Captain David Villa Helped His Team Take The Lead As NYCFC Defeated Orlando City SC 5-3
Soccer News: New York City FC took a big step in the right direction as the Club vies to qualify for the Major League Soccer playoffs in their inaugural season.
Captain David Villa scored twice, Javier Calle found the back of the net for the first time for the Club, and Tommy McNamara and Mix Diskerud helped seal all three points as New York City FC beat Orlando City SC 5-3 in front of 32,041 on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
New York City FC improve and move up to seventh place in the Eastern Conference, while fellow expansion side Orlando City SC fall to 6-9-6 (24 points) and dropped to eighth. Head coach Jason Kreis is pleased with the team’s performance as he looks to take the club to the playoffs.
“At the end of the day, we don’t want to be just a playoff contention team, we want to be a MLS Cup contention team,” Kreis said.
Villa, who was recently named to the 2015 MLS All-Star Gameday roster, put the Club ahead right before halftime after a back-and-forth first half were neither team could seize momentum.
Angelino served up a pinpoint ball from midfield over the top to Villa in the box. The former Spain international showed deft control with his right foot despite having Sean St. Ledger draped over him. Villa created space, squared up and fired home his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
The visitors got one back following the interval. Cyle Larin scored the first of his three goals on the day in the 50th minute to make it 1-1.
New York City FC needed just three minutes to regain the lead as Calle, who was making his first start since April 24, tapped in a teasing cross by McNamara from about 6 yards out to make it 2-1.
It was the Colombian’s first goal for the Club and in MLS.
Larin, the first overall pick in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft, made it 2-2 with a tap-in of his own. Darwin Ceren ran onto a through ball down the left flank and sent a low cross into the box that Larin nailed home in the 61st minute.
Midfielder Andrea Pirlo made his New York City FC debut to a raucous ovation, replacing Mehdi Ballouchy in the 56th minute. “It was very emotional for me when I got onto the pitch. The heat didn’t play a factor and of course since we won, it felt even better,” Pirlo said of his debut.
The Italian maestro was instrumental in setting up the Club’s third goal in the 67th minute, spinning around a defender near midfield and passing the ball forward to Kwadwo Poku. Poku drove to the box and outmuscled Serando Carrasco before passing the ball to his Villa to his left. The forward cut inside to beat Aurelien Collin and proceeded to fire it to the far post as goalie Tally Hall was left rooted to the ground.
Villa has 12 goals this season and has scored six in the last four matches.
It was a lead the Club wouldn’t relinquish.
New York City FC added to their tally in similar fashion, but it was McNamara who found the back of the net this time. Pirlo again made a move in the midfield and found Poku. The Ghanaian darted forward and slid the ball to his left. McNamara, who had a ton of space, ran into the box and smashed home a left-footed effort to make it 4-2.
Orlando City SC made things interesting as Larin scored in the 85th minute off a pass from Kaka, cutting the home side’s lead to 4-3.
New York City FC sealed all three points on a lovely counter in stoppage time.
Orlando City SC threw men forward striving for the equalizer, but New York City FC broke off with a speedy counter as Villa, Poku and Mix teamed up with the American, who just returned from the 2015 Gold Cup, firing it home from close range.
New York City FC return to action on August 1 against Montreal.
New York City FC 5, Orlando City SC 3
Scoring Summary:
45’ David Villa, NYC (Assisted by Angelino)
51’ Cyle Larin, ORL (Unassisted)
54’ Javier Calle, NYC (Assisted by Thomas McNamara and Andoni Iraola)
61’ Cyle Larin, ORL (Assisted by Carlos Rivas and Darwin Ceren)
67’ David Villa, NYC (Assisted by Kwadwo Poku)
71’ Thomas McNamara, NYC (Assisted by Kwadwo Poku)
85’ Cyle Larin, ORL (Assisted by Kaka)
90’+3’ Mix Diskerud, NYC (Assisted by Kwadwo Poku and David Villa)
Misconduct Summary:
20’ Mehdi Ballouchy, NYC (Yellow Card: Foul)
58’ Andrew Jacobson, NYC (Yellow Card: Foul)
81’ Carlos Rivas, ORL (Yellow Card: Foul)
88’ Andrea Pirlo, NYC (Yellow Card: Foul)
90’ Seb Hines, ORL (Yellow Card: Foul)
Lineups:
New York City FC: Josh Saunders, Angelino, Chris Wingert (Jefferson Mena, 14’), Shay Facey, Andoni Iraola, Andrew Jacobson, Mehdi Ballouchy (Andrea Pirlo, 57’), Javier Calle (Mix Diskerud, 68’), Kwadwo Poku, Thomas McNamara, David Villa
Orlando City SC: Tally Hall, Aurelien Collin, Corey Ashe, Sean St. Ledger, Seb Hines, Darwin Ceren, Eric Avila (Martin Paterson, 74’), Kaka, Servando Carrasco, Cyle Larin, Carlos Rivas (Pedro Ribeiro, 83’)
Watch Italian midfielder, Andrea Pirlo, discuss his NYCFC and MLS debut:
