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Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Final Score 3-3 as Lions Fight Back Twice

Lions come from behind to draw but suffer a bit of a blow in the playoff race by gaining no ground.

Published

5 years ago

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Deon Cooper, The Mane Land

Orlando City gave up three first-half goals but fought back twice to draw 3-3 with the New England Revolution at Exploria Stadium. The draw helped Orlando (9-13-9, 36 points) gain a point on Montreal but the Lions lost ground to Chicago and didn’t make up any on the Revs (10-10-10, 40 points) — the holders of the last playoff spot.

Failing to secure all three points makes a playoff appearance even more unlikely for an Orlando team that is winless in its last five (0-2-3). On the other hand, the Revolution have still never won in Orlando in six attempts in MLS play (0-2-4) and seven in all competitions (0-3-4).

The Lions fought back from Tesho Akindele’s early own goal on a Nani strike before Cristian Penilla and Gustavo Bou gave the Revs a seemingly insurmountable halftime lead. But a resilient Orlando side bounced back on goals by Dom Dwyer and Nani and had a couple of opportunities to score a fourth and win the game.

“Incredibly proud of the second-half performance,” Head Coach James O’Connor said after the game. “That was incredible when you look at the guts and you look at the quality. On another night we end up winning it.

“The second half after about 15 minutes, when it went to 3-3, then the game really opens up. They have a couple of chances and we have some chances. I think to be 3-1 down and come back out second half and fight like that, the players deserve enormous credit.”

O’Connor had Mauricio Pereyra available, so he started the Uruguayan in the midfield with Nani left and Akindele right behind Dwyer. The back line remained the three usual starters from right to left with Kyle Smith at left back in front of Brian Rowe. The central midfield consisted of Cristian Higuita and Carlos Ascues.

Orlando had a half chance just two minutes in, as Akindele got the ball on the left, but after taking a bit of a heavy touch, the defense recovered and he was forced to try to work around it for a shot, which he eventually did but it was blocked.

New England sent in a couple of warning signs after that with Penilla fizzing a cross through the box that none of his teammates could get onto and then Carles Gil sent one just wide from long distance.

The Revs then grabbed the lead in the 15th minute on a cross. Akindele stuck out a leg to block it and he knocked it off the post and into his own net to make it 1-0 New England.

“Own goal is never easy to judge,” Sané said. “I think it’s unlucky. He tried to do his best.”

Akindele’s own goal made Orlando City’s teams three for three on the weekend, with OCB scoring a game-winning own goal for Toronto FC II yesterday and the Pride’s Kristen Edmonds conceding one at North Carolina earlier tonight. You really can’t make stuff like this up.

The Lions fought back and scored seven minutes later. Pereyra sent in a cross on a corner and Nani headed it into the far corner of the net to make it 1-1 in the 22nd minute.

The Revolution regained the lead in the 35th minute on a play that seemed harmless. A through ball found Penilla but Ruan was in good position to cut him off. However, Rowe had come far off his line, not anticipating his fullback would be in position to close down the forward. Penilla got to the ball just before Ruan and chipped Rowe with his first touch to make it 2-1.

Akindele got down the right side in the 40th minute with a couple of potential targets in the box but his pass was picked off and the chance evaporated. That was costly because the Revs scored their third goal a minute later.

A simple pass to Bou from Gil resulted in a quick shot that Lamine Sané was unable to block and it beat Rowe to the near side to make it 3-1, seemingly putting the game away just before the half.

Ruan was fouled in the corner to set up a late City free kick, which the Lions played short to Higuita, who blasted it off target.

The Lions out-shot the Revs, 8-6, but got only one on target to New England’s two. The Revs held 53% of the possession and out-passed the Lions (84%-78%).

Orlando got right back in the game after the break. Just two minutes after the restart, Dwyer played a ball out wide to Ruan, who dropped off to Nani. The captain had time on the ball, so he looked up and fired a cross to Dwyer, who ducked down and headed it inside the far post to make it 3-2 in the 47th minute. It was Dwyer’s first goal since July 7 at Philadelphia and his sixth of the 2019 season.

Orlando pushed numbers into the attack, which opened the game up and allowed New England the occasional counter, but O’Connor said after the game that the team had to play that type of game to get back in it and try to go on and win. The first such dangerous counter saw Penilla hit a sky ball with a gaping net in the 48th minute. The Revs were dangerous down the right side, getting in behind Smith repeatedly and crossing in threateningly for Penilla and Bou.

But it was the Lions who scored the next goal. Nani found some space at the top of the area, cutting the ball right, then left, and firing just inside the right post with a left-footed blast in the 54th minute.

“I think (Nani’s) quality is there for everyone to see,” O’Connor said of his captain, who finished with two goals, an assist, seven shots and five chances created. “His performance tonight was outstanding, especially the second half when he went to that central area. His shot from distance, his ability to drop balls in behind. It was great.”

With two goals and an assist in the game, Nani set a new Orlando MLS record for combined goals and assists in a season, with 12 and nine, respectively. His combined 21 goal contributions broke the mark shared by Kaká and Kevin Molino, who each had a combined 19 in 2016.

Penilla fired straight at Rowe in the 59th on another Revs counter and then Orlando got three golden opportunities for a fourth goal in the 62nd minute. Nani played a ball over the top that Akindele ran onto but the ball was in the air and he didn’t make good contact, sending a weak shot that Matt Turner knocked down. Dwyer sent a shot back toward the net and Turner again fought it off. The ball fell for second-half sub Sebas Mendez, but the Ecuadorian fired wide of the net.

Sané made several vital challenges throughout the second half to keep the game tied. With Ruan pushing forward and New England knocking long balls over the top for Penilla and Bou to run onto, Sané was forced into several emergency 1-v-1 recovery runs and did outstanding work throughout the second half to prevent breakaways from turning into goals. His work in the 74th minute after Smith again got beat for speed down the right was incredible.

“He’s very, very fast like Ruan,” Sané said of Penilla. “Our fastest one has to go very high and take the risk and I told him ‘OK I’m going to cover your back and take the risk to make the 1-v-1’ and I was lucky tonight to stop him. But I think we have to take more risk like that if we want to do better.”

Ruan sent a cross into the area in the 75th minute that was halfway between Dwyer and Turner. Both players stabbed a foot at it and the ball was sent wide, but a foul was called on Dwyer on the play. The contact momentarily shook up the Orlando striker and he was replaced by Santiago Patino. Three minutes later, Higuita smashed a shot that Turner fought off.

In the 80th minute Nani sent a gorgeous ball to spring Patino behind the defense. The rookie fired but Turner got a toe on the ball and it pinged off the far post.

Rowe made his best save of the night in the 84th minute. Sané got beat for speed by Penilla and could do nothing but watch as the New England attacker fired a ball that Rowe stopped. It wasn’t the best shot by Penilla, but the save was vital.

The Lions could not get anything on target in the seven minutes of stoppage time and the game ended all even at 3-3.

With a big second half, Orlando finished with more shots (19-15), shots on goal (7-6), and possession (53%-47%), and closed the gap on the Revolution’s passing advantage, with New England completing 84% and Orlando rising to 80% overall.

“We wanted to win. We wanted three points,” Nani said. “We knew this was the most important game for us. That was our final. But we are a team who is learning a lot (and) is improving. Tonight we showed our best performance in the second half. We must take all the good things we did tonight.”

“I think we had nothing to lose, so I think that’s why maybe we played better,” Sané said. “I think the second half we gave everything.”

Orlando City dropped to 10th in the standings, one point behind Chicago and Montreal, and still four behind the Revs in the last Eastern Conference playoff spot.

The Lions now go on the road for two games, with the Houston Dynamo first up. That game will be next Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. CF Montreal, Leagues Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions begin their 2024 Leagues Cup quest at home against Montreal.

Published

28 mins ago

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July 26, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread for a Friday night Leagues Cup matchup between Orlando City and CF Montreal at Inter&Co Stadium (8 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). It’s the first match of the competition for both teams, and tonight’s game marks the third time the two Eastern Conference sides will meet this season. The teams split the points in both regular-season matchups, drawing both times. More on that later.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

The Lions are 8-9-5 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 9-10-5 in all competitions since they joined MLS. OCSC is 4-4-3 in its home stadium against Montreal and 5-4-3 in the greater Orlando area when including a win in the knockout rounds of the MLS is Back Tournament in 2020.

The two sides last met in Montreal on April 20, trading goals back and forth in a 2-2 draw at Stade Saputo. Mason Toye opened the scoring early but Facundo Torres equalized from the spot a few minutes later. Ariel Lassiter appeared to win it late in normal time for the hosts, but Ivan Angulo struck in stoppage time to earn Orlando City a road point. These teams opened the 2024 season against each other in Orlando and played to a 0-0 draw. The Lions dominated the stat sheet but had a goal waved off for offside and simply weren’t lethal enough in front of goal.

The teams met twice in 2023, completing the season series on Sept. 30, 2023, with the Lions winning 3-0 in dominant fashion. Jonathan Sirois’ own goal opened the scoring, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Torres added strikes for Orlando City. That was a good measure of revenge for OCSC, after Montreal defeated Orlando City 2-0 and handed the Lions their first road loss of the 2023 MLS season on May 6 at Stade Saputo. A Robin Jansson own goal got Montreal started in the second half and Romell Quioto added a second goal four minutes later.

These two sides played their biggest game against each other in the 2022 MLS playoffs, with CF Montreal knocking Orlando City out of the postseason by a 2-0 scoreline on Oct. 16, with goals by Ismael Kone and Djordje Mihailovic — the latter coming deep in stoppage time from the penalty spot.

Each team won at home in the two-game, regular-season series in 2022, with Montreal thumping Orlando 4-1 on May 7. Joel Waterman, Mihailovic, Joaquin Torres, and Zachary Brault-Guillard did the damage on the scoreboard and Orlando City managed just two shot attempts, with Joao Moutinho’s goal on a set piece helping the Lions avoid a shutout. Orlando City did not have either starting center back for that match, and it showed. The teams also met on opening day of the 2022 season, when Orlando City captured a 2-0 home win behind second-half goals from Alexandre Pato and Benji Michel.

In 2021, the teams met in Montreal on Decision Day, with the Lions earning a 2-0 road victory at Stade Saputo to clinch a playoff spot. Sebas Mendez and Daryl Dike provided the goals. That season’s matchup in Orlando came on Oct. 20, 2021, with the visitors managing a 1-1 draw. Chris Mueller struck for the Lions just before halftime, but Rudy Camacho answered on a corner kick header shortly after the restart. The first meeting of 2021 took place Sept. 15 in Orlando with the Lions falling 4-2 and finishing the game with just nine men after both Nani and Andres Perea were sent off. Quioto led Montreal with a goal and two assists. Mathieu Choiniere and Quioto put Montreal up 2-0, but despite already being down one man, Jansson and Ruan tied things up. The visitors got two more from Lassi Lappalainen and Sunusi Ibrahim.

The teams met at Red Bull Arena in late 2020 as the team then known as the Montreal Impact played home games in New Jersey due to the pandemic. Orlando City got a Dike goal in the 39th minute to win 1-0 on Nov. 1, 2020. It was the second meeting of the 2020 season, with Orlando also beating Montreal 1-0 in the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds on July 25 to advance to the quarterfinals. Tesho Akindele scored the game’s only goal on a Montreal defensive mistake.

Orlando City snapped a six-game winless streak against Montreal (0-5-1) in MLS regular-season play dating back to 2016 when the Lions put the Impact to the sword in a 3-0 drubbing at Stade Saputo on June 1, 2019. Nani (penalty), Akindele, and Will Johnson supplied the offense that day. The Lions fell 3-1 at Exploria Stadium back on March 16, 2019, and Ignacio Piatti was a big reason why, scoring his ninth and 10th career goals against Orlando, adding to a strike by Orji Okwonkwo. Dom Dwyer added a cosmetic goal late for Orlando City to spoil the clean sheet.

Montreal did not allow a goal against the Lions in 2018, sweeping the two-game set from Orlando, and the Impact shut out Orlando City in three of the six meetings in that 5-0-1 run. The lone draw in that time frame was a 3-3 shootout in Orlando in 2017, in which the Impact led deep in stoppage time, only to see Jonathan Spector’s well-placed header steal the Lions a point.

Orlando won the first two meetings in 2016 by a combined score of 6-2. The teams split three meetings in 2015, with each going 1-1-1.

Match Overview

Orlando City enters this match on a five-game unbeaten run (4-0-1). The Lions are coming off a tightly contested 1-1 home draw against New York City FC on Saturday. The only Orlando goal was provided by Ramiro Enrique, but the Lions conceded a Hannes Wolf strike five minutes later. Enrique is in fine form, having scored goals in each of his last four games. Regardless of Orlando’s form, this competition is not part of the MLS regular season, so it’s difficult to know how teams and players will approach it. In addition, it’s not like the Lions have lit it up at home in 2024, amassing a poor record of 3-5-4 at Inter&Co Stadium. However, the Lions have been better of late, going 2-0-1 in their last three at home.

Montreal sits four spots and seven points behind Orlando in the Eastern Conference standings at the Leagues Cup break, struggling to defend in 2024. CF Montreal has allowed 49 goals this season, which is just one fewer than D.C. United’s conference-worst 50. The Canadian club, which is coming off a 1-0 home loss to rival Toronto on Saturday, is 2-7-4 on the road this season and is 0-7-3 in its last 10 road games against MLS competition (0-7-4 on the road in all competitions in its last 11).

A new competition offers hope for both teams, especially Montreal. There is not as much pressure to get a result for the underdog visitors, and it’s a chance to reset and chase a trophy. Ibrahim and old nemesis Josef Martinez are offensive players the Lions must account for, as they are Montreal’s leaders with six and five goals, respectively. Former Lion Ruan will present enough speed to keep up with Orlando City’s Angulo, so that will be an interesting battle to keep an eye on tonight (assuming both play).

“First, we are very excited to participate in this tournament. Last year, I thought it was a successful one, and the experience we had playing the two leagues was good,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “We played against Houston [Dynamo] and Santos [Laguna], which is one of the best teams in Mexico, and the experience was good. Overall, we are preparing and respecting the tournament as much as we can. Everyone is excited to be a part of it.”

As of this writing, it doesn’t appear that availability reports will be a thing for the Leagues Cup, but it’s fair to say the Lions will be without Duncan McGuire (international duty), Mason Stajduhar (lower leg), and Michael Halliday (knee).

Match Content

Projected Lineups:

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.

Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, Facundo Torres.

Forward: Ramiro Enrique.

CF Montreal (3-4-2-1)

Goalkeeper: Jonathan Sirois.

Defenders: Joaquin Sosa, Fernando Alvarez, Joel Waterman.

Midfielders/Wingbacks: Raheem Edwards, Mathieu Choiniere, Samuel Piette, Ruan.

Attacking Midfielders: Ariel Lassiter, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint.

Forward: Josef Martinez.

Referees:

REF: Adonai Escobedo González.
AR1: Enrique Bustos Díaz.
AR2: Enedina Caudillo Gómez.
4TH: Lizzet Garcia Olvera.
VAR: Melissa Borjas Pastrana.

How to Watch

Match Time: 8 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.

Radio: FM 96.9 The Game (English).

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Orlando City

Examining the Sustainability of Ramiro Enrique’s Scoring Explosion

Is Ramiro Enrique’s scoring outburst sustainable, or is a regression to the mean on the horizon?

Published

1 hour ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Since Orlando City’s 5-0 thumping of D.C. United back on July 6, Ramiro Enrique has tapped into a red-hot vein of form. He’s got four goals in four games, matching his scoring output from the entirety of the 2023 season, and doing so in four matches and 245 minutes, as compared to 30 matches and 1,019 minutes last year. That brings us to the big question: is this sort of output sustainable?

We’ll start by looking at the expected goals on each of his four tallies. While xG isn’t a perfect statistic, it provides a fairly good measure of how good a chance is. To get a clearer picture, we’ll also take a look at each goal to help gauge how difficult the chance is.

Against D.C. United, Enrique latched onto a flicked-on header from a corner kick and used a header of his own to score the Lions’ fifth and final goal of the night. That strike had an xG of 0.1. In truth, that number seems a bit low to me, as once Enrique’s in front of his defender, he has the whole net to aim at, and the ball comes in at a great height for him to get his head on it. He makes no mistake and sticks it into the side netting, where the goalkeeper has no hope of reaching it.

Against the New England Revolution, the Argentine again scored from a corner, sneaking in front of goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic and flicking the ball past him before he could collect Cesar Araujo’s header. His second goal of the season had an xG of 0.4. That number seems more reasonable to me. Once he does the hard work of losing his marker and getting across Ivacic, the goalkeeper is helpless to stop any ball that isn’t coming straight at him, and it’s a good finish.

Against Nashville, he collected a pass from Ivan Angulo a few yards outside of the six-yard box and blasted it off the crossbar and in. The tight angle from which he scored means the xG of 0.04 isn’t too surprising. Once again, Enrique managed to lose his defender and got himself into a really nice area of open space. The finish is outstanding, but it wouldn’t have been surprising to see a save or shot off target from this angle.

His fourth goal of the year had elements of skill and luck, as he redirected Martin Ojeda’s shot against NYCFC. The effort from Ojeda took a deflection off Enrique that caught the goalkeeper leaning the wrong way and had enough pace to carry it into the net, for an xG of 0.11. Again, I’m surprised the number is as high as it is. That’s probably due to the deflection happening in the box and leaving Matt Freese next to no time to react. While it was a clever touch to redirect it, there was also a good deal of luck involved.

Those totals add up to 0.65. In other words, Enrique would be estimated to score 0.65 goals off those chances (or one, rounding up, as there are no fractions of goals), and he instead bagged four. There are a couple ways you can view that. The optimist would say that he’s simply a good finisher and has been making the most of the chances that have come his way, even when they aren’t very good ones. The pessimist would say that him converting low percentage chances at this rate isn’t sustainable, and he’s due to regress back to the mean soon.

We can also look at the bigger picture of his statistics up to this point in the year. Across 11 games and 483 minutes, Enrique has taken 18 shots, put nine of them on target, and scored from four of those. He’s also got a season xG of 3.52, which is pretty much in line with his goal total of four, although he’s slightly outperforming it. That isn’t a bad thing though, as the best strikers score difficult chances too, not just the easy ones. Cristian Arango, Christian Benteke, and Denis Bouanga are the top three scorers in the league, and Bouanga is the only one not outperforming his xG (17.68 xG compared to 16 goals).

In my opinion, the truth of Enrique’s case lies somewhere in between. He’s put 50% of his shots on target this year, which is a great number, and getting the ball on frame is half the battle in this sport, so that’s an encouraging place to start. Each of his first three goals in 2024 came as a result of getting into space in a dangerous area and making no mistake with his finish once the ball arrived. Against D.C., he did well to get in front of his defender. In New England, he snuck in from the blind side of the defense. And against Nashville, he found space in the box and stayed onside until Angulo was able to find him. That sort of movement and ability to get yourself into dangerous areas is something that can be replicated, even if finishing low-percentage chances like the strikes against Nashville and NYCFC probably isn’t.

If Enrique continues being clever with his movement and finding dangerous spaces, Orlando’s offense has begun to look fluid enough that his teammates will find ways to get him the ball. As long as he keeps getting shots on frame and his finishing stays sharp, it isn’t unreasonable to assume that he’ll grab some more goals this year. It probably won’t be at the rate he’s done so in July, but if nothing else, he should be able to provide some extra firepower to an OCSC attack that has woken up in recent weeks. Keep your fingers crossed, folks. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 7/26/24

Orlando City plays CF Montreal tonight, USWNT wins against Zambia, Marta provides assist in Brazil’s win, and more.

Published

4 hours ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Mark Thor

Happy Friday! I hope the work week has gone easy on you as we get ready for a weekend filled to the brim with soccer to enjoy. The Olympic opening ceremony is also today, and I’m interested to see what the organizers in Paris have come up with. But for now, let’s get this Friday started with today’s links!

Orlando City Takes On CF Montreal Tonight

The Leagues Cup kicks off today and Orlando City will host CF Montreal tonight in its first of two group games. The Lions will then take on Atletico de San Luis on Aug. 4. It’s worth noting that these games will go into a penalty shootout if the score remains level after 90 minutes, with the winner of the shootout getting an extra point. The top two teams of each group advance to the next round and Orlando will play the Philadelphia Union, Cruz Azul, or Charlotte FC if it survives the group stage.

USWNT Beats Zambia in Summer Olympic Opener

The United States Women’s National Team started its Olympic campaign with a dominant 3-0 win against Zambia. The USWNT’s attack looked free and dangerous, with Trinity Rodman striking first and Mallory Swanson scoring twice in quick succession to give the USWNT a comfortable lead. Those goals also came before Zambia was reduced to 10 players after a red card to Pauline Zulu. The Orlando Pride’s Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda both started for Zambia, although Chanda was subbed out in the first half when Zambia had to make changes due to the red card.

There is some bad news along with the good for the USWNT though. Jaedyn Shaw missed out on playing in the opener due to a leg injury, and Sophia Smith had to exit in the 42nd minute.

Marta Assists in Brazil’s Olympic Win

The USWNT was far from the only team to win its first game of this year’s Olympics, as there were no draws after the first round of games. Pride star Marta provided the assist on Brazil’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Nigeria. Marta did well to pick out Gabi Nunes from a tough angle, and the striker had a great first touch and strike to put it away. Pride defender Rafaelle helped secure the shutout, with Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena coming up with huge saves as well. Elsewhere in Group C, Spain’s Aitana Bonmati had a goal and an assist in her team’s 2-1 win against Japan.

New Zealand struck first against Canada in Group A, but the Canadians rallied to come back and win 2-1. France scored three goals in the first half and survived a rally from Colombia in the second half to win 3-2. Germany may have had the most impressive win so far, beating a talented Australian side 3-0.

Analyzing New Zealand Ahead of Olympic Clash

The United States Men’s Olympic Soccer Team will aim to bounce back from a loss to France when it faces New Zealand on Saturday. New Zealand beat Guinea in its first game and is coached by Darren Bazeley, who led New Zealand to the knockout stage of the 2023 U-20 World Cup. Minnesota United center back Michael Boxall and Viking FK midfielder Joe Bell are two of New Zealand’s overage players and give the team some stability. Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, who joined Bournemouth this summer, is capable of coming up with acrobatic saves to give the U.S. fits as well. As for New Zealand’s attack, midfielder Sarpreet Singh and striker Ben Waine are a couple of the dynamic players the U.S. will have to keep in check.

Bev Priestman Removed From Canadian Olympic Team

Canada will have to go the rest of the Olympics without Head Coach Bev Priestman, who was removed from the team by the Canadian Olympic Committee. This decision comes amid a scandal involving spying on New Zealand’s training, which led to Canada Soccer suspending Priestman for the rest of the tournament. Reports have also surfaced that Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have tried to spy on opponents for years, including during the women’s team’s winning campaign in the 2021 Olympics. Only time will tell if Priestman will coach the team after this tournament and if punishments for the team’s actions will be handed out.

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That’s all I have for you today. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend. Enjoy the Olympics!

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