Leagues Cup Group Play: Five Takeaways

Orlando City concluded group play of the 2023 Leagues Cup Saturday night with a 3-2 defeat of Liga MX club Santos Laguna in front of a roaring home crowd at Exploria Stadium. The Lions faced the Dynamo and the Verdiblancos (Green and Whites) in the South 2 group. We usually provide you with takeaways after each Orlando City match in the Major League Soccer season, but what follows here is a bonus five takeaways from OCSC’s group stage play.

A Tale of Two Refs

Orlando City took two points away from its first match against Houston — one point for the match ending in a draw and a bonus point for winning the shootout. If you have been following other group stage matches you will notice that this isn’t your run of the mill PRO referee pool of game time arbitrators as fouls and yellow cards have flowing a plenty. That is not to say that the quality of calls has been better or worse than usual, but it is to say that it seems no matter who or what is in charge of an Orlando City game, the squad simply isn’t immune to controversy. In the first match, it came near the tail end of the first half, when a soft call was made which awarded the Dynamo a penalty kick, which they converted. In the second match, the Lions felt there was a foul on Santos Laguna’s second goal that tied the game at 2-2. There was no foul given during play, so it was always unlikely the goal would get overturned. Luckily for Orlando, neither call cost the team a spot in the knockout round but they were still unnerving as a fan to witness.

Shootout Success

Orlando City won the first shootout of this year’s Leagues Cup over Houston by being perfect from 12 yards out, and due to a huge save by Pedro Gallese. It is always a treat to see a shootout and even more so when the result ends in Orlando’s favor. Luckily, thanks to Cardiac Cat magic, Orlando did not have to test its perfect shootout record against Santos Laguna. Personally, I love the way that Orlando City approaches shootouts in such a professional and work-like manner, and it just goes to show how important it was to re-sign Gallese prior to the season starting.

No Denying Duncan

It has been said that Orlando runs on Duncan, but at this point maybe a more fitting nickname should be something along the lines of “the answer” or “the response,” as in back-to-back games Duncan McGuire found an almost immediate answer when the opposition struck first. Both goals were created by amazing hustle plays which just go to highlight that it is impossible to keep the first-year pro off the field at this time.

Watching him play, I often forget that just seven months ago McGuire was finishing up his collegiate career and now he has reached double-digit goals for Orlando City across all competitions with a third of the season still left to go.

Magic Mo Returns

Orlando City was even with Santos Laguna on the scoreboard at halftime, and once the second half started, captain Mauricio Pereyra made sure that the match did not stay level for long, scoring his first goal of the season one minute into the second half. It was a thing of beauty from the Maestro and truly caught just about everyone watching the match off guard, including goalkeeper Gibran Lajud, although there was little that the Mexican keeper could do to get a glove on it.

The Cardiac Cats Strike Again

After Santos Laguna equalized, the match truly opened up. After several substitutions for both sides and a hydration break, six minutes of stoppage time was added, and it appeared as though Orlando City was destined to fight for a spot in the knockout round through a penalty kick shootout. Enter Wilder Cartagena, who picked a perfect moment to score his first goal for Orlando City. The sequence of events started with a truly amazing defensive effort by Cesar Araujo just above the 18-yard box in Orlando City’s defensive half. The Uruguayan then broke out a lung busting run to the other side of the field, took a short pass from Ercan Kara and then crossed it into the box for Cartagena, who made a smart diagonal run and used supreme touch to beat the keeper. Exploria erupted in celebration, and just a few minutes later, Orlando City clinched a 3-2 victory.

Bonus Takeaway: Survive and Advance

The Lions are certainly not newcomers to tournament knockout-style play, as they won the U.S. Open Cup just one year ago and now find themselves entering a familiar atmosphere once again. Advancing past the group stage was always an attainable goal for a team that seems to be continually finding answers to the questions asked of it of late. In the famous words of Jim Valvano, all the Lions need to do now is “survive and advance.” There are no bonus points awarded for style or flair moving forward, and matches won’t have to be pretty as long as the results continue to come.

Ultimately, I thought the group stage play of this year’s Leagues Cup was entertaining and provided fans with some quality matchups that we just aren’t accustomed to seeing. I know that it has been implemented in MLS NEXT Pro, but I was a huge fan of the shootout immediately following a draw, as it provided just that extra bit of needed drama. Let us know in the comments below what your biggest takeaways were from the group stage and as always, vamos Orlando!