MLS: New York FC 5-3 Orlando City
Many in the crowd of 32,041 chanted “We want Pirlo” throughout the first half and they stood in unison when the Italian legend emerged next to fourth official Robert Sibiga.
Mehdi Ballouchy came off and Pirlo came on amidst a deafening roar in the 56th minute.
It was Pirlo Party time.
NYCFC coach Jason Kreis:
“Special, special player, obviously, a guy who sees passes that most of us don’t, who can really open up the game. From what I saw right away is our team opening up and really using every ounce of space out there because they felt like he could find them.”
“He made a big difference for us and that’s his first game after four days of training with the team. We will hope for even better going forward.”
David Villa:
“Everything changes. Obviously we have a great coach and this is a team that needs to play. We’ve been playing the ball way too long and we haven’t really played the ball right, especially when we get the ball out. Now there will be no more long ball when Pirlo is in the game.”
