Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

It was a great performance for Orlando City tonight, beating New York City FC 4-2 on the woodwork challenge. The Lions did, however, do a poor job in the soccer game itself, losing 2-0 at home. They took 21 shots but only five hit the target and NYCFC scored two goals in five minutes at the end of the first half to come away with all three points.

Starters

GK, Earl Edwards, Jr., 6 — Edwards was not at fault on either of the goals. After leaving the previous game with an ankle injury, he did what he had to do tonight, making three saves. His distribution was typical for what has been expected from the Landlord, although he did have a few turnovers, and the defeat says nothing of his performance. In the fifth minute, Edwards made a spectacular double save. Maxi Morález was on a breakaway after a turnover. Edwards made the first save and the ball fell right back to Morález, and the Landlord kept it out.

D, PC, 2 — By far the worst player on the field tonight and it started out early on. A bad pass in the fifth minute led to the NYCFC opportunity that needed an Edwards double save. He missed a great chance to open the scoring in the 17th minute from about 10 yards out. New York City’s second goal was PC’s fault, as he mistimed his challenge in the box, sliding into next year, as Anton Tinnerholm easily got past him, shot, and scored. PC did almost create a goal in the 50^th minute after good ball movement and ran up the field but the chance ended with a turnover in the final third. New York City got a goal that was called back for an offside in the 75th minute but PC got lucky as he was caught ball watching and Morález was wide open. In the dying minutes, he kept two NYCFC players onside. Luckily he made the tackle to stop the attack, but it could have been called for a foul. In his second start of the year, PC finished with 75% passing accuracy and three tackles.

D, Chris Schuler, 4.5 — Overall, the center back did not have a bad day. He made a few mistakes and it was not his best performance but not awful at all. In the fifth minute his poor touch from a PC back pass led to a one-on-one with Edwards. On the visitors’ first goal he had some poor defending and missed timed his tackle on Rodney Wallace, who took a shot and scored. He also hit the crossbar in the 78th minute on a deflected shot and finished the game with three tackles, one clearance, and one block.

D, Shane O’Neill, 6 — O’Neill was the best player on the field, and then he got himself sent off. He was the clear choice for the Man of the Match but he got ejected after video review for a tackle on Morález in the 83rd minute. It was a late challenge and Morález left the game afterwards. He made a great run down the field in the 43rd minute but was unable to control the ball after playing a one-two with Yoshi. He also made an absolute perfect sliding tackle in the 70th minute to save a golden opportunity for Tinnerholm to get a brace. O’Neill played 83 minutes, making two tackles, two interceptions, three clearances, and even got off two shots, albeit neither on target.

D, RJ Allen, 6.5 (MotM)— Allen was effective on both ends of the field. Defensively, he made two tackles and one clearance. He also provided three key passes, and put in six crosses, finishing with an 81% passing accuracy. In the 35th minute he stopped an NYCFC attack in the box after a Yoshi turnover. He was on the end of a late tackle from Ben Sweat around the 50th minute. The sliding challenge looked to have broken his leg but after receiving some treatment Allen ran back onto the field. He got down the field in the attacking end and then minutes later tracked all the way back to cover when PC got beat yet again.

MF, Will Johnson, 6.5 — Solid overall performance from Johnson. He did not make any clear errors tonight but he was also pretty quiet. He played central defensive midfield for the most part which helped him get a game high of five tackles while also adding an interception and two clearances. Johnson’s passing accuracy of 74% could have been better.

MF, Cristian Higuita, 5.5 — Higuita made a great pass in 17th minute. He faked a shot then played a great ball to PC, who couldn’t finish. The midfielder also had some great hustle in the 64th minute to get on the end of a loose, deflected ball. He got a head on it and looked to have been fouled but the ball went out for a goal kick and there was no call. That was his last kick of the game, as James O’Connor substituted the midfielder out for Tony Rocha. Higuita finished with a 79% passing accuracy.

MF, Chris Mueller, 4.5 — The rookie did not have many chances in the game and the ones that did come to him he did not do well with. It was a disappointing game. He should have scored in the 58^th minute but took just a half second too long and Alex Ring was able to come back to defend it out for a corner. He was not even credited with a shot there and finished the game with no shots at all and just 23 touches and eight passes.

MF, Sacha Kljestan, 6.5 — Kljestan drifted around a lot tonight and ended up on the ball a lot. He made a game-high five key passes, took two shots, and finished with an impressive 91% passing accuracy. Statistically, he was one of the best players on the field, and it certainly was a better performance today then he has had in many games this season, but he still needs to do more. He had a great chance at goal in the 47th minute but he opted to pass it out wide to Mueller instead of shooting and the opportunity was wasted.

MF, Yoshimar Yotún, 5 — Yoshi tried the same thing the entire game — shooting from distance — and it did not work once. Over and over he took long-range shots and most of his seven attempts were blocked. He hit the crossbar in 38th minute off a curling left-footed shot from distance. After a great spell of possession in the 61st minute, Yoshi ended up with the ball at the six-yard box. He should have scored but instead hit the post and then New York City went straight onto the counter. He ended the game with a game high 108 touches but did not have a big enough effect on the match. His turnover led to the second NYC goal.

F, Dom Dwyer, 5— Dwyer was extremely quiet tonight. He failed to score on six shots, of which just half hit the target, and it took until the 33rd minute for his first shot to come. He had a one-on-one with Sean Johnson in the 63rd minute, with all the time in the world, and hit the ‘keeper in the middle of the chest on what should have been an easy goal.

Substitutes

MF, Tony Rocha (67’), 4 — Simply put, Rocha came on to change the game and there was no difference from his entrance and it was essentially a waste of a substitute. He played 23 minutes, did not get off any shots nor make any tackles, and connected on just seven passes.

MF, Stéfano Pinho (71’), 5— The effort was there from Pinho tonight but that was about all. He made a good tackle right when he came on to stop Ismael Tajouri-Shradi from getting into a good position. He created two chances and had a passing accuracy of 90% on 10 passes.

MF, Josué Colmán (82’), N/A — Seven minutes after coming on Colmán joined in on the fun and hit the crossbar after his ball deflected off of Sweat. He also made two key passes in just eight minutes, which was tied for the third most on the team. He was able to get into the box often but was unable to produce anything from his attempts.

Polling Closed