Orlando City vs. Columbus Crew: Five Takeaways

Orlando City went on the road to play one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, fell way behind, battled back, and ultimately lost an entertaining but also frustrating match against the Crew in Columbus. Here are my five takeaways from a 4-3 loss that could have been worse, but also could have been so much better.

Good Teams Punish Your Mistakes

Three of the Crew’s four goals came as a direct result of poor play by Orlando City: Martín Ojeda’s blind and poorly struck pass was intercepted and turned into a counterattack for the Crew’s first goal, Dagur Dan Þórhallsson missed a tackle, Rodrigo Schlegel had cheated up so he was out of position and Rafael Santos was yards away from a therefore wide-open Christian Ramirez for the second goal, and Felipe scuffed a simple pass to Thórhallsson that turned into another counterattack for the the deciding fourth goal. Columbus is already difficult to beat in its home stadium, gifting the Crew three golden opportunities was costly (understatement of the night) in this matchup.

Luis Muriel Looked Like a Designated Player

Muriel injected energy into what had been, frankly, a flatlined Orlando City offense since the first 15 minutes of the game. Orlando City went 50 minutes without a shot after Schlegel’s header in the 13th minute, and it was not until Muriel’s shot in the 63rd minute that the Lions finally emerged from their malaise. Muriel looked potent and powerful with the ball throughout his 32 minutes on the field, and I know this may sound a little hyperbolic, but his gorgeous pass to Iván Angulo that turned into Orlando City’s first goal reminded me of the passes from another Lion who once played in Serie A in Italy, the one and only Kaká. Muriel also slotted home a penalty kick and powered in a long range shot in the dying moments of the match, and looked to be the best player on the field for much of his shift. More of this, please and thank you!

El Pulpo Needed More Limbs

Anytime a team gives up four goals it is a natural reaction to think that perhaps the goalkeeper was not on his best form, but I do not think Pedro Gallese had a chance to stop any of the four goals by the Crew. Three of the four goals were from the center of the box, with two from point-blank range with no defenders in front of the attacker, and the other goal took a deflection off of Robin Jansson and went just beyond Gallese’s fingers into the side netting. Gallese did make a huge save in the 89th minute to keep the score 4-2, and as the season comes to a close, every plus or minus one in goal differential could be huge for seeding purposes.

One Foot Made All the Difference

Usually when we write about Facundo Torres and one foot it is about his preference to use his left foot nearly all of the time, but in Saturday night’s match, Facundo was about one foot offside on a free kick played in by Ojeda in the 24th minute, and during that play Orlando City would have received a penalty kick, because Duncan McGuire’s shot attempt hit a Crew arm that was in an unnatural position. Unfortunately, Torres was slightly offside, which negated the opportunity for the Lions to receive a penalty kick and possibly take a 1-0 lead. Five minutes later, the Crew pounced on an Orlando City mistake to take a 1-0 lead themselves, and oh what could have been had the Lions gone up 1-0 instead of going down 1-0 in the first third of the game.

No César Araújo, Yes Problem

Araújo’s yellow card during Wednesday’s match against Charlotte FC meant he was suspended for Saturday night’s match, and he was clearly missed by Orlando City. Jeorgio Kocevski got his first-ever MLS start in Araújo’s absence, and there is just a clear gap between he and Araújo and what they bring to the team. Kocevski was fine, especially for a rookie in his first ever start, but as (shameless plug alert) I wrote about this week the combination of Araújo’ and Wilder Cartagena is elite, and the Lions could have used elite instead of fine on the road against a difficult opponent. Araújo’s absence also hurt Orlando City in terms of their available substitutes, and Óscar Pareja ended up choosing to sub out both holding midfielders during this match — something that rarely happens when Araújo and Cartagena start. Had Araújo played, we likely would have seen only one of Kocevski or Felipe come off the bench if a holding midfielder needed to come out, which would have allowed one more sub who could have been more offensive in nature with Orlando City chasing the game late.

Those are my takeaways from a game that broke Orlando City’s winning streak and shutout streak, but also may have given the Lions confidence that they can compete with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Confidence does not put points in the league table though, and in the end, the Lions lost and now face a tough road trip next week against FC Dallas. Let us know your thoughts about the match in the comments below.