New York City FC players celebrate David Villa’s second goal of the night that ended in a 2-0 victory over the home-team, Houston Dynamo. Victor Araiza/Prost Amerika
After securing their first-ever spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs last week, New York City FC traveled to Houston looking to get one step closer to clinching a top seed in the Eastern Conference.
David Villa’s double, his sixth of the season, made it mission accomplished in NYCFC’s 2-0 road win over the Houston Dynamo.
The Spaniard’s 20th and 21st goals of the season momentarily give City the top spot in the East and jumps Villa over New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips in the MLS Golden Boot race.
What’s Next?
For the Houston Dynamo, who could be officially eliminated from the MLS playoff race by the end of the weekend, will host the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, October 8 (7:30 p.m.) to finish a three-game home-stand.
New York City FC not be in MLS-action next weekend, instead they will travel to Aguascalientes, Mexico where they will play a friendly against Liga MX side Necaxa on Friday, October 7 (9:30 p.m. EST/YES). NYCFC will play its final road game of the regular season against D.C. United on Oct. 16.
Box Score
Houston Dynamo (7-12-11; 32 points) vs. New York City FC (14-9-9; 51 points)
MLS Regular Season
September 30, 2016 – BBVA Compass Stadium – Houston, Texas
Attendance: 19,616
Scoring Summary:
NYC: David Villa 20 (Andrea Pirlo 11, Jack Harrison 6) 52
NYC: David Villa 21 (Tony Taylor 1, Federico Bravo 1) 90+1
TEAM 1 2 F
New York City FC 0 2 2
Houston Dynamo 0 0 0
Houston Dynamo: Joe Willis; Sheanon Williams, Raúl Rodriguez, Jalil Anibaba, DaMarcus Beasley ©; Collen Warner, Ricardo Clark (Cristián Maidana 63); Andrew Wenger (Will Bruin 74), Boniek García, Alex Lima; Mauro Manotas (Jose Escalante 81)
Unused Substitutes: Calle Brown, Eric Alexander, Keyner Brown, David Horst
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Ricardo Clark, Alex, Will Bruin and Collen Warner tied with 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 0; FOULS: 10 (Raúl Rodriguez 3); OFFSIDES: 2 (Alex and Boniek García tied with 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Cristián Maidana 3); SAVES: 3
New York City FC: Josh Saunders; RJ Allen (Jason Hernandez 89), Frederic Brillant, Jefferson Mena, Ronald Matarrita; Thomas McNamara, Andoni Iraola, Andrea Pirlo; Khiry Shelton (Federico Bravo 77), David Villa ©, Jack Harrison (Tony Taylor 80)
Unused Substitutes: Eirik Johnson, Ethan White, Mikey Lopez, Mehdi Ballouchy
TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (David Villa 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (David Villa 3); FOULS: 17 (RJ Allen and David Villa tied with 4); OFFSIDES: 3 (David Villa); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Andrea Pirlo 2); SAVES: 0
Misconduct Summary:
HOU: Raúl Rodriguez (caution) 57
NYC: Thomas McNamara (caution) 62
Referee: Robert Sibiga
Assistant Referees: Kevin Klinger, Logan Brown
Fourth Official: Ismail Elfath
Victor Araiza is a beat writer covering the Houston Dynamo for Prost Amerika.
Follow @victoraraiza Tweet to @victoraraiza
NYCFC
