Orlando City SC 4-1 Chicago Fire FC
ORLANDO, FL—One could say that if it wasn’t for back luck, the Fire would have no luck at all. Others could say that you make your own luck and good things follow. The Fire continue to have no luck and continue to be incapable of creating their own after a 4-1 loss to Orlando City SC on a rainy night at Explorian Field.
The first goal for the Lions came as Chris Mueller’s shot deflected off Alvardo Medran trying to make a defensive play and rolled into the net in the 11th minute. Nani made it 2-0 after being unmarked in the middle of the area heading in a cross from Mueller.
The Fire though they pulled one back in the 27th minute after Francisco Calvo scored off the free kick, but VAR ruled that Elloit Collier was involved in the play in an offside position negating the goal.
The Fire were then awarded a penalty after Ruan handled the ball in the box in the 34th minute, but Medran and Robert Beric, who hit the crossbar earlier in the match, argued for about 45 seconds over who should take it. Medran eventually took it and it was saved by Pedro Gallese.
Fire coach Rapahel Wicky blamed himself for not assigning a penalty taker, but would later assign Beric to take the spot kicks at halftime.
“Yeah, I told the team in the halftime it’s my fault,” said Wicky. “I take it on me. I didn’t assign a player who takes a penalty. But then what happened after cannot happen. It’s unacceptable. If a player says, ‘I’m going to take it,’ then the other player has to say, ‘Okay, yeah, I support you.’ And that didn’t happen on the field. They were arguing and that’s not the team we want to be. So yeah, that’s all I can say to that. I take it on me that I didn’t assign a player. I assigned in the halftime, the next penalty is Robert (Beric), and yeah, things happen. It will never happen again.”
Beric would get an opportunity at the start of the second half after Miguel Navarro was taken down in the area. Beric would convert the penalty and Medran would be one of the players congratulating him.
Eight minutes later, the Fire thought they had an equalizer after Boris Sekulic’s shot deflected off Calvo and in, but VAR detected a handball on Mauricio Pineda and that goal was negated.
The Lions would then get two late goals to come away with the three points through Junior Urso and Benji Michel and condemn the Fire to the bottom of MLS yet again.
“All these little things right now are not going our way,” said Wicky after the match. “Sometimes in life that happens. I don’t know why, I don’t have the answer for that. I am still pleased with a lot of things I see, creating so many chances, scoring goals.
“I say the same as what I always do: We have to keep working at it, but we have to become better in both ends otherwise we will talk all year about that, and at the end of the day it will be a fancy hand. It’s nice to play good, it’s nice to create, but we got to be better on both ends of the field.”
The Fire are now winless in their last five as well. They return home to play Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night at 6:30pm on WGN-TV.
SCORING SUMMARY:
ORL-Chris Mueller (unassisted) 11
ORL-Nani (Mueller, Pereyta) 24
CHI-Robert Beric (penalty kick) 48
ORL-Junior Urso (Perea) 78
ORL-Benji Michel (Nani) 90+5
BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Mauricio Pineda (caution, tactical foul) 15
CHI-Boris Sekulic (caution, dissent) 61
ORL-Jhegson Mendez (caution, time wasting) 66
CHI-Francisco Calvo (caution, reckless tackle) 76
CHI-Brandt Bronico (caution, reckless tackle) 86
ORLANDO CITY SC (4-2-2): #1-Pedro Gallese; #2-Ruan, #25-Antonio Carlos, #6-Robin Jansson, #27-Kamal Miller (#24-Kyle Smith 46); #10-Mauricio Pereyra (#34-Joey Dezart 75), #8-Jhegson Mendez (#21-Andres Perea 66), #11-Junior Urso, #9-Chris Mueller (#19-Benji Michel 75); #18-Daryl Dike (#13-Tesho Akindele 66), #17-Nani
Subs not used: #23-Brian Rowe, #3-Alex De John, #15-Rodrigo Schlegel, #77-Robinho
CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1): #1-Bobby Shuttleworth; #2-Boris Sekulic (#16-Micheal Azira 85), #22-Mauricio Pineda (#20-Wyatt Omsberg 85), #5-Francisco Calvo, #6-Miguel Angel Navarro; #10-Alvaro Medran (#13-Brnadt Bronico 85), #30-Gaston Gimenez; #28-Elliot Collier (#9-CJ Sapong 65), #7-Ignacio Aliseda, #14-Djordje Mihailovic (#40-Brian Gutierrez 81); #27-Robert Beric
Subs not used: #32-Gabriel Slonina, #3-Jonathan Bornstein, #36-Andre Reynolds, #37-Javier Casas
TOTAL SHOTS: ORL 19-19 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: ORL 7-3 CHI
FOULS: ORL 11-11 CHI
OFFSIDES: ORL 1-2 CHI
CORNER KICKS: ORL 5-4 CHI
SAVES: ORL 2-3 CHI
Referee: Nima Saghafi
Assistant Referees: Jason White, Tyler Wyrostek
4th Official: Natalie Simon
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr.
Weather: Rain and 81º
Man of the Match: Nani (ORL)
