BRONX | On Wednesday afternoon, New York City FC fans celebrated as midfielder Mix Diskerud scored for the United States National Team in a win over Germany.
Three days later, those same fans were cheering again as the midfielder found the back of the net for the second time in a week, helping New York City FC to a 3-1 victory over the Montreal Impact in front of 24,042 on a beautiful Saturday evening at Yankee Stadium.
"It always helps to win games and have fun playing soccer and that’s definitely something I was a part of the past two weeks," Diskerud said. "When I came back here I saw a group of guys who were happy and I was happy to see them. It’s good to be home and win games with this team."
David Villa and Kwadwo Poku also scored for the Club as New York City FC improve to 3-7-5 (14 points) following consecutive victories, while the Impact fall to 4-5-2 (14 points).
“As I’ve said time and time again, this group has continued to endure, continued to work hard, continued to stay together," head coach Jason Kreis said. "I’m really pleased that tonight we saw a little bit of a culmination of that. Still not perfect, for sure. There was 20 minutes in the second half I thought we really got cold, but at the end of the night to get our second win in a row I think was really, really important for this group."
Diskerud, who played 70 minutes in the United States’ 2-1 win over the defending World Cup champions in Cologne on Wednesday and 34 minutes in a 4-3 comeback win over the Netherlands on June 5, came on as a substitute in the 65th minute for Mehdi Ballouchy.
Poku put pressure on the Montreal defense and forced a turnover. The midfielder then played the ball diagonally across to a streaking Diskerud, who fired it past Impact goalie Evan Bush for a two-goal advantage in the 76th minute.
"He, like every other player it’s a confidence thing and the mental side of things is such a huge part of professional sports," Kreis said. "You saw Mix gain some confidence through his two performances with the national team and he brings that back with us. He took one chance and scored it."
Poku, who made his first-career start in a 2-1 win at Philadelphia on June 6, recorded an assist in his second straight match. He scored his first-career goal in stoppage time. Villa latched onto a ball over the top and crossed it from the left side. Patrice Bernier misplayed it and it landed at Poku’s feet before he fired it home in the 90th minute.
New York City FC, which extended their unbeaten run to three matches, took a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute thanks to Villa.
Tommy McNamara, who was making his second straight start in midfield, crossed the ball from the left side into the box to Patrick Mullins. The forward one-touched it back to Ballouchy, who lasered a pass across the box to Villa, who slotted it home for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
New York City FC held a 1-0 advantage at halftime.
"It was great," Villa said. "I’m very happy for the team and my teammates. Today on the pitch the fans saw the hard work of the team. I’m happy for three more points."
The Club led in possession (64.3%), total shots (8-4), corner kicks (6-2) and total passes (228-129) after the first half.
Montreal, who came into the match winners in four of the last five, cut the lead to 2-1 in the 88th minute on a header by defender Wandrille Lefevre, but it proved consolation as Poku put the match to rest two minutes later.
New York City FC return to action on Wednesday evening against the New York Cosmos in the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. EDT from Hofstra University’s Shuart Stadium.
"We’ll enjoy this one tonight, get back at it and review tomorrow and look ahead to the Cosmos on Wednesday," defender RJ Allen said.
New York City FC 3, Montreal Impact 1
Saturday June 13, 2015: 7:00 p.m. EDT
MLS Regular Season
Yankee Stadium
Scoring Summary:
31’ David Villa, NYC
76’ Mix Diskerud, NYC
88’ Wandrille Lefevre, MTL
90’ Kwadwo Poku, NYC
Misconduct Summary:
52’ RJ Allen, NYC (Yellow Card)
Lineups:
New York City FC:.Josh Saunders, Chris Wingert (Jeb Brovsky, 78’), Jason Hernandez, Shay Facey, RJ Allen, Andrew Jacobson, Ned Grabavoy, Thomas McNamara, Mehdi Ballouchy (Mix Diskerud, 65’), David Villa, Patrick Mullins (Kwadwo Poku, 75’)
Unused substitutes: Ryan Maera, Pablo Alvarez, Matthew Dunn, Sebastian Velasquez
TOTAL SHOTS: 17; SHOTS ON GOAL: 9; FOULS: 16; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 2.
Montreal Impact
:
Evan Bush, Laurent Ciman, Donny Toia, Victor Cabrera (Anthony Jackson-Hamel, 45’), Wandrille Lefevre, Ignacio Piatti (Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, 78’), Nigel Reo-Coker, Andres Romero, Calum Mallace (Patrice Bernier, 70’), Eric Alexander, Jack McInerney
Unused substitutes: Eric Kronberg, Bakary Soumare, Romario Williams, Dominic Oduro
TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 11; OFFSIDE: 3; CORNER KICKS: 7; SAVES: 6.
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants:Corey Parker and Richard Gamache
4th Official: Alex Chilowicz
Attendance: 24,042
Notes:
·Captain David Villa scored his fourth goal of the season making him the leading goal-scorer for New York City FC.
·Kwadwo Poku recorded an assist for the second consecutive game, he now leads the team with 3 assists on the year.
·Mix Diskerud, in his return from national team duty, scored his second goal of the season in the 76th minute.
·Kwadwo Poku came on to score his first career MLS goal in the 90th minute of tonight’s match.
·New York City FC has now won consecutive games for the first time in club history.
·Jason Kreis earned his 100th MLS career victory as a head coach.
