“David Villa Day” Ceremony Assets
NYCFC Captain David Villa was recognized for his recent surpassing of 400 career goals for club and country with a pregame ceremony prior to kickoff with photo opportunities and special surprises. Along with NYCFC President Jon Patricof, representatives from the City of New York gave David a Proclamation from the City marking May 19th, 2018 as “David Villa Day” in New York City.
The representatives on hand were: Executive Director at The Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC, Darren Bloch; Councilman, Francisco Moya; and the Bronx Borough Parks Commissioner, Iris Rodriquez-Rosa.
Others who took part in the ceremony:
- NYCFC Sporting Director – Claudio Reyna
- City Football Group CEO – Ferran Soriano
- NYCFC Vice Chairman – Marty Edelman
MATCH RECAP OF 4-0 Win:
NYCFC rarely go three games without victory but that’s a streak they were aiming to avoid back home at Yankee Stadium following two tough games on the road.
The Colorado Rapids provided the opposition in a game which was preceded by a special ceremony for El Guaje to mark the milestone strike he netted last time he was in the building three weeks prior.
Head Coach Patrick Vieira made three changes to the side which started the 2-2 tie at LAFC, bringing Ronald Matarrita, Ebenezer Ofori and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi into a 3-4-3 formation.
City roared out from the first whistle and were only denied an early go-ahead goal by Tim Howard who made a fine sprawling save to deny the in-form Ismael Tajouri-Shradi who had cut inside from the right flank.
Chances continued to pour in on Howard’s goal but there was nothing the long-time USMNT goalkeeper could do about Villa’s opener on 22’, a cool sidefooted finish from a Maxi Moralez slide rule pass.
That was the way it stayed until the break on a first half which NYCFC enjoyed near-total domination but the team really put their foot to the accelerator pedal in the second 45’, doubling the lead just five minutes into the second half.
Jo Inge Berget created the chance with a sublime touch and shot which came back off Howard and was followed up on by Matarrita who looped his header over the goalkeeper.
Five minutes later, Moralez slammed in his fifth goal of the year from the edge of the area to make it 3-0, before Villa rounded off the scoring with his second of the day: a finish just as cool as his first.
That kept City perfect through five games at home this season and marked David Villa Day in memorable style.
The 21,000 fans who braved the rain in the Bronx will certainly never forget that they were here to see it.
NOTES
· David Villa scored his sixth and seventh goals of the 2018 season
· They were the 403rd and 404th goals of his career
· Ronald Matarrita scored his first goal of the season
· Maxi Moralez netted his fifth of the campaign
· NYCFC are now 5-0-0 at Yankee Stadium in 2018
NYCFC Head Coach Patrick Vieira:
On Matarrita scoring a goal leading up to the World Cup
“I really pleased for both of them, Rodney and Mata, for them to be in the squad going to the World Cup. As a football club we are really proud to have those two players to be a part of the World Cup. Mata has been really unlucky with injuries and with the performance of Ben but he has been positive and keeps working hard, he was a bit tired at the end but it was good that he managed to play the 90 minutes. Now he has to be thinking about the national team and how he can go there and give his best and try to do well.”
On David Villa continuing to play at a high level…
“I think you have to give credit to the players around him. I think he performed well, he didn’t play at his best today but still scored two goals because of the players around work hard and work well. I think we have a system that allows him to express himself, we have players around who work hard to try to help him to express himself and of course when you put it all together I think that that allows him to show his talent. Even when he will be 45 and you put him on front of goal he will continue to keep scoring goals because of the quality, he is a goal scorer. I think what is really important is to create a system and the system that we have fits his talents really well and we have players around him that don’t get much credit, but they are working really hard to allow him and the players around to express their talent. I think all the credit goes to the team and of course to him because you have to need to finish those chances, but I’m not surprised. He’s been doing it since he was fifteen years old so he knows how to score goals, he’s so calm in front of the goal he’s so composed and he knows where the goal is.”