David Villa netted a brace to guide New York City to 5-3 victory over Orlando City in a thrilling match at Yankee Stadium.
Both sides struggled to find their rhythm in the first half, although Sean St Ledger could have given the visitors the lead when he found himself unmarked at the back post, but he missed contact with the ball from Kaka's cross.
New York took the lead just before the break when Villa latched on to a ball over the top of the Orlando defence, and he shrugged off a challenge to fire an effort low past Tally Hall.
In the second half, Orlando responded through Cyle Larin, who controlled the ball outside the box and raided forward to drill a strike past Josh Saunders at his near post.
However, the home side went back ahead almost immediately when Thomas McNamara found space down the left to put a low ball across the face of goal and Javier Calle reacted to divert the ball past Hall.
New York were further boosted by the arrival of Andrea Pirlo from the bench as he made his first appearance in the MLS.
Orlando dampened the mood in Yankee Stadium as Larin responded for the visitors again minutes later following an impressive team move down the flank that left him with a simple finish to convert Carlos Rivas's cross at the back post.
Villa restored the hosts' lead with his second strike of the game when he received the ball on the edge of the box following a bustling run from Kwadwo Poku, and he found the bottom corner with the aid of a deflection.
New York notched their fourth goal with a flowing move across the pitch as McNamara collected a pass in acres of space down the left, and held his composure to rifle his strike into the top corner.
Martin Paterson almost reduced the deficit when he cut inside his man on the right and then drilled a low effort towards the bottom corner, but Saunders made a fine stop to keep the strike at bay.
Orlando set up a tense finale when Larin netted his hat-trick as he smashed an effort beyond the reach of Saunders into the top corner. St Ledger was presented with the chance to level in the dying minutes, but he put his diving header past the post
The visitors had one final chance to snatch a point when they won a free kick on the edge of the box, but Kaka saw his free kick clatter off the post. New York then raided up the field and sealed their win when Mix Diskerud tapped the ball into an empty net.
Simon Sinclair
