Kaka led Orlando to a win in Houston
Photo: Thomas Gosse
Four points in two games. That’s certainly as good, if not better, than Adrian Heath could have hoped for at this early stage. And yet there it is. The Orlando City Soccer Club is tied atop the Eastern Conference.
It’s tempting to brush aside March results. “The team is still gelling,” is a frequent mantra. “We’re a work in progress,” is a phrase Heath speaks almost daily. Such sentiments are accurate, of course. Nobody expects the team to be playing as well in spring as they will in fall.
But to dismiss early results belies the obvious point: matches at the beginning of the season are worth precisely the same as those at the end. And while it’s useful to peak going into the playoffs, it’s even more imperative to avoid digging an insurmountable hole in the spring.
With that in mind, take a quick look at the schedule and you’ll notice a daunting couple of months lying ahead for Orlando City. The Lions have nine games in April/May: two games against DC United (last year’s Eastern Conference winners); games against both 2014 MLS Cup participants (New England and LA Galaxy); two matches against preseason darlings, the Columbus Crew; games against the much improved teams from Toronto and San Jose; and a cross country trek to face the Portland Timbers. Extracting as many as 13 points from that taxing stretch would be considered an achievement.
Which is why the next two matches, winnable meetings against Vancouver and Montreal, could prove pivotal to Orlando’s goal of staying in the playoff race. Points won in March will be money in the bank come June 1. But drop precious points in the next two weeks and we could be looking back at this moment as the time when Orlando City began to lag behind the playoff pack.
The first test comes on March 21, when Orlando City meet the Vancouver Whitecaps at the Citrus Bowl. The Whitecaps have not exactly lit the league on fire since their arrival in 2011. Last year’s fifth place squad slipped into the playoffs on the last day of the season, tying their best ever result.
Although the 2015 Whitecaps look to be an improved version, they’ll likely still struggle to compete against the Western elite. The ‘Caps biggest offseason acquisition was designated player Octavio Rivero.
Rivero scored in the Caps’ opening game
Photo: Hazel May
The creative Uruguayan striker has already scored two goals in two games and will undoubtably be the main cause of Adrian Heath’s night sweats this week, but he’s not the only threat up front for Vancouver.
Talented winger Kekuta Manneh and left back Sam Adekugbe, in particular, work together nicely to turn the left side of the pitch into a major thoroughfare for Vancouver’s strike force. Saturday will be another good test for Orlando’s up-and-coming right back Rafael Ramos.
Fortunately for Orlando City there are still some questions about the overall sea-worthiness of Vancouver’s back line. Kaka & co. should have no trouble finding leaks between center backs Kah and Waston, allowing Orlando’s build-up play in the midfield to finally delivers on its promise.
Expect Orlando City to control the ball for long stretches of this game. Vancouver will not generally linger in possession. Their principle strategy is to lull their opposition into a sense of security, letting them freely kick the ball around before recovering and counter-attacking with pace and ingenuity. But if Orlando’s central defense can somehow contain Rivero, and Ramos can keep pace with Manneh, there’s no reason to believe Orlando City can’t out slug the Vancouver Whitecaps to take three points in this first of two deceivingly pivotal matches.
