Orlando City played two matches Saturday against the Chicago Fire and the first one was the problematic one. The Lions saw goalkeeper Pedro Gallese give up an uncharacteristic howler to end all howlers just five minutes in, then fell apart for a span of less than two minutes just past the half-hour mark to dig a 3-0 hole. It was a brutal way to start the match.

From there, the Lions dominated play. While it’s true Chicago had a comfortable lead and didn’t need to take any chances, Orlando City pressed the issue, and it’s doubtful the visitors felt comfortable facing nearly 30 shots the rest of the way. Alex Freeman found the net to put Orlando on the scoreboard, and another would have put more pressure on the Fire.

That second goal never happened, but the Lions came tantalizingly close several times — most notably when Luis Muriel blasted a shot off the crossbar in the 65th minute. Marco Pasalic’s threaded ball through traffic skipped just wide in the 52nd minute, and Ramiro Enrique came close in the 62nd and 75th minutes, only to see Chris Brady make a pair of excellent saves to prevent an Orlando City comeback. Sometimes, regardless of the sour taste it leaves in your mouth, you’ve got to tip your cap to a great performance by the opposition, and Brady was the star of the match.

Without that second goal, Orlando was never in position to pressure Chicago down the stretch and possibly take something from the game. The month of May gave fans plenty to cheer about, even if it ended with a thud. We now look forward to a June slate of matches that sees the Lions at home just once and gives everyone a chance to take a breath.

Despite the outcome Saturday, we hope you enjoy these images from another hot night at Inter&Co Stadium.

Images: Dan MacDonald
Words: Michael Citro

The Orlando Pride started Friday’s game against the first-place Kansas City Current on the front foot, and at first seemed like it would be an entertaining, open game between two high-quality opponents. Unfortunately, the game faded, and once Kansas City found a goal right after the intermission, the Current bunkered in and it felt like both teams were playing underwater for much of the second half. Given the temperature and lack of air movement at field level, it may have literally felt that way to the players as well.

Barbra Banda forced a good save in the first minute and had a second shot blocked, as Orlando created a few good chances over the first 15 minutes. As has become a trend of late, the Pride were unable to capitalize, however, and the Current became more organized as the half progressed. At the same time, the Pride got sloppy playing the ball out of their own end, turning the ball over repeatedly through the first half. However, Orlando was able to defend well in the opening 45 minutes, despite setting the visitors up repeatedly. The Pride made a late surge as the end of the half approached but again could not capitalize.

Shortly after the restart for the second half, the Current made the Pride pay for their inability to convert early, with Kylie Nadaner’s poor touch turning what should have been a comfortable recovery into a 1-v-1 for Temwa Chawinga, who finished past Anna Moorhouse for the game’s only goal. With the lead, Kansas City sat back and played for counter opportunities, knowing the Pride had to press forward for an equalizer. While Orlando held a lot of the ball and sent some dangerous balls into the area, the Pride were not able to find the right final pass or get shots on frame, ultimately suffering their third loss of the season.

We hope you enjoy this album of images from a hard-fought match between two of the top teams in the NWSL.

The pregame lightning around the stadium must have struck Martín Ojeda, as he tallied Orlando City’s first hat trick since the club’s inaugural year in MLS. However, New England punished the Lions’ defensive lapses again, allowing the visitors to draw level twice for an unsatisfying draw.

Most of the first half was well controlled by the Lions, with Marco Pašalić and Alex Freeman getting the ball forward with ease. The home side could not find a finish until Ojeda finally smashed home a missile of a shot off the bottom of the crossbar in the 24th minute. Then in the 28th minute, Joran Gerbet played Ojeda through on a lovely one-touch line breaker, and he proceeded to baffle the two defenders that managed to bet back and beat the keeper for a 2-0 lead.

While the Lions were cruising at this point, apparently it went to their heads, as they allowed New England to pull their shape apart in the 38th minute to pull one back. That wasn’t enough of a wake-up call, and the Lions allowed a header from a short corner in the 45th minute to erase their lead heading into the half.

Coming out of the locker room, Orlando seemed to regain focus, mostly dominating the game for the first 30 minutes of the second half as well. One of the chances earned Gerbet a boot to the head, which after video review was finally awarded as a penalty (but mysteriously, not a yellow card). But the Lions could not close out the second half either, with a sequence of poor judgements earning yellow cards for David Brekalo and César Araujo and tiling the refereeing tolerance against Orlando. This may have played into the awarding of a penalty when Robin Jansson may have lightly clipped the heel of Ignatius Ganago at the corner of the six-yard box. The penalty stood after a lengthy review, and it was converted to re-tie the game.

Orlando woke up again and pushed forward, looking for the winner. In what is an apt occurrence for the game, the Lions even netted again in the 90th minute…off the back of an offside Duncan McGuire. (The goal was immediately and correctly disallowed.)

This game had all the emotions in it — excitement, elation, frustration, suspense, and everything in between. We hope you enjoy the pictures of a relatively well-fought match, and hopefully the Lions will figure out how to put offense and defense together soon.