NYCFC captain David Villa celebrates his first goal of the season in an MLS game between NYCFC and DC United at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., USA on Mar. 12, 2017. Photo: Ashley Marshall
Three weeks, four games and as many points later, New York City FC is back in the Bronx for a while.
After an extended road trip, the Boys in Blue begin a month long stretch in which they remain within the NYC area, their only two trips in the stretch from now until the first week of July coming in the form of a short ride across the George Washington Bridge to Harrison to take on rivals New York Red Bulls in both Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and Major League Soccer action.
The first opponent on the docket is regional rivals New England Revolution, themselves completing a road trip to the NYC metro area with a meeting at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night at 7:30. Still winless away from home in seven matches across the first two months of the season, the Revolution suffered their fifth loss on the road Saturday against the Red Bulls, a 2-1 game in which the visitors opened the scoring early before succumbing to a strong comeback from the home side.
“When you look at the game they lost against the Red Bulls, they played quite really well and I believe they should at least get the points from that game,” said NYCFC manager Patrick Vieira in a video preview interview posted on the club’s website. “They look really strong, so it’s going to be another tough game for us at home.”
NYCFC hopes to continue that less-than-stellar streak for its visitors, but Patrick Vieira will have to do it without a pair of key players.
The second-year manager said he plans on rotating players out of the starting eleven against the Revolution, a game in the middle of a three-game stretch in seven days. Two of those changes have been forced upon him, with midfielder Alexander Ring (accumulation of yellow cards) and right-back R.J. Allen (excessive contact in kicking Atlanta United’s Greg Garza) both suspended for Wednesday’s match.
Vieira is likely to swap out one or two other regular starters to rest them ahead of a match against the Philadelphia Union at home on Saturday, which may hinder some of the goals he set for his squad coming into Wednesday’s match.
“I think we just need to be more consistent and more concentrated from the start until the end,” he said. “I think during the 90 minutes, we have too much up and down and mistakes we make are costing us a lot.”
Amid the chaos, Vieira does have one source of continuity and consistency — his striker. David Villa has been as good as it gets in MLS since he became NYCFC’s first signing in 2014, its best player without fail through the trials and tribulations of the first two seasons.
The Spanish striker can see his work be validated with yet another milestone on Wednesday — a goal puts him at 50 for his career in the United States, the first player in franchise history to do so.
Currently third in the MLS Golden Boot race behind Chicago’s Nemanja Nikolic and Houston’s Erick Torres and tied with Philadelphia’s CJ Sapong and Minnesota’s Christian Rodriguez, Villa has eight goals in 12 matches on the season. He’s either scored or provided one of two assists in all but two of the eight matches NYCFC has taken points from this year.
If Villa gets to the half-century mark against the Revolution, the Boys in Blue will be well on their way to starting off their month-long homestand on the right foot.
Follow Brian Fonseca on Twitter @briannnnf for updates. Email him at brianfilipefonseca@gmail.com with questions, concerns, tips or story ideas.
