New York City FC 2, LA Galaxy 1 | 2018 MLS Match Recap

New York City FC extended their unbeaten start to the season with an assured 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy on Sunday. 

With NYCFC flashing their energetic pressing and fluid possession game, first-half goals from Anton Tinnerholm and David Villa banked all three points on offer in the 2018 curtain-raiser at Yankee Stadium. A response from Jonathan dos Santos after the break led to some late jitters for the hosts, but the Galaxy's comeback bid was disrupted by a second yellow card for Ashley Cole.

The pain of the loss was amplified for LA by injuries to starters Michael Ciani and Giovani dos Santos, the latter limping off with a hamstring issue one week before the Mexican national team gather for a key pre-World Cup camp. 

• Fullbacks shine for NYCFC as Patrick Vieira's system keeps humming

Goals

• 22' – NYC – Anton Tinnerholm | Watch
• 33' – NYC – David Villa | Watch
• 60' – LA – Jonathan dos Santos | Watch

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: While some of the shine comes off the remodeled Galaxy in their first road test, a slick NYCFC squad again underlined their championship contender status despite their inability to match the scoreline to their superiority in the run of play. 

MOMENT OF THE MATCH: After Ben Sweat failed to finish a pretty NYCFC passing move, the ageless Villa displayed his poaching instincts to tuck away his 64th goal in 96 MLS regular-season appearances for the win.

MAN OF THE MATCH:
 Offseason signing
Jesus Medina
impressed in his NYCFC home debut, creating danger in the Galaxy penalty box and showing signs of deadly chemistry with Villa and
Maxi Moralez
.

Next Up

• NYC: Saturday, March 17 vs. Orlando City (3:30 pm ET | Univision, Twitter in US)
• LA: Saturday, March 24 at Vancouver Whitecaps (10 pm ET | TSN1 in Canada, MLS LIVE in US)