New York City Football Club gave fan something to cheer about on Sunday against LA Galaxy with a strong showing and a dominant first half of play. The team has started the season with two consecutive wins for the first time in club history and are only looking to improve on their streak. Anton Tinnerholm and David Villa both netted goals off of fine build up play and Patrick Vieira’s men showed they are a team no one in Major League Soccer is going to want to play against this year.
The team improved to their record and started a small unbeaten streak in the two to one victory over The Galaxy. NYCFC looked a bit tight at first playing at Yankee Stadium for the first time this year but the cobwebs quickly wore off as the team dominated possession with the ball 82 percent of the time in the first half. Tinnerholm drew first blood with a rocket of a shot off the defection of a cross into the box by Villa. Tinnerholm showed today exactly why Vieira and the team were excited to pick him up in the off season. His shot was on the volley with pace and rocketed off the crossbar into the goal. The whole play was set up by a fine pass from Jesus Medina into Villa. The build up of the goal was almost as fun as the goal itself.
Villa struck next with another fine build up play in the thirty third minute and although it was Villa who slotted the ball home, Medina was responsible for the build up leading to it. Villa spent his hundredth game in Major League Soccer wreaking havoc on LA’s back line and the goal was a fine reward for his efforts. Villa was awarded man on the match honors but it was Medina who showed off his passing, runs, and speed in the first half in the build up to both goals. after a lackluster pre-season NYCFC’s young DP is off to a stellar campaign.
Vieira was enthusiastic after the match about the young star, “I think he played a really good game today. I love the way that he works for the team and how he creates space for the players and he’s got the quality to make the assist or to make the pass before the assist – he understands the game really well….But what I love about him as well, was he wasn’t happy to come off. And when players are not happy to come off, that means they enjoyed being on the field and that’s really good.”
The game was not without worry. In the second half NYCFC seemed to fade a bit and got caught back defending their net as LA pressed for a goal. They were rewarded in the sixty first minute when Jonathan dos Santos miraculously slipped the ball past Sean Johnson into the net. After Ashley Cole was sent off the pitch with a red card towards the end of the game La Lacked the men to mount another comeback.
Sebastien Ibeagha got his first MLS start for the suspended Maxime Chanot and performed well under pressure. He is not the passer or the stopper that Chanot is but proved he could step in and compete when needed. Ebenezer Ofori also saw his first minutes in MLS as he game on for Medina. He did not create like Medina but is a more solid defensive presence on the field. All of the substitutions proved NYCFC is deeper than they have ever been this year. Looking at the match roster it is more telling to see who did not make the eighteen than who did. The team has quality from top to bottom with the luxury of leaving players like Jonathan Lewis in the stands. It is going to be a real fight for minutes this year for all the players.
Vieira spoke after the game about just how deep they are this year when he was asked if it was a problem to get all the players minutes. “No, not difficult at all. I think we have a clear idea of how we want to play the game. Of course having more quality players on the bench makes it more easy for me to change, to rotate them. Today, Eben [Ofori], Ismael [Tajouri] and [Matarrita] came on because we needed fresh legs, we needed help and it’s going to be like that through the season. It will be really easy for me to change my starting 11 because of the quality of players I have on the team.”
If NYCFC can keep up this pace and not loose their legs like that have done down the stretch in the past two seasons this could be a very special year for the club. Next up is another home match against Orlando on Saturday and NYCFC will look to create a pattern of wins this year and solidify their place in the top of the East.
