Anton Tinnerholm is ecstatic over scoring his goal. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports)
BRONX — Outside of winning every night, you just can’t too much better than what New York City FC accomplished Saturday night.
City won for the third time in seven days, a 2-0 win over Columbus Crew SC at Yankee Stadium.
The victory extended NYCFC’s home unbeaten streak to 11 games (10-0-1) this season as the team recorded three successive shutouts for the first time since July 2016.
Last Sunday, City recorded a 1-0 win over the Red Bulls and followed that up with a 3-0 triumph over the Montreal Impact Wednesday.
New head coach Domenec Torrent said his team’s accomplishment “wasn’t easy.”
“It’s difficult for us because we have players that are injured,” he said. “I love this team because they have put effort into this week. They played with this intention in the second half because in the first half we were tired and we didn’t play good. They played much better than us and they deserve much more especially in the first half.
“We changed in the second half. Our intention was to cap the connection between Higuain and Trapp because the first half we had more spaces in between the lines. it was the same with Chicago because they can play between the lines and our center backs need to set up. We changed a little in the second half, I Believe we played much better in the second half.”
Goalkeeper Sean Johnson recorded the three clean sheets.
“Sean was the best player in the first half for us,” Torrent said. He was the best player absolutely because he was able to save our team. … I’m very happy with him. He’s an amazing person. For me it’s very important when a player is like Sean. The last two games he played very well.”
Super-sub Jonathan Lewis, who replaced Ronald Matarrita in the 55th minute, was the sparkplug of this win as he was in the last two matches.
He set up Jesus Medina’s goal in the 80th minute, his fourth of the season before Anton Tinnerholm added an insurance tally in the 90th minute, his third goal this year.
“I said last week I’m very happy with Jonathan, but don’t forget, Jonathan plays better when our team finds spaces,” Torrent said. “Jonathan is especially a player who plays against teams who play high. It’s very important for us because you know, after that he’s a fast player. I’m very happy for him because in every single training they improve a lot and the training sessions after the session, normally Jonathan trains more to improve the cross, to improve the one-by-one.”
