Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Five Takeaways

If you watched that entire game, please take care of your mental health. Orlando City started poorly and things only got worse from there. Everything about the team seems substandard right now, regardless of Orlando City putting together a decent second half against the Red Bulls and another decent first half against Inter Miami. An early red card made things snowball exponentially off the rails on Saturday, and the Lions lost 5-0 at Yankee Stadium to drop to 0-3-0 on the season to continue the club’s worst-ever start to league play.

Here is what stood out to me on a day of awful soccer by Orlando City.

Crepeau WYD?

Maxime Crepeau is a 31-year-old veteran goalkeeper with nearly 30 caps for his national team. That’s far too much experience for him to do what he did in Yankee Stadium just 16 minutes after the opening kick. On a routine ball over the top, Crepeau caught the ball in the air ahead of Nicolas Fernandez Mercau, then took a step outside his penalty box. Realizing the error, he tried to immediately drop the ball at his feet, but after video review, the red card stood, and it appeared the correct decision. There was no need for Crepeau to lose his mind in that moment. He could have punched it or simply stopped. The red card put his team a man down for more than 74 minutes and essentially ruined Orlando’s chances on the road to take anything from the game. The Canadian has been a good shot stopper early this season, but there is no place in MLS for the kind of mistake he made Saturday. This will not make any Orlando City fan think any more highly of Carlos Coronel’s decision to ghost the club in the off-season.

Back Line In Shambles

Orlando City’s back line has been leaky and poor through three games. One of the reasons Crepeau had to be so excellent on shots the first couple of games is that good chances are being created against the OCSC defense. David Brekalo and Tahir Reid-Brown were particularly poor in marking on Saturday, with Fernandez Mercau and Keaton Parks both getting too much space from the Slovenian, while the Homegrown allowed the cross for the second goal with inattentive marking and often seemed to drift away from the man he was supposed to close down. Griffin Dorsey, who has been a bright spot to this bad start to the season, also struggled at times, gifting Parks his second goal with a terrible giveaway in his own box on a failed clearance. The problems on this back line go deeper than Robin Jansson’s injury. If you’ve noticed that I didn’t single out rookie Nolan Miller, it’s not because his play was flawless, but he continues to look like the least problematic defender on the OCSC back line.

Inauspicious Start

Luis Otavio’s first MLS start was one to forget. Not only did the defensive midfield not shield the back line well in the match, but Otavio also conceded a penalty in first-half stoppage time to add to Orlando’s misery. The Lions gave up a 2-v-1 in transition after a set piece at the other end, but help was arriving defensively. Otavio went to ground, played through his man, and it was an easy call for the referee to point to the spot. Maxi Moralez scored New York’s third, making things even more dire just before halftime. It was always risky to give a teenager his first start in a place like Yankee Stadium, with its numerous quirks, and it turned out to be the wrong decision.

Goal Differential Destroyed

The game was still 0-0 when Crepeau was dismissed, but the best Orlando could realistically have expected was to grind out a scoreless draw or maybe hit for a surprise goal on the counter. The Lions didn’t look to be parking the bus, and if they were, they were bad at it. The score was out of hand before halftime and the defending didn’t look any more compact after the break. Leaving the Pigeons space played nicely into their hands, as they punished Orlando for nearly every yard of space given. Grinding out a narrow loss when down a man for most of the game would at least have accomplished something. Giving up a boatload of goals can only hurt the team later, although that assumes things turn around at some point.

Another Tough Outing for Otero at Yankee Stadium

Javier Otero must have had a sense of deja vu on Saturday. His MLS debut took place two years ago at Yankee Stadium when Mason Stajduhar started and was injured. This time it was a red card that brought Otero into the fray unexpectedly, and things didn’t go any better for him in the Bronx this time around. He perhaps could have done better on the first goal, as he appeared to have a good look at the high bouncer but he made no effort as it dipped over him and under his bar to open the scoring. He was also late off his line and was caught by it on Parks’ first goal. He guessed correctly on the Moralez penalty, but it still got past him as it was hit with good placement and pace. The Homegrown goalkeeper came in under difficult conditions and was put in a difficult position many times by his defense, but he never really seemed to get up to game speed. He’ll need to get up to speed from the start for the next Orlando City game, as Crepeau will be suspended due to that red card.

Those were the big-ticket items that caught my eye in Orlando City’s humiliating defeat at Yankee Stadium. What else stood out to you? Let us know in the comments.