New York City FC Defeat Portland Timbers 2-1 on the Road
New York City FC win on the road versus the Portland Timbers led by David Villa and Thomas McNamara. Fanendo Adi tallied his eighth goal of the season to bring him level with Villa as well as Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco for most goals in the season during the Sunday afternoon match at Providence Park.
Soccer News: New York City FC was able to edge the Portland Timbers 2-1 over the weekend in front of a sold-out crowd of 21,144 fans at Providence Park.
During the opening minutes of the match Portland midfielder Lucas Melano sent in a cross as NYCFC goalkeeper Josh Saunders cleared the ball into the path of Diego Valeri just outside the six-yard box. Valeri fired a shot at goal but Frederic Brilliant slid in to deflect the ball wide of the target.
New York City FC forward David Villa opened up the scoring in the 12th minute to tally his eighth goal of the season, which ties him with Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco for most goals in the MLS. RJ Allen dispossessed Darlington Nagbe to send in a stellar through ball to Villa, who took a touch before finishing the ball from 12 yards out.
Following the opening goal from Villa, the Timbers created numerous chances in the first half, with Nat Borchers heading a corner kick from Diego Valeria just over the crossbar.
Portland continued to create chances in the second half of play with Nagbe’s shot in the 47th minute forcing another save from Saunders.
Portland equalized 10 minutes into the second half off a strong run from recently named MLS Player of the Month, Fanendo Adi. Adi also brings his scoring record to eight goals on the season and is now tied with Villa and Giovinco.
New York City FC was able to regain the lead in the 65th minute off a Thomas McNamara shot into the top corner from just outside the box. Khiry Shelton sent in a cross from the corner flag to Andrea Pirlo, who then settled the ball and laid if off for McNamara.
Portland dominated possession as well as chances created but were unable to edge the New York club led by Pirlo and Villa.
New York tallied 12 shots with a total of six on target in comparison to Portland’s 24 total shots with eight on target. Saunders recorded seven saves on the night against a Portland side that also dominated possession 61% to 39% as well as corner kicks 10 to 2.
Head coach of NYCFC, Patrick Vieira stated after the game,
“We have to accept that other teams will dominate possession, but it’s about how can we answer that lack of possession. They had the possession, but from Josh Saunders to David, everybody worked tremendously hard and we managed to take three points. That was a really, really good team performance without the ball.”
In the upcoming week, The Timbers host Cascadia-rival Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Sunday, May 22nd at 1:30 p.m. while New York City remain on the road versus Toronto FC on Wednesday.
Photo Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
