Orlando City vs. Colorado Rapids: Final Score 2-0 as Lions Extend Unbeaten Run to Six Games

Facundo Torres and Ramiro Enrique scored and the Rapids had two men sent off as the Lions beat Colorado 2-0 in front of an announced crowd of 18, 711 at Exploria Stadium. Orlando City (7-4-5, 26 points) posted consecutive wins for the first time in 2023 and extended their unbeaten streak to six games (3-0-3) with the victory over the Rapids (2-9-7, 13 points).

Orlando improved to 4-0-0 at home in the all-time series and 5-1-2 overall.

“We’re very pleased and excited just to get three points in front of our fans,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “That was something that we had in our mind today — winning at home and just getting that confidence back. It’s not an easy job. I think we’re going to increase it for sure with time, but today it was very necessary to get this win and performance.”

Pareja’s starting lineup remained unchanged, with Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Kyle Smith. Cesar Araujo and Wilder Cartagena played in the central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, and Torres, with Ercan Kara up top.

The match was delayed about 50 minutes due to inclement weather and whether it was the delay or the wet pitch, Orlando’s passing was not sharp throughout the opening half. And when the passes did arrive as intended, they weren’t handled cleanly.

The Lions started brightly, winning a corner kick just 19 seconds into the game, but the Rapids handled Orlando’s crosses well and even some dangerous-looking balls into the area never reached the target. Torres took a pass near the penalty spot in the eighth minute, turned, and fired a shot but hit his effort right at Colorado goalkeeper Marko Ilic.

Two minutes later, Cartagena sent too soft a back pass and it was picked off, but Jansson made a great open-field tackle to snuff out Colorado’s transition opportunity.

Kara headed just over the bar in the 12th minute after getting onto a good cross from Santos.

Cole Bassett took a shot from distance that was right at Gallese in the 14th minute and Colorado started to grow into the match, earning some set pieces and a yellow card on Carlos for a foul on Kevin Cabral. Carlos will miss the next match due to yellow card accumulation.

The game took a turn in the 39th minute when Braian Galvan caught Angulo with a high boot, studs first, and he was sent off.

Orlando’s best chance of the half came in stoppage time when Smith sent a cross into the box and Pereyra directed it on goal but again the shot was straight at the goalkeeper.

Orlando City finished the half with more possession (59.7%-40.3%), shots (7-2), shots on target (2-1), and passing accuracy (85.3%-79.4%). Both teams won two corners.

Pareja made a couple of changes at the break, replacing Carlos with Rodrigo Schlegel and Cartagena with Martin Ojeda. He said the defensive change was to protect Carlos due to him being on the yellow, while Ojeda’s introduction was a tactical change to move Pereyra deeper and add a forward against the shorthanded Rapids.

Those changes paid dividends, as Schlegel made three outstanding open-field tackles in his 45 minutes of work, and Enrique provided the knockout blow late in the game.

The Lions came out on the front foot in the second half, looking to take advantage of their man advantage. Kara tried to flick a cross inside the back post just after the restart but didn’t get enough of the ball and it skipped wide in the 47th minute.

After a couple of dangerous crosses fizzed through the six-yard box in the 55th minute, just needing a touch but not getting one, the Lions finally opened the scoring. Pereyra sent the ball to Torres near the top of the area. The Uruguayan international smashed a shot that deflected off defender Andreas Maxsø and in to make it 1-0 in the 56th minute. It was Torres’ team-leading fifth goal of the MLS season and his third in two matches.

“I see much more conviction of him,” Pareja said of Torres, who has three goals and two assists in the last two matches. “The responsibility that these young guys have on their shoulders, and knowing that when we don’t score goals, everybody looks at them, and they feel it, right? But they kept working and Facundo has been outstanding in the last few games, especially because scoring is obviously what we need the most. So, happy for Facu and hopefully we can keep increasing from everybody that part that we’re looking for, just being more lethal.”

Torres got to the end line in the 65th minute and cut back a pass to Kara at the near post, but the Austrian had no room to squeeze his shot between Ilic and the post and his attempt went wide anyway. Three minutes later, Angulo worked his way from the left and fired a shot but Lalas Abubakar deflected it and it popped up gently for an easy catch by Ilic.

Torres nearly had a brace in the 71st minute. He fired a shot from the top of the box that sizzled just wide of the right post after taking a slight deflection. The Lions couldn’t do anything with the ensuing corner.

The Rapids went down another man in the 75th minute. Abubakar, who was booked early in the match, was beaten by Angulo about 35 yards out from goal. The big defender grabbed Angulo and brought him down to prevent a transition opportunity, despite having decent coverage behind him. Referee Rosendo Mendoza showed him a second yellow and Colorado was down to nine men.

“For us, it’s more pressure (being up a man or two), because we know that we were leading the game, and we have one more player and then two,” Pereyra said. “We know we cannot concede a goal, but that’s our responsiblity.”

Pareja bolstered his attack moments later by bringing on Enrique for Smith, moving Angulo to right back against the outnumbered Rapids.

Pereyra nearly put the game away in the 81st, smashing a shot from outside the area that was headed for the upper left corner. Ilic made an outstanding save to tip it wide of his post.

The insurance goal came only two minutes later. Araujo brought the ball up through the middle and sent it wide to Torres on the right. Torres dribbled toward the corner of the box and with Kara dragging defenders toward the six-yard box, the Uruguayan found Enrique at the top of the area. Enrique took a step to his right to improve his angle and fired a blast into the bottom right corner. The Lions led 2-0 in the 83rd minute.

Enrique called the goal “a great moment.”

“Facu was out on the wing with the ball and we were just trying to bring into the area,” Enrique said through a club interpreter. “I saw the forwards go up and take the focus of the center backs, so I just kind of dropped back and hoped that Facu was going to play the ball there. And thankfully he did, and I hit it, and thankfully it went in, and just a lot of joy in that moment for it to finally come.”

The game started to open up unexpectedly after the second goal. Colorado fashioned a chance to pull back a goal in the 85th minute, getting the ball in front of goal but the defense deflected the ball out for a Rapids corner. Kara tried a shot from distance in the 87th that didn’t miss the left post by much and had Ilic diving on the play. Gallese made a save a minute later on Darren Yapi to preserve the shutout.

From there, the Lions saw out the match. Pareja subbed Alejandro Granados on late for his first MLS appearance. The OCB midfielder was signed Friday to a short-term agreement and in just a few minutes on the pitch managed nine touches, a shot attempt (which was blocked), and completed six of his seven pass attempts.

Orlando City had 70% of the second-half possession to finish with the advantage (65%-35%). The Lions also had more shot attempts (15-4), shots on goal (6-2), corners (5-3), and passing accuracy (89.4%-81.5%).

Gallese kept a clean sheet in his 100th game with Orlando City across all competitions. About the only thing that went wrong in the second half was Smith picking up a yellow card and he’ll be suspended for accumulation for the next match.

“The second half we could have been probably more aggressive, but the boys were were cautious about just closing the game,” Pareja said. “And this is something that we carry on our shoulders, and I understand that. Even me. We needed to win today and that happened, so we’re happy. We’ll keep increasing and getting our performances better. That’s what we’re aiming for.”

The Lions will head north next Saturday to face the New England Revolution for the first time this season. Game time is 7:30 p.m.