Everything is going great over at Nashville SC.
As the music continues to flow sweetly through a combination of outstanding team and individual play, Nashville is currently unbeaten in their last seven matches across all competitions. Their latest victory, a 2–1 win at GEODIS Park over Inter Miami CF on MLS Matchday 13, has the team – and fans – dreaming of continued success as Nashville sits on the third spot of the Eastern Conference with a 6W, 4D, 3L record.
Head coach Gary Smith is equally optimistic but keeping expectations grounded firmly in reality.
"I'm certainly not going to get too excited at this point in time," said Smith cautiously following the match. "There's too much football, too many things that can happen, too many scenarios that we just don't have answers to."
Reality aside, Smith’s gotten incredible results from forward Hany Mukhtar who is enjoying his best MLS season yet with six goals and five assists and a defensive line that has conceded a paltry eight goals so far – a statistic that will earn the club the best single-season defense in league history distinction if it holds.
"We've seen so often in this league that you can be in a very good place and complacency sets in," said Smith. "I don't think that'll happen to this group, but you can never be sure. It only takes one bad result, one poor result, and all of a sudden people are questioning what's going on. So while we're in this run, we want to try and reinforce some of the football that we've played."
Smith’s also getting some strong results from recent addition Fabrice "Fafà" Picault. The veteran forward has three goals and an assist so far in 2023, including the opening salvo against Miami.
Nashville will try to continue the good form as they take on Charlotte FC on the road before facing Miami again in the U.S. Open Cup round of 16. Coach Smith will count on his crew putting in the hard work to do so.
"We've got work to do. We'll just keep trying to add points to the board," he said. "What I do know is that if you work with the right attitude and you continue to perform at the sort of level that we've seen tonight, there's no reason why we shouldn't be competing in that top four."
This article was originally published on 90min as Gary Smith hails Nashville SC for seven-game wining streak.
