As the ball soared into the box off the foot of Andy Najar, Nashville SC captain Hany Mukhtar went airborne.
With Najar's probing cross floating into the danger area, Mukhtar whipped his right boot through the trailing ball, sending it flying into the net to give Nashville SC a 10th-minute lead over Sporting Kansas City.
It was an early tone-setter for Nashville, which smashed three more goals past Kansas City (6-4-19, 22 points) to secure a 4-0 win at Geodis Park on Oct. 14. Nashville SC (20-6-3, 66 points) is yet to lose at home this season and with the victory tied MLS records for most home wins (14) and consecutive home wins (10).
The victory extended Nashville's lead in the Supporters' Shield table to 14 points and can clinch the title with
a win at the San Jose Earthquakes on Oct. 17.
"Our mentality is to win everything," Najar said. "Like B.J. (Callaghan) always says, we attack everything. I think we are showing (that) every game. We hope we can continue like this and fight for a title."
An MLS side last claimed 14 home wins in 2018, a record Nashville can secure outright with home matches against the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls still to come. The Boys in Gold are 14-0-1 in league play at Geodis Park this season, having scored 45 goals while conceding just 12.
"When you win at home, for us its by scoring goals and keeping clean sheets ... we get the energy from the fans," Callaghan said. "You almost share these moments with them ... For us we really perform well here. We know why, it's the energy in the stadium. Our ability to share that with the fans is so invaluable. I think it makes winning at home just that much more important."
With Mukhtar opening the scoring for Nashville, he became just the second player in league history to score 15 goals in five of his first seven MLS seasons, joining Bradley Wright-Phillips. And while Nashville has now scored eight goals in its last two matches, its defense has been equally impactful.
The win over Kansas City marked NSC's third clean sheet in its last four games. Goalkeeper Brian Schwake has kept 13 MLS clean sheets in between the posts this season, tying Joe Willis's club record for most regular season shutouts.
"As a defender you always want to keep (a shutout) and I think we are showing that we can be the best defense in the league," Najar said. "We are showing (it) every game and we just need to continue like this. We can achieve great things with this team and we are so excited for the win tonight."
Harrison Campbell can be reached at hcampbell@usatodayco.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar set the tone in win over Sporting KC
