Two of the better offenses and two of the worst defenses in MLS met on Saturday night when Orlando City hosted FC Cincinnati, so logically the final result was a modest 1-1 draw. The Lions looked sharp in their new third kit, and former Orlando City defender Kyle Smith made a return to his former hunting grounds to a warm welcome.

The oppressively hot weather dampened the energy level, but both teams played an entertaining, flowing game. The teams took a few minutes to settle in, then the Lions got on a persistent attack for a while with a Justin Ellis chance in the ninth minute well saved over the bar and a good Tyrese Spicer chance in the 11th minute dragged wide. Cincinnati returned the favor with some sustained pressure of its own, barely missing a good Evander cross in the 20th minute, and finally Pavel Bucha cleaning up a blocked shot (off Joran Gerbet’s face) to break through in the 23rd minute to take the lead.

One of the best chances for the Lions fell for Ellis in the 36th minute. Antoine Griezmann played Griffin Dorsey in behind, and the fullback cut it back to Ellis at penalty spot. Ellis unfortunately left his shot too central and too close to goalkeeper Roman Celentano, who made the save. The Homegrown forward had one more headed chance from around the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time, but he put it straight at Celentano for an easy save.

After halftime, Marco Pašalić came on for Gerbet in a planned substitution. Orlando equalized quickly on the counter. Iván Angulo sprung a transition attack with a good ball to Ellis near midfield, who flicked the ball in behind for Spicer. The speedy winger did well to beat Bucha to the ball and opened space, rounded the keeper, and then finished well to avoid the recovering defender.

The Lions stayed on the front foot, with a series of shots from Spicer and Ellis blocked, with the rebound falling to Griezmann, who fired a nice volley, but right at Celentano from the right. Cincinnati then seized control of the game with Kevin Denkey hitting the post before Evander took a dive in the box trying to get to the rebound. This was initially called a penalty, but upon review, the call was reversed and Evander picked up a yellow card. Orlando spent a fair amount of time defending down the stretch but afforded Cincinnati few dangerous looks, drawing offside calls on those that might have been.

As the game wore on and the heat and short rest set in, the game moved back onto more equal footing, with no great chances for either team until the 87th minute, when Crépeau made a good save on Kenji Mboma Dem. Orlando had three more shots in stoppage time, with the best of those a long-range effort by Wilder Cartagena that just missed, and the match ended level.

We hope you enjoy these photos from a hard-fought match that saw Orlando come from behind to claim a point.

Orlando City faced Club León for its second match of Leagues Cup group play, losing 2-1 Saturday night. While the Lions matched up reasonably well for the first half, they were unable to build on a first-half lead or avoid defensive lapses through the second half. Interim head coach Martin Perelman opted not to rotate heavily despite the fixture congestion, making only four changes from the side that beat Monterrey 2-1 on Wednesday, inserting Iago, Zakaria Taifi, Wilder Cartagena, and Martin Pašalić into the lineup for David Brekalo, Griffin Dorsey, Eduard Atuesta, and Justin Ellis, respectively.

The Lions started the game well, with Pašalić playing Antoine Griezmann in behind in the fifth minute, but despite a good touch to keep the ball in reach, the defense arrived to block the attempt, allowing León goalkeeper Oscar Garcia to collect. Orlando was able to keep a good spell of possession and create several decent buildups, but couldn’t convert them to clear-cut chances throughout the first phase of the game.

A few minutes after the hydration break, Orlando broke through. Griezmann and Pašalić worked a give-and-go in the midfield, with the Frenchman sending Tyrese Spicer down the left flank. Taking one touch to settle the ball, Spicer squared a pass to Pašalić about 20 yards from goal, and the Croatian’s shot found the inside of the far post to give Orlando City the lead.

After the goal, León held more of the ball, possessing the ball with more urgency and creating a couple half-chances through halftime. At the half, Griffin Dorsey entered the game for Taifi, but León was the beneficiary of the intermission. Iago attempted an acrobatic bicycle kick in the 50th minute from Dorsey’s flicked header of Griezmann’s corner kick delivery, but other than that, pressure mostly fell León’s way.

León broke through in the 54th minute when Orlando failed to defend a 50-yard set-piece. Dorsey was unable to win his battle against Juan Guevara, and regardless of who it came off of last, Guevara was credited with the goal as the ball changed direction just enough to slip inside the far post to tie the match.

Club León took the lead in the 72nd minute. Bernardo Rhein cleared the visitors’ cross-field switch to midfield, but the young fullback bombed forward to cover an opponent further up the pitch, leaving Ivan Moreno wide open on Orlando’s left flank behind him. León won possession off Rhein’s header and quickly sent it to Moreno to create a dangerous counterattack. Moreno found Daniel Arcila in the middle just outside the penalty area. Iago perhaps could have done more to crowd Arcila, but the striker’s shot was perfectly placed just inside the left post, leaving Maxime Crepeau no chance to prevent the go-ahead goal.

Chasing the game, Orlando pushed more players forward, but León dropped more defenders behind the ball and looked to counter to put the game away. The Lions looked for chances to play directly from deeper positions to deal with León’s defensive posture, and in the 84th minute, second-half substitute Ellis sprung fellow sub Harvey Sarajian in behind on the right. Guevara tracked back but never drew level with Sarajian and took him down with a physical play from behind, including an elbow to the neck, but the referee did not award a penalty, despite Orlando’s protestations.

For the remainder of the game, León stayed compact and kept the ball out of play as much as possible to see out the match. The loss hurts Orlando’s chances to advance in the tournament.

We hope you enjoy the photos from the game, despite the result.

The Orlando Pride continued their anemic play against Racing Louisville on Friday night, losing 3-1 at home to the second-worst team in the league, which completed its season series sweep. Orlando once again did not dress about half of its preferred starters, including Marta, Oihane, Hannah Anderson, Haley McCutcheon (suspended), and Barbra Banda (international duty). Even with two goalkeepers on the bench, the Pride did not dress a full complement of substitutes.

Only second-half sub Kerry Abello’s golazo late in stoppage time and an embarrassing Louisville goal overturned after video review flattered what otherwise was another tepid performance by the team.

Neither team generated much in the first 10 minutes, but after that, Louisville managed a bit of pressure, eventually leading to a corner in the 16th minute. Rafaelle, who has struggled with both fitness and form this season, lost track of Audrey McKeen in the middle of the six-yard box, and the Pride were down a goal early.

Sometimes conceding a goal will fire up a team, but it was not so in this case, as the teams were back to trading possession and a few half-chances. Finally, after the cooling break, the Pride were able to generate their best look of the game. Julie Doyle found Simone Jackson open at the top of the six-yard box, but with only an in-motion Jordyn Bloomer to beat, she rang the crossbar. Shortly after that miss, Jacquie Ovalle slipped Doyle into the box behind the defense. Doyle got nothing on her shot, allowing Bloomer to collect, but the referee awarded a penalty for contact from Mirann Gacioch. After a lengthy video review, however, the penalty call was overturned.

The rest of the half continued as it had up to that point, with a few low-percentage shots exchanged by the teams.

After the intermission, Louisville generated its most sustained pressure of the game, keeping the Pride contained in their own half. Pride Head Coach Seb Hines made his first substitutions of the game, bringing on Summer Yates and Solai Washington in the 55th minute. This broke Louisville’s rhythm and allowed Orlando to get forward for a few minutes, but the visitors brought on their own subs in the 62nd minute and Orlando was on the back foot again. In the 68th minute, Lousiville finally doubled the lead when Emma Sears carried a ball into the box and roasted Rafaelle 1-v-1, opening enough space for a shot. It was a tight angle, but Anna Moorhouse was still easily beaten to the far post.

In the 78th minute, Sears beat Abello in transition. Moorhouse came out as a slow-rolling shot bounced toward goal that somehow went right through the goalkeeper’s legs, allowing Sears to get to it and tap it in. The goal was reviewed and overturned for offside on the initial ball forward, sparing Moorhouse and Orlando further blushes for what would have been an astonishingly embarrassing goal.

With about 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Orlando threw more numbers forward against a sagging Louisville defense, enabling the Pride to generate a few more chances. Unfortunately, that left them exposed to one of Louisville’s strengths, and Sears outraced Rafaelle on the break once again and placed an almost identical shot to her first goal past Moorhouse to put Louisville three goals ahead.

Orlando finally managed to sustain pressure against Louisville, even if it was clearly too late. That pressure finally paid off in added time when an errant cross was cleared to Abello about 30 yards from goal. Abello took a touch and then smashed a shot into the upper right corner of the goal to at least break the shutout.

We hope you enjoy these images more than anyone other than Racing Louisville fans enjoyed the game.