Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Five Takeaways

I mentioned in my Five Takeaways article from the New York City FC game a week ago that perhaps what Orlando City needed to find its mojo was to get back on the road. That is exactly what happened, as the Lions hopped on a plane and packed a little extra offense in their luggage, scoring two goals and earning three points in a 2-1 victory. It was great to see them get a lead and see it out, especially considering that going into Saturday night’s game Orlando City was only 1-6-2 all time when playing at Gillette Stadium.

Here are my five takeaways from the match.

Road Warriors

Óscar Pareja went with the exact same starting lineup from Wednesday’s home match, despite the fact that 10 of the 11 starters played at least 70 minutes during that game and the Lions had to fly to New England. As I often remind myself, he is a very successful coach and I am not, and his strategy to go with the same starting group paid off, with the Lions looking much more dangerous than the Revolution. I was surprised as the game got deeper and deeper into the second half that Pareja did not go to the bench, and while he eventually used three substitutes, two of those came during second-half stoppage time, and I do not think Kyle Smith would have subbed in had Robin Jansson not picked up a knock late in the game. Pareja is clearly comfortable with his starters and uncomfortable with the bench group at the moment, and it will be interesting to see what happens when the secondary transfer window opens up next week.

A Lovely Chip To the Middle of the Green

It is fitting that on the same weekend as golf’s final major tournament, The Open Championship in Northern Ireland, Orlando City scored a goal off of a beautifully chipped pass that looked like it came off a pitching wedge. It did not, as that would be against the rules and rather dangerous, but it did come off the foot of Eduard Atuesta. The Colombian could not have chipped that ball any better, timing it perfectly to coincide with Martín Ojeda’s run and hitting it just the right distance so that Aljaž Ivačič could not come out and get to the ball before Ojeda. The Argentine also made a great play himself, touching it lightly to get by Ivačič and then using the outside of his foot to play the ball into the empty net and give Orlando City a 1-0 lead. 

An Immediate Response

New England tied the game in the 55th minute, but Orlando City wasted no time in responding, taking the lead right back just three minutes later. Iván Angulo made a great driving run into the box and laid the ball off for Ojeda, and — to continue my golf analogy from before — Ojeda went driver and absolutely smashed the ball into the roof of the net. After several recent games when the Lions gave up a second-half goal and were unable to answer, it was great to see the players keep their heads up after allowing a goal and exact retribution on their opponent.

OCB Minutes

Listeners of The Mane Land PawedCast will be familiar with a segment called “the OCB minute,” when hosts Michael Citro and Dave Rohe discuss Orlando City B’s most recent game and preview their upcoming match. On Saturday night, however, it was OCB player Zakaria Taifi who was first off the bench for the Lions, coming in during the 78th minute and playing 12 minutes out on the right wing after replacing Marco Pašalić. Taifi was clearly a defense-for-offense sub, but even so, he did a good job getting forward, made a nice run late in the game, and played a dangerous ball into the middle, but Luis Muriel just could not get to it or else it likely would have been an assist for the young Lion. I think the choice of Taifi to be first off the bench was a clear message from Pareja that the depth chart behind the starters is still in flux and that he expects more from the senior team’s reserves.

Gallese and Yellow Go Great Together

I do not know if I am in the majority or the minority on this, but I love the yellow goalkeeper jerseys that Orlando City’s goalkeepers have worn during most games this season, and there is a good chance I will own one by the end of the year. I also enjoyed seeing Gallese flying across the goal in that yellow to make several huge saves in this game, getting low and to his right to deny Tomás Chancalay from long range in the 65th minute and then throwing his body across the goal to stop Peyton Miller from point-blank range in the 74th minute. In between those two saves, Gallese also did something else that he does incredibly “well,” which is pick up a yellow card for time wasting. I thought the referee was a little quick on the trigger for that card, but El Pulpo is a known time waster and that came back to bite him. Javier Otero is a capable backup, but I would prefer to see Gallese making saves in yellow and not being shown the yellow.

Those are my takeaways from Orlando City’s 2-1 victory over New England. Winning is nice, and quite honestly I think the Lions should go ahead and do it again against Columbus next Friday. They will be humming Willie Nelson as they will be on the road again, and if things go the way we would all like, then maybe “Road Warriors” will show up in consecutive Five Takeaways articles.

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