Villa Hat Trick trumps BWP Brace

Once again this New York City Derby has been an amazing time to watch and to see how these two fan bases get together and pour on the energy for a full ninety minutes, but for the first time in this heated rivalry the blue side has gone back to back wins edging the Red Bulls with a three goals to two victory.

Villa began his hat trick with some luck as the Red Bulls tried to attack in the 28th minute, but the ball was blocked by Alexander Ring and somehow he found a way to get it to Villa who was onside and all alone.

Luis Robles tried to stand his ground, but Villa made a cut to his left and caught Robles flat footed. Converted his goal with ease and made it one nil. But the Red Bulls knew they had to get themselves level before the half time whistle and did so.

A couple of quick toe poke passes from Sacha Kljestan to Sean Davis and then Bradley Wright-Phillips who hasn’t tallied against the blue side finally scored his ninth career goal against them as he went to the back post to beat Sean Johnson in the 41st minute.

BWP found a second inside the second half and there was some luck for Tyler Adams who found the magic to keep the ball away from two to three defenders, then a magical cross that somehow found Wright-Phillips and all he did was slot it home to the front post and a lead in the 64th minute.

But once again the best player for NYCFC was the former Barcelona, Valencia striker David Villa as he willed his team to victory as he controlled the possession all by himself and was able to power home the shot that was stopped by Robles, but sadly hit the inside of the far post and we were knotted at two in the 72nd minute.

But the hat trick came for Villa as he was fouled inside the Red Bulls area by Sal Zizzo. It looked like a high boot to the face and Baldomero Toledo blows his whistle and points at the spot. Villa converted his third in the 75th minute and the blue side has their first back to back victories over the red side.

Daniel Royer sadly was subbed out early in this one as he was tracking a ball early in the first half, when he challenged for it the NYC attacker slipped and fell down on top of Royer’s right knee and he was in extreme pain.

But thankfully it sounds like it wasn’t too sever as Marsch informed the media of Royer’s condition after the match.

“He already had an x-ray which has come out negative so that is a good sign but it looks like he has a hyper extension and it looks like it’s not too sever, but it’s too early to say what it is right now.” said Jesse Marsch.

How does Marsch feel about this match with all the excitement that was buzzing in the tri-state area? “I mean our guys put a lot into it, they fought hard. they gave us back and forth of a high level game in terms of competitiveness, in terms of energy in the stadium.” said Marsch, “We have a young group, a young backline and in many ways it was good for them to have that, but the big plays we came up on the short end of the stick.

I told the team this will not sour us we will move this thing in the right direction and we are going to use this game to get stronger and better but overall you need to give first David Villa credit, what a great player and their team showed great fight.”

Sadly for the Red Bulls they went down to ten men as Sal Zizzo got two yellows into red as he was booked for the penalty and then on a play inside the final minute of regulation Zizzo played the ball and never saw his man who came late was tackled down.

Toledo showed him his second yellow and then the red to march him off the pitch. On replay it was a foul without a doubt, but Zizzo was concentrating on playing the ball with no intent to injury that attacker, but sadly will be suspended for the home match against Orlando City.

So the five game winning streak is gone, but still the Red Bulls still have a Semi-Final match in the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup as they will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio in between two league games at home and on the road.