Photo Credit: NYCFC
NEW YORK — You can’t say New York City FC matches aren’t entertaining.
After escaping Chicago with a 4-3 win in their season opener, the Blues were unable to outscore their defensive effort in their home opener against Toronto FC.
Two goals in two minutes from captain David Villa propelled NYCFC to an early 2-0 lead, but a goal in either half from the Reds led to a 2-2 draw at Yankee Stadium Sunday night.
The Blues have struggled defensively in head coach Patrick Vieira’s first two official matches in charge, but it isn’t a concern for him.
“We score a lot of goals. We concede a lot of goals (too), yes, but the philosophy of my club is that we want to create more than we concede,” Vieira said. “Of course, there is a balance to find, but we will get better. I’m not worried at all about it.”
Toronto’s equalizer came against the tide of play as City was looking to increase its 2-1 lead throughout the entire second half. The home side forced visiting goalkeeper Clint Irwin into three saves in the second period as 3-1 seemed the scoreline more likely to arrive than 2-2.
But with a striker like the reigning Major League Soccer MVP Sebastian Giovinco on their side, the Reds always had a chance of tying the contest.
So it came as a surprise to no one when the Italian, who assisted in his team’s first goal, dribbled between a pair of defenders and rifled a low shot past NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders in the 77th minute to establish the final score.
“When you analyze the game, I’m quite really [sic]pleased with the way that we stopped them trying to find Giovinco behind our back-3,” Vieira said. “But on the other side, Giovinco’s goal … that’s just the talent, and sometimes you have to accept the talent from the other team.”
The final result seemed unlikely after the first half-hour of play at the House that Ruth built.
Villa opened the scoring with a penalty in the 24th minute, slotting it into the bottom right corner past Irwin after Tommy McNamara was fouled in the box.
Four minutes later, Villa was running to the corner flag to celebrate once again. A ball in from Mix Diskerud fell to the striker as he knocked in his second of the night.
The Reds are becoming Villa’s favorite opponents in MLS.
The Spaniard now has 6 career goals against Toronto, scoring his third brace in the four times the two teams have met, including in the wild 4-4 draw in the first ever meeting between the sides.
“I hope Friday’s (match) is Toronto again,” Villa said following the match. “Sometimes, these things happen in soccer. In Spain too, there are clubs with more facility to score a goal, other clubs, more difficult. I’m happy for scoring two goals and I’m hoping Friday against Orlando I could score more goals for the team.”
The four minute period fell in the middle of a dominant opening 40 minutes from City.
After suffering difficulties in the midfield in the season opener due to a narrow 4-3-3 formation, Vieira opted for the unconventional 3-4-3 out of the gate.
While the formation isn’t seen very often, the result on the pitch show its effectiveness.
The home side was the more proactive team for most of the contest, pushing forward in numbers and forcing the issue as it had multiple chances both prior to opening the scoring and afterwards.
“I was really pleased because we didn’t spend so much time on that system, but the way the players played tonight and the understanding, it was really good,” Vieira said. “Obviously, we will use that system later on.”
Looking back on the first half, City will be kicking itself after missing multiple chances.
Its first chance came in the 11th minute, when a cross down the left flank found an open Mix Diskerud, whose header was saved by Irwin. The rebound fell to Khiry Shelton, but the winger couldn’t put it into the empty net, hitting the side netting with his strike.
Seven minutes later, Villa got the ball in space between defenders after a clearance in the NYCFC half. The Spaniard did well to position himself for a shot in the box, but his curling effort went wide of Irwin’s left post.
Toronto took advantage of its hosts’ failure to take advantage of its dominance, creating a multitude of dangerous chances in the final five minutes of the first half which culminated into the final play of the first period.
Giovinco was given a third free kick opportunity in promising position and he didn’t squander it, whipping in a perfectly weighted cross that was flicked in past Saunders by defender Damien Perquis to bring Toronto within a goal at the half.
It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the home side.
“If you look at the games today, we concede the goals at the wrong time, especially the first one,” Vieira said. “I think the goals we concede at halftime gave them the momentum and a bit more belief. I think if we go to the dressing room up 2-0, it would be a different game.”
City came out of the gate looking for a third goal to put itself at ease. The Blues created chances early, forcing Irwin into a number of saves, but just like the first 20 minutes, they were unable to take advantage.
And just like the first half, the Reds had the last laugh as Giovinco clinched a point for his side.
Toronto leaves the Big Apple with four points following their 2-0 win over the New York Red Bulls in their season opener.
“We found ourselves down 2-0, but we reorganized ourselves and the guys kept battling and competing and fought their way in one goal at a time,” said Toronto FC head coach Greg Vanney. “We’re pleased to leave New York with four points after two weekends.”
NYCFC also has four points after two games, but the feeling isn’t as sweet. Despite that, vieira believes this team has nowhere to go but up.
“As a team, we will get better. That’s what I said after our game at Chicago,” vieira said. “This team, with the way they work, they will get better and better and stronger and stronger … Everything wasn’t perfect against Chicago, everything is not perfect tonight and it will not be perfect against Orlando, but we will get better as a team.”
Follow Brian Fonseca on Twitter (@briannnnf) for live updates of NYCFC matches.
