Orlando City vs. Sporting Kansas City: Five Takeaways

Orlando City returned to action to face one of the Western Conference’s bottom dwellers in Sporting Kansas City Saturday night. Riding an eight-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, Orlando City squandered a great chance to gather more points in a tight playoff race, falling 3-0 on the road. What follows are my five takeaways from a match that I have already forgotten about.

Bright Start Wasted

Orlando City started the match as the more attack-minded side, generating multiple good looks throughout the first 10 minutes of the game. The problem was that for as good as the opportunities were, the shots were either directly at goalkeeper Tim Melia (once — the team’s only shot on target all night) or missed the net completely. For a squad that had seemingly put some of its offensive woes in the rearview mirror, this match proved a dangerous reminder of what can happen when you waste good chances.

Trouble Brewing

Orlando City’s threat seemed to end about 15 minutes into the match and, after a spell where neither team could create anything, the momentum shifted toward the hosts as the match progressed towards halftime. Sporthing Kansas City turned up the pressure without necessarily doing anything special, but Orlando City seemed ill-equipped to maintain possession against the press and turned the ball over numerous times. The worst offender during the first half had to be Ivan Angulo, who accounted for numerous turnovers over the final 25 minutes of the first half that led to opportunities for the home team.

Sporting Breaks Through

The hosts ultimately took advantage of the turnovers in the 44th minute when Jake Davis collected a ball played from the ground by Stephen Afrifa — through two Orlando defenders —and found the upper right corner for the go-ahead goal. It was a culmination of the previous several minutes of game time but was a weird sequence nonetheless. Both Kyle Smith and Cesar Araujo had opportunites to get possesion of the ball, or at the very least clear it from danger while Afrifa was on the ground, yet both failed to do so.

From Bad to Worse

With Orlando hunting for an equalizer early in the second half with numbers committed forward, Sporting Kansas City ignited a counterattack in the 52nd minute down the left hand side of the field. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson was caught upfield and was unable to recover. The ball found Daniel Salloi, who launched a rocket past Pedro Gallese to put his club up 2-0. Offensive minded substituions of Duncan McGuire and Luis Muriel came on to replace turnover machine Angulo and Designated Player Martin Ojeda in the 59th minute. The Lions had a good chance to pull back a goal, but instead of easily converting a 3-v-1 opportunity, Orlando City was whistled for offside in a buildup. It was poor recognition by McGuire in passing to an obviously offside Facundo Torres, who should have noticed he was well behind the last man and checked his run earlier to re-establish himself.

Up a Man No Advantage

Orlando City caught a break in the 67th minute when William Agada picked up his second yellow card after an awful tackle attempt on Torres with his cleats up. The second yellow was ultimately upgraded to a straight red card after video review. Orlando City failed to take advantage of the edge in manpower for the final 20 plus minutes and 12 minutes of stoppage time. The Lions couldn’t generate anything even remotely resembling a potent attack, attempted few shots, and put none on target. There was time to find a goal. There was even time enough to find an equalizer, but Orlando City failed to seize the moment.

Those are my takeaways from what I would consider to be the second worst outing by the club throughout the 2024 season. The club’s momentum has been broken and must be re-established when the Lions return home to face Nashville SC. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.