DC United and New York City FC met on Mother's Day, level on points, sitting in the middle of the table with 10 points. DC's strength in the 2015 season was their home play, but this season they've not had any consistency, and with regular starter Chris Rolfe sitting out due to a 1 game suspension earned against Chicago, along with Fabian Espindola continuing to recover from a hamstring injury sustained against the New England Revolution, the odds weren't looking in their favor.
NYCFC sent out a strong lineup with former World Cup winners David Villa and Andrea Pirlo leading the way.
United replaced Rolfe with Luciano Acosta, and continued with Alvaro Saborio replacing Espindola up front.
The first half was fairly nondescript, with both teams getting a few corners
...and several attacking runs from Saborio
...Villa
...Pirlo
...Marcelo Sarvas and others.
But the defenders were ready for anything that came their way
...and the goalkeepers kept everything else out of their respective goals.
Four minutes after the interval Villa opened the scoring
...and four minutes after that, Khiry Shelton doubled the lead for NYCFC, leaving their coach Patrick Vieira applauding his team's effort
United continued to attack, but NYC continued their strong tackling, stopping United in their tracks.
Saborio was taken down in the penalty area at one point, but the referee awarded a free kick outside the box for an earlier foul on Neagle
Which Saborio could only laugh at with incredulity.
The free kick did end up hitting the post, but that was the closest United were able to get. Acosta also attempted to push through the NYC defense
...but once again, there was no way through.
When the ball was eventually crossed into the area, Josh Saunders, in goal, was on hand to keep it out.
So the game ended with NYC taking a 2-0 win, and DC United left licking their wounds.
