Carlos Rivas Showed Us Who He is in One Play Against the Philadelphia Union

Today, I don't want to talk about the season as a whole. I don't want to talk about expectations, or roster turnover, or player salaries. I don't want to look at potential targets in the SuperDraft, and I don't want to talk about the moral victory of spoiling Philadelphia's playoff push.

Today, we’ll have a look at Carlos Rivas‘ goal that put Orlando City ahead 1-0 against the Union on Sunday.

Rivas is a unique player for the Lions. We have long wondered what his speed could do to opposing back lines if properly harnessed, and we've long watched failures to do so.

Head Coach Jason Kreis has shown an interest in seeing what he has out of the former Deportivo Cali forward, and Rivas has responded with performances all over the map.

On this goal, he showed exactly who Carlos Rivas is — an exciting, but definitely frustrating player. Let's have a look.

Rivas uses his speed to nick the ball from Fabinho and race in on Andre Blake’s goal. That’s good. But a heavy first touch sets up Blake to come out and make a play and the Philly keeper tried to smother the ball, and nearly succeeded. Rivas just got a touch on it before Blake arrived and got a fortunate bounce back into his legs off the Union’s stopper. The ball then trickled toward goal and there was nothing Keegan Rosenberry could do by the time he reached it except give it a kick to help it bulge the net.

It was an exciting, dynamic play but in some ways also a frustrating one. That is who Carlos Rivas is. Will he become more? Time will tell.

The play definitely encapsulates his time at Orlando City perfectly. We'll see how he fares in the final regular season match this weekend.

Polling Closed