Orlando City vs. Real Salt Lake: Five Takeaways

Ouch. Orlando City went from a 4-0 win to a 4-0 loss in the space of a few days, as the Lions were on the wrong end of a 4-0 beatdown out in Utah. It was a thoroughly dispiriting watch that could have been even worse if not for some good work by Pedro Gallese and some correct offside calls. What follows are my five main thoughts on a difficult night at the office for OCSC.

Early Opportunities Don’t Pay Off

The Lions came out of the gate scorching hot in this one — so hot that Duncan McGuire flashed a shot just past the post a mere 12 seconds into the match. Just a couple minutes later, Facundo Torres fired a strong shot that forced Zac MacMath into a pair of saves when the rebound was also put on target. Unfortunately, OCSC wasn’t able to capitalize on those early chances, or the strong opening 15 minutes that the team put together. Real Salt Lake grabbed the game’s first goal right as the Lions were beginning to struggle to maintain the intensity they showed during the first quarter of an hour, and that probably wasn’t a coincidence.

Set Pieces Slay the Lions

Real Salt Lake’s first two goals looked extremely similar, as they both came from set pieces that Orlando City didn’t defend particularly well. On the first, Wilder Cartagena either lost his man or wasn’t marking anyone to begin with on the free kick, Antonio Carlos wasn’t able to rise high enough to head the ball away, and it found its way straight to Cristian Arango, who made no mistake and stuck the ball in the back of the net. The second came from a corner kick, and it looked very similar to the first. Cesar Araujo was completely unable to deal with Justen Glad, who still had a lot to do, and admittedly put an excellent header into the side netting while going away from goal. Still, the marking, or lack thereof, from Orlando made it far too easy for Glad to make a play on the ball, and it’s worse that the team had already given up a goal in that manner earlier in the night.

Tired Legs and Altitude Take Their Toll

Oscar Pareja deployed the exact same starting XI that we saw during the team’s 4-0 shellacking of Toronto FC on Tuesday. Given that this was OCSC’s third game in the space of eight days, and it was being played on the road at altitude, it was a gamble that did not pay off. The Lions looked good during the first 10-15 minutes of each half, but faded badly afterwards in both frames. The legs looked tired and this team looked like one that was coming off a short week. The altitude probably didn’t help things either, and it was a perfect storm for the exact sort of performance that we ended up seeing from the Lions.

From One 4-0 to Another

By the time the third goal went in courtesy of an excellent strike from Jefferson Savarino, the Lions’ goose looked well and truly cooked, and I was more than ready for the game to be over. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case though as Anderson Julio managed to somehow slip his markers in the final third and score a fourth to put Orlando on the other end of the scoreline from the Toronto FC game. It was a goal that absolutely felt like it was coming too, as OCSC looked dead on its feet after the third goal hit the back of the net. It was a brutal night and a brutal performance, plain and simple.

Offside Line Keeps the Score Down

If not for several correct offside decisions, the final score could have been much worse than it eventually was. Real Salt Lake had the ball in the back of the net two more times only for both tallies to be called back for offside. In addition to that, Pedro Gallese made two excellent saves on Arango and Damir Kreilach when the RSL attackers were seemingly through on goal, only for the flag to come up and blow play dead. Orlando’s mixture of discipline on the back line and plain luck meant that the score didn’t get any more lopsided than it did, because this is a game in which the Lions could very well have given up two or three more goals.

Those are my main takeaways from a brutal outing in Utah. What were your thoughts on this match? Be sure to have your say down in the comments.