Photo: Orlando City
Despite defeat the outlook for Orlando City looks bright
by Chris Kimball
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Orlando City fell to D.C. United on Friday after conceding the winning goal off a free kick in the waning minutes of the game. It was the Lions’ second last minute loss at home in as many games, but the mood coming out of the match was decidedly different.
If the hard-luck result was eerily similar to the Lions’ loss to Vancouver just two weeks ago, any negativity inside the locker room was tempered by the otherwise excellent play from the home squad.
For nearly 90 minutes Orlando City dominated their opponent. City controlled possession to the tune of 53%, and pummeled D.C. United’s defense with an astounding 17 attempts on goal.
“I don’t think the team deserved to take nothing from the game this evening,” Heath said after the match. “The game against Vancouver when the same thing happened we didn’t create enough chances to really honestly say that we deserved to win that game. This evening it was a different case.”
The team’s Brazilian captain had a similarly rosy spin on the result:
“It’s hard to lose like this for the second time,” Kaka said. “We did a great game. We created a lot of opportunities…The next time we’ll have to close the game.”
Heath acknowledged the scoring drought after the match but tried to remain upbeat:
“Obviously the players don’t mean to miss chances. They would have loved to have all scored, but hey, it is what it is. It’s not the end of the world, although it feels like it at the minute… But we’ll regroup and we’ll take the positives out of what has been a very good 90 minutes against another team that’s expected to be up there.”
The final score notwithstanding, there were plenty of positives for the Lions to take away from the match. Aurelien Collin put in an impressive shift, stifling more than a few D.C. United looks at goal.
Brek Shea, fresh off his tour with the U.S. National Team, must have seen the solid performance of his replacement Luke Boden last week because he put in his best outing of the season, working tirelessly up and down the left flank.
And Cyle Larin, Orlando’s no. 1 overall draft pick who entered the game unexpectedly as an early sub for the injured Pedro Ribeiro, shined with his ability to ward away defenders and find space in the attacking third.
Unfortunately, just like heaps of Easter candy which go down deliciously well but leave one nutritionally empty, the Lions’ dynamic performance on Friday wasn’t enough to earn the squad even the merest of points. As Heath recounted, even D.C. United’s head coach felt some guilt about the unlikely final result: “The fact that Ben [Olsen] apologized at the end of the game for taking all three points speaks volumes.”
