Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

BRONX, NY — Sunday’s soccer matinee in the Bronx turned out to be the exciting rivalry matchup that everyone was hoping for. It featured a loud, massive crowd, plenty of superstars, and goals — oh, the goals.

But unfortunately, it was Orlando City that came out on the losing end, as the Lions dropped their fourth straight match across all competitions in a 5-3 slug-fest at Yankee Stadium. Cyle Larin did has much as he could, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Orlando’s defensive struggles on the afternoon.

Here’s our player grades and Man of the Match, and be sure to vote in our poll for your MotM below.

Starting XI

G, Tally Hall, 6 — Hall was hardly tested at all outside of New York City FC’s five goals. Orlando City’s defense put him in tough spots throughout the match, leaving defenders unmarked on several occasions, creating easy goals for NYCFC. Not much Hall could have done on almost any of them.

D, Corey Ashe, 6 — Orlando City played a 3-4-3 — presumably to adjust to the smaller Yankee Stadium metrics and cover for the loss of Rafael Ramos to a thigh injury — using Ashe in a wing-back role. He wasn’t overly impressive in his second game in purple, but didn’t make me hate him either.

D, Sean St. Ledger 6.5 — I thought the back line played well for most of the match, as Orlando City played with three center backs in front of goal. St. Ledger kinda got turned around by David Villa on his first goal.

D, Aurelien Collin, 7 — There was never a moment — at least that I saw — that made me question Collin in the game, and for that I give him a solid 7.

D, Seb Hines, 6.5 — Seb was ‘ight. He made a couple of mistakes, though.

D, Eric Avila, 5– Avila has played a lot of fullback in his career, as well as winger. But as a wing-back on Sunday, he was not very reliable on defense. Hardly even showed up on offense, either.

M, Darwin Ceren, 8 — Behind Larin, I thought Ceren was Orlando City’s best player on the field. He made a large percentage of his passes, and did his best to control the compact Yankee Stadium infield.

M, Servando Carrasco, 5.5 — He got a yellow card, wasn’t great, and even wore Amobi Okugo’s old No. 5 — that’s pretty damn cold, man.

M, Carlos Rivas, 6.5 — Rivas wasn’t great in the first half, but had a much better second half before he was subbed off. He showed off his speed and crossing ability to assist on Larin’s second goal.

M, Kaká, 6.5 — I’ll be brutally honest with you guys, Kaká wasn’t that great. The small field really took away his ability to work through passing lanes and connect to his teammates while spreading the field. It was as if two or three defenders were right on top of him as soon as the ball came his way.

F, Cyle Larin, 9 (MOTM) — Let’s be real: Larin was terrible in the first half. He was actually very close to coming off — Martin Paterson got up to stretch — just before he scored his first goal, which was followed by two more. If you don’t think Larin’s a lock to win Rookie of the Year at this point, then you should probably go back to watching NFL training camp videos because you’re following the wrong football.

Substitutions

F, Martin Paterson (74′), 7 — Wasn’t really on the field long enough to make much of an impression. So why’d I rate him so high? Well, he made it through an appearance without getting hurt! Accomplishments! He also had a nice cross that found Sean St. Ledger late in the second half but the defender missed the net with his header.

83′ – Pedro Ribeiro (83′), N/A — he got into the game, which is something, I guess.

Polling Closed