Villa Can't Save the Day

Villa can't save the day

NYCFC comes up short

BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS- David Villa continued doing what he does best, but his team-leading 13th goal wasn’t enough as New York City FC dropped a 3-2 decision to Montreal in front of a sell-out crowd of 27,645 on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Tommy McNamara added a goal in the 85th minute as New York City FC fell to 6-10-6 (24 points), while the Impact improved to 8-8-3 (27 points).

Dominic Oduro and Ignacio Piatti gave the visitors a 2-0 lead in the first half, but New York City FC got within 2-1 on Villa’s converted penalty kick in the 68th. Villa back-heeled a lovely pass to an overlapping McNamara down the left side. The midfielder was tripped up in the box and the referee pointed to the spot.

Villa converted his fourth penalty of the season to make it a one-goal game.

New York City FC then introduced Frank Lampard, who was making his Club and Major League Soccer debut, coming on to a thunderous ovation in the 69th minute in place of Andrew Jacobson.

Montreal added to its advantage as Piatti added his own successful penalty kick in the 84th minute. New York City FC continued fighting and made it a one-goal game less than a minute later as McNamara rifled a left-footed attempt into the bottom far corner for his fourth goal of the campaign.

New York City FC couldn’t get in a rhythm early in the match and Oduro’s goal in the sixth minute didn’t make things any easier.

Laurent Ciman played a long ball over the top that the speedy forward latched onto. Oduro beat Jefferson Mena, who was making his first start for the Club, causing goalie Josh Saunders to come off his line. Oduro beat the goalkeeper as well and easily tapped it in for a 1-0 lead.

New York City FC fell victims of the long ball again in the 32nd, but it was Piatti who made them pay this time.

Andres Romero played the ball over the top and the Impact captain gained possession by outracing Jason Hernandez. Saunders (six saves) again came off his line, but Piatti chipped the ’keeper to make it 2-0.

That scored remained at the break.

Head coach Jason Kreis made a pair of substitutions in the 59th minute, bringing on Mix Diskerud and Kwadwo Poku in place of Ned Grabavoy and Javier Calle.

The duo got involved quickly, with a nice series of passes in the 63rd minute that set up a shot from distance by Andrea Pirlo, who was making his first start for New York City FC.

New York City FC return to action on Sunday, August 9 against the Red Bulls. Kickoff is 7 p.m. ET from Red Bull Arena (FOX Sports 1, WFAN, WADO).