Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Final Score 0-0 as 10-Man Lions Held at Home

A great (but wasteful) performance at home was ruined in the 56th minute when Rodrigo Schlegel picked up a second yellow card, forcing the Lions to hold on for a 0-0 draw against the New York Red Bulls at Inter&Co Stadium. Orlando City (3-2-3, 12 points) was the better side and created by far the most chances than New York (3-2-3, 12 points) up to that point in the game, but the manpower disadvantage eventually took its toll, and the Lions were holding on at the end.

The Lions extended their unbeaten run to five games (2-0-3) but are also winless in two (0-0-2). Meanwhile, the Red Bulls are still winless on the road (0-2-2). It was the first time Orlando City had experienced two consecutive scoreless draws since the start of the 2023 season, when the Lions drew FC Cincinnati and Tigres each 0-0 at home on March 4 and 7 in MLS and Concacaf Champions League play, respectively.

“I thought after the performance, especially that we had in the first half and part of the second half until the red card came, we felt that we lost those two points, and it was a team that that we dominated,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “But this is another experience that we have to learn from, and how can we kill those games when we have the chances and be precise and be lethal. We’re good when we’re in that mode. Unfortunately, today we weren’t.”

Pareja made no changes from last week’s lineup at Philadelphia, although Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta were available off the bench. Pedro Gallese started in goal behind a back line of David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Schlegel, and Alex Freeman. Joran Gerbet and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson started in central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, and Marco Pasalic, with Luis Muriel up top.

Orlando created a great chance almost immediately. Freeman threaded a pass through traffic to Thorhallsson to break the defensive line and the Lions came forward with numbers. Ojeda slipped a ball in behind to Muriel, but the Colombian sent his shot too close to Carlos Coronel, who made the save.

Two minutes later, Eric Choupo-Moting scored off a pass from Emil Forsberg, but he was well offside on the through ball and the flag came up.

Orlando held more of the ball in the opening minutes and Pasalic shook free at the top of the area in the 12th minute with enough space for a shot. The Croatian fired a blast toward the near post from the right side but it caught outside netting after fizzing just wide of the right post.

New York’s next chance came in the 18th minute, when Felipe Carballo fired from about 25 yards out from goal. He didn’t miss by much, sizzling a shot just wide of the left post.

It was Muriel’s turn to hit the outside netting in the 22nd minute. Three minutes later, the ball found Angulo at the top of the area. The left wing spun around and fired, but hit his shot just wide of the right post.

Ojeda got a good shot on target in the 33rd minute, but he tried to go near post on Coronel, who was well positioned to make the save.

The Lions did nothing with the ensuing corner. Pasalic sent a weak dribbler right at Coronel in the 38th minute, as the Lions kept pressing the attack but not finishing it. Two minutes later, Muriel nearly jumped on a gift turnover in front of goal but Coronel got a touch on it and the chance evaporated.

Jansson was left in front on a recycled set piece in the 43rd minute and had a free header, but he too hit his shot right at Coronel, who fought it off with a good reaction save.

That was the last good look at the half, as the wasteful Lions were level with the Red Bulls at the break. Orlando City finished the half with the advantage in possession (64%-36%), shots (9-1), shots on target (4-0), corners (4-0), and passing accuracy (83.8%-71.1%). However, the Lions did not take their chances, which helped the visitors stay in the game.

“I think the elaboration of our game today was cleaner,” Pareja said when asked about what was different in this match than previous recent games against the Red Bulls. “I have to recognize and highlight the performance of those two midfielders that we had today with Joran (Gerbet) and Dagur (Dan Thorhallsson). They absorbed that pressure and they cleaned it up in a way that we could advance to the next phase of the game, or put a team in deeper situations. We were a cleaner team with the ball. It was something that we’re going to appreciate much more during the week, now that we’re not happy with the result, but that phase just makes our team go to the next level.”

Orlando continued to press forward after the restart. Gerbet sent a header across for Brekalo on a set piece but the defender was falling under contact and couldn’t get on the ball. Moments later, Pasalic fired a shot that a defender blocked out for a corner. Brekalo got his head to the cross on the corner kick but he was turned around and couldn’t get it on target in the 54th minute.

The match changed in the visitors’ favor in the 56th minute. Schlegel picked up a second yellow card and Chris Penso sent him off, putting the Lions down a man for the rest of the game.

“I felt early in that game, you have to be careful, because it’s still 30 minutes (left) and 10 men, we know, is a lot of running for everyone,” Gerbet said. “So, you have to cover more space from everyone, so I felt like you have to be cautious. But we want the result at home, so I felt like we did a pretty good job until the last 10 minutes in the game, like trying to push, trying to push, trying to score, but after, at some point, you also have to be true with yourself that you have to (not) lose the game. If you cannot win, you don’t need to lose. So, I felt the team responded really well. I mean, we’re disappointed, but we take it.”

New York quickly created danger after Schlegel’s dismissal and won a corner as Jansson was forced to knock a dangerous cross behind and out of play. The Lions countered after clearing the set piece, with Angulo winning an Orlando corner. However, nothing came of it.

The game setled into a back-and-forth affair for about a quarter of an hour before the Red Bulls started keeping more of the ball after the Lions subbed off a few attacking midfielders. Wikelman Carmona got in front and redirected a ball on frame that forced a save from Gallese in the 76th minute.

Second-half sub Atuesta committed a foul moments later to set up a dangerous set piece. The cross found Carballo at the near post but his free header sailed wide. Moments later, Dylan Nealis fired from long range but his shot was always rising and sailed well over the bar in the 87th minute.

Omar Valencia went down looking for a penalty call in the 89th minute, but all he drew was a yellow card for simulation.

Orlando was unable to fashion an attack of any kind in the seven minutes of stoppage time, but at least the Lions were fundamentally sound on the defensive end. New York’s only half chance came in the fifth added minute, when a good ball from the right nearly found Choupo-Moting at the back post. Freeman did just enough to keep the opposing striker from getting to the cross.

The whistle blew on Orlando’s second consecutive 0-0 draw moments later, as the second Schlegel yellow card spoiled an opportunity for the Lions to get all three points from the match.

Despite being a man down for most of the second half, Orlando City still finished with the advantage in possession (50.7%-49.3%), shots (14-10), shots on target (4-1), and corners (7-2). The Red Bulls finished with better passing accuracy (82.8%-79.1%).

“I felt like we played an awesome game,” Brekalo said. “We were dominating most of it, just disappointing that we didn’t get three points today. But I think with this attitude, these qualities that we’ve shown today, we are going to be successful in the long term. We knew that most of the dangerous balls that come are through balls from Forsberg, so just being close to him and expecting the through balls to (Choupo-Moting). Obviously, I think we did well. I don’t think until the red card, they got any clear chances of scoring.”

“I have to say that the willingness of the players and the commitment with the game, and you saw all the metrics and and that performance, is probably the best that we have had against this club, New York,” Pareja said. “And we really, really feel that (lack of) precision, it just kept us away from winning our three points, and obviously it is another story when the red card came, and obviously they push, and then we had just to congest a little bit the middle. And then it was another game played there. It was not the same game.”

The Lions go right back on the road for their fifth away match in seven games when they visit Montreal on Saturday.