Orlando City vs. Inter Miami: Player Grades and Man of the Match

Tropic Thunder was everything we hoped it would be and more on Saturday night, as Orlando City reminded the soccer world that Florida is purple with a 4-3 comeback victory in Nu Stadium, the house that Lionel Messi built but has yet to win in. The first 30 minutes were rough for the Lions, but the last 60 were as enjoyable as any stretch this season, and Orlando City picked up its third victory of the MLS season and its first on the road.

I have my purple pen out and am ready to issue some grades, so here we go. Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated individually in their matchup with their downstate rival.

Starters

GK, Maxime Crépeau, 8 — Wow. Orlando City fans will revel in the glory of the second half, but the game would have been out of reach for the Lions if not for the Canadian’s heroics in the first half. Crépeau was officially credited with seven saves, but it felt like a dozen, especially in the opening minutes of the game when the Lions were under siege from Miami. At one point Crépeau made four saves on the same possession, looking more like an octopus than Pedro Gallese, as he seemed to have arms everywhere making saves. While he gave up three goals, it’s hard to fault him for them as one was a free header on a set piece, one was a point-blank redirect, and the other was perfectly placed by Messi. However, it is easy to give Crepeau the plaudits he deserves for keeping Miami to three, which allowed Orlando City to stay in the game and make the incredible comeback that it did. On any other day he almost certainly would have been the Man of the Match, but unfortunately for Crépeau, his teammate had a hat trick.

D, Adrián Marin, 6.5 — The Spaniard did not go forward often in this game, but he did midway through the second half and it led directly to Orlando City’s second goal. Marin juked his way up into the 18 and squared a pass to Martín Ojeda to cut the lead to 3-2 and earn himself his second assist for the season. Marin completed 73.3% of his passes, including the one key pass for his assist, and added one tackle, one block, and one clearance on the defensive side of the ball before coming off for David Brekalo in the game’s final minutes.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — Jansson perhaps was inspired by fellow Inter&Co Stadium tenants the Orlando Storm, as after he was dispossessed while dribbling forward, he had to turn and and chase down Messi from behind and eventually tackled him like an American football player. Being that it was Messi in Miami, he was lucky he was not immediately suspended for the rest of the season and only received a yellow card. Perhaps the edge of playing with a yellow card sharpened his focus, because after that play Jansson was solid for the rest of the game. He led all players with nine defensive contributions, racking up three tackles, two interceptions, and four clearances, and he picked up a hockey assist with his header to Justin Ellis that led to Orlando City’s first goal. The Beefy Swede only completed 66.7% of his passes, but his assist was a big one, and he led the defense that clamped Miami down for the final 55 minutes.

D, Iago, 6 — The big man had a rough first half but was much better in the second, and showed once again how dangerous he is in the attack by winning the penalty kick that tied the game at 3-3. Just minutes before he played a great header back into the middle off of a free kick, though it turned out that he had been just inches offside when the ball was played. Iago seems completely settled now alongside Jansson, and though he still makes youthful mistakes, like the foul he committed right after Tyrese Spicer’s goal to give Messi a late free kick from a dangerous position, the positives outweighed the negatives for the Brazilian. He completed 73.3% of his passes, including a pass that started the sequence which gave Orlando City the lead, but more importantly, he finished with one interception, two blocked shots, three clearances, and four duels won.

D, Griffin Dorsey, 6 — Dorsey followed up his excellent U.S. Open Cup performance with another strong game on the right side. His heatmap was bright up the entire right side of the field, as he defended all the way down to his own goal line and then made several strong runs all the way up toward Miami’s goal line as well. Early in the game he made a great run up the right side but elected to keep the ball himself instead of finding an open Martin Ojeda at the top of the box, but after that play, he was unselfish for the rest of the game, looking for teammates on crosses or cutbacks. He completed 68% of his passes and also one nose-to-nose confrontation with Miami’s Telasco Segovia late in the game when both players stood almost directly at midfield and looked like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots ready to throw down after bumping each other for much of the second half. Dorsey turned in a strong defensive game, with two tackles, one interception, and a game-high five clearances, and though he turned the ball over a little more than desired (13 possessions lost) he played a solid game out on the right side of Orlando’s flexible modified 4-4-2.

MF, Iván Angulo, 6.5 — The Colombian was not at his best, or even his normal, self in the first half, but like so many of his teammates, he was much better in the second half. Angulo completed 92.7% of his passes, including a team-high three key passes, but he started off ice cold and it was his poor pass that led directly to Miami’s second goal. After that play, he started to play a lot better, especially defensively, where he led all players with four tackles and tied for the game lead with 10 loose ball recoveries. Angulo’s speed was devastating on those recoveries, as he beat Miami players to the ball time after time to help frustrate its attacks. The last recovery helped run out the clock for Orlando City, as he won the ball and dribbled it about 60 yards up the field, leaving almost no time on the clock for Miami to try to get the equalizer. Absent the opening 20-25 minutes, Angulo was solid in this one and deserves credit for tracking back again and again to help hold Messi off from creating much of anything during the second half.

MF, Luis Otávio, 4.5 — The young Brazilian showed some feistiness in trying to get physical with Messi throughout the first half, but César Araújo he was not as Messi got the better of Otávio with his dribbling and passing. This is not something to be ashamed of, considering Messi’s abilities, but it was not a big surprise that there was a switch at halftime and Eduard Atuesta came on to replace Otávio. While he was on the field, he completed 86.7% of his passes, but he was far more involved on the defensive side of the field, making three tackles and adding two clearances, though he also was dribbled past three times.

MF, Braian Ojeda, 7 — Orlando City’s Iron Man went another full 90 on Saturday night, continuing his streak of playing every minute of every MLS game. Defensive Ojeda was on his game, contributing three tackles, one interception, one block, and one clearance, and he tied Angulo for the most loose-ball recoveries with 10. The Paraguayan also led the team with 39 completed passes at a 95.1% completion rate, and he assisted on the game-winning goal, hitting a long pass on the ground that put Spicer in on goal and the Orlando fans in Nu Stadium into delirium. On the whole, it was one of Braian Ojeda’s best performances in an Orlando City jersey, which rhymed nicely with the performance from Martín Ojeda, who also had one of his best games as well.

MF, Tiago, 4.5 — The fact that Tiago had more tackles (2) than completed passes (1) says everything about the Brazilian’s contribution to this game. He only had 11 touches and five pass attempts and was involved more on defense than offense during his 45 minutes. Miami dominated the ball, so perhaps it was a bit unfair that Tiago was removed at halftime for Spicer, as there was little that he could have done offensively with so few touches and very little service. But given Spicer’s impact on the game, it’s difficult to argue with the decision, too.

F, Martín Ojeda, 9 (MotM) — It was a big day for both of Orlando City’s Ojedas, but in particular for the man they call Tincho, who scored a hat trick to dig Orlando City out of a 3-0 deficit. Messi played well, but his fellow Argentine No. 10 played better, with two rockets during open play and an unstoppable penalty kick goal as well. After a slow start, Offensive Ojeda now has seven goals on the season and joins Cyle Larin as the only two Orlando City players with multiple hat tricks. I am not going to say should, but Ojeda could have become the first Lion to ever score four goals in a game as he had a great chance after cutting the ball back past Maxi Falcón, but his shot just was not quite high enough and bounced off of Dayne St. Clair’s head. Ojeda was outstanding in this game and was the Man of the Match, completing 74.1% of his passes, including two key passes, scoring the three goals, and hustling to block one shot on defense.

F, Justin Ellis, 6.5 — Orlando City’s academy product had a goal contribution in his fourth consecutive game, as he assisted Martin Ojeda with his goal near the end of the first half. Ellis looked competent and comfortable with the starters and put in a solid shift during his 59 minutes. Orlando City did not have much of the ball, especially in the first half, but the Lions looked dangerous when Ellis was involved in the buildup. He completed 90% of his passes and put his one shot on target, but his big contribution was the assist to Ojeda before he came off for Duncan McGuire for the final third of the game.

Substitutes

MF, Eduard Atuesta, (46′), 6 — Saturday night was by far Atuesta’s best performance of the season, as his arrival in the midfield turned the game around for Orlando City. The Colombian only played 45 minutes but had the second-most defensive contributions, tallying three tackles, two interceptions, one block, and two clearances. Orlando struggled to hold the midfield in the first half but Atuesta and Braian Ojeda locked it down in the second half, changing the flow of the game. Atuesta completed 82.3% of his passes and probably should have had an assist after a deft touch set up Martín Ojeda for a shot, but Ojeda took an extra touch and was unable to put the shot away. Hopefully his health continues to improve and he can extend his minutes to even longer than 45 by next week, as the Lions could use more performances like that in their central midfield.

F, Tyrese Spicer, (46′), 6.5 — Spicer sealed the game with an incredible stoppage time winner, going five-hole to score Orlando City’s fourth goal. Orlando played much better after he entered the game as he contributed on offense and defense, completing six of his seven passes and defending well with two tackles, one block, and two loose-ball recoveries. The big moment was the final one though, as he timed his run perfectly onto Braian Ojeda’s through ball and took it directly to goal before putting the winner past St. Clair.

F, Duncan McGuire, (59′), 6 — Big Dunc made his first appearance after being injured for a few weeks and looked lively, though a little rusty. He put his one shot on target — an ambitious effort to sneak a shot in at the near post — and he looked fully healthy and raring to go during his 31 minutes. He completed six of his eight passes and picked up a secondary assist on the game-winning goal due to hustling to receive a pass from Iago and dropping it back to Braian Ojeda. With three games in a week starting next Saturday, it will be huge for the Lions to have him back on the field.

D, David Brekalo, (87′), N/A — The Slovenian came on for Marin with a few minutes remaining and completed two of his three passes and won his only aerial duel.

MF, Zakaria Taifi (90′), N/A — Taifi entered in stoppage time for Martín Ojeda and did not touch the ball, but he ran his tail off during his few minutes on the field.

That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s amazing 4-3 win over Miami. Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below, and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match.