Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Five Takeaways

The Martin Perelman tenure as Orlando City’s interim head coach started with a 2-1 victory over CF Montreal at Inter&Co Stadium. Perelman is known for a more attacking style, which is what we saw to start the match. Of course, in the end there was still a lot white-knuckle defending needed, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Here is what I took from Orlando City’s first win of the season.

Big Dunc Strikes

Duncan McGuire scored a goal. It’s been a long time coming as McGuire has put in the work but hasn’t been provided any decent service to start the season. It was good to see his persistence pay dividends with his first goal of the season. It was a poacher’s goal, but it scores the same. There’s nothing wrong with that type of goal. It means that he was in the right spot at the right time, which is part of what a good striker needs to do.

Good Angulo

We always get “quick” Ivan Angulo, but we don’t always get “good” Angulo. We did against Montreal. He was involved in both of Orlando City’s goals in the first half, though somewhat luckily on the first. He put Marco Pasalic’s rebound off the left post, but fortunately the ball ended up at McGuire’s feet for the easy tap-in goal.

He was much more an impactful player on the second goal. He brought the ball into the attacking half, tried an ambitious pass to McGuire that was just a hair short and touched away. However, he did well to follow up and got back on the ball, had a quick give and go with Pasalic before smartly dropping it off to Martin Ojeda for the goal. Angulo did so much to make that goal happen.

It was a good match for Angulo. He provided his usual contributions on defense, and a few of his dribbles into the opposition, but overall he was good. As we know, a mostly good Angulo is better than a bad Angulo any day.

That’ll Do Defense, That’ll Do.

Orlando City gave up an equalizer minutes after scoring the first goal, but that ended up being it on the night. There was no collapse in the second half despite Montreal having the lion’s share (no pun intended) of possession and shots. It took a full team defensive effort in the end as well as a little bit of luck. There was emergency defending, fortunate bounces, and timely clearances. To be fair, this wasn’t like dealing with Inter Miami’s offense, but all that matters in the end is the result.

Brazilian Wrecking Machine

Iago got his first start since the opener and it went better this time than against the New York Red Bulls. He did get overpowered on Prince Owusu’s header goal, but that was about the only time he was overpowered. He somehow was able to get away with accidently dropping two Montreal players when defending an attack all the way up in midfield. He also made up for allowing the goal when he cleared the ball late in the match while his teammates threw their bodies around trying to defend. It wasn’t a perfect night for the young center back, but it was his best showing so far.

Otero’s Enough

Javier Otero knew he was getting the start in this match and he was better prepared than against New York City FC. He was not at fault on CF Montreal’s goal. He made an outstanding diving save in the second half, and a few expected stops throughout. He did well to come out when needed, but unlike Maxime Crepeau, he didn’t handle the ball outside the box. He didn’t cost the Lions the match, which is something a backup keeper is expected to do. It might not seem like much, but doing just enough is still enough.

That is what I saw in Orlando City’s 2-1 win over CF Montreal. It was nice to finally see a victory. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.