Orlando City vs. Columbus Crew: Player Grades and Man of the Match

Orlando City hosted the Columbus Crew and neither side was able to claim all three points in a 1-1 draw between two Eastern Conference teams that have already qualified for the postseason. Andres Herrera struck first for Columbus, but the Lions responded well and Marco Pasalic leveled things shortly after with his 12th goal of the season. Both sides had chances to win it but have to settle for a draw as the regular season nears its end.

Let’s dive into how each Lion individually performed in this home game.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7.5 (MotM)— El Pulpo was denied a clean sheet due to poor defending once again, but he had a great game. Gallese had five saves, including a vital one on Max Arfsten right in front of goal amid a Columbus barrage of attacks near the end of the match. He also did well to come out and deny Diego Rossi early in the match to prevent a disastrous start. The goal that he did concede would’ve required an impressive reaction for him to stop Herrera’s shot while tracking the cross. As far as his distribution went, three of his eight long balls found their target and he was accurate on 78.3% of his 23 passes. Ultimately, Gallese was cool, calm, and collected in goal and helped the Lions avoid defeat at home.

D, Adrian Marin, 6 — With Rodrigo Schlegel suspended due to yellow card accumulation, Marin filled in on the back line and had a game with highs and lows. On the Crew’s goal, he allowed Herrera to cut in front of him and get goalside with ease to connect with Lassi Lappalainen’s cross, tapping it in. Marin redeemed himself soon after though by intercepting the ball and storming forward before laying it off for Luis Muriel in the buildup of Pasalic’s goal. He looked comfortable in those moments when the Lions were on the attack, contributing two key passes and a blocked header off of a corner kick. His only cross was inaccurate, but four of his seven long balls were successful. Marin won all four of his aerial duels and led the Lions with three interceptions, helping out defensively with two clearances and a tackle. His 57 touches were the second most on the Lions and he attempted 43 passes at an 81.4% success rate.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — Orlando City’s captain put in a decent performance, stopping Crew attacks by getting in the way of shots and making himself difficult to get past. The Beefy Swede blocked three shots to prevent Columbus from challenging Gallese, and he also racked up four clearances and a tackle. Only one of his four long balls was successful, but he completed 93% of his 43 passes. As the game wore on and Columbus pushed for a win, the visitors had to find ways around Jansson to create chances and he kept pace when defending on breakaways.

D, David Brekalo, 6.5 — It wasn’t always pretty when going up against Rossi, but Brekalo was solid enough defensively and took care of the ball. He completed all but three of his 42 passes for an excellent 92.9% rate, but he didn’t attempt any long balls. His five clearances and two blocked shots helped put out fires. All three of his shots in the match came from corner kicks, with one saved by Patrick Schulte and the other two going off target. Like Marin, he was a force in the air and won four of his five aerial duels.

D, Alex Freeman, 6 — It was a mixed bag for Freeman, as he led the Lions with six clearances and blocked a shot but faded down the stretch. He had a tough matchup against fellow USMNT defender Max Arfsten, who beat him to a cross and put a shot on target. Gallese bailed him out, but Freeman was sluggish late in the match and the Crew went after him. Freeman didn’t have a shot in this match but did have a nice key pass by lobbing an expertly weighted ball to Martin Ojeda before halftime. His lone cross was inaccurate though, and only one of his three long balls was successful. Freeman’s 59 touches were the most on the team and he attempted 38 passes at an 89.5% success rate. Referee Victor Rivas showed him a yellow card following a foul on Arfsten near midfield, with Freeman’s dissent likely being the reason for the booking.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 6 — The highlight of Angulo’s night was his vital defending to poke the ball away from Herrera before he could take a shot late in the first half. It was nice to see that from him after Herrera raced past him to score the opening goal. Although Angulo didn’t have any shots or key passes, things opened for the Lions a bit once he started playing higher up the pitch, as he did well to stretch the defense and press when needed. He only attempted one cross, which missed its mark, but both of his long ball attempts were accurate. Subbed off in the 80th minute, Angulo finished the game with 33 touches and 19 passes at an 89.5% success rate. Defensively, he blocked a shot and also had an interception and a tackle. Angulo needlessly conceded a foul in a dangerous area, but Dylan Chambost’s shot hit the wall.

MF, Joran Gerbet, N/A — The rookie’s night came to an unfortunate end early due to an injury. There wasn’t much contact involved in the incident, which usually isn’t a good sign. Gerbet wasn’t stretchered off and left the field with the assistance of the team’s trainers in the fifth minute. Kyle Smith came on to replace him as Orlando’s injury woes in the midfield continued.

MF, Eduard Atuesta, 6.5 — It was another solid performance from Atuesta, who fought hard on defense and delivered some nice passes to spark counter attacks for the Lions. He was accurate on six of his eight long ball attempts and completed 93% of his 43 passes in this match. Defensively, Atuesta had a tackle, an interception, and two clearances, but the stats don’t reflect just how much of a pain in the Crew’s side he was in the midfield. There was a chance for him to get an assist on a counter, but Nicolas Rodriguez got closed down quickly after receiving the pass with a heavy touch. Atuesta also sent a lovely ball over the top for Muriel to go score, but that chance was squandered as well. Regardless, Orlando needed Atuesta to have a good game after Gerbet’s injury and he delivered.

MF, Marco Pasalic, 7 — After a fairly quiet start to the match, Pasalic made his presence known by scoring Orlando’s only goal of the match. Muriel fired a low, driven shot at Schulte from distance and the goalkeeper couldn’t handle it, with Pasalic darting toward goal to put away the rebound. His only other shot in the match was blocked, but that talented left foot of his still generated some good chances. Pasalic had a key pass, was accurate on his one attempted cross, and was successful on three of his five long balls. He was subbed out for fresher legs in the 80th minute, but momentum shifted in the Crew’s favor once he was off the pitch. Of his 21 passes, 71.4% of them were successful and he contributed defensively with two interceptions. Orlando looked dangerous when Pasalic was on the ball and forcing Crew defenders into tough decisions, it just didn’t happen often enough for him to really bend the game to his will beyond the goal.

F, Luis Muriel, 5.5 — He reasonably won’t be credited with an assist on Pasalic’s goal, but his shot created the chance, and it was a nice effort from distance that Schulte couldn’t deal with. Muriel showcased his skill by being able to quickly control the ball and set up the shot before the Crew could do anything about it. Unfortunately, it was his only shot of the night, despite a pair of great opportunities to score in the second half. He lost a duel in the box to Sean Zawadski by trying to outfox the defender and later tried to slip a pass through to Ojeda rather than just smashing the ball towards goal from pretty close range. The Designated Player was subbed out shortly after that chance. He didn’t have any key passes in the match and had just 13 passes at a 61.5% success rate. It wasn’t exactly the performance one would expect from a star forward, but he did make an impact. It was his reluctance to shoot that leaves fans wondering what could have been.

F, Martin Ojeda, 6 — It was an off night for Ojeda, who only completed 63.9% of his 36 passes and had three unstable touches. Of his three shots, two were blocked and the one on target was comfortably saved by Schulte on a free kick. Ojeda could have given Orlando the lead on a breakaway, but decided to pass instead of shoot and his pass missed an open Duncan McGuire charging towards goal. All of that being said, an off night for Ojeda is still a pretty productive one. He led the Lions with four key passes and four of his eight crosses were accurate. Of his four long balls, two were successful as well. The Argentine playmaker also had a team-high three tackles to help win the ball back for Orlando. The opportunities for goals and assists were there, Ojeda just needed to be a bit more clinical in this one.

Substitutes

MF, Kyle Smith, (5’), 6 — Smith came on much earlier than expected to replace Gerbet due to his injury. He did well enough, completing 94.1% of his 34 touches and chipping in defensively with a tackle and an interception. He didn’t block any shots or kickstart counter attacks with long balls, but Smith was there to help out with the little things and stabilize things at a position ravaged by injuries this year. Smith was subbed out himself in the 80th minute for some fresher legs.

F, Duncan McGuire (64′), 5 — The American came on for Muriel and had a couple of chances to score a winner but the final product just wasn’t there. The first was on a breakaway with Ojeda, with McGuire open in the box but just unable to get on the end of the pass. He had a similar opportunity later with Tyrese Spicer, but McGuire’s attempt at chesting down the pass sent it skidding away from him for Arfsten to knock away for a corner. In the end, McGuire finished without any shots or key passes and had just six touches while completing two of his three passes.

MF, Tyrese Spicer, (80′), 6 — Spicer was once again electric off the bench, driving Orlando’s attack forward in the latter stages of the match and nearly recording his third assist in as many games after finding McGuire open in the box. He didn’t have any shots himself, but was successful on both of his long ball attempts and had two successful dribbles while completing all three of his passes. For a player who only had five touches in the match, he was impactful.

MF, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, (80′), N/A — Thorhallsson only had one touch in the match, blocking a shot by Herrera in stoppage time. The versatile player mostly served as fresh legs and another body for the Crew to have to work around when attacking. It was the latest in a series of late cameos for Thorhallsson in recent weeks, and he didn’t play long enough to warrant a grade.

MF, Nico Rodriguez, (80′), N/A — The MLS U22 Initiative player came on and had two touches in the match. The most notable one was unfortunately a heavy one, as Atuesta got him the ball in the box, but Darlington Nagbe saw it out of play for a corner before he could shoot. Rodriguez also conceded a foul at the end of the game while trying to win back possession, earning a yellow card for angrily booting the ball away after the whistle and giving the Crew a set piece to work with. Thankfully nothing came of it and the whistle blew shortly after. Like Thorhallsson, Rodriguez wasn’t on long enough to evaluate.

That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s 1-1 draw at home against the Columbus Crew. Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match!