Aug 20, 2017; New York, NY, USA; New York City FC forward Jonathan Lewis (17) celebrates his stoppage time goal against the New England Revolution during the second half at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The past two games New York City Football Club has developed a new “punch” and they hope to serve some more of it this Friday and sweep the Red Bulls for the first time in club history. The recipe has been simple. Just take a familiar splash of David Villa brilliance and sprinkle in a few dashes of rookie footwork and you have a 2 goal concoction that sent both the Galaxy and The Revolution reeling.
The rookie in question of course iS Jonathan Lewis who has started to carve out a place for himself as a super sub or even a starter. Against the Galaxy Lewis struck first with an exceptional villa-esque bit of skill, taking the ball from midfield, faking out Jermaine Jones and chipping the keeper. Again last Sunday, Lewis showed his quality with the go ahead goal in the final minute of stoppage time accepting a hard cross from Ben Sweat with a nice first touch to clear the defender for an open shot on goal.
NYCFC’s past four goals have been scored by either Lewis or Villa giving the fans a nice bit of something old and something new to cheer for. Even Patrick Vieira was impressed with the energy Lewis brought to the pitch “We tried to create chances. We tried to play forward, and we can do it, and in the end we scored the goal and our strength came from the bench players who bring something to the team. When Jonathan (Lewis) came on, he created more space for David (Villa). Khiry (Shelton) came on and brought his energy – same as Jonathan. We are where we are because we are a team and players from the bench bring something to the team, and this is a strength.”
Lewis does give NYCFC a new energy and dynamic. His speed and technical skill make him a very hard match up for any defender. In just a handful of games Lewis has amassed two goals and one assist and this only looks to be the beginning.
David Villa heaped praise on the youngster after Sunday’s match. “He is a guy who is not afraid and that’s very important because sometimes I see guys with a lot of qualities, a lot of power but they go to the pitch and are afraid. It is normal, I was afraid when I was 18 years old and they put me in front of 20,000 people so it’s normal in this situation but he doesn’t have fear. He plays the same way he trains so that’s a good point for us, he is a great player but he needs to play games because he has only played 5 or 6 games as a professional but the most important is that he is not afraid.”
Looking ahead to the club’s match up against Red Bulls New York will have to not be afraid of anything and bring the game to the cross river rivals. Last derby Villa had his first hat trick and proved why he is the face of the franchise. As a young striker, Lewis can only get better training with a player of Villa’s caliber, and, after what we have seen from the youngster the past few games, that is a wonderful thing for both NYCFC and the United States Men’s National Team.
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