Orlando City vs. Colorado Rapids: Player Grades and Man of the Match

Orlando City gained a hard-fought road point, drawing the Colorado Rapids 1-1 Wednesday night. Facundo Torres gave the Lions the lead in the 22nd minute, but Gyasi Zardes equalized in the 65th minute. If not for some excellent goalkeeping by Pedro Gallese, it could’ve been a multi-goal loss. Regardless, Orlando City will be happy to get out with a point.

Here’s a look at how the Lions did individually.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 8 (MotM) — Gallese had arguably his best game of the season in this one. The Peruvian international had six saves on the night and four were absolutely spectacular. Without Gallese’s heroics, not only would the Lions have lost, they would’ve lost by multiple goals. But the goalkeeper kept his team in the game and allowed them to claim what could be a valuable point.

D, Kyle Smith, 5 — Smith had a difficult night defending Sam Nicholson and Michael Barrios. The left back allowed too much space too often and had trouble keeping up with the midfielders. Defensively, Smith ended the game with three tackles, three clearances, two blocks, and one interception. Going forward, he completed 75.9% of his 29 passes and had one key pass. He also completed a team high seven of his eight long balls out of the back. He did have a nice long throw that led to Torres’ goal. But allowing multiple key balls into the box, including for the equalizing goal, is what will be remembered from Smith in this game.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — It wasn’t a great game by Jansson but it wasn’t a bad game either. The central defenders allowed Zardes behind too many times. It was Jansson allowing him through at the end of the game that forced Gallese into one of his great saves. The Swede had three tackles, one interception, two blocked shots, and one clearance. Offensively, he completed 86.4% of his 44 passes, one of which was a key pass, and five of his 10 long balls. In the final third, he recorded two off-target shots (one was blocked).

D, Antonio Carlos, 6 — Similar to Jansson, Carlos had a decent game but allowed Zardes behind too often. The main difference between the two defenders is that Carlos’ mistake resulted in a goal. Carlos did pick up the run through the middle, but he didn’t get ball side, allowing Zardes to get to the ball first and flick it past Gallese. He finished the game with one tackle, two interceptions, two blocked shots, and a team leading seven clearances. He completed 88.1% of his 59 passes, including one key pass, and completed three of his seven long balls. Additionally, he took one shot but it was off target.

D, Ruan, 5 — Like Smith, Ruan didn’t have his best game in Colorado. He was lucky not to be at fault for a goal in the 29th minute, when he left Jonathan Lewis wide open and wasn’t marking anyone in the attack. Fortunately, Lewis’ shot hit the post. Defensively, Ruan ended the game with one tackle and one clearance. He completed 81% of his 21 passes and didn’t have any key distributions.

MF, Benji Michel, 5.5  — This game showed the good and bad of Michel. In the opening minutes, the midfielder made a nice move to get past the defender and put a shot on target. While it wasn’t very dangerous for William Yarbrough, it made the goalkeeper make a save. However, bad Benji showed up in the 60th minute. After being sent through by Tesho Akindele, Michel either played a bad shot or bad pass to the back post that went out for a goal kick. That was the opportunity Orlando needed to convert to double the lead. Instead, moments later, the game was tied. Michel completed 80% of his 15 passes in this game and had one key pass. He took three shots, one of which was on target, and drew three fouls. Defensively, he contributed an interception and two clearances.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6.5— Araujo quietly had a solid night for the Lions. The defensive midfielder led the team with six tackles, adding to his two clearances, one interception, and one blocked shot. He completed 88.6% of his 44 passes but didn’t have any key passes. However, he completed four of his six long balls and drew two fouls.

MF, Junior Urso, 6 — Urso wore the armband for this game in place of Mauricio Pereyra, who had most of the night off. He had 41 touches in the midfield and completed 92.6% of his 27 passes, none of which were key passes. He took two shots and put one on target. Urso also helped out defensively with a pair of tackles and drew four fouls while fouling twice.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6.5 — This was one of Torres’ better games since joining the club at the beginning of the season. His biggest contribution was his 22nd minute goal, in which he slammed a touch from Alexandre Pato under the crossbar for the opener. Apart from the goal, Torres completed 76.9% of his 26 attacking passes and had one key pass. The goal was one of two shots he took and the only one that was on target. He completed three dribbles in the game and drew four fouls, tied for the team lead.

MF, Alexandre Pato, 5.5 — Pato was better in this game than he’s been in recent weeks, actually putting a shot on target. He was credited with assisting the goal by Torres, but it was a lucky assist as it was a bad touch and Torres just happened to be in the right place to avoid a turnover. Pato only completed 57.1% of his seven passes but did have three key passes, a team high. His four crosses were second on the team in this game but only one of them was accurate.

F, Tesho Akindele, 5.5 — Akindele isn’t the goal-scoring type of forward for Orlando City and wasn’t one Wednesday night. He completed 69.2% of his 13 passes, but had one key pass on the flick to Michel that should’ve resulted in a great opportunity. However, that was his one real contribution to the game as he took only one shot and it was off target.

Substitutes

MF, Mauricio Pereyra (56’), 5.5 — The Lions’ captain got most of the day off, only playing the last 34 minutes. He completed 93.8% of his 16 passes and had one key pass. He also led the team with five crosses, but none of them were on target. Pereyra didn’t take any successful dribbles after coming on and was dispossessed a team-leading three times.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel (71’), 6 — Schlegel came on with 19 minutes to go as Oscar Pareja decided to go to a back five. While the Lions were looking to claim a point, this was also probably because of the poor defending by Smith and Ruan. Schlegel didn’t have any defensive stats, but completed 77.8% of nine passes and had one key pass going forward. He also had a run that drew a foul and set up an opportunity for the Lions late.

D, Michael Halliday (78’), 5 — Halliday came on for Ruan with 12 minutes to go and didn’t have much of an impact. He didn’t have any defensive plays and only had 10 touches on the ball. He completed 71.4% of his seven passes and had one off-target cross. His last three passes were particularly poor, with one putting Pereyra in a bad spot and two wasting potential opportunities in the attack to grab a late winner.

MF, Andres Perea (78’), N/A — During the same window in which Halliday came on, Perea replaced Torres in a defensive move. The midfielder only touched the ball five times and completed three of his five passes. Other than that, Perea didn’t have any impact on the game.

That’s how I saw Orlando City’s individual performances in the team’s 1-1 draw with Colorado. Let us know how you saw the game in the comments and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match below.

Polling Closed