NEW YORK – After hearing the New York Red Bulls talk about David Villa, you could be forgiven for thinking the former Spanish international plays for the red half of New York.
That was the caliber of praise reserved by RBNY players and coaches for the New York City FC star, who has taken Major League Soccer by storm since joining NYCFC for their inaugural season in 2015. On Saturday, though, the former Spanish international – who has scored 26 goals in 42 MLS appearances and currently co-leads the 2016 scoring charts with eight goals – figures to be the focal point for the Red Bulls defense as they look to extend a perfect record against their noisy neighbors (3 pm ET, FOX, TSN2).
“[He’s] been nothing short of phenomenal,” Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch said of the man he must plan to stop on Saturday. “I think that’s what everybody hoped and thought when he came. What’s been impressive to see of him as of late has not just been his goalscoring prowess, but the work ethic that he shows on the field. I think that’s something that has led the way for this resurgence of this team now…
“He understands what this league is and the physicality of it but he still has so much quality to make plays around the goal, so it’s hard to not be a fan of the way he plays and the things he does.”
Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips – no slouch himself, considering his single season record-tying 27 goals in 2014 – was similarly full of praise for Villa, who he cited as one of his role models as a young forward making a name for himself in the English leagues.
“To actually play against the guy is unbelievable and what he’s done since he’s come here, his goalscoring rate is second to none,” Wright-Phillips enthused. “It’s not a one-man team, obviously not because they’ve got other amazing players, but this guy is literally holding this team up by the scruff of the neck.
“He’s come here, he could have chilled out, been in New York and enjoyed life, but you see it even when he scores – the passion that goes through him. This guy’s scored in Champions League, World Cup. Every goal matters to him, and that’s running through their team right now.”
Once the opening whistle blows on Saturday afternoon, the plaudits will, of course, cease, and the Red Bulls’ task of shutting down Villa for a fourth consecutive game will commence. They had great success in shutting down the 35-year-old Spaniard in 2015, holding him scoreless with two shots on goal across three meetings.
Tthe Red Bulls will not be able to count on young standout Matt Miazga – who was sold to Chelsea in January – to do such a strong job defending Villa this time around, but Marsch and midfielder Dax McCarty made it clear that stopping him will require “a collective approach.”
“It’s one of those situations where, and I’ll refer to last year, we dealt with him fantastically,” McCarty explained. “I thought our center backs, they had full concentration for the entire game and they frustrated him. That’s something you don’t typically see with him, him getting frustrated.
“We have to make sure we frustrate him, we have to make sure we’re hard on him when he gets the ball – and that’s not cheap shots, that’s just making sure you get an arm on him, you try to poke the ball away from him whenever he takes a bad touch, which is very rare, and it’s double-teaming him whenever he’s got the ball in a dangerous spot, because if you leave your defender one-on-one or hanging out to dry, he has the ability to change the game like that. It’s a big task for us, certainly not one that’s easy, but we’re confident in our defenders.”
