Fulltime: New York City FC 5 Colorado Rapids 1
90'+ GOAL COLORADO RAPIDS! Gashi's free kick slips past the wall and Saunders. 5-1.
90' Three minutes of added time
89' Doyle blasts a shot off the crossbar.
87' McNamara blasts one wide of the net.
84' GOAL NEW YORK CITY! Lampard finishes off his hat-trick from the penalty spot. 5-0!
83' PENALTY FOR NYCFC! Harrison taken down in the box, and Toledo points to the spot.
81' GOAL NEW YORK CITY! Harrison lays one off on the counter to Lampard, and Frank smashes the ball past Howard. 4-0 NYC!
79' Pappa's free kick is blasted into the wall, while Gashi's kick is hit into Manhattan. Goal kick.
75' GOAL NEW YORK CITY! Mendoza steals the ball deep in the Rapids' half, fakes one defender, and beats Howard. 3-0 NYC!
72' Substitution:Alex Sjoberg off for Dominique Badji (COL)
68' Harrison lays one off for Mendoza on the edge of the box, but he skies it over the net.
67' Substitution: Tony Taylor off for Steven Mendoza (NYC)
66' Substitution: Andrea Pirlo off for Mikey Lopez (NYC)
65' Lampard played in by Pirlo, but Lamps' shot is pushed aside by Howard.
64' Powers drills a shot wide of the goal.
58' McNamara's attempt is wide and off the mark.
57' Gashi bends one just wide of a diving Saunders.
52' Pirlo's one time rocket is wide of the mark.
51' Taylor beats his defender one on one, but his cross finds nobody in the box.
49' McNamara's curler is wide of the goal.
49' NYCFC controlling play early on.
46' Second half underway
Halftime Substitutions: Pappa on for Hairston (COL), Miller on for Williams (COL), Mena off for Chanot (NYC)
Halftime: New York City FC 2 Colordo Rapids 0
45' One minute of added time
42' GOAL NEW YORK CITY! Tony Taylor pokes home NYC's second of the match!
40' McNamara played in but Howard gets a hand on the ball and is able to get a goal kick.
37' Red Card (second yellow) awarded to Micheal Azira (COL)
34' Frank Lampard's shot is saved by Howard.
32' Yellow Cards awarded to Diego Martinez (NYC) and Frank Lampard (NYC)
31' Close! McNamara slides, but his foot is inches away from redirecting Harrison's cross in the six yard box.
29' The match has resumed
Players have returned to the pitch for warmups. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:15.
Note: The match will resume from 28:30 when it is deemed safe to return to the field.
29' The match has been suspended due to lightning.
28' GOAL NEW YORK CITY! Frank Lampard taps home a cross to make it 1-0 to the hosts!
24' Pirlo's free kick just skims over a couple of heads and is caught by Howard.
23' Yellow Card awarded to Jared Watts (COL)
23' Lampard's slow rolling shot is handeld easily by Howard.
21' Yellow Card awarded to Micheal Azire (COL)
19' Gashi's shot is smacked aside by Josh Saunders.
15' Two Rapids players collide in the box as both were looking to head the ball towards the goal. Both seem to be alright.
14' The rain has started to come down here in the Bronx.
13' Colorado has had majority of the ball in the last five minutes, but not much in the final third.
8' Even possesion so far. Rapids have yet to have a chance towards goal.
2' Lampard tries to chip one over Tim Howard from 40 yards out, but the veteran goalkeeper gets back on his line in time to catch the ball.
0' Kickoff at Yankee Stadium!
The teams are on the pitch for the national anthem.
Pablo Mastroeni’s men are winning as a team. Kevin Doyle has only four goals, which is the lowest top scorer at any club in MLS.
The Rapids are currently second in the Western Conference, only three points behind FC Dallas and with three games in hand.
Colorado on the other hand is coming off a 1-1 draw with FC Dallas.
It has appeared that his yellow card in the late stages against the Red Bulls was deliberate. The popular theory has emerged that since he would not start Saturday's match due to cross country travel a day before the match, he might as well wipe his yellow cards away. Villa recieved the yellow card when he refused to move away from a Red Bulls free kick. After being warned by the referee that he would be booked, Villa still refused to move. Only when Geiger carded him did the Spanish striker move back the 10 yards.
Despite the early flight back, David Villa will not be playing a part on Saturday in the Bronx. The MLS leader in goals scored is suspended for the match against Colorado due to yellow card accumilation.
City's international stars David Villa and Andrea Pirlo both played 30 minutes in the AT&T MLS All Star Game on Thursday. Both players left the stadium to head home at halftime. Rapids' midfielder Jermaine Jones was also pictured with the two NYCFC players heading to the airport to return from San Jose.
"Yeah yeah, no no, I think I'm levelheaded about it. I think we all are here. As I said, this is a difficult league to go on and win game after game. You know, tough place to go on and play away from home today in this heat. We didn't play our best, and we lose the game. But it's certainly, when you look at the standings and see we're top, the difference from last year when we were struggling all year really, you can take confidence in that. As I've said, we can't dwell on this in the negative way. We have to be positive. Personally I'm positive and I think we all are."
Despite losing twice to the Red Bulls this year, Frank Lampard knows that he and his teammates have improved from last year.
"The conversation with Jesse was to stop crying," Vieira said at the press conference. "I think the comment from Jesse during the week had a massive impact on the referees, and of course, that had an impact of the way we play them. But when you take in doubt the credibility of the referee, it happened that the referee sometimes making the wrong decision. I think today he make more decision in favor of the Red Bulls because the manager had been crying all the week. In the end, he gets what he wanted to."
Vieira, who was tossed from the match by Geiger midway through the first half, has had enough of Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch's antics.
"I think there's two ways of seeing it. Yes, it can be the emotion. It can be the comment from Jesse during the week that influenced the referee. And I think everybody has to analyze the situation," Vieira said after the match. "I think, when you put in a question mark on the referee's credibility before it begins, that can have an impact, and I think you will agree it had an impact on the referee's performance today. And I feel sorry because we came here to play a good game and to play a Derby game, and Derby game sometimes, yes, the tackle is late, but I don't think the referee -- the referee, I believe, got influenced by the comment during the week."
In his press conference after the match, New York City head coach Patrick Vieira made it clear he believes the officiating was influenced by Red Bulls' head coach Jesse Marsch. Marsch criticized referee Mark Geiger in the lead up to the match last week, and City's French manager believes it clearly influenced Geiger on Sunday.
Despite the late first half goal, NYCFC were completley overun in the midfield by the Red Bulls' Sacha Kjlestan, who had a goal and two assists in the match.
The Red Bulls opened up a 3-0 lead in the first half, before Tommy McNamara hit a wondeful strike from over 30 yards out to make it a two goal match going into the halftime break.
In their last match, New York City lost to their rivals the New York Red Bulls in Harrison, NJ. The Red Bulls won the match 4-1.
NOTE: This is the only MLS game to be played on Saturday, and comes just two days after the AT&T MLS All- Star Game in San Jose. This is because the Yankees face the Mets on August 3, and the stadium transformation from soccer to baseball - or vice versa - takes three days. It takes a day to remove and replace the pitcher’s mound.
Hello and welcome to VAVEL USA's LIVE coverage of this evening's match out of MLS Regular Season Action between New York City FC and the Colorado Rapids. My name is Josef Leizerowitz, and it is my pleasure to be taking you all through this evening's action. There's still quite a bit of time until kickoff, which is scheduled for 3 PM EST, so sit back, relax, and allow me take you through the build up to this one.