David Villa netted his 16th goal of the season as New York City FC pulled out a 1-0 home win over the LA Galaxy to remain atop the Eastern Conference.
Villa's sixth-minute strike did not come without controversy, as the Spanish striker appeared to be in an offside position when Ronald Matarrita drilled a low shot on frame. Matarrita's effort took a looping deflection of LA 'keeper Clement Diop and Villa was on hand to put it home for the lone goal of the game.
NYCFC would continue to generate the better chances throughout the game, even as the narrowly lost the possession battle following their early goal. The home side did need a fingertip save from Josh Saunders to push away a Nigel de Jong bicycle kick, and were fortunate to see LA fail to connect on a couple second-half chances.
LA Galaxy Postgame Notes
LA Galaxy 0, New York City FC 1
Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016
2016 MLS Regular Season
Yankee Stadium – Bronx, New York
Scoring Summary:
NYCFC – David Villa 6’
Misconduct Summary:
LA – A.J. DeLaGarza (caution) 90’+3'
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Clement Diop; A.J. DeLaGarza, Daniel Steres, Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole; Nigel de Jong (Emmanuel Boateng 84’), Baggio Husidic (Sebastian Lletget 63’); Giovani dos Santos, Steven Gerrard, Gyasi Zardes (Mike Magee 79’); Robbie Keane ©
Substitutions not used: Dan Kennedy, Dave Romney, Jeff Larentowicz, Alan Gordon
Head Coach: Bruce Arena
SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 1; CORNERS: 5; OFFSIDES: 3; SAVES: 6
New York City FC: Josh Saunders; Frederic Brillant, Jefferson Mena, Ronald Matarrita (Steven Mendoza 85’), Jason Hernandez; Frank Lampard (Federico Bravo 83’), Andoni Iraola, Andrea Pirlo; David Villa ©, Thomas McNamara (RJ Allen 72’), Jack Harrison.
Substitutions not used: Tony Taylor, Eirik Johansen, Ethan White, Khiry Shelton.
Head Coach: Patrick Vieira
SHOTS: 18; SHOTS ON GOAL: 7; CORNERS: 5; OFFSIDES: 3; SAVES: 1
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants: Corey Rockwell and Eric Boria
4th Official: Jorge Gonzalez
Attendance: 35,509
Notes:
- The LA Galaxy (9-4-11, 38 points) fell to NYCFC 1-0 on the road at Yankee Stadium Saturday afternoon.
- With the result, the Galaxy remain in third-place in the MLS Western Conference standings.
- The match marked the first time the Galaxy have ever played at Yankee Stadium and the second time the Galaxy have faced NYCFC.
- Against NYCFC, LA are now 1-1-0 with five goals scored and two goals allowed.
- The Galaxy are now 3-3-6 when conceding the first goal this year and 1-1-0 when trailing at halftime.
- With the loss, the Galaxy snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak in MLS competition.
- In their last 10 matches in MLS, the Galaxy are now 6-1-3.
- The Galaxy’s +14 goal differential this year is the best in MLS and their 24 goals allowed are second-fewest in MLS.
- The Galaxy have allowed just seven goals in their last 10 MLS matches.
- his year on the road, the Galaxy have gone 3-4-5 while scoring 14 goals and allowing 13.
- LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena’s lineup featured two changes from the team’s last MLS match against Colorado Rapids: Clement Diop and Robbie Keane started in place of Brian Rowe and Emmanuel Boateng.
- LA Galaxy goalkeeper Clement Diop earned his first-ever MLS start for the Galaxy. He had previously made three appearances for LA in the 2016 U.S. Open Cup.
- This year in USL for LA Galaxy II, Diop has made 15 appearances, with just 17 goals allowed and 35 saves.
- With a 199-119-84 record all-time, LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena remains one game away from 200 MLS wins, which would make him only the second coach to reach that milestone.
- During the month of August, the Galaxy are now 49-39-13 all time.
- In their next match, the Galaxy will travel for a match against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday, Aug. 23 live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes.
