Jonathan Lewis, New York City FC’s supersub?
It may become a thing moving forward, after the 21-year-old put in two productive shifts in a row off the bench for NYCFC.
On Sunday, Lewis entered in the 76th minute in NYCFC’s NY Derby match against the New York Red Bulls. Within 10 minutes, he set up the winner for Maxi Moralez, pouncing on a defensive miscue, for a 1-0 triumph for Dome Torrent’s side.
He did it again on Wednesday in NYCFC’s 3-0 win over the Montreal Impact. Lewis entered in the 67th minute, and capped off the victory with a headed goal off a nice build-up — again, within 10 minutes of joining the game.
The contributions represent a big shift in fortunes this season for Lewis. After not playing at all the first three months of the season, Lewis finally started seeing some action in June, just before Patrick Vieira departed NYCFC to manage Ligue 1 side Nice. The player, who NYCFC traded up to select at No. 3 overall in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, has started getting consistent minutes off the bench under new head coach Torrent.
“It’s great now that I have more confidence, and the manager keeps putting me out there,” Lewis said after the game. “Obviously I gotta keep working hard and playing as well as I can when I get out there.”
Torrent credited the youngster for being a “fighter.”
“I prefer [taking it] step-by-step because he’s a young player, and I am here, my staff is here, to improve the young players,” he said. “When the game is open, it is the right moment for Jonathan because the quality for Jonathan is to run behind them. But step by step he has to improve. He’s a young player. I’m very happy with him. The most important thing, as a coach, is when a player plays 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, is focusing on that.
“Right now, Jonathan is focusing every single second. I’m very happy for the team and especially for him.”
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