Orlando City
Orlando City vs. St. Louis City: Final Score 4-2 as Enrique, Pasalic Power Lions to Victory
The attack was spectacular on the road, as the Lions scored four times to stay unbeaten against St. Louis City.
Orlando City’s attack scored four goals and could have at least doubled that with a little better luck and decision making in a 4-2 win over St. Louis City at Energizer Park. Ramiro Enrique and Marco Pasalic each bagged a brace, and the Lions (9-4-6, 33 points) needed each of those goals after a pair of defensive errors allowed the hosts to climb back into a game they were seemingly out of just 22 minutes after kickoff.
Simon Becher and Joao Klauss pulled St. Louis City (3-10-6, 15 points) to within 3-2 just before halftime, but Orlando City weathered the heat and the pressure and put the game away late.
“First, I want to recognize to the players, the effort. Incredible, incredible heat today on the pitch and the humidity,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “I think everybody noticed it at the end. But the effort was constant and I want to remark (on) that.”
With Rodrigo Schlegel suspended and Alex Freeman away on international duty, Pareja’s lineup featured Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Kyle Smith, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta were the central midfielders between wingers Ivan Angulo and Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Enrique up top.
The opening half was a shooting gallery, with the Lions jumping on St. Louis early, then threatening to blow the hosts out, only to start wasting some of the best chances they’ve had all season and returning to the kind of awful defensive lapses that plagued the team early in the year. That turned a comfortable 3-0 lead into a 3-2 nervy finish to the first half.
The Lions created the game’s first scoring chance off a corner kick won by Atuesta. The service found Araujo in the box, and the Uruguayan put his header on target but it was an easy one-hop save for Roman Burki in the fourth minute. Two minutes later, Pasalic sent a good ball from the right to the back post, but there were not teammates making a run there.
No matter, because Orlando City struck first anyway a minute later. The Lions worked the ball through the St. Louis midfield, moving it right to left to Angulo. The Colombian slipped Ojeda down the left, and the Argentine sent a crisp ball across the top of the six. Enrique ran onto it and redirected it past Burki to make it 1-0 in the seventh minute.
“That was a transition goal, something we worked on a lot this week in training,” Enrique said. “It was a great transition by the team. We brought it forward well, and once Tincho (Ojeda) arrived in the spot that he did, I know that he’s always going to move it towards the center, and then open up spaces. So, as soon as he did that, I was able to get in the right spot and push it towards goal and pushed us ahead.”
The lead grew just moments later. Orlando broke in transition and Pasalic made a nice move to slow down and buy himself some space in the middle. The Croatian fired from distance and picked out the inside of the right post to make it 2-0 in the ninth minute.
Pasalic had an open header on a Smith cross in the 11th minute but this time the Croatian hit his shot right at Burki for an easy save.
After that miss, St. Louis had a good attacking spell as the Lions struggled with some poor touches and passes against the press. Klauss created the first chance out of nowhere, but Gallese made a partial save and the ball hit off of Smith and deflected away. In the 13th minute, a poor giveaway allowed Marcel Hartel a shot, but the effort went over the crossbar.
Jansson had a good chance to clear in a cross, as he was positioned well and no one was in front of him, but he scuffed the clearance out for a corner. Timo Baumgartl bundled the service forward but right to Gallese. Klauss then got another opportunity, but the defense blocked his shot out for a corner.
The Lions finally took the pressure off with a counterattack and created another scoring chance in the 18th minute. Enrique was set up at the top of the box, but he sent his curling effort just outside the right post near the top corner. That led to another good spell for Orlando City, and moments later, Pasalic found Ojeda in a good position on the left but the ball skipped over the Argentine’s foot and out for a goal kick.
The Lions’ lead bulged to 3-0 just after the restart. Orlando forced a giveaway and Atuesta knocked the ball quickly to Enrique, who slammed the ball past Burki to make it 3-0 in the 22nd minute. It was Enrique’s fourth of the season.
“We saw in St. Louis a group that they aggressively want to play it out of the back, and especially their goalkeeper,” Pareja said. “We were sure that with the pressure that we were doing, we may have a chance on that phase of the game.”
“It’s another thing that we trained on this week, and it was something that we told ourselves that we could score from, because they had a lot of confidence in the way that they were building out,” Enrique said. “We worked with the high press and the back press as well. And, you know, we were able to take advantage of that tonight and get it high up the field, and then thankfully, I was able to score on the chance that we were able to turn over in that situation.”
The game slowed down for a bit leading up to the hydration break in the 33rd minute. The Lions then got exceedingly wasteful with their chances and a couple of defensive lapses allowed the hosts to climb right back into a game they were completely out of at the time.
Enrique had his first opportunity to complete his hat trick in the 36th minute on a great ball over the top. He was able to bring it down with Burki charging out, and as he tried to cut inside and fire it into the empty net, Burki got the slightest of touches on the ball to knock it away. By the time he regathered, the chance was gone.
Two minutes later, Enrique got his second chance to complete the hat trick on a nice diagonal ball to send him in behind. This time, the Argentine took an extra touch instead of shooting first-time, and Burki came out to smother it. Ojeda then fired a right-footed shot in the 39th minute from the left. The shot was right at Burki, who made the save. The rebound found its way to Thorhallsson on the right, but the Icelandic fullback made a mess of the shot, sending it high into the stands.
Those wasted opportunities allowed the hosts to pull one back in the 40th minute and get into the game. Becher got in behind Smith on a ball over the top. Jansson overran it as he cut back inside and slotted past Gallese to make it 3-1.
“I thought we had two very clear chances to put the game even further away from St Louis,” Pareja said. “We missed it, and in that moment, they reacted well. They scored that first goal and it seems like we lost a little bit of control of the ball.”
The goal galvanized St. Louis City. Klauss had a chance from the top of the box moments later but his shot deflected out for a corner. The Brazilian then headed over on the ensuing corner kick.
The Lions’ biggest mistake in the attack came in the 44th minute. Orlando broke 2-v-0 behind the defense with Angulo taking the ball up the left. Enrique was on Angulo’s right, hanging back to stay onside. Inexplicably, Angulo dribbled the ball straight to Burki before trying to lay it off and the goalkeeper got his foot on it to break up what should have been the easiest goal of the night and Enrique’s first career hat trick. Instead, the chance evaporated.
St. Louis City pulled a second goal back in the third minute of first-half stoppage time. Atuesta had a chance to clear it but he muffed his attempt and his distraction kept Brekalo from being able to clear. The ball ended up with Klauss, who slammed it into the net to make it 3-2.
“They scored that second goal with that mistake that we made,” Pareja said.
Ojeda had one more decent opportunity late, but Burki saved it and the Lions went to the half nursing just a one-goal lead.
At the break, Orlando City had the advantage in possession (53%-47%), shots (12-11), shots on target (8-3), and passing accuracy (90.4%-87.1%). Both teams earned three corners.
“We scored three goals and we could have scored probably a couple more,” Pareja said. “But we ended up just conceding them two goals and made them believe in the game, so that became a challenge for the second half. We started the half more timid and they got some confidence, but at the same time, in that second half, we played very smart and we did what we needed. We moved the numerical superiority that they wanted to do, and in the moments that we arrived to the box, we were very dangerous.”
St. Louis City came out of the break as the much more confident team, keeping Orlando pinned deep for much of the first 10 minutes. Eventually, the Lions settled into the half and started generating chances, but not as clear-cut as in the first half.
Ojeda fired over the bar with his right foot off a deflected Atuesta cross that found him near the top of the area in the 48th minute.
St. Louis held possession for a spell but couldn’t create chances out of it. Orlando eventually went the other way and fashioned some promising attacks, but the Lions couldn’t pay them off. The first of those came in the 56th minute, when Pasalic laid the ball off for Atuesta outside the area, but the Colombian fired right at Burki. Seconds later, Angulo did well to cut in from left to right, but his shot was deflected out for a corner by Kyle Hiebert. The Lions couldn’t pay off the set piece.
Enrique again came close to his hat trick in the 59th minute, getting forward and trying an inside-out shot from near the top of the area. Burki made another diving save to keep it a one-goal game. On the ensuing corner, Atuesta did well to pick out Araujo near the left corner of the box. The Uruguayan again got his header on target but Burki fought it off at the near post in the 62nd minute. A minute later, Pasalic had his shot blocked out front by Hartel. Atuesta’s shot was blocked out front two minutes later. Pasalic then drew a foul just outside the area in the 67th minute, but Ojeda fired his free kick over the goal frame.
Klauss had a good opportunity to equalize off an attacking-third turnover by Atuesta in the 76th minute. A quick ball over the top found the Brazilian, who discarded Brekalo and then fired just wide.
Enrique’s final chance to complete his hat trick came in the 80th minute, when he made a great move to put himself in behind the defense at midfield. The Argentine had a long run with the ball from left to right to get himself clear to shoot and sent a shot toward the left post that beat Burki but slipped just inches wide of finding the net.
Two minutes later, it was Pasalic who put the game away. Jansson sent a ball forward to Atuesta near midfield. The Colombian chested it down and dished to Pasalic on the right. The Croatian cut inside, got his defender to open up, and fired a clinical incision of a shot through Jayden Reid’s legs, freezing Burki in place and making it 4-2 in the 82nd minute with his eighth goal of the season.
“The surprise is that the way (Pasalic) adjusted to the league, to the group, has been so fast, and I may say that he even improved our position in there,” Pareja said of the Croatian filling the hole left behind by the sale of Facundo Torres to Palmeiras. “So, with all what Facu has given us, too, and the love that we have for him, I think Marco is taking that position to the next level. His scoring talent, the way he grew with the group, socially he’s an incredible kid, too. So we’re so blessed to have him.”
The hosts kept coming in an effort to get something from the game. Klauss fired a header wide in the 89th minute as the Orlando defense did just enough to pressure him into the misfire. Gallese then made two big saves in stoppage time to preserve the lead. The first came off a flicked header on a long-range set piece in the third extra minute. Michael Wentzel got his head to the entry ball and flicked it into Gallese’s belly, but the Peruvian was able to catch it cleanly with St. Louis attackers closing on him. Shortly thereafter, substitute Brendan McSorley was left in too much space and sent a 25-yard shot just wide of the left post.
The last chance ended with Gallese’s biggest save of the match. McSorley did well to turn Smith and then beat him to the outside, smashing a shot on target. Gallese reacted quickly to knock the ball over the net with a good save.
That was the last good look and the Lions hung onto the two-goal lead to win their second straight on the road.
Orlando City finished with the advantage in possession (50.2%-49.8%), shots (24-16), shots on target (12-5), corners (6-5), and passing accuracy (88.3%-85%).
“Very happy tonight for the team, especially to get this win out here on the road and in the heat,” Enrique said. “You know, it’s a good three points for the team tonight, so I’m really happy and ready to go.”
Due to other results around the league, Orlando City remains fifth in the Eastern Conference, just a point behind the Columbus Crew.
Hopefully the Lions got a good, long rest after the Colorado match, because they have a short turnaround with FC Cincinnati visiting Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday.