Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Final Score 2-1 as Poor First Half Sinks Lions on Opening Day

Orlando City suffered its second straight opening day loss as an awful first-half performance allowed visiting New York to take a 2-0 lead that could have been worse into halftime. The Lions (0-1-0, 0 points) played much better in the second half, and may have been unfortunate not to take something from the game, but the mountain was too steep to climb in a 2-1 loss to the Red Bulls (1-0-0, 3 points) in front of sellout crowed of 24,453 fans at Inter&Co Stadium. Julian Hall scored both of New York’s first-half goals, with Tiago spoiling the shutout late by scoring his first as a Lion deep in stoppage time.

“Two different stories, but probably the worst half that we have played here in Orlando, so no excuses. New York was way better than us in the first half. We could have conceded more goals, even,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “The second half, we changed the dynamics. We changed the attitude. We changed many things — the covering of the spaces, the willingness to attack, [and] many other things that just put us back into the game”

Pareja’s first starting lineup of 2026 included Maxime Crepeau in goal behind a back line of Adrian Marin, Iago, David Brekalo, and Griffin Dorsey. Wilder Cartagena and Braian Ojeda started in central midfield with wingers Tyrese Spicer and Marco Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Duncan McGuire up top. It was the first Orlando start for Iago, Dorsey, and Braian Ojeda.

Newcomers Braian Ojeda and Dorsey got things started on the night with Dorsey involved in some early advances down the right side. The Lions opened the game with a few forays into Red Bull territory and McGuire looked like he might break out in the fifth minute after a good ball over the top that he tried to play Spicer in but didn’t put enough on it. The Red Bulls countered, getting past Griffin and resulting in some chaos in the box. Cade Cowell put a shot on goal, leading to an early kick save by Crepeau in the fifth minute.

But the Red Bulls took control in the seventh minute and worked some good combination play between Emil Forsberg and Hall who put the first goal away in the eighth as New York ripped Orlando’s defense apart.

New York never let up on the constant pressure and slipped a through ball into the box in the 11th minute, but the move was offside. New York’s press was relentless and the Lions looked out of sorts to say the least with another potential goal for the visitors called offside in the 12th. If that weren’t bad enough, Cartagena had to be subbed off on the play with what appeared to be a hamstring issue, leaving the game for Colin Guske. Some rusty Orlando play led to a turnover in the Orlando half, and the guests should have doubled the lead, but Ronald Donkor put the shot over the bar.

Orlando managed to lump a few balls towards McGuire, but he struggled to win duels throughout the first half.

The Lions had a wasted opportunity to break out in the 22nd, but gave the ball away easily once again, leading to yet another half chance by the Red Bulls in the 23rd. Forsberg’s corner in the 24th minute was headed away, but Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty fired back in right at Crepeau, who made the easy stop. A tragically ill-advised pass just outside Orlando’s 18-yard box led to a counterattack and a blast off of the bottom of the crossbar in the 25th by Cowell.

Finally, the Lions managed something resembling an attack, but that led to yet another effective counterattack that got run out over the touch line, resulting in an easily defended corner in the 29th. In the 31st, a clunky counterattack resulted in Orlando’s only shot on goal in the first half by Pasalic from outside the penalty area, but he fired it right at goalkeeper Ethan Horvath.

A foul by Guske in the 33rd around 25 yards out set up a free kick for New York. Forsberg’s ball in was headed away but retained by the attackers and worked into the 18-yard box and ushered out for a corner that was again fended off.

The Lions worked a little possession in the Red Bulls’ half but poor decision making led to another giveaway, breakout, and near goal. It turned into another corner, but this time it was canceled out by a Red Bull foul.

The 38th saw another attempt on goal, this time by Marshall-Rutty, that was tipped out by Crepeau, and then another corner, another save, and another corner, followed by a chaotic scramble leading to a second goal for Hall. McGuire had a chance to clear, but couldn’t, and then Brekalo failed to prevent the pass into the area and Iago was on the wrong side of Hall, who made it 2-0 in the 40th minute.

Another approximation of an attack was carved out by Orlando but again the Lions could not pick out the right pass and the ball fizzled over the end line. The Red Bulls were unfazed and continued their dominant control. Another near goal on a shot by Marshall-Rutty in the 44th went just wide, resulting in a goal kick for Orlando.

Orlando had absolutely no idea how to deal with New York’s control, nor could the Lions fashion anything remotely like an attack. With five minutes of stoppage time left, another poorly executed attack ended up with Spicer taking a yellow card. Even with a late attack by the Lions, they failed to even attempt to send the ball into the box and the first half fizzled to a close.

The first of half ended with New York leading in every category. The Red Bulls held the advantage in possession (53.7%-46.3%), passing accuracy (86.7%-79.5%), shots (15-2), shots on target (8-1) and corners (5-0). The visitors had the all-important 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.

“We started a little bit slow, and I think everybody could see it,” Dorsey said. “I can only speak for myself, but I think from the start, it just needs to be a little bit better. I think Oscar, he just had a tactical switch going into the second half and obviously making some changes and getting us prepared to play in a different style, more aggressive style, which I think helped us, and I think threw Red Bulls off of their game a little bit.”

Pareja made two changes at the break, sending on rookie Nolan Miller for Iago and Ivan Angulo for Pasalic. The duo helped spark Orlando, but the team as a whole simply came out with more aggression. It didn’t turn the result around, but it did change the complexion of the match.

“Collectively, everybody lifted the intensity (in the second half),” Pareja said. “I thought when we came back to the locker room and we felt that we were in that momentum. The other team was way superior than us, and we did a couple of modifications on the tactical part, but I thought it was beyond that. I thought our attitude and our stamina, it just put us in a different stage.”

Dorsey won a free kick on the left side of the box in the 50th minute and it set up the first good chance of the secon half. The ball found its way back to Dorsey in front of goal, and he appeared to score his first goal as a Lion, only to have it waved off by referee Rubiel Vazquez. The ball had bounced up and caught a piece of Dorsey’s elbow prior to the shot, nullifying the goal.

“I didn’t think that it hit my hand. So, you know, I celebrated like that was my first Orlando City goal,” Dorsey said. “But there’ll be more moments to come.”

The Red Bulls worked their way back forward though, and Forsberg pinged one off the post after it was tipped by Crepeau in the 59th minute. Forsberg fired one high less than a minute later. Orlando secured its first corner moments later with a ball over the top, but it was sent high by Miller.

Again the Red Bulls countered and Guske did well to get to the ball and touched it over the end line to snuff out the attack for another corner. Crepeau managed to gather the ensuing ball and started a promising counterattack, but again a lack of precision ended it as Spicer lost control, but a foul resulted a free kick for Orlando just outside the box. Martin Ojeda put the free kick on target, but Horvath made a diving save and sent the ball out for a corner, which was subsequently put into the top of the net, giving possession back to the Red Bulls.

Back-and-forth play ensued, with the Lions somewhat threatening and the Red Bulls always dangerous on the counter. Juan Mina sent another ball off Crepeau and the post in the 67th minute.

Orlando continued to grow into the game, resulting in a corner nearly being sent in by Dorsey but Horvath saved it in the 70th.

In more of the same news, a glorious chance to score was wasted with a wide-open goal on a misplaced header by Angulo in the 74th. The game settled into a somewhat ugly back-and-forth struggle not leading to many chances for either team.

Orlando finally managed a pair of corners in the 83rd and 84th minutes, with the first attempt tipped out for another, which was again sent onto the net’s roof. This was followed quickly by two Red Bull attempts in about two seconds, which were both saved by a now very busy Crepeau in the 85th. It was a remarkable double save, with the Canadian parrying away Omar Valencia’s shot from the left and then smothering Forsberg’s rebound shot with his legs. Crepeau’s final save count was 11 on the night, tying Mason Stajduhar’s single-game club record.

The best that can be said about this one was the Lions made a valiant effort to fight back in the second half, but it was just not effective enough to tip the scales. Tiago had an attempt in the 94th which was too soft and easily saved, but then the effort finally paid off for the Lions with a score from the young Brazilian to salvage a shred of dignity.

Angulo started the play with a great switch from left to right, where substitute Zakaria Taifi ran onto it, before sliding it over to Tiago for his first MLS goal. It was also Taifi’s first MLS assist. Unfortunately, it was also one of the game’s last kicks of the ball.

New York continued its dominance on the stat sheet at full time, finishing with the edge in possession (51.9%-48.1%), passing accuracy (83.4%-81.3%), shots (25-18), shots on target (13-6), and corners (9-5).

“We need to start more on the front foot,” Dorsey said. “And I think we saw a lot of positives coming out of the second half, putting them under pressure.”

“(Pareja’s postgame) message was simple: take the good parts of the second half. Lay the bad parts of the first half behind us,” Miller said. “We look at the film, we look at the detail and what happened, and it’s something to learn from.”

The Lions have a week to get their act together with Inter Miami coming to town Sunday, March 1.