Villa goal lead NYCFC win over L.A
Yankee Stadium on Saturday’s afternoon match with 27.000 guests, the NYCFC make effort led the first-place MLS side to a 1-0 victory over the equally heady international names of the Los Angeles Galaxy.
MLS meeting of former English national team midfielders and longtime Premier League rivals Frank Lampard of NYC and Steven Gerrard of LA, it was another veteran international, Spanish striker David Villa, who netted the lone goal of the match in just few minutes of the first half.
“It’s normal, we’re used to it. It was Lampard versus Gerrard in the England team, it was Chelsea-Liverpool for many a year. I love it,” Lampard, the former Chelsea star who reached 300 career goals for club and country last weekend, said of facing Gerrard in the days leading up to the match. “I think we’re more relaxed about it and we can enjoy it more these days.”
Villa’s MLS-leading 16th score of the season came early on, in the sixth minute, on an easy tap-in from the goal mouth after Galaxy keeper Clement Diop had gotten a piece of defender Ronald Matarrita’s shot from the left side of the box.
Goalkeeper Josh Saunders notched his seventh shutout of the season as second-year NYCFC improved to 7-2-2 since June 18, giving them an Eastern Conference-best 41 points (11-7-8 overall).
NYCFC was without coach, due suspended Patrick Vieira and defender Maxime Chanot, who were issued red cards following the conclusion of last Saturday’s draw in Columbus. However,
“It was a really important win, and now we want to keep going,” Italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo said through a translator when asked if NYCFC can compete for the MLS title. “We started this season to try to get to the goal of MLS Cup. It’s great to be first in the standings…My whole career I’ve played to win, so I’m here for this reason.”
Lampard, 38, missed last season’s match in Los Angeles due to one of the multiple injuries that plagued him for much of his first year-plus in North America. But the former Chelsea star entered with nine goals in his previous 10 appearances for NYCFC, while Gerrard came in tied for the most assists in MLS this season with 11.
Lampard, who came off in the 83rd minute, and Gerrard hadn’t faced each other since April of 2014, a 2-0 Chelsea decision over Liverpool.
“It was quite intense, Liverpool against Chelsea, we played each other so often. It wasn’t just me and Steven, obviously, but people were always billing that as a midfield battle. I enjoy it,” Lampard said earlier this week. “I get on very well with Stevie, he’s doing very well over there and he’s had a fantastic career, he’s a legend of the game…Of course, when we step out, we want to beat each other.”
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