Orlando City vs. Real Salt Lake: Final Score 4-0 as Lions Fall Apart in Utah

Horrific set piece defending was costly as Orlando City fell 4-0 to Real Salt Lake at America First Field. The Lions (9-6-7, 34 points) gave up first-half set piece goals to Cristian Arango — on his RSL debut — and Justen Glad. Jefferson Savarino and Anderson Julio added insurance late for the hosts, providing a comfortable win for Real Salt Lake (9-7-6, 33 points), a club that had been previously struggling at home.

The loss snapped a four-match unbeaten run by Orlando City and ruined an opportunity to climb higher in the Eastern Conference Standings.

“Obviously a difficult experience today to solve at this moment where we are getting our confidence higher and coming from a good stretch of games,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “But today we found a team that was very effective going forward when they had their chances. I think we had ours too, but we didn’t have that capacity to finalize our opportunities.”

Despite playing a third game in eight days and crossing the country to play at altitude, Pareja’s lineup had no rotation whatsoever from the side that began Tuesday’s 4-0 win vs. Toronto FC. Pedro Gallese started in goal behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Kyle Smith. Cesar Araujo and Wilder Cartagena played central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Maurcio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres, with Duncan McGuire up top.

Orlando City started brightly and had a chance right off the opening kickoff. The ball was sent forward to McGuire, who lost it momentarily but quickly won it back and smashed a shot just 12 seconds in that fizzed inches wide of the left post.

Moments later, Torres cut across the top of the box and smashed a left-footed shot that Zac MacMath did well to save. The rebound came out to the right and a Smith shot was on target but MacMatch kicked it away.

Despite the quick start by Orlando, RSL quickly settled into the match. Damir Kreilach got his head to a cross in the 11th and sent it just wide of the right post.

The breakthrough came 12 minutes later. McGuire did a great job tracking back and won the ball from Braian Ojeda but then he showed too much of the ball and lost it back. The rookie then compounded the problem by committing an unnecessary foul near the right sideline. RSL took advantage on the set piece as Cartagena left Arango alone in the middle and the new Designated Player easily headed it inside the right post to open the scoring in the 23rd minute.

Whether the goal rattled Orlando City or inspired the home side, the rest of the first half was almost all one-way traffic for the hosts. The Lions repeatedly turned the ball over in their own end and failed to connect or break lines as the half wore on.

An attempt by Santos from outside the box was easily blocked and nearly ignited a breakaway for Arango in the 32nd minute if not for some vital emergency defending by a sliding Jansson.

Savarino shot just wide in the 37th minute as the hosts kept coming. A telegraphed pass in the attacking half was easily cut out by Glad and Cartagena was forced to take a yellow card for a tactical foul.

The Orlando deficit doubled in the 41st minute. The Lions gave up a corner and again failed to mark properly. Glad rose above the crowd and scored a goal that looked nearly identical to the first.

“We felt bad just conceding two goals at points in our control and we work a lot on it,” Pareja said of the set pieces that allowed RSL to take command of the match. “It hurt us a lot.”

The Lions had two late chances to get on the board before halftime. Angulo set up McGuire in the 44th minute with a nice run up the field and a through ball, but the rookie’s shot was deflected, making it an easy save for MacMath. Seconds later, Angulo was alone on the right and the ball came to him, but the Colombian badly mishit his first-time shot attempt and it went nowhere near the goal.

Real Salt Lake held only a slight edge in possession (50.4%-49.6%), although it seemed like much more. Each team fired eight shots and got three on target. RSL had more corners (2-1) and Orlando City passed slightly more accurately (80.7%-80.1%) in the opening 45 minutes.

Pareja made no changes at the break despite the situation and the first 15 minutes of the second half were fairly uneventful. A promising Orlando attack in the 56th minute ended with Smith sending either a poor cross too close to the goalkeeper or a weak shot from distance right at him.

Moments later, Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson came on to spell Angulo, Cartagena, and Smith.

Not much changed after the subs, with Enrique missing the net badly from distance and Ojeda sending an easy shot right at MacMath from distance.

Ercan Kara came on shortly after that for McGuire.

Orlando had a golden opportunity in the 71st minute when a Santos cross deflected in front to Torres but his shot was blocked in front. A few minutes later, he was subbed off for Luca Petrasso.

Having two left backs on the pitch didn’t help at all in the 78th minute. A simple cross from left to right found Savarino on the right and no one closed him down. Savarino chested it down and blasted the third goal past Gallese to seal the game.

Julio tacked another one on late and completely undid Tuesday night’s excellent goal-differential game against Toronto. The Lions went from +5, to +9 after Tuesday, and back to +5 after tonight.

RSL had the advantage in possession (51.9%-48.1%), shots (15-11), shots on target (6-4), corners (5-2), and passing accuracy (85.7%-82.4%).

“We are going to absorb it,” Pareja said of the loss. “I think we are intact. Our mentality keeps going. We have no excuses. Salt Lake was much, much effective and obviously the score reflects it.”

“Difficult moment after this loss and this result, but in this moment is when in my case as a captain I belive in the team and I trust in the team more than ever,” Pereyra said. “We have to love each other more than ever because we know how hard they are working. Today it was a difficult night for us as a team. We were not the best after we beat Toronto 4-0 and now we are not the worst, so we have to keep working, knowing that we have a game against Atlanta that is very important for us.”

After all the fixture congestion, Orlando City will get a normal work week before heading north to play Atlanta United next Saturday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m.