Orlando City vs. Nashville SC: Five Takeaways

Orlando City defeated Nashville SC 1-0 on the road at Geodis Park in a cagey, defensive struggle. The win continued Orlando City’s great road record this season, with the Lions grabbing their eighth win, further proving to the rest of the league that no one is safe at home. Here are my five takeaways from the win over the team from Tennessee.

Finding First Half Nets

Orlando City made it back-to-back games with a goal in the first half. Granted the goal against CF Montreal ended up being considered an own goal, but this time the Lions ensured they owned this one. A beautiful counterattack buildup crescendoed with Martín Ojeda playing a flat cross from the wing to Big Duncan McGuire who held his run perfectly for a near post finish and his 10th of the season. If the Lions continue to find these first-half goals, the conclusion of this campaign could become really exciting to watch with their improved potency.

Countering Counters

Nashville was without a doubt the most dangerous on midfield interceptions and turnovers by the Lions. By flying forward with 2-on-1 and 3-on-3 transitions throughout the duration of the match, the intensity kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. However, each time Orlando City had a player who did exactly what they needed to do to buy time, play the ball out of danger, or body the runner off the ball. With the absence of Antonio Carlos for recent weeks, Rodrigo Schlegel and Robin Jansson have improved their partnership over time. Whether this has been a focus in training of late or not, it clearly is an improvement from some moments earlier in the season that found the net. I would argue this might have been the pairing’s best outing to date, with the Beefy Swede playing exceptionally well.

Rotating Right Back

Lately, we have seen Head Coach Oscar Pareja deploy Dagur Dan Thorhallsson as a right back and midfielder hybrid from the start. Dagur Dan tends to hold a traditional defensive position and then slides centrally into the center of the park on the attack. However in this match, Kyle Smith’s services were called upon to give Dagur Dan a bit of rest. Smith is definitely a more defensive-minded player when comparing the two, so the buildup from the back looked different coming out of the right side. The decision to start Smith paid off, especially after the early goal, as El Soldado was able to lock down his side defensively and hold off his marks for the win. Dagur Dan did eventually enter to relieve Smith from his good performance mainly to get fresh legs and Orlando went to a late five-in-the-back line (more on that below).

Possessing and Passing

Throughout the match, there were quite a few moments where I noticed Orlando linking one pass after another without Nashville getting a touch on the ball. It wasn’t until I looked up the final statistics that I saw just how dominating a performance it was. Orlando City held 57% of the possession and completed 84% of its 542 passes along the way. Those are pretty astounding numbers when you compare it to Nashville’s 409 passes at only 79%. Obviously, possession and passing don’t directly win you games, but you sure do have a better chance of winning when you hold more of the ball in a match. Personally, I love seeing the Lions take the extra time to build up quality chances rather than speeding down the field or hoofing it long constantly.

Antonio Carlos Returns

With the late lead, the Lions battened down the hatches to hold on for the full three points on the road. Looking down the bench, we noticed the return of center back Antonio Carlos. Early in the season, we would see a transition to three center backs to finish a match and this followed that trend when Carlos joined Robin Jansson and Rodrigo Schlegel in the 85th minute. While I personally prefer a Jansson and Carlos pairing from the start, there is still plenty of time left this year to see them back together full time. And I’m perfectly content with saving his legs until the matches become win-or-go home.

That’s what I took away from Orlando City’s 1-0 win over Nashville SC. Let me know your thoughts on the match in the comments below.