"When he played the way he played tonight, we could play another hour and look like we're not going to concede..."
That was Patrick Vieira’s take on Sean Johnson’s Man of the Match-winning performance in NYCFC’s 2-0 win over LA Galaxy on Saturday night.
It was a victory that lifted Vieira’s men to second place in the Eastern Conference and in the Supporters Shield Race, following up the 3-2 Hudson River Derby victory on the previous weekend.
It could have been a very different story if NYCFC hadn’t fielded a goalkeeper who was at the very peak of his powers.
Johnson was a force of nature at the StubHub Center throughout the game, making five crucial stops to lay the foundations for Jonathan Lewis and David Villa’s goals.
Whether it was smothering at a forward’s feet or making brilliant reflex stops from close-range efforts, Sean had an answer for everything that the hosts could throw at him and fully deserved his fifth clean sheet of the season.
READ: Five Things We Learned From NYCFC 2-0 LA Galaxy
Key Moment
With the score locked at 0-0 at the interval, LA Galaxy came out hot in the second period and would have raced into the lead in the 46nd minute if not for Sean.
Johnson was alert to the danger, racing out and blocking Emmanuel Boateng’s goalbound strike.
A goal at that stage in the game could have dramatically altered the course of the night and who knows if NYCFC would have returned to the East Coast with the three points without that vital save?
In Sean’s Words…
“Honestly, you’ve got to find that self-motivation no matter what. Being so close to the top of the table for the first time and being with a group that has a special feeling, I think motivates me every single day to come out and play the game I love and give it my all.
“Like I said, if we want to achieve something this season, we got to keep putting performances like this together and we have a special group that can achieve big things.”
In Patrick’s Words…
“He’s been fantastic for us since he arrived to our football club,” Vieira said. “Not just because of what he’s doing on the field. It’s about who he is as a person. He’s a really strong character, a really strong personality, and that is what we want in our football club.”
The Fans Said…
In Numbers…
