New York City to a 3-2 win over D.C. United
New York City to a 3-2 win over D.C. United Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.
On the night Frank Lampard was honored for 300 goals for club and country, the veteran midfielder struck for a brace, including the winner deep into second-half stoppage time to lift New York City to a 3-2 win over D.C. United Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.
NYCFC (12-8-8) moved into first place in the Eastern Conference with 44 points, one in front of idle Toronto FC. D.C. United (7-9-11) saw its six-match unbeaten streak snapped. Lampard took a feed from Khiry Shelton and took a touch around a sliding Jalen Robinson before finishing with his left for his sixth goal in the last six games.
Lloyd Sam put the visitors in front with his first goal in a D.C. United uniform in the 33rd minute, taking a pass from Patrick Nyarko and putting the ball inside the far post from 16 yards out on his second touch. David Villa capitalized on a defensive miscue to score the 79th minute equalizer. The NYCFC captain intercepted a back pass from Luke Mishu, ran in alone and slotted clinically past D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid for his league-leading 17th goal of the season.
Lampard then put NYCFC in front, 2-1, five minutes from full time, pouncing on a ball tackled off Villa’s foot and scoring from 10 yards out. However, Lamar Neagle leveled for the visitors in the first minute of stoppage time, latching onto a Julian Buescher corner and heading in from just outside the six-yard box. NYCFC would not be denied, though, and Lampard came through with the late heroics for a dramatic victory.
New York City FC Head Coach Patrick Vieira “I think the fans and the people in front of the TV really enjoyed the game. It wasn’t a pretty game. I don’t think we played our best football, but sometimes I think it’s important to win when you don’t play well. I think tonight we showed a lot of character, a lot of desire, a lot of passion, and we kept believing until the end. And of course it takes something special to score in a crucial period of the game, and tonight it was Frank Lampard, and I’m really pleased. I’m really pleased for him because he went through a difficult period early in the season where he didn’t play and the way that he responded was fantastic. I think he really showed how good he is, and to see him score goals, that’s something that we’re used to, but to see him keep scoring goals at this level, I think is terrific.” On Khiry Shelton’s contribution tonight…
“He was really important, and he did what I was expecting him to do. I was really pleased, and the way he played in the last 15 minutes, that’s the way that he trained in the last 10-15 days. I think he began a little bit more mature. I think him not playing too much football in the last few weeks made him work even harder in training.”
On his change in tactics in the second half and how the younger players welcomed an intense
atmosphere…
“I think the idea is to bring Federico (Bravo) and (Stiven) Mendoza to bring a little bit more intensity because I felt in the first half, we were a little too passive and we wanted to put them in a little bit more pressure. When you don’t play well, you need the crowd to be behind and to lift you and tonight they were fantastic. I think the crowd was one of the best thus far. They’ve always been behind to give their support and we really needed them to win this game, so today’s a really good night for the football club because we showed our togetherness and the relationship that we have with the players, the fans – it was a really good night for us.”
New York City FC M Frank Lampard
On what the comeback victory means for the team…
“Good teams and big teams come back from bad moments and Orlando wasn’t great for us one the weekend. We weren’t our best then and then in the first half again today. I think it was a real important moment for us to show our spirit, to change the game with desire.
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