Villa’s two goals spark NYCFC

New York City FC had fewer than four days to lick their wounds from Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup ouster before they had to face the defending MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders. Captain David Villa made sure that was enough.

They bounced back from both that galling loss to the Red Bulls and from Saturday’s early deficit with a 2-1 win over Seattle. A milestone second-half brace from Villa led the comeback before 25,073 at rain-soaked Yankee Stadium.

After NYCFC lost 1-0 to the Red Bulls on Wednesday, they fell behind again Saturday. But Villa scored his 50th and 51st goals since coming to MLS, walking off to chants of “MVP! MVP!” after helping NYCFC (85-3) overcome a torrential downpour and the wellrested league champions.

“It was so bad that sometimes the ball stops with the water. I think we did well and we are so happy,’’ said Villa, who is the fifth-fastest in MLS history to reach 50 goals.

“I’m so happy. … We played [the] champions of MLS, a really good team. They have [had] bad moments, because they had a lot of injuries. But [Saturday] they had all the players fit and … we beat them, so we are happy.”

NYCFC were indeed facing a fit and rested foe. While Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer sat his starters for backups and USL players in their Open Cup win over Portland on Tuesday, NYCFC used its starters and not only fell to the rival Red Bulls, but also they lost playmaker Maxi Moralez to a calf injury.

Seattle took the lead in the 40th minute, with Cristian Roldan beating Maxime Chanot to the ball and sending it past keeper Sean Johnson with a low shot to the far post. But then Villa led the charge back with his ninth and 10th goals of the year.