Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Five Takeaways

Giving up five goals during a rough loss on the road to an expansion rival on national TV to make it four league games without a win — it (hopefully) doesn’t get any lower than this. I might suggest listening to The Smiths’ “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” and remove any sharp objects from the room as you read through these five takeaways from Orlando City’s 5-3 loss at New York City FC.

Let's at least start with the one bright spot of the day:

Cyle Larin Makes His Case

Many of the rumors during this transfer window have circled around big name strikers. Rookie Cyle Larin made a case today, as he has been doing all season, that the forward position might be the least of Orlando’s concerns. Three well-taken goals to give the young Canadian his first MLS hat trick were a bright spot in an overall unimpressive game from the Lions. Larin’s goals all came at the right time to give the club and its fans some hope that they could leave New York with at least something to show for their efforts. Larin was the bright spot in an offense that looked out of sync for long stretches yesterday.

Kaká Needs a Running Mate

Having lost Kevin Molino and Brek Shea to injury this season, Kaká has been left as the sole creative midfielder in the lineup. While Carlos Rivas and Darwin Ceren have played well, they haven’t seemed to sync with the Brazilian as much as Molino and Shea were able to early in the season. Rivas, for all his good play as of late, still seems on a totally different page from Kaká at times.

Another creative playmaker in the middle of the pitch would help pull some of the — at times as many as three — players covering Kaká whenever he gets the ball at his feet. Right now, Kaká seems overworked and increasingly frustrated. Orlando City chairman Flávio Augusto da Silva mentioned two new signings will be revealed next week. Reinforcements that cannot come too soon for Adrian Heath and the boys. Hopefully one of those signings can help Kaká in the midfield.

Bought Not Built

There is a quote from Star Trek, of all things, that popped into my head towards the end of Saturday's game.

"Evil will always triumph over good, unless good is very careful."

Orlando City supporters have long been living on the moral high ground of the "Built Not Bought" slogan. It is something I personally love about our club — the hard work by everyone from the front office, to the supporters, to bring a club to MLS. That said, on the day, "bought" looked really, really good. As New York City has been loading the roster with bits and pieces from MLS and overseas, it has taken them awhile to find their stride, but they seem to have found it right as the Lions are losing theirs. I felt like Orlando would easily top New York City FC at the beginning of the season, but I think that prediction is in serious danger right now.

Any hope that I had of Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard being an unsettling factor in the lineup now seems a bit farfetched. Jason Kreis has used Manchester money to buy a very dangerous and deep squad. If any club plans on winning the Supporters Shield or MLS Cup, they’d better do it before NYCFC figures everything out and runs away with it.

Manchester City money is going to break open MLS parity and change this league permanently. Welcome to the New York Cosmos 2.0.

Baseball Fields Suck

While Manchester City money can seemingly buy the best players in MLS, it can't seem to buy enough real estate in New York City to build a stadium.

Soccer does not belong in a baseball stadium and it is an insult to the game, its players, and its fans. The same way MLS in the 1990s was scarred by NFL stadiums and football lines, the modern MLS needs to respect the game enough to not play on a field with dead sod covering the dirt of a baseball diamond.

New York City FC, as the annotated wonder club of MLS, needs to play in a facility worthy of the game. Had David Beckham submitted a bid for his new Miami club to play in Marlins Park, he would have been rejected in a heartbeat. Of course, Sir Beckham also probably respects the game enough to know a soccer specific stadium is the right course of action.

Yankees Stadium looked ugly on TV. The patches of dead sod looked awful in HD, while most shots of the field never showed the fans. Half the enjoyment of watching an away game is seeing the atmosphere in opposing stadiums. Evidently, the New York City FC front office has done a lot of hard work to fill the stands, but watching on TV you'd never know.

There is Some Fight Left in These Lions

I can't leave you on a sour note; it's not my style. While there were very few positives to take from yesterday's game, the club should take some pride in their fight. Not much went right tactically. Can we all agree that Rafael Ramos was sorely missed and we should never play three at the back again, ever? Luck seemed to be working against us as we ran a clinic on the saying "it's a game of inches." Not to mention injuries and suspensions are taking their toll on the club. This club looks like Rocky Balboa during the first few rounds of his fight with Ivan Drago.

The Lions had every reason to be frustrated and throw in the towel Saturday, but that wasn't the response from the team at all. They kept searching for goals, and they certainly didn't let anybody cheering for NYCFC feel comfortable with the win until the dying moments of stoppage time.

Things look bleak for Orlando City right now, as the club is falling down the standings without a net. There is still a lot of season left to be played, and from the performance Saturday, it looks like Orlando City will keep fighting for one of the Eastern Conference's playoff spots.