Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Five Takeaways

I have never actually been punched in the gut, but I am sure that it does not feel much worse than what it felt like to watch Orlando City capitulate once again in the final minutes of a game, going from a 1-0 lead to a 2-1 defeat in the final minutes of Wednesday’ night’s game. The Lions had plenty of chances to salt the game away in the first 85 minutes but they could not tally more than one goal, and then the combination of bad luck on one play and bad execution on a play shortly thereafter gave New York City FC a smash-and-grab win.

Here are my five takeaways from another disappointing match at home.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Own goals are brutal whenever they happen, but they are especially tough when they follow an incredible save by the goalkeeper but still end up in the back of the net. Pedro Gallese made a save at full stretch, denying former Lion Andrés Perea from scoring a late equalizer with a header, but then Rodrigo Schlegel tried to clear the rebound from danger but hit his clearance right off of Kyle Smith and into the Orlando City net. Schlegel did well to react quickly after Gallese made a fantastic save, but he did not have a chance to look around before trying to bomb the ball out of the zone and just suffered an incredible stroke of bad luck by hitting Smith, who was also going for a clearance, and watching the ball carom right into the net. At that moment, it felt like karma for all the missed shots by the Orlando City offense and that it would be another dropped two points from a winning position, but sadly it would become three dropped points just moments later.

For the Love Of Everything That Is Good, Please Ban Short Corners

I understand that teams want to have a lot of different looks that they could go to on set plays, but I would like the Lions to remove short corners from their bag, as they say, and not go with the short corner routine again. Ever. Kind of like how the guys in the movie Armageddon didn’t want to pay taxes again. Ever. Nico Rodriguez played a quick ball to Eduard Atuesta, trying to catch NYCFC off guard, but the team that was really caught off guard was Orlando City, as Dagur Dan Thórhallsson, the player assigned to be the last man back on defense during a corner kick, had his back to the ball and did not even know the play had started. Many of the other Lions were also caught flat footed while Atuesta tried to find a teammate to pass the ball to. Atuesta eventually played a poor ball into the middle — one of his few poor passes on the night — and NYCFC was able to break out on the counter with only Thórhallsson to beat. The Icelandic midfielder sprinted back at full speed, but because the play had started to so quickly, he was not deep enough to be in a position to slow down the counterattack. Alonso Martínez was able to get by him and finish the breakaway and, for all intents and purposes, the game.

Wasteful Offense

Orlando City took 25 shots on Wednesday night but was only able to put seven shots on goal. Many of the shots the Lions did put on goal did not really trouble goalkeeper Matt Freese. There were opportunities galore for the Lions to get multiple goals, with all three of the Designated Players failing to score on excellent opportunities, César Araújo hitting a free kick straight into a wall from a dangerous location, Alex Freeman not being able to get his feet sorted out to really uncork a threatening shot, and Ramiro Enrique putting his one shot wide of the goal from about nine yards out on the right side. The shots that were on goal were not well hit, and the balls that were well struck went wide, over, or right into a defender — in particular the last one with the Pigeons blocking nine shots on the night. The offense was simply not good enough, again, and the Lions paid for not being able to put multiple goals in the net.

The Only Offense Came From The Defense

Orlando City’s offensive players could not find their form but almost got bailed out by an unlikely source, as the one goal the team scored came from from a header by David Brekalo off of a Martín Ojeda corner that went right to Robin Jansson. The Beefy Swede looked like he had been playing striker for years by using his shoulder to knock the ball down and then volleying it low, hard, and into the corner — a place where all of the other Orlando City players were apparently unable to shoot any of their shots. This goal exemplified why many analysts, yours truly included, think that all corner kicks should be played directly into the box. Brekalo and Jansson got themselves into good positions and made a play, and when a play is made from close range, good things often happen, and purple smoke goes off and the crowd goes wild.

Tired Legs And a Barren Bench Are a Bad Combination

Óscar Pareja started eight players who had started the previous game against CF Montréal four days prior. When he went to the bench, he brought on players who had started that game (Enrique) or who had also come in off the bench in that game (Rodriguez, Smith, and Thórhallsson). Orlando City seemed the more dangerous team for most of the game, but it was not a particularly well-played game, with two teams that looked like they had just played days before and neither team sharp offensively. The Lions created more opportunities but were not sharp, and NYCFC rarely threatened for most of the game.

Pareja went with his trusted group of substitutes to try to protect a 1-0 lead, once again deciding to only use four of his five possible changes (this was the fifth straight game in which he did not use all of his allowed substitutions), and the lack of fresh MLS-quality legs was apparent in the final minutes, especially after the team fell behind. Rodriguez looked lively, but Enrique, Smith, and Thórhallsson contributed little, and the players who had been on the field all game had little left in the tank. Orlando City needs Joran Gerbet and Duncan McGuire to return from injury and needs to make use of the transfer window that opens next week, because the Lions cannot keep running out the same players over and over and expect the results to be different.

Those are my takeaways from Orlando City’s disappointing 2-1 defeat against NYCFC. The Lions had a deserved lead but could not find what would likely have been a back-breaking second goal and paid for it in the end. The team will need to shake this off quickly because the Lions travel to New England on Saturday. But after that performance against NYCFC, maybe it is better that they will be on the road for their next game.

Let us know your thoughts about the NYCFC match in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!