Orlando City Stock Watch: The Market Crashes

It finally happened. It had to, really. After going five straight games unbeaten, the Lions could not fend off that ugly “d” word any longer, falling to Montreal 2-0 Saturday night in Canada to see their record drop to 5-6-5 after two hours of U.S. Open Cup soccer just days before.

How does the Stock Watch respond to such a listless effort?

Falling

Cristian Higuita – Having found strong form lately pairing with Darwin Ceren, the egg that Cristian Higuita laid Saturday night was one that nobody saw coming.

Higuita managed to do almost nothing offensively other than sending a long range shot over the crossbar, all while managing to commit four fouls on the defensive end.

As the former Deportivo Cali midfielder gets more familiar in Orlando, outings like this get harder to stomach. We look forward to Higuita bouncing back quickly.

Kaká – Yes, Kaká had a rough outing in Montreal, being dispossessed three times en route to one of the more disappointing efforts in his time with the Lions. When not giving the ball to the other team the traditional way, he was doing it by blasting off target shots at, well, something.

Without fatigue from the midweek game to blame, it's unclear what led to Kaká's performance, but it will be important to get back on track as early as possible for Colorado tomorrow night.

Cyle Larin – Kid Fantastic is becoming a fixture on the Stock Watch, with such a volatile level of output you would think he was a rookie or something.

Larin had turned a hot run for Orlando into a dazzling performance for Canada in national competition, but was clearly out of mojo for Montreal, showing a brick where his golden toe used to be on both the finish and his first touch.

If recent history has taught us anything, look for Larin to bounce back with a game that will make us forget about bringing in another striker.

Holding

Darwin Ceren – It’s tough to find “risers” in a match like that, but Ceren showed strong defensive chops while leading Orlando City in both tackles (five) and interceptions (six).

As new Mane Lander Brent Petkus pointed out, we're not sure Ceren knows what his role is while defending set pieces, leaving Donny Toia to attack the ball unchallenged, despite his spot on the near post. This lapse was clearly identified by Montreal, who looked to exploit the chink in the Lions' armor just three minutes after discovering the flaw in one of their many, many corner kick chances.

Offensively, the flow seemed to go through Ceren, who completed a team leading 73 passes (including 10 long balls) en route to a 90-plus percent passing rate. Not enough to see his stock rise, but he did enough to avoid the avalanche that caught most Lions' stock.

***

Orlando City welcomes the Colorado Rapids to the Citrus Bowl for a midweek game on Wednesday. Which Lions will be able to bounce back and see their stock rise?