NEW YORK, NY. — New York City FC faced Sporting Kansas City in their second ever match at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, but they were forced to do it without star forward David Villa.
Villa, who has already tallied a goal and an assist for the undefeated expansion club, tweeted his absence to fans less than two hours before the 7 pm ET kickoff.
Villa, who practiced all week, has apparently been battling an adductor strain since the first week of the season, and was left out as a precaution.
"David has been feeling some discomfort in his adductor from the first game," a club spokesman told FutbolMLS.com. "It's been managed with treatment and although at the start of the week it was expected that he wouldn't play, Wednesday's training, which was normal, gave us some hope. But on Thursday, in the closed door training, the pain was intense and it was decided that as a precaution he wouldn't play today."
Without Villa to lead the line, and with Adam Nemec and rookie Khiry Shelton away on international duty, Patrick Mullins and Javier Calle both got their first starts of the season.
According to a statement on the club's site, "he is expected to be available for the club's next match on Saturday, April 11 at the Philadelphia Union."
