Orlando City vs. Portland Timbers: Five Takeaways

Five weeks of MLS action are in the books for 2016, and if you take yourself to any league standings page, you’ll find Orlando City sitting on top of the Eastern Conference, two points clear of the Montreal Impact, who hold the second spot after a loss in Seattle on Saturday.

The Lions maintained their undefeated record in MLS this season with a 4-1 victory over the Portland Timbers at the Citrus Bowl.

Kaká made his presence felt in his 2016 debut, picking up a goal and two assists, while Kevin Molino also notched his first goal in MLS with Orlando City, tucking away a penalty kick in the 76th minute.

Here are our five takeaways from the match:

The Citrus Bowl: Where Defending MLS Cup Champions Come To Die

May 17, 2015: Orlando City welcomed the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy to the Citrus Bowl, where the Lions annihilated the champs, 4-0, for their first home win of the season and, you know, ever in MLS.

April 3, 2016: Orlando City welcomed the defending MLS Cup champion Portland Timbers to the Citrus Bowl, where the Lions dominated the champs, 4-1, for their first home win of the season.

The Citrus Bowl is not a nice place for defending MLS Cup champions, and none will probably ever want to play in Orlando again moving forward after seeing what’s happened to the last two. I don’t know what it is either, but something about playing the team with the trophy just makes Orlando City very, very good.

But wait, what if Orlando City wins the MLS Cup this season? Does that mean they’ll beat themselves 4-0 next season?

Kaká For President

The Brazilian midfielder made his 2016 debut on Sunday night, in what can arguably be called his best game yet with Orlando City. He assisted on each of the Lions’ first two goals, setting up Seb Hines with a great service on a free kick, and then setting up Brek Shea’s rocket goal. Kaká then scored in the second half for his 10th goal with Orlando City, and first since July 4 against Real Salt Lake last season.

And to top it off, after Molino drew a penalty kick in the 75th minute, Kaká gave the Trinidad and Tobago midfielder the ball to take the penalty, for what would end up being Molino’s first career goal in MLS. Top class from Kaká, who I can not have a higher opinion of from his time here in Orlando.

As for the rest of the game, he clearly had an impact on this team from the opening whistle, and there was a big difference in how we’ve seen them play with him and without him from the first three games.

If Orlando City can get these kind of games from Kaká every week — they won’t, let’s be real — it’s going to be a very good season.

Molino Mania is Finally Here

In case you missed it so far in this story, Molino finally scored his first goal in MLS. The guy who couldn’t stop scoring for Orlando City in USL found the net for the first time in Major League Soccer on his 76th-minute penalty kick to the goalkeeper’s right.

Molino had another one of those “shoot the damn ball!” moments early in the match, and hopefully finally getting this goal under his belt helps boost his confidence heading into the next few matches.

He looked good on the ball, as he normally does, and showed his ability to operate in tight spaces. But man, gotta get those goals. That’s what we want.

Sunday’s was his first, but certainly won’t be his last.

Joe “The Iron Goalkeeper” Bendik

Yes, I just started that nickname. Let’s get it trending.

After a big game against New York City FC two weeks ago, Bendik delivered another huge performance against the Timbers. He saved Fanendo Adi’s penalty kick in the 42nd minute, a crucial play at the time that could have easily put Portland back in the match. He also made some nice stops on Diego Valeri.

Orlando City fans were quick to jump on Bendik before even playing for the team, and so far this season he’s done more than enough to keep the critics quiet.

It’s time you guys show the Iron Goalkeeper some respect.

Brek Shea’s Back

Well, sorta.

Shea was another player who scored his first goal with Orlando City in MLS, and it was his first club goal since 2012, when he was an MVP candidate for FC Dallas.

Shea looked great at left back for the Lions, and Adrian Heath even took a mini shot at Jurgen Klinsmann, saying he hoped the U.S. Men’s National Team coach was watching on Sunday night.

Shea is a good player, and can contribute significantly for Orlando City, but we haven’t seen much of that during his time with the club, and hopefully last night was a sign that we’ll be seeing much more significant play moving forward this season.

Those were my thoughts from last night’s game. What stood out to you?