'It felt like Nashville': Win over CF Montréal highlighted by Alex Muyl, Hany Mukhtar goals

Four days ago, coach Gary Smith described Nashville SC as below standard, uncharacteristic and disappointing.

The players took that to heart on Wednesday night, stifling Eastern Conference leader CF Montréal, 2-1, at Geodis Park to avenge its listless 2-0 loss to Houston Dynamo FC.

Wingback Alex Muyl broke the scoring deadlock in the 28th minute with a textbook left-footed laser into the top left corner of the net. Attacking midfielder Hany Mukhtar played a give-and-go twice with forward CJ Sapong to double Nashville's lead in the 51st minute. Kei Kamara sliced that lead with a goal in the 55th minute.

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Here's our takeaways from the match:

Nashville scored swiftly, clinically

Two ways Nashville (5-4-3, 18 points) generally score are through set pieces or quick counter attacks. On both occasions against Montréal (6-4-2, 20 points), it was the long ball.

Nashville's two goal sequences took 10 seconds each.

The first came from goalkeeper Joe Willis, who was 30 yards up field, while the rest of Nashville and Montréal awaited his booming kick. The pass met Muyl in stride and the right wingback sized up Kamal Miller with a few dribbles before dipping inside to his left foot to score.

The build-up to Sapong's goal was started by Dan Lovitz. The wingback's lob pass from the left flank, deep in Nashville's defensive territory, soared over Montréal's defense and landed in front of Mukhtar.

The German midfielder flicked the ball to Sapong, who dribbled to the goal line and drew out goalkeeper Sebastian Breza to give Mukhtar an open-goal scoring chance.

A reinvigorated Nashville group

Saturday's falter in Houston was "a punch in the mouth for us," Muyl said.

"It didn't feel like the Nashville DNA," he added.

Seven players carried over from Saturday's starting lineup to Wednesday's, including Muyl. Nashville's objective was to attack the internal fear of it happening again, against a Montréal team who had scored the second-most goals in MLS (22) entering the match.

"This game was obviously about feeling like ourselves again, regardless of the result as long as we came out and felt like Nashville and did what we do, day in and day out, we were gonna feel good about it," Muyl said.

Alex Muyl optimizes impact on team

Smith has a problem with Muyl. A good one.

"I think the difference is with Alex – he's so versatile that we forget just where he's at his best because he fills so many roles," Smith said.

Regardless of position, Muyl has become a stat-less impact player – a ball-winner and tackle master defensively, as well as a throw-in specialist and a pest for opposing wingers.

"I haven't always been the player who gets all these stats and gets goals and assists, but I think that I impact games a lot," Muyl said. "And that's what it's always going to be about.

"It's one of the better goals I've scored in my career, but most importantly, it's a goal that gets us momentum," Muyl said of his second goal of the season. "… I heard we haven't lost at home for 560 days, so that's an unbelievable stat and that's one that we want to keep building on."

Up next

Nashville will host Atlanta United FC on Saturday (6:30 p.m., FOX).

For stories about Nashville SC or Soccer in Tennessee, contact Drake Hills at DHills@gannett.com. Follow Drake on Twitter at @LiveLifeDrake. Connect with Drake on Instagram at @drakehillssoccer and on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Alex Muyl, Hany Mukhtar goals give Nashville SC bounceback win vs Montréal