Orlando City vs. Toronto FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

Orlando City’s sloppy defense continued to play a part in the season as the right defensive flank play cost three goals in a 3-3 draw at Toronto FC. Martin Ojeda scored from the spot while Antoine Griezmann and Daryl Dike added goals to finish level with the hosts.

Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated in their matchup against Toronto FC.

Starters

GK, Maxime Crepeau, 6 — Crepeau’s save preceding Toronto’s third goal wasn’t deflected into a great area, but he was making a diving save and made an effort to push it wide. He had no help clearing the deflection. Otherwise, the Canadian stopped a 1-on-1 that eventually led to the second goal but the goal wasn’t on him. He had five saves on the night and completed 91% of his passes.

D, Vinicius Nogueira, 5.5 — Nogueira was unable to clear the follow-up action preceding Toronto’s second goal, but I don’t know that he had much of a chance at it. Otherwise, Nogueira was mostly unnoticeable, which is fine for a fullback. He did muscle Toronto plays off a ball or two showing us a bit of what he can bring. He picked up a yellow in the 82nd minute for a late tackle. He completed 82% of his passes and had two tackles.

D, Iago, 5.5 — Iago showed all of his youth with mistake after mistake but also showed his flashes of potential with his headed assist to Griezmann for the second goal. He wasn’t directly responsible for any of the goals but didn’t show up for them either. He was beaten for the shot that led to the second Toronto goal, but he was put in a bad spot by Ivan Angulo’s soft back pass that Niklas Dorsch picked off. Iago completed 95% of his team-leading 65 passes and had four clearances.

D, David Brekalo, 5.5 — When playing out of the back, your center backs are going to get a lot of action. Like Iago, Brekalo wasn’t directly responsible for any of the goals but also didn’t help. He had the most defensive contributions at 12, the most touches at 79, and passed at an 89% clip, but he recorded zero tackles. For someone who touched the ball as much as he did, he was mostly invisible, which is fine for a center back — except when the team gives up three goals.

D, Ivan Angulo, 5 — Angulo was responsible for Toronto’s second goal with an ill-advised back pass outside the 18 that Iago couldn’t get to and Toronto capitalized. Angulo slots in at right back when the lineup is pressed for bodies and rarely does it go well. He’s not great at it and, when Eduard Atuesta is his cover, it compounds the problem. It was also Angulo’s man who followed up Crepeau’s save to score the third goal. Throw that in with Angulo’s assist on Dike’s goal and we have difficulty picking a score. Angulo hit 85% of his passes, had one shot on target, and added two tackles and four recoveries. He was good in the attacking end and poor in the defensive end, and his score reflects that.

MF, Harvey Sarajian, 5 — Sarajian battled and made some runs but wasn’t able to convert his one chance early. He was perfect on his 18 passes but had the fewest touches by almost half. The rookie lost the ball five times but he completed his lone long ball. He was subbed out for Daryl Dike in the 67th minute.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 5.5 — Cartagena had marks in almost every category on the stat sheet but did not stand out to the casual viewer. He connected well, completing 96% of his passes, and contributed on defense with a tackle, a clearance, and a recovery but did not make his mark on the game. He was subbed out in the 85th minute for Braian Ojeda.

MF, Luis Otavio, 6 — Otavio played a bit more of the enforcer role compared with Cartagena. He made his presence felt in the middle with four tackles and won 55% of his ground duels. He only completed 83% of his passes but helped manage the central midfield. Any problems came from the flanks and weren’t on him.

MF, Eduard Atuesta, 4.5 — For some reason, Atuesta was assigned to cover the right defensive flank when Angulo got forward. That proved to be a bad tactic time after time and nowhere more obvious than on the first Toronto goal. Atuesta failed to mark Lewis Morgan — the only attacking player nearby — at the back post, which gave Morgan a free header to put in the back of the net. The veteran midfielder only completed 84% of his passes, when that is arguably his main skill, had zero tackles, and recorded only one interception. He was subbed off in the third minute of extra time for Zakaria Taifi.

F, Martin Ojeda, 6.5 — Ojeda didn’t know much about it, but it was his cross attempt that led to the penalty that he converted himself to score Orlando’s first goal. His cross was a bit lucky to catch Matheus Pereira’s outstretched arm, but that’s why you put the ball into attacking areas. Otherwise, he’s still finding his fit with Griezmann as he wasn’t able to generate much else offensively. He completed 74% of his passes with two key passes, put one of his two shots on target, but had only two touches in the box. He added a clearance on the defensive end.

F, Antoine Griezmann, 7 (MotM) — It’s a little repetitive for Griezmann to be Man of the Match, but he finished with a goal and an assist, had a dangerous pass to Sarajian early, converted the headed pass from Iago for the second goal, and perfectly dummied the ball from Angulo (who had originally received the ball from Griezmann) to give Dike his goal. He hit only 63% of his passes, but three of them created scoring chances. He also made two successful crosses and completed 11 passess into the final third as he continues to pace Orlando’s offense. On the defensive end, he contributed a clearance off a set piece.

Substitutes

F, Daryl Dike (67′), 6.5 — Dike came on for Sarajian and started to show his physical presence. As the season has worn on, fans have started to get a little frustrated with his lack of impact, but that can be the life of a target forward at times. After all, clearing space for Angulo’s game winner Saturday against Columbus doesn’t show up in the box score. Dike finally showed his quality in the 83rd minute, finishing a good pass from Angulo with an unstoppable shot to briefly give the Lions the lead. He connected on six of his seven passes, won all but one of his duels, and had the same number of touches in the opposition box as Martin Ojeda at two in 67 fewer minutes.

M, Braian Ojeda (85’), N/A — It was good to see Braian Ojeda return to the field for the first time since Aug. 1. He was six-for-six passing and added a clearance. His time on the field wasn’t enough to garner a grade, but his return will help the team see out the rest of the season.

D, Zakaria Taifi (90+4′), N/A — Taifi subbed in for Atuesta in the fourth minute of added time to provide an actual right back in that slot, but by then Toronto had equalized. He recorded only two touches and missed his only pass in his brief appearance. There’s no grade for him on such a short cameo, but I’m fairly confident he would’ve earned a higher grade than Atuesta had Taifi started.

That’s what I’ve got for the players in a back-and-forth but eventually disappointing game. Let us know how you saw the game in the comments below, and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match.