Orlando City vs. Montreal Impact: Player Grades and Man of the Match

Orlando City SC remains trending downwards in Major League Soccer as the Lions suffered their seventh straight loss after they were taken down 2-0 by the Montreal Impact at Orlando City Stadium Saturday night. It was a poor overall performance by the team and here’s how each player rated individually:

Starters

GK, Joe Bendik, 5.5 – The goalkeeper made a couple of important saves that kept the team in the game in the first half on a close-range header from Matteo Mancosu and a long-distance shot by Ignacio Piatti. There was nothing he could do to avoid Montreal’s goals.

D, Amro Tarek, 4.5 – The Egyptian international had a hard time in the first minutes of the game as the Impact concentrated its offensive actions in the left side of Orlando’s defense. He was subbed off halfway into the second half as the team needed to be more offensive and left the field with two tackles, one interception and one clearance.

D, Lamine Sané, 4 – Used in the central position of the three defenders, Sané struggled to find his positioning, allowing space for Impact’s attackers in dangerous spot. The first goal came off his head after an unfortunate deflection as he tried to clear a blistering cross from Mancosu. On the second goal, he allowed Saphir Taider to turn around inside the penalty before he fed Piatti. He led the team in tackles (5), interceptions (5) and clearances (4), but the own goal he made, even though somewhat unfortunate, was a good summary of his overall shaky performance.

D, Jonathan Spector, 4.5 – The veteran had a subpar performance, as the entire team, and couldn’t handle Piatti when he dribbled the ball around the box. The captain had four tackles, two interceptions and one clearance and tried to help the team offensively pushing forward on the right flank, but couldn’t really contribute much.

MF, Donny Toia, 4.5 – The former Impact player got his second start of the season and was targeted by his former teammates at the beginning of the match as Montreal insisted on attacking from his side of the field. After that, he settled and had a quiet performance, with two tackles and one cross.

MF, Uri Rosell, 5 – The Spaniard was as clean as it gets with the ball, connecting 91.7% of his team-high 84 passes in the game, but he was pale defensively, failing to record a single tackle and helping with just one interception during the entire match. With just four men in the midfield, he needs to be more active, especially on the defensive end, to make the system work.

MF, Sacha Kljestan, 5 – The veteran seems to struggle with the new system as it not only exposes him defensively at times but also oftentimes makes him drop too deep to get on the ball in spots where opponents can easily surround him. Against a team well-organized in defense, he needed to bring some dynamism to Orlando’s offense and the only time he did that, combining with Dwyer for a give-and-go, he had the team’s best chance to equalize the match, missing just wide.

MF, Will Johnson, 4.5 – Playing on the right side of Orlando’s midfield line, the Canadian was invisible for most of the match with very limited contributions both offensively (one shot and one cross) and defensively (one tackle and two interceptions). He was taken off in the second half for Scott Sutter as the team needed a more effective offensive presence.

F, Justin Meram, 4 – Meram had a terrible offensive night as he completed just 77.4% of his passes and didn’t fire a single shot. He made the wrong choices too often and when that wasn’t the case, execution just wasn’t good enough. On a positive note was his commitment to help on the defensive end as he recorded two tackles in the game.  

F, Dom Dwyer, 4 – The striker was a victim of the team’s pale offensive performance as he was never put in a position where he could either score or create plays, but it also seemed Dom’s usual effort just wasn’t there tonight as he ended the match with just 28 touches and no shots fired.

F, Josué Colmán, 4.5 – The Paraguayan was the most active player of Orlando’s attacking line in the first half as he moved around the box constantly and tried to use his dribbling skills to create opportunities, with little success. In the second portion of the game, though, he was unassertive in the right wing.

Substitutes

MF, Chris Mueller (62’), 5.5 – The rookie came in during the second half and brought some energy to the team, trying to use his speed to create plays. He also combined with Kljestan and Dwyer, making them slightly more active players when he was on the field. He also drew a dangerous foul in the final minutes.

DF, Scott Sutter (66’), 6 (MotM) – The Swiss-English right back returned to action after more than two months and was tasked with giving the team more offensive power from the right side, which he successfully did. His best moment in the match was an accurate cross to Dwyer that the striker couldn’t finish. A few minutes later he had what could be a dangerous shot blocked by the Canadian side’s defense.

DF, PC (74’), 4 – The Brazilian tried to be more of an offensive treat than Toia, but he couldn’t contribute to the team and misplaced a good amount of his passes.

Please vote in the poll below to let us know who you think stood out above the rest on a disappointing night.

Polling Closed