Orlando City vs. D.C. United: Final Score 3-2 as Lions Blow Late Lead to Lose Again

Second-half substitutions flipped the script for Orlando City on the road against a D.C. United team that had the Lions on the back foot and behind by a goal for much of the first half. The Lions (2-7-1, 7 points) turned around a 1-0 deficit, taking the lead in the second half. But Orlando couldn’t hold on, allowing D.C. (3-4-3, 12 points) to tie it up and then pull ahead in the literal last minute of regular time to snatch a 3-2 win at the death at Audi Field.

Justin Ellis and second-half sub Tyrese Spicer turned a one-goal halftime deficit that Jackson Hopkins had supplied into a lead by the 67th minute, but Louis Munteanu and Kye Rowles found the net six minutes apart in the final six minutes of normal time to send Orlando City home still without a road victory.

“Well, of course disappointed with the result after the effort we did to come back [in] the game,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perleman said after the match. “We concede that goal in the first half, but then we dominate the first half completely. [In the] second half, we were able to continue dominating, find the goals we could score, [and] maybe another one, and then at the end, the big effort we did, unfortunately, we end up with nothing.”

Perelman’s starting XI featured Maxime Crepeau in goal behind a back line of Adrian Marin, Robin Jansson, Iago, and Zakaria Taifi. The midfield four consisted of Ivan Angulo, Luis Otavio, Braian Ojeda, and Tiago. Ellis and Martin Ojeda lined up as the two forwards.

Orlando City started the match off on the front foot, earning a corner kick inside the first minute, taken by Martin Ojeda. However, the ensuing kick was defended well. D.C. responded with energy, asserting control in Orlando’s half. Iago made an early poor decision in the fourth minute, shoving Munteanu into touch and earning a yellow card.

The Lions made a couple of attempts to move the ball forward, only to be shocked in the 10th minute by a D.C. goal from Hopkins. The Lions had several opportunities to stop the play but failed to do so, and the United forward hit his shot from distance just out of Crepeau’s reach and in to open the scoring.

Orlando began to regain control following the goal, leading to Angulo drawing a foul on Silvan Hefti in the 14th minute on a challenge that perhaps should have drawn a yellow card, but did not. Martin Ojeda sent a good free kick delivery into the box. It was defended away and sent back and forth into and out of the 18-yard box until Orlando committed a foul, handing possession back to D.C.

D.C. earned a corner in the 25th minute that might have been a shot on goal if not for Angulo’s speed and defensive effort. The corner, taken by Keisuke Kurokawa, was defended away. Angulo chased it down and did well to reach the ball, but he turned it back over to D.C. while attempting to keep it in play. D.C. could do nothing with the extra possession.

Orlando City struggled to maintain possession, as it has in so many matches this season, appearing slow and imprecise with the ball. D.C. got a shot off from distance in the 27th minute that Crepeau parried away but probably should have caught. It led to another D.C. shot, which Crepeau also saved.

The Lions carved out a corner in the 30th minute through sheer effort. The corner, taken again by Martin Ojeda, was tipped out by Sean Johnson, leading to another corner. Iago headed the resulting ball toward goal, but it went wide.

The left side of Orlando City’s attack fashioned some half-chances, thanks mostly to Angulo’s nice footwork, earning the Lions’ fourth corner. However, it was defended away again by D.C., which once again took the ball back into Orlando’s half. Angulo fouled Aarón Herrera just outside the 18-yard box, giving D.C. a set-piece opportunity. Kurokawa took it well in the 37th minute, but Crepeau tipped the shot over for a corner. Crepeau punched the ensuing ball out over the end line and caught the following corner, finally relieving some pressure.

Orlando City earned another corner in the 47th minute, but it was well defended again, and led to nothing but a foul by Otávio on Matti Peltola to snuff out a counter. Crepeau caught the resulting free kick with no issue, and a disappointing first half came to an end.

At halftime, Orland held the bulk of the possession (61.9%-38.1%) and led in passing accuracy (88.5%-77.1%), and corners (5-3), but D.C. led in shots (7-1) and shots on target (4-1) .

Griffin Dorsey substituted on at halftime for Taifi, and Jared Stroud came on for Aarón Herrera on the D.C. side.

D.C. United started the second half with a lot of energy and Stroud fired a cross that passed right across goal in the 47th minute, providing an early scare for the Lions.

Dorsey broke loose down the right side, though it didn’t amount to much in the way of threats, but it was positive play by the substitute and brought some urgency to Orlando City’s attack.

In the 54th minute, no foul was called on D.C. for what appeared to be a pretty obvious shirt pull on Ellis by Peltola who got away with one as it helped break up an attack and led to a foul on Orlando instead of D.C.

The Lions nearly gave the game away in the 55th minute due to poor control by Iago, who was under pressure, resulting in a D.C. breakaway and a shot by Stroud that was right at Crepeau.

Ellis scored the tying goal moments later. The opportunity was created by more good work from Iván Angulo, who delivered a nice cross into the box. Dorsey came in and sent a flying header on goal that Sean Johnson saved, but it fell for Ellis, who got the final touch on it to score his first MLS goal and tie the score in the 57th minute.

“Justin is is an amazing player,” Perelman said. “His teammates love him. Everybody does that[‘s] here. He has a lot of talent, and he helped us a lot. I’m so happy for him to score like like (that).”

Spicer then came on in the 61st minute for Tiago added an instant spark.

Orlando City fended off a couple of D.C. corners in the 62nd minute and then Spicer fired a beauty of a blast from a wide angle, right past Johnson putting the Lions ahead 2-1 in the 67th.

“Yeah, it was just like, in practice. [I do] It all the time, go and then come back for the ball. But this time, I was just like, ‘You know what? Let me just go in behind,'” Spicer said. “I know Adrian (Marin). He’s a good player on the ball, and he has a good long balls, and I was just like, ‘You know what? Have a go at it, because I know I have a good left foot, you know, just cracked it there, went in, you know, pretty good [goal].”

Orlando suddenly looked alive and managed another apparent goal by Martin Ojeda, but Spicer was ruled offside in the buildup. The play was upheld on video review for not having clear and obvious evidence error.

Shortly after that, Otavio made a rough sliding challenge on Peltola, with the Brazilian getting the worse of the contact, receiving medical attention following the collision, and earning a yellow card.

Spicer made a beautiful run down the left side in the 74th minute, juking left and right and firing a cross in to Ellis, who got his head to it, but it was right at Johnson. Ellis took another shot in the 78th, forcing a diving save by Johnson. The ball went over the end line, resulting in a corner. However, the better option on Ellis’ tight-angle attempt would have been a pass to Martin Ojeda. The Lions could not make the corner pay off.

D.C. nearly tied the match in the 80th minute, with a shot by Munteanu sent just wide after a good cross in by Stroud.

After a bit of back-and-forth play by both teams that didn’t threaten goal, Tahir Reid-Brown came on for Ellis in the 83rd minute to help see out the match.

D.C. tied it up in the 84th. Munteanu tried a shot from outside the area that took a deflection off of Otavio, changing directions and finding the inside of the left post just past an outstretched Crepeau, making it 2-2.

Orlando earned another corner at the other end, and a decent ball in pinged around inside the box, nearly stopping in front of Johnson for an easy save.

D.C. responded with an off target low-power shot in the 86th that went wide and another attempt blocked by Marin.

Wilder Cartegena made his long-awaited return in the 89th minute, substituting for Otavio. Unfortunately for the Peruvian, his play led to D.C.’s winning goal. Cartagena’s pass straight to a D.C. player allowed the hosts to launch a counterattack that resulted in a corner kick.

Spicer looked to have Jacob Murrell well covered at the back post, but he did not jump and when he tried to head it, he ducked under the ball, allowing Murrell to send it across the front of goal. Rowles got inside his defender to head it home from point-blank range, putting D.C. back in front in the 90th minute.

Nine minutes of stoppage time were signaled, giving the Lions little time to save the day. They were able to create some half chances in stoppage time but were unable to carve out anything truly threatening with D.C. parking the bus in front of goal. The Lions got sloppy with the ball the few times they were able to get forward during injury time, giving it away multiple times.

Cartegena appeared to struggle getting up to speed in the match — unsurprisingly, given his long absence — and he earned a yellow in the 99th with a late challenge.

Orlando tried to get forward but they could not break through and the match ended 3-2.

In the end, the Lions held the better numbers in possession (58%-42%), passing accuracy (83.8%-74.2%), and corners (8-7), but D.C. led in the much more important shots (15-11) and shots on target (8-7) .

“The main goal is just to forget about the loss and move on to the next play on Wednesday,” Spicer said. “You know, a quick turnaround thing. We just need to focus on the next game, because that’s the Open Cup, and it’s an important match as well. I think we just have to just lock in and just keep grinding it out.”

Orlando will travel to New England to take on the Revolution in a round-of-16 U.S. Open Cup match Wednesday, followed by a trip to Miami’s new stadium on May 2 for the first time for what is sure to be a real test for the Lions one week from tonight.