“It’s never easy trying to win a game of football that you know you have to win.” These were the words of Orlando City head coach Adrian Heath following Friday’s encounter with New York City FC.
Indeed, the seventh place Lions have been playing “must win” games for the last two months, and despite the pressure, they’ve managed to rack up an impressive five game winning streak, including Friday’s come from behind 2-1 victory over New York.
Photo Credit Orlando City SC
The win was secured off a second half brace from surefire Rookie Of The Year Cyle Larin whose rookie-record 16th and 17th goals of the season pulled Orlando City to just one point behind Montreal for the final, coveted playoff spot,
Orlando City played with urgency from the opening whistle, dominating the first half behind solid possession and multiple scoring opportunities. But Larin, Carlos Rivas and Lewis Neal each missed their chance to put the Lions ahead, leaving the home fans on nervous edge.
In fact it was New York City which opened the score sheet against the run of play. With first half stoppage time ticking down Kwame Watson-Siriboe recovered a deflected David Villa corner kick and calmly belted it past Tally Hall, putting the away team ahead and stunning the Citrus Bowl crowd of 43,179.
Photo Credit: Orlando City SC
With their season hanging in the balance, Orlando pressed forward in the second half and soon found their opportunity. In the 61st minute, Corey Ashe found space on the right flank and lofted a lovely ball with his weaker right foot to Cyle Larin who assuredly knocked the header home.
The goal extended Larin’s MLS rookie record, and the young Canadian added another just nine minutes later, but not without some controversy.
As New York midfielder Javier Calle sat on the ground near his own goal with an apparent injury, Larin took advantage of the opportunity to stay onside in the attacking half. He received a deep pass and found the charging Adrian Winter one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Winter’s shot was deftly sent aside by Josh Saunders but Orlando’s Swiss midfielder recovered the rebound and dished it back to Larin for an easy open goal lay up.
Orlando could have played the ball out of touch in that situation, stopping play for New York’s trainers to assist Calle off the field. Instead they vaulted past the injured player and secured the go ahead goal.
Heath was unapologetic for his players’ heads up play:
“[Larin] would have been a very brave man to have kicked the ball out in the circumstance where we need to win a game. I can understand if [New York] are a little bit upset about it but if I was to reverse the situation I think we all know what the outcome would be, and quite rightly so. That decision [to stop play]should be purely down to the referee. That shouldn’t be down to us to make that decision.”
The win means that Orlando City will be watching Montreal’s game against New England on Saturday with bated breath. Should the Impact lose to the Revolution, Orlando can secure a playoff berth next week in Philadelphia with a win and Montreal loss or draw.
“Montreal are going to have to win their last two games to stop us,” Heath said. “Because we’ll win next week as well. If [Montreal win], great. But we want to finish with six wins.”
Friday’s match was the last of the regular season at home for Orlando City. The club averaged a remarkable 32,847 spectators this year, a record for an MLS expansion team, making the Citrus Bowl one of the best home field advantages in the league.
“It was a huge collective tonight,” Heath said. “The players gave everything. The supporters gave everything. And it’s quite a difficult thing to stop us here when both are in tandem and both are working the same way.”
Photo courtesy Orlando City S.C.
