Photo: Nelson Lucindo
On any other night a magnificent late goal to steal a hard-earned point might have felt like a moral victory, but there was no celebrating in the Lions’ locker room Saturday after Orlando City secured a last-minute 2-2 draw against the Columbus Crew.
“There’s no way we shouldn’t have taken all three points from this game tonight,” coach Adrian Heath insisted after a match in which his squad worked with a man advantage for the better part of 70 minutes.
It was Columbus who struck first when Crew midfielder Tony Tchani took advantage of a defensive mishap on Orlando’s left flank and sent a header past Tally Hall to give the away squad an early 1-0 advantage.
The momentum shifted abruptly in Orlando’s favor in the 16th minute when Michael Parkhurst was penalized for nudging a Kaka shot off the goal line with his right arm. Referee Silviu Petrescu whistled for the penalty and sent Columbus’ defender to an early shower with a straight red card.
Kaka nailed the penalty shot —his team-leading 6th goal of the season— and promptly sprinted into the supporters’ section to celebrate with the men and women of the The Wall under a shower of purple and gold confetti.
Bolstered by their captain’s enthusiasm and with most of the game still to play against a reduced Columbus squad, three points seemed all but assured for the home team.
City went to work pressuring Columbus’ back line, pelting them with a massive 23 attempts on goal. Twice the go-ahead score seemed to fall at their doorstep but the Lions’ young attacking battery couldn’t close the deal. Carlos Rivas somehow sent a point blank shot over the crossbar, and Cyle Larin, in a moment he will not soon forget, was sent twirling to the ground after missing the ball entirely with his right foot on a close range attempt.
Credit Gregg Berhalter’s squad for their resiliency. They worked tirelessly on defense to frustrate the Lions’ attack. And then, in the 61st minute, Kai Kamara put a dagger into hearts of more than 30,000 fans at the Citrus Bowl when he headed home a Waylon Francis delivery to vault the undermanned Crew into an unlikely lead.
With the minutes drifting away it appeared the purple and gold were heading toward one of their more disappointing results. But mercifully, in the 89th minute, Orlando City hit pay dirt.
The tying goal came off the foot of Pedro Ribeiro, freshly returned from a stint on the injured list, and it was a stunner. The Brazilian forward launched a golazo from 25 yards that might have flown for 100 more had it not been snared by the back netting with aplomb.
It was a brilliant score, surely one of the finest of the season for the Lions, and it was more than enough to steal a draw from the jaws of defeat. But every player, coach, and fan knew that three points was the only acceptable result on this day.
Again this season City’s finishers came up short.
“We had too many glorious opportunities to score tonight and we haven’t done it,” Heath understated later. “Sometimes we’ve got to work smarter, not harder and we might get a bit more reward from it.”
The Lions will next travel to Chicago to take on the Fire for the first time this season on June 14th.
Photos: Nelson Lucindo
