Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Final Score 3-2 as Poor Start Sinks Lions

Orlando City was unable to maintain its torrid start out of the break as the Lions fell 3-2 on the road against the New York Red Bulls in a six-point match in the standings. The Lions (6-10-2, 20 points) were trying to catch up to New York (7-7-4, 25 pts), which is above them in the standings, at Sports Illustrated Stadium. With their win tonight, the Red Bulls are now unbeaten in their last seven against Orlando City.

Mijahir Jimenez picked up a brace (his first MLS goals) in his first MLS start, and Emil Forsberg picked up just his second goal of the season for New York to go along with an assist. Tyrese Spicer scored and picked up a secondary assist on a goal by Griffin Dorsey.

“We did not start fast enough,” Dorsey said after the game. “That was a message from the coaching staff all week. This is a very aggressive team. They like to start hot. There will definitely be some things to learn from this game. They exploited some spaces, especially in that first half.”

Maxime Crepeau started in goal after coming off the bench in the MLS All-Star Game, where he netted six saves in 34 minutes. Defending in front of him were Adrian Marin, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, and Dorsey. Braian Ojeda and Eduard Atuesta protected the middle inside of wingers Tiago and Ivan Angulo. Justin Ellis started up top alongside Antoine Griezmann.

Orlando City started out of the gate with an aggressive kickoff, dribbling right into top of the box before losing it. The Red Bulls countered with a shot by Cade Cowell that Brekalo blocked. The teams exchanged a couple of sloppy possessions before New York settled in the offensive end. In the fifth minute, Forsberg opened up Gustav Berggren in the box for a shot that beat Crepeau’s save, but Berggren was ruled offside.

The Lions proved to be a bit loose with their passing in their defensive end in the first 10 minutes, as there were a couple of times when passes to Crepeau were off and led to him having to dump the ball wide or rush to clear. However, they grabbed possession in the 12^th minute, and Ellis hit Angulo at the top of the box, where he dribbled in but had his shot blocked by Justin Che. On the ensuing corner, Ethan Horvath punched the ball to the top of the box and Atuesta volleyed it to the bottom of the crossbar, missing a goal by no more than a couple of inches.

At the 17-minute mark, Dorsey was a little slow reacting to Angulo’s defensive pass-off of Julian Hall, who dribbled to the middle and unleashed a shot to the left corner which Crepeau parried away. Six minutes later, after some continued offensive pressure from New York, Forsberg passed to Berggren wide. He crossed it into the middle and Jimenez slotted it home. Brekalo lost his mark on Jimenez which led to an easy tap in.

In the 27^th minute, Angulo tapped the ball past Dylan Nealis, who brought the Colombian down from behind, leading to the first yellow card of the game. Nothing came of the ensuing free kick and, between a tight Red Bulls defense and some sloppy handles from Orlando City, the Lions struggled to mount any offensive threat, failing to put a shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.

New York continued to cause trouble down Marin’s side as, at the 37-minute mark, the Spaniard was caught high and Atuesta lunged and missed on a ball. Cowell played the ball back to the top of the box, and Brekalo blocked Forsberg’s shot. Five minutes later, Marin was beaten again by Cowell, who rocketed a shot that Crepeau had to parry away for a corner.

In the 43^rd minute, Marin played too loose off Cowell, who hit a smart pass to Forsberg through four Orlando City players. Forsberg took his first touch wide and blasted a goal home past Crepeau.

The best moment for Orlando in came in the 45^th minute, when Ellis found Dorsey on the right but the fullback put his shot wide. One minute into added time, Griezmann (yes, first time his name’s been mentioned) won a free kick outside the top left corner of the box. Griezmann’s free kick was a good one, but it just didn’t curl quite enough and hit the outside of the left post.

On the resulting possession, the ball ended up in the Orlando City goal again but Forsberg was just a bit offside. It was a depressing half for a team that had shown improvement at both ends in the first two matches after the World Cup break, but those gains were wiped away in one half.

At halftime, Orlando City led in possession (51.9%-48.1%) and passing accuracy (88.4%-86.1%), but trailed the Red Bulls on corners (4-2), shots (10-5), and shots on target (4-0).

Interim head coach Martin Perelman made two changes at the half, subbing in Bernardo Rhein and Spicer for Marin and Tiago, potentially shoring up the left side. It worked early as an attack down the left side of the defense was wiped out.

In the 51^st minute, Angulo played Ojeda in, but Che blocked his shot. On the ensuing corner, Griezmann sent his service to Dorsey at the front post. Dorsey deflected it across the box to Ojeda, who then headed it to the front of the goal, where Spicer was waiting to head it in. Spicer continued to play his super-sub role well with another goal.

After trading some possession back and forth, New York ended up with a free kick in its defensive half. Che took too long with the restart and received a yellow card for his delay.

In the 60^th minute, Rhein was able to beat Cowell to the ball at his end line, but Cowell took it off him and passed it to Jimenez, who blasted it home for his brace. New starters for the Red Bulls getting braces against Orlando is becoming a thing, happening twice this year so far.

Luis Otavio came on for Atuesta in the 62^nd minute and, one minute later, Jansson sent a long ball to Spicer, who crossed it all the way to a crashing Dorsey, who slammed it into the back of the net to pull Orlando back within a goal.

The Lions continued the pressure as Ellis put Spicer in on a brilliant ball but Spicer fired it right at Horvath.

In the 69^th minute, Angulo tripped up Che at the top of the box and argued with referee Filip Dujic and drew a yellow card for dissent. New York took off Jimenez during the stoppage in play for Mohammed Sofo. Two minutes later, Orlando City subbed in Zakaria Taifi for Dorsey.

Both teams seemed disjointed as they worked their subs in and nothing of note happened before New York subbed again, bringing in Tim Parker and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty for Nealis and Matthew Dos Santos.

Finally, Orlando City was able to work an attack off some Rhein hustle and Ellis skill, with Ellis finding an open Taifi at the top corner of the box. Taifi’s touch was too strong and he scuffed his shot wide.

Taifi got caught up the field in the 80^th minute and New York switched the ball into that empty space, leading to Brekalo fouling to break up the counter. Forsberg put the free kick into the scrum in the middle and the Lions played it safely out.

New York seemed content with its lead as Orlando City mounted attack after attack with some obvious hustle by Otavio and Ojeda. It led to a shot by Angulo at the 83-minute mark that he didn’t do enough with as he pushed it right at Horvath.

New York brought on fresh legs in the 85^th minute, with Cameron Harper and Nehuen Benedetti coming in for Cowell and Forsberg.

Spicer continued the assault on the New York goal with a blast one minute later that hit the near post. Harvey Sarajian came in for Justin Ellis right after that and quickly introduced himself to the game on the next play, running through Julian Bazan on a high-bouncing ball and picking up a yellow card. Bazan stayed down for a couple of minutes after the collision.

Orlando City’s best opportunity to equalize down the stretch came in the fourth minute of added time when Rhein, Spicer, Otavio, and Jansson all got shots on a scramble but were not able to convert.

The scorebook closed with Marshall-Rutty picking up a yellow card for dissent for arguing with the assistant referee on an out-of-bounds call.

The Lions just came out of the gates slowly and the defensive improvements disappeared while everyone’s touch was off most of the night. At full time, Orlando City held the advantage in possession (55.9%-44.1%), shots (20-19), and passing accuracy (88.8%-82.9%), but trailed the Red Bulls on corners (5-4). Both teams logged seven shots on target.

“We are sad because we couldn’t get the points. We didn’t get the performance we wanted in the first half,” Perelman said after the game. “We conceded goals, which we don’t like, and it wasn’t our best night.”

Orlando City’s next home game is Wednesday against Liga MX side Monterey in the first of three Leagues Cup games in the group stage. The Lions will stay at home for their next MLS game against Cincinnati on Aug. 15.