L-10D record when appearing in a match
  •  Randall Leal scored his first goal since May 23 against Austin FC
  •  Designated Player Aké Loba made his home debut as a substitute in the 68th minute
  •  Dax McCarty passed Bobby Boswell for sixth place on the all-time minutes played leaderboard with 32,247 minutes
  •  Hany Mukhtar registered his first career multi-assist game. He sits at second all-time in assists in Nashville SC history with eight
  •  CJ Sapong has scored in three of his last five matches and is the third Nashville SC player this season to register a goal and an assist in the same match. Sapong has recorded five goals in his Nashville SC career, all coming at Nissan Stadium and all of them ending in victories. Sapong registered his third assist of the season tonight, the highest since 2018
  •  Taylor Washington started in his second consecutive match, the first time in his MLS career
  •  Joe Willis is now first in MLS in shutouts with seven, and has recorded 16 clean sheets in 28 matches

SCORING SUMMARY
NSC — C.J. Sapong (Hany Mukhtar) 13′
NSC — Randall Leal (C.J. Sapong) 35′
NSC — C.J. Sapong (Hany Mukhtar) 57′

DISCIPLINE SUMMARY
CIN — Yellow Card — Gustavo Vallecilla (38′)
NSC — Yellow Card — C.J. Sapong (68′)
CIN — Yellow Card — Geoff Cameron (81′)
NSC — Yellow Card — Hany Mukhtar (84′)

NASHVILLE LINEUP
Joe Willis
Jalil Anibaba
Dave Romney
Eric Miller
Dylan Nealis (Matt LaGrassa 46′)
Taylor Washington
Dax McCarty (Luke Haakenson 89′)
Hany Mukhtar (Abu Danladi 89′)
Tah Brian Anunga (Alex Muyl 82′)
Randall Leal
C.J. Sapong (Aké Loba 68′)

CINCINNATI LINEUP
Kenneth Vermeer
Edgar Castillo (Quimi Ordonez 74′)
Gustavo Vallecilla (Nick Hagglund 46′)
Geoff Cameron
Joe Gyau
Caleb Stanko (Brandon Vazquez 63′)
Haris Medunjanin (Kamohelo Mokotijo 69′)
Yuya Kubo
Luciano Acosta
Brenner
Álvaro Barreal (Isaac Atanga 46′)