Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Player Grades and Man of the Match

It was another loss, another shutout, and another game that was absolute torture to watch, as Orlando City fell 2-0 at Gillette Stadium to the New England Revolution. The Revs were dominant all night and City was hemmed into its own end throughout the match. Orlando hasn’t scored in five matches and seem unlikely to see a win the rest of the year, if I’m being honest.

However, I’m still responsible for grading the individual performances, so I’ll do my best to do so. A disjointed team isn’t going to see a lot of the ball, which makes it more difficult. Here we go.

Starters

GK, Adam Grinwis, (MotM) 7.5 — It was a pretty good night for the young goalkeeper. I don’t think he could have done much with either goal. The first took a deflection and went just inside the far post and the second was a free runner who volleyed it out of the air into the corner. He finished with four good saves on six shots. Adam got involved early coming out of his area to barely beat Teal Bunbury to a long pass and break it up. He made a good save on Diego Fagundez in the seventh minute on a shot through traffic, getting down and keeping his hand strong. He made a howler of a bad pass in the ninth minute on a goal kick to hand Fagundez an opportunity but the shot was blocked. He made another big save in the 11th minute on Penilla after an initial block by Sutter came back to the Revs’ forward. He made two more vital saves in the 75th and 84th minutes to keep the score respectable.

D, RJ Allen, 6 — It was a fairly quiet return to the lineup for Allen through the first half. He did make one nice play to head a ball away from Teal Bunbury back to Grinwis in the 38th minute. With five tackles, three clearances and an interception it was a busy night on the defensive end but Allen wasn’t able to get forward often and wasn’t effective when he did. He hit 72% of his passes but only attempted one cross.

D, Lamine Sané, 5 — Sané had a busy first half with six clearances as the Lions’ defense was constantly under pressure from the Revs. He seemed too reluctant to come out and challenge Cristian Penilla on the first New England goal even though he was the closest man. His passing was off, at just 60% and 1/6 on long balls, He had three interceptions after the half and two more clearances but I think he just wore down under the relentless New England pressure.

D, Shane O’Neill, 5.5 — Like his central defense partner he was busy throughout the first half, making two recoveries with two interceptions and a blocked shot and a tackle through the opening 45 minutes. He added an interception and four clearances after halftime and led the center backs in passing accuracy (74%). Surprisingly, he created one scoring opportunity while up for a set piece.

D, Scott Sutter, 6 — The Swiss-English fullback did well to block a shot in the 11th minute on a dangerous attack by Cristian Penilla. He had one cross in the first half but he popped it up trying a chip pass but it was easily cut out. He may have been able to cut back a pass to Chris Mueller on the play. At 76% he was the best passer on the back line but he was only 1/5 on long balls and 0/1 on cross attempts. Sutter finished with four tackles, an interception, two clearances and two blocked shots.

MF, Carlos Ascues, 5.5 — The Peruvian slotted into the left side of a three-man back line and had a mixed night. He nearly opened his account in the 16th minute when his thundering header flew toward goal on a corner kick but it was saved off the line by a Revs defender. He also had three blocks, two clearances, an interception and a recovery in the first half. He should have done better with a scoring chance in the 78th minute but fired wide after he was slipped in behind the defense. He blocked another shot and had three tackles in the second half. His passing was poor (60%) and he didn’t produce a key pass. But his two shot attempts tied Mueller for tops on the team.

MF, Tony Rocha, 5.5 — Tony had some good moments in the match and others in which he looked a bit overmatched. He did well to throw his body in the way of a shot by Luis Caicedo in the 17th minute to block a shot. Rocha produced a good corner kick service that nearly led to a goal, picking out Ascues early. He created two chances got a curling shot on target in the second half that forced a good save, and passed at a 79% rate which was good enough to lead the team on this night. Defensively he chipped in four tackles and a blocked shot. He was dispossessed twice and at times disappeared from the game but it’s a performance he can build off of.

MF, Chris Mueller, 5 — Once again the rookie put in a night of work but not much came of it. He had two shots in the first half but one was blocked and the other was a weak dribbler right at the keeper. He gets into good spots but often frustratingly slows play down and allows defenders to get into position and it can wreck the attack. He did well to win a free kick from distance in the 45th minute with a strong run. He had no shots in the second half but did create a scoring chance. His passing rate was only 50% and on just 16 attempts. He had one interception.

MF, Will Johnson, 5 — We saw the normal work rate from Johnson, hanging back and playing a defensive role in what appeared to be mostly a 3-5-2. In the 48th minute he did well to bust his hump tracking back to break up a New England attack. He was late getting out on Penilla on the first Revs goal and probably should have been closer to Fagundez on the second. He finished with two interceptions, three clearances, and a blocked shot but offered nothing going forward and passed at a pedestrian 62% accuracy.

MF, Richie Laryea, 4.5 — The young Canadian was largely invisible in the first half except for a failed clearance in the 24th minute and a poor free kick conceded in the 35th. His six tackles were good and his 73% passing rate certainly wasn’t the worst on the team, but he disappeared for long periods, attempted one shot (off target), and seemed to lack ideas in the final third.

F, Josué Colmán, 4.5 — The Paraguayan was sloppy with the ball early, giving the ball away. He made some of the same mistakes we’ve seen earlier this season, holding the ball too long in traffic and losing it. He did finish with three key passes and was 2/2 on crosses, firing one shot (on target), but there were too many times he lost the ball needlessly or seemed hesitant to take on individual defenders and ended up between several instead. He also didn’t defend much despite the amount of possession New England had, finishing with one tackle.

Substitutes

MF, Sacha Kljestan (68’), 4.5 — His 78% passing wasn’t bad but it didn’t seem like Sacha ever got into rhythm after coming on for Mueller. He attempted no shots, made one tackle, and drew one foul, but he didn’t have much impact on the match.

MF, Cristian Higuita (69’), 5 — Cristian sent in a terrific ball to spring Ascues in the 78th minute. Aside from his one key pass he didn’t do a lot. He finished without any defensive stats, which is rare for the Colombian, and his 73% passing rate is poor for him as well.

Welp, that’s the way the game looked to me. It would be easy to give everyone really low scores because it was another poor effort without much possession or many opportunities, but I can’t blame individuals for team defending, which is the main reason the Revs had so much of the ball. I tried to weigh how well the players held up not having much of the ball against their poor passing and what I came up with was a lot of average except for Grinwis, who was good. Here’s the poll. Have at it.

Polling Closed