Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: Five Takeaways

Orlando City traveled to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Fire in the MLS Eastern Conference wild card match. The Lions crashed out of the playoffs before they really began, falling 3-1 to Chicago. It was an ugly match for Orlando City and a horrible way to end the season, but end it did.

Here are my five takeaways from the match.

No Shot(s) in the First Half

Technically, Orlando City recorded one shot attempt in the first half, but I’ll forgive you if you don’t remember it. Rodrigo Schlegel had a header off a set piece that went closer to the corner flag than the goal. It’s impossible to win a match if you don’t score goals, and it’s hard to score goals if you don’t take shots. The Lions were barely able to get the ball out of their own half, and if they did, Orlando City gave it back to Chicago almost immediately. Sadly, there were a bunch of giveaways in the defensive half as well. It wasn’t a good first half.

Second-Half Stunner

Chicago scored in the 48th minute. It wasn’t a stunner of a goal, only that it took so long for it to happen. Brian Gutierrez slipped into the middle of the box to put the cross from Philip Zinckernagel into the back of the goal. Eduard Atuesta left Gutierrez, Robin Jansson slipped on the play, and no one thought to get in front of Gutierrez. If not for the woodwork, Gutierrez would have had another.

Et Tu Cesar?

Orlando City was plagued by poor passing in the first half, and in the second half it came back to haunt the Lions. Chicago’s second goal came off a poor decision by Cesar Araujo. As the Fire pressured the Orlando defense, Araujo made a back pass to Pedro Gallese. Unfortunately, Hugo Cuypers followed it in and blocked Gallese’s clearance attempt. Barely 11 minutes into the second half, Orlando City was down two goals.

Lucky it Wasn’t Worse

Cuypers scored again in the 67th minute to make it three for the home team. It really could have been five goals or more. Chicago struck the woodwork twice and David Brekalo made a goal-saving clearance when Gallese was away from his line. Those are just the examples I remember. Orlando City was on the back foot nearly the whole match. Chicago had 25 shots with nine on target. I don’t want to take anything away from Tyrese Spicer’s late consolation goal, but it was always going to be too little, too late.

It Was Inevitable

The Lions limped into the playoffs both literally in Jansson’s case and figuratively as a team. Oscar Pareja started Jansson and Araujo because his choices were limited, but honestly Jansson should have come off in the 60th minute if not before. This was a team that hadn’t kept a clean sheet in 16 matches heading into the playoffs. It was unrealistic to expect them to do so against the likes of Cuypers and Zinckernagel. Losing this match was the result of injuries, Leagues Cup fallout, and a poor run of form.

Those are my takeaways from a tough playoff loss. Orlando City struggled in this match as it did much of the last half of the season. If you can handle the disappointment, let us know your thoughts from this match in the comments below.