When New York City FC takes on Eastern Conference and Supporters’ Shield leading D.C. United Thursday night at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, they could be without a familiar face.

Villa put New York in the lead in the 80 minute after Pirlo’s perfectly timed chipped through ball found the former Barcelona striker between two defenders who made no mistake in poking the ball into the back of the net. Currently, they sit on 27 points in 8th spot, just one behind Orlando City and the Montreal Impact in 6th.

But it was DC that went ahead in the 36th minute with Alvaro Saborio finishing off a counter-attack.

Despite calls to the contrary, I think that Ben Olsen keeps his central midfield pairing of Perry Kitchen and Davy Arnaud for this game.

Tommy McNamara had the tying goal for NYCFC, making it 1-1 in the 51st minute.

“We were convinced that we were able to do a lot better”, NYCFC midfielder Andrea Pirlo said. “I needed to get forgiven for the bad pass that led to the first goal in the first half”, he said through an interpreter. “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.

Lampard’s replacement, Kwadwo Poku, was terrific. Poku ended hopes for a United draw with his goal in 88th minute.

Now NYCFC has to a find a way to replicate its performance Thursday several more times over the final 10 games if they want to make the playoffs in their inaugural MLS season.

“What I’m hopeful of is this starts a new season for us, that this can really push us forward”, Kreis said.