Orlando City B vs. New York City FC II: Final Score 4-1 as Young Lions Suffer Another Lopsided Loss

Two preventable early goals in the first half were too much to overcome as Orlando City B (7-10-3, 26 points) fell 4-1 to New York City FC II (7-8-5, 28 points) at Osceola County Stadium. The Young Lions finally scored a goal, but their downward spiral out of the playoff places continued with another subpar performance. Shak Mohammed helped OCB avoid another shutout, but it hardly put any window dressing on a terrible performance marked by two of the more embarrassing goals conceded this season.

Evan Lim, Uriel Zeitz, and Julien Lacher scored for New York City FC II, which got another tally on an own goal from Jackson Platts. However, the Platts own goal wasn’t the worst one the Young Lions conceded on the evening.

OCB Head Coach Manuel Goldberg’s starting lineup included Carlos Mercado in goal behind a back line of Tahir Reid-Brown, Platts, Hayden Sargis, and Riyon Tori. Colin Guske and Bernardo Rhein started in central midfield behind an attacking line of Mohammed, Justin Ellis, and Favian Loyola, with Thalles up top.

OCB started brightly, getting forward in the opening minutes of the match. Ellis fired the game’s first shot in the fourth minute, finding space near the left corner of the box and sending a drive on target but straight at goalkeeper Mac Learned at the near post. Three minutes later, a nice pass from Tori found Mohammed, who fired in off of Learned but the flag came up, nullifying the goal.

The Young Lions paid for the missed Mohammed opportunity in the 14th minute. OCB won a throw-in but promptly turned it over in its own defensive third, ultimately conceding a corner. There were two opportunities to clear the set piece, but OCB failed on both. On an ensuing simple ball right in front of goal, Mercado appeared to have plenty of time to come out and punch or catch it inside the six. Instead, he retreated back toward his goal. Lim beat Platts and Sargis, heading it in to make it 1-0 to the visitors.

Ellis tried to pull the goal back in the 18th minute, blasting a shot toward the near post again from the left, but Learned fought it off and pounced on the rebound before an attacker could get there.

The visitors doubled the lead on an embarrassing play for OCB in the 21st minute. The Young Lions were caught out of shape, sending too many defenders to their left side. NYCFC II quickly sent a back-post ball to Leo Guarino, who shot a ball that hit off of Platts’ face and went in to make it 2-0. It was initially ruled an own goal but was changed to Guarino’s. Either way, it was the perfect microcosm of OCB’s play the last three matches. Thankfully, the MLS NEXT Pro account did not post a video of the goal for us to embed in this recap.

Orlando City B got forward a minute later with an excellent chance to pull the goal right back. Ellis found Thalles in the box, but the Brazilian’s shot was deflected wide. Platts headed the ensuing corner kick cross well over the crossbar to end the attack.

Ellis shot from the top of the box deflected just wide of the right post in the 31st minute, as the Young Lions continued to search for a way back into the match.

Ellis found Mohammed in front in the 36th minute, but his shot was blocked. Moments later, Loyola fired a curling shot that looked like it might go over, but Learned made sure, tipping it over and conceding a corner. The corner kick pinged around a bit and ended up with Ellis, who had another shot blocked out for a corner. Sargis headed wide on the second set piece.

Loyola did well to find Mohammed on the left in the 44th minute, but the shot was saved and out for another corner. The Young Lions could do nothing with the set piece. Mohammed carried the ball forward on the break with numbers in the second minute of first-half stoppage, but he sent his shot right at Learned when he perhaps had better options, as OCB attackers outnumbered New York defenders on the transition chance. Moments later, the Young Lions broke again but the ref halted play to book Christopher Tian-Long Tiao for pulling Loyola back despite OCB having advantage on the counterattack.

Tori did well to get forward and receive a pass in the box, turning and finding Ellis in the fourth added minute, but the ball skipped up on Ellis, who sent his shot over the bar. That was the final look at goal in another disappointing half for OCB, which trailed 2-0 at the break.

At halftime, OCB held the advantage in shots (12-5), shots on goal (5-1), and corners (5-2). NYCFC was the more accurate passing side (89.3%-84.8%) and had the game’s only two goals. The Young Lions controlled more of the first half, but with a two-goal lead, the visitors didn’t have to take any risks and were comfortable staying organized on the defensive end, blocking five of OCB’s first-half shots.

OCB wasted a good transition opportunity in the 47th minute when Ellis found Mohammed on the left. The winger tried to pick out Thalles on the other side but sent his pass badly off line and out for a goal kick, ending the threat without even an attempt at goal.

Orlando nearly scored on a corner kick in the 52nd. Playing it short, Loyola took it into the box and squared a pass to the top of the six. Reid-Brown couldn’t dig it out of his feet on what would have been a tap-in, and Sargis followed by having his shot blocked.

Loyola took a drop pass from Tori in the 58th minute and blasted a shot on target, but Learned fought it off as the OCB winger left his shot too close to the keeper. The ball popped up in the air and Thalles tried to head it in, but he was offside on the initial shot.

The visitors came close to making it 3-0 in the 63rd minute after some prolonged possession in the attacking third. Sebastiano Musu turned and fired a blast on target that Mercado saved. He was able to jump on the rebound before an opponent arrived.

OCB went the other way and Ellis got a decent look at goal just inside the top of the box in the 64th minute. He unleashed a blast, but Learned again saved it, and once more Thalles was offside on the shot, so the whistle blew when he got to the rebound.

Mohammed fired wide in the 73rd minute, as the lack of lethality in front of goal continued for OCB. Second-half sub Justin Hylton worked a nice give-and-go with Mohammed in the 81st minute, with Hylton firing a shot that Learned saved. The defense knocked the rebound out of play off a charging Mohammed for a goal kick.

Perhaps OCB’s worst goal conceded all season came in the 86th minute off the Young Lions’ own free kick in their defensive penalty area. Mercado put the ball in play by sending it short to Platts, who fired the ball off Zeitz and into the empty net to make it 3-0. If the second NYCFC II goal wasn’t already the perfect metaphor for OCB’s recent form, the third certainly was.

It was an unfortunate mistake, as Mohammed scored off his own rebound in the 87th minute to end an OCB scoreless drought at 272 minutes dating back to July 13 against Carolina Core. If OCB had not so egregiously given a goal away seconds earlier, the Young Lions would have been right back in the game.

Mohammed had a half chance to pull OCB within a goal in the 90th minute, but he missed the target from a tight angle on the right. A minute later, Reid-Brown had his shot in front partially blocked before committing a foul trying to get to the rebound.

The embarressment was capped by a fourth goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time from second-half sub Lacher, who did nothing fancy; he merely breezed past Tori and Platts and slotted home to cap another awful night for OCB.

Despite getting blown out, OCB finished well statistically, finishing the match with the edge in shots (23-11), shots on target (11-4), and corners (11-2). NYCFC held a slight advantage in passing accuracy (84.8%-84.3%).

OCB has lost its last three games, getting outscored 11-1 over that span since the 3-1 win over Carolina Core on July 13. It’s now just one win in eight matches for Orlando City B, which has now slipped to 10th in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Young Lions will stay home for a match Saturday night against Chattanooga FC.