FORMER CHELSEA TEAM-MATES Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba crossed paths last night in MLS, while Andrea Pirlo and David Villa were also on Lampard’s side for New York City FC as they were victorious away to Montreal Impact.
However, the player who grabbed most of the headlines was Jack Harrison, a 19-year-old Englishman who moved to the US five years ago having been part of the academy system at Manchester United.
Harrison scored the second goal on the stroke of half-time in NYC’s 3-1 win. Villa had opened the scoring for the visitors, with Lampard scoring late on as Patrick Vieira’s side — who are three points clear of Philadelphia Union at the top of the Eastern Conference — bounced back from last weekend’s defeat to Sporting Kansas City.
It was another big night for Harrison. Playing in his first MLS season, the Bolton native has now scored three times and provided two assists in eight appearances. Lampard described the young winger as “a revelation” after the game.
Latching on to a pass from Tommy McNamara — NYC’s Irish-qualified midfielder who assisted two of last night’s three goals — Harrison displayed some impressive trickery before cutting in from the right and curling the ball into the far corner with his left foot.
Harrison was voted “Star of the Match” by his club’s supporters.
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New York City FC manager Patrick Vieira isn’t getting carried away, however. He said: “Today he scored a really important goal before half-time, and a fantastic goal, but when you analyse this game, I don’t think that was his best performance.
“He has to keep working, and working really hard, because there are some aspects of his game that he needs to improve.”
It’s early days and he’ll need to produce that kind of magic against much stiffer opposition to prove himself as a future international, but a trip to New York might be worthwhile for England’s next manager before USA boss Jurgen Klinsmann offers Harrison a cap first.
