David Villa benefits from effortless Andrea Pirlo assist

Villa was able to squeeze between defenders Bobby Boswell and Sean Franklin in the 80th minute for the game-winner on a lovely ball from Andrea Pirlo.

New York City FC earned a vital three points in the race for the Major League Soccer playoffs with a dramatic 3-1 victory over D.C. United in front of a sell-out crowd of 28,262 on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.

New York City (7-11-6) snapped a two-game losing skid, while D.C. United had its three-game winning streak stopped.

“It was an all-or-nothing situation”, he said Thursday night. “I made it clear to the guys that we had to have three points tonight, and to get them is extremely important”. Kreis called the pass “out of this world”. Reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Bill Hamid, who boasts a pristine 0.71 goals-against average, sat out those high-scoring affairs against Philadelphia and Salt Lake while recovering from surgeries on his left hand and right knee.

“We can expect we can see more of that”, he added.

While Hamid returned against Montreal, striker Fabian Espindola – the team’s leader in goals and assists last season – missed that match with a minor knee injury. We have Andrea Pirlo, who is brand new to the team. “He plays passes that other people frankly don’t see”.

“I needed to get forgiven for the bad pass that led to the first goal in the first half”, Pirlo said. “But then Villa was really good at picking up on it”. Filling in for injured Frank Lampard (quad), the fan favorite made his case to remain in Kreis’ preferred XI with an inspired performance. NYC are coming off back-to-back losses after being shut out 2-0 by the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

“We’ve won in different ways with different drama”, Olsen said.

Lampard’s replacement, Kwadwo Poku, was terrific.

The Ghanaian midfielder was also involved in the Club’s first goal of the evening in the 51st. “They were confident in what they wanted to do, and it showed”.