Orlando City at New England Revolution: Five Takeaways

Orlando City SC had a very discouraging result in the first of its four straight road games as the Lions were crushed by the New England Revolution, 4-0 in Foxborough. In a night with very few positives, here are our five takeaways:

Bad Offensively, Poor Defensively

It was arguably one of the worst matches Orlando City played this season. The Lions were pale offensively, taking 31 minutes to have their first shot on target and their attacking production was mostly limited to free kicks and corner kicks over the entire match. The defensive side of the game didn’t look much better for Orlando with its back line conceding too much space for the Revs offense, especially when in transition, and losing pretty much every individual battle inside the box.

Aja Returns to the Lineup in Bad Shape

After three straight matches sitting on the bench, center back Jose Aja returned to the Lions’ starting XI at the expense of Tommy Redding, who scored an own-goal against the Vancouver Whitecaps last week. The Uruguayan, though, was not better, being easily beaten by Kei Kamara in his first two goals before being shown the red card.

Dwyer still scoreless

Despite all of his efforts, Dom Dwyer is yet to score on his return to Orlando City after five matches. Against the Revs, he had a great opportunity to find the back of the net in a close-range finish at the 32nd minute that was saved by goalkeeper Cody Cropper, who deflected the ball with his left foot.

Powers Gets his First Start

Acquired from the Colorado Rapids three weeks ago, midfielder Dillon Powers had his first start with Orlando City against the Revs. The 26-year-old player was used in the right side of the diamond and did a fairly decent two-way job, leading the team in shots (2) and ranking second in tackles (3). On a night when the entire team struggled, Powers somehow showed he can be useful in the long-term.

Confusing VAR Does the Right Thing

It was one of the most confusing interventions of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) so far, but it was a right one. Lee Nguyen scored for the Revolution at the 43^rd minute. The goal was confirmed on the scoreboard, which showed 2-0 until the 46^th minute, when the VAR analysis finally concluded that Teal Bunbury was in an offside position when the play started and disallowed it. Despite the lateness of the call, at the end of the day it was the right thing to do.

Those are our takeaways. What else stood out to you?