Orlando City at New England Revolution: Final Score 2-1 as Ojeda’s Brace Leads Lions to Road Win

Orlando City went into Gillette Stadium and did something very rare — the club won. Martin Ojeda provided two goals to propel the Lions to a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution. The Lions (10-6-8, 38 points) once again opened up a 1-0 lead, and once again gave up the equalizer. This time, Orlando City got the go-ahead goal and managed to hang on to see out the match. Tomás Chancalay scored for the hosts, who extended their winless streak to eight (0-6-2).

New England (6-10-7, 23 points) didn’t go quietly, as the home side had plenty of chances to equalize. This was a badly needed three points on the road for Orlando City heading into the final third of the season.

Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja decided that the lineup that started in the loss to New York City FC was the right recipe for a visit to Gillette Stadium. Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese started behind a back line of David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Alex Freeman. Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta started in central midfield with wingers Ivan Angulo and Marco Pasalic, with Ojeda and Luis Muriel in the forward positions.

Both teams were active early, pushing into the offensive areas of the pitch. New England had the first corner in the fourth minute, but Orlando cleared Carles Gil’s delivery. Two minutes later, Atuesta sent a ball in for Pasalic, but a foul by Atuesta gave the Revs a free kick. In the 10th minute, New England earned another corner but couldn’t convert the chance.

The teams traded another set of half chances, but in the 18th minute, Ojeda received a long ball from Atuesta, did just enough to get it past Aljaž Ivačič, and deftly put it into the back of the net with the outside of his left foot to give Orlando City the early lead.

“We had talked during training with teammates and the technical staff about what the best ways to hurt New England were going to be,” Ojeda said. “And I remember from the last game that they had a lot of spaces in those areas. So, as soon as Edu (Atuesta) got the ball, I knew that with the quality player that he is, all I had to do was get into the space in front of me. When the ball came, I got there about the same time as the goalkeeper, and I let it go under him. And the ball fell perfectly to me behind him, so all I had to do was finish it off. Thankfully, I was able to do that, score, and make it 1-0 at the time. And like I said, I’m just very happy.” 

Both teams continued to push forward with New England getting another corner kick in the 20th minute and Atuesta missing a shot in the 22nd minute. In the 27th minute, Angulo fouled Gil. The New England attacker went for goal, but it sailed out for an Orlando City goal kick.

By the end of the first half hour, New England had worked its way into the match. In the 30th minute, Ilay Feingold begged for a penalty after Brekalo stood him up, but there was no foul, and no call made. Three minutes later, Ojeda took a shot from distance that was on target and forced Ivačič to tip it over the bar for a corner kick.

Ojeda took the corner, which was cleared but recycled by the Lions. Ojeda ended up with it and tried for goal again, but it went out for a goal kick. New England went back on the attack in the 36th minute, earning yet another corner, but the hosts committed a foul to give the Lions a free kick.

Both sides generated more chances before the half. In the 37th minute, a Revs cross went behind Leo Campana. A corner kick from Ojeda in the 39th minute skipped off Brekalo’s head to the feet of New England. In the 42nd minute, the Revolution managed a ball across the face of goal, but there was nobody there to finish it.

The best chance of the half for New England came in the 43rd minute, when Alhassan Yusuf found the ball at his feet inside the box. Brekalo was able to block both the initial shot and the follow-up. Gil took one more long-distance shot before the half ended.

At the break, New England had the advantage in possession (56%-44%), corners (5-3), and passing accuracy (84%-79%), but the Lions had the edge in shots (6-4), shots on target (2-0), and the only goal.

At the start of the second half, Orlando was aggressive, sending the ball to a streaking Angulo, but Ivačič was able to punch the ball away. New England tried to do the same thing in the 49th minute, but Jansson was able to sweep the ball away with a perfectly timed tackle.

In the 53rd minute, Chancalay gave the ball to Gil, but the shot went just wide left of the goal. Muriel placed an exceptional ball up to Ojeda a minute later, but his shot was blocked by Ivačič. One minute later, disaster struck as Chancalay equalized for the home team. Both Freeman and Schlegel tracked Peyton Miller’s run into the box, leaving Chancalay unguarded on the back side. The cross found him, and he faked a shot to freeze Schlegel, cut to his right, and pulled a shot inside the near post to tie the match.

Unlike last match, Orlando didn’t allow that goal to break them. In fact, Ojeda scored his second goal of the match. Angulo worked his way into the box, and deftly put a soft pass back for Ojeda to run onto, smashing it into the net for the goal.

“I think he’s carrying us in that matter; how important it is to have a player who is scoring goals and giving us those contributions in the moments that we need him the most,” Pareja said. “Not in any game, but in this one game, when we were all tense and we needed to produce tonight, he took that team on his shoulders. And not just what he does when he scores, but the work ethic that Martín has, that just represents the culture that we have. I’m happy for him, because I think he deserves it. And not just him, but the whole squad today. It was full energy, and everybody was willing to work and get this game. It was a good night for us.”

That did it for the scoring on the night, but not the shots or shots on target. In the 59th minute, Pasalic had an attempt go wide right. On the other end, Feingold took a shot from distance that sailed over the target in the 60th minute. One minute later, Pasalic took a long-distance shot of his own that Ivačič saved.

Orlando City had an a pair of corner kicks in the 62nd that were taken short and amounted to nothing. New England had a chance to pull level again with three shots in rapid succession. The first was blocked by Gallese, but the ball stayed in front of him. The second shot hit the right post, and the third was sent off target. Neither the second nor third would have counted had they gone in, because Campana was offside.

The teams traded yellow cards just after that, with Gallese getting one in the 66th minute for time wasting and Brayan Ceballos getting one for arguing after a foul was called. Muriel took the resulting free kick but sailed it into the crowd. Orlando started to drop deeper in defense as the pressure from New England mounted.

In the 74th minute, Miller forced Gallese to make a save on a point-blank shot to maintain the lead. Orlando continued to absorb New England’s attack. Zakaria Taifi came on for Pasalic in the 78th minute. The youngster did some good things, including sending a few crosses in front of goal that couldn’t find a teammate.

New England continued to press for a late equalizer, and referee Lukasz Szpala added six minutes of stoppage time — which turned into nine minutes. Unlike the previous couple of matches, the Lions were able to hold on for the victory.

In the end, New England had the advantage in possession (62%-38%), corners (9-6), and passing accuracy (87%-77%), but the Lions had the edge in shots (16-14) and shots on target (5-3).

“Obviously, I’m very happy with the result, but more so for the performance of the players,” Pareja said after the game. “I want to congratulate them for their responsibility, the energy, and the willingness to bounce back after the result that we had at home. They had a short period of recovery, and what we saw today was full commitment for the club, and the jersey, and getting this result away just ignited us again. So, congratulations to the players. Overall, I thought we had a very good game, very disciplined in our tactical proposal. And the times that we went forward, we looked like that team that is lethal. And that helps us to keep adding points in our search for our quality.”

In the previous two games, the Lions let a one-goal lead get away. The first against CF Montreal resulted in a 1-1 draw, and two late goals Wednesday night turned into a 2-1 loss. New England’s goal looked like it might be a repeat of those two performances, but the team did well to rebound and claim all three points.

“I think we can highlight that part of our squad and the boys tonight,” Pareja said. “The response that they had to what happened three days ago, in a game that we had and then let it go, and then to bounce back tonight with such a great performance in a very difficult place. And what they did in the game represents what they have done as well. When New England tied the game, it was a tense game. And then they kept going and Martín scored, and after that, I thought we had control of the game. So, credit to them. I see the team that we used to see in those difficult moments, guys that work hard and find a way to get the results.”

“I think the details can really test the unity of a group,” Ojeda added. “When those details don’t go your way in football, and when they actually go against you at times, as they have the last few games for us, it can test the unity of a group. And I’m really proud of how we responded tonight after those last three games. And I’m really proud to be a part of this group. When (New England) tied it up, we weren’t happy with just the one goal, and we said to ourselves that we were going to push. Thankfully, we were able to get it to 2-1 really quickly, and then, in the last portion of the game, we stayed united, stayed together, and really focused on those details that had hurt us and gone against us in those last few games so that it didn’t end like that tonight, and we were able to take the win. I think that was the key for us tonight. I think we worked really hard during the week to get those details right and get those details fixed. So, really happy for the win and to be a part of this group.”

The win keeps Orlando City in sixth in the Eastern Conference, three points ahead of Charlotte FC and three behind in-state rivals Inter Miami CF. It’s also the team’s first win since the 4-2 victory over St. Louis City FC on June 25, snapping a four-game winless slide.

Orlando City will be back on the road for an away game at Lower.com Field against the Columbus Crew on Friday.