On Sunday, the Colorado Rapids took a trip to the Bronx to take on New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. The visitors would be looking to pick up their first point in five matches while NYCFC would look to celebrate "David Villa Day" in winning fashion despite an awkwardly new lineup.
First Half
On April 29th, David Villa scored his 400th career professional goal and awarded him with a nice ceremony prior to kickoff. Following that, the game kicked off and it took NYCFC less than 30 seconds to get their first big chance. A turnover around the top of the box allowed Jo Inge Berget to play Ismael Tajouri-Shradi in on goal. For the first time in MLS, the forward's shot was saved and Tajouri-Shradi failed to grab his sixth goal of the season.
NYCFC continued to dominate the opening 10 minutes with both David Villa and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi successfully running at defenders and getting shots away. One of these opportunities resulted in a corner kick which saw Berget's header glance just wide.
As you'd expect, David Villa found the back of the net on his day. Tim Howard's pass was intercepted by Yangel Herrera. Maxi Moralez picked the ball up, played in into the feet of David Villa and the Spaniard made no mistake, putting his side in front in the 22nd minute and grabbing his 403rd career goal.
The final quarter of an hour of the opening 45 didn't generate much excitement and the hosts went into the break with a 1-0 lead courtesy of David Villa.
Second Half
NYCFC doubled the lead in the 49th minute through Ronald Matarrita. As they do, NYCFC began passing from the back with Alexander Callens' pass being dummied by David Villa which was the start of some intricate passing between the captain and Jo Inge Berget. The Norweigian's shot was saved but a trailing Ronald Matarrita head the ball home to double the hosts lead.
Not long later, Maxi Moralez made it 3-0. Jo Inge Berget drove forward before laying the ball off to David Villa. The captain cut in from the left before being fouled but the ball rolled kindly to Moralez who put it onto his left foot and put it past Tim Howard.
From bad to worse for the Rapids as David Villa wasn't satisfied with just a goal and an assist on his day as he doubled his tally for the day following great buildup from Maxi Moralez and a recently introduced Rodney Wallace.
NYCFC made the bleeding stop at just the four goals as NYCFC gave David Villa something to celebrate on his day. A pair of goals, an assist and a key player in the remaining goal proved why the city of New York has given Spain's all-time leading goalscorer his own day.
What's Next?
Following the match against the Rapids, NYCFC will travel down south to take on the Houston Dynamo. Then, they'll host three of the Eastern Conference's top teams. Fellow 2015 MLS expansion side, Orlando City SC will take a trip before Atlanta United comes to town. After that, they'll close out the homestand with a game vs 2016 MLS Cup champions, Toronto FC.
Like NYCFC, the Rapids have quite a few home games coming up but will also travel to Houston. They'll start by hosting two Cascadia clubs in the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps before their trip down south. Then, they'll return home to host the Chicago Fire and Minnesota United.