NYCFC Tie In 2016 Home Opener

(Photo by Rob Samuels – Double G Media)

With over 30,000 fans pouring into Yankee Stadium, NYCFC made their home debut versus Toronto FC. The crowd was electric throughout the game, as NYC played to get another W in the win column to start off the season.

Toronto had the first real chance in the 21st minute as reigning MLS MVP Sebastian Giovinco lined up to take a free kick, but Saunders easily sought it out to keep the match even.

In the 23rd minute Tommy McNamara was fouled in the box and was called for a penalty. David Villa stepped up and sent the crowd into a roar, scoring his first goal of the season. It is also the second time that Villa has scored in NYCFC’s first home game, which includes his monumental first goal last season versus New England.

Five minutes after, Villa found the net again for his second goal of the season, after a free kick that Andrea Pirlo sent into the box bounced around and finally found Villa who put it in the back of the net.

Toronto FC would get on the board at the end of the half. Giovinco sent a free kick towards the net and found the foot of Damien Perquis who knocked it into the net to make the score 2-1 at the end of the half. This did not please the home crowd at all, as they were hoping to go into halftime with a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Toronto started the second half more aggressively which resulted in Federico Bravo picking up a yellow card in the 52nd minute.

NYCFC had several chances as well, including a Frederic Brillant header that was denied on the doorstop and a Villa shot which was thwarted.

Steven Mendoza also made his NYCFC debut, coming on for Tony Taylor in the 67th minute.

Giovinco broke free in the 76th minute and found the back of the net, leveling the match at 2 in the 77th minute. No way it would be a game without the reigning MVP being a part of it.

Villa sent a cross in the 84th minute that just missed Mikey Lopez, which would have given NYCFC the lead, but instead the final whistle blew and the match ended in a draw.

After the game, Tony Taylor commented, ““Well, unfortunately we didn’t get the three points, which is a little bit frustrating. I still think that there’s a lot of stuff for us to build on and that we improved from our first game. We can definitely still build off of this.” There’s still a lot of season left to go, but what we can see so far is that this team has no problem putting the ball in the net, and hopefully this will help them throughout the season.