Coming off a disappointing draw to CF Montréal, Orlando City finished off a two-game home stint in disappointing fashion and fell to New York City FC 2-1 on Wednesday.
The Lions started the match much stronger compared to last Saturday, quickly creating goal-scoring opportunities and making aggressive runs out wide. Orlando outshot New York by double digits in the first half, suggesting they were going to take more risks throughout the match after tallying too few shots last time out.
Orlando City defender Alex Freeman produced several corner kicks during the first half, collaborating well with the team’s leading goal scorer Marco Pašalic, who started at right wing. On the opposite end of the field, Iván Angulo used his pace to outrun New York’s Strahinja Tanasijevic, mirroring Freeman’s activity on the left side.
Then, in the 36th minute, the Lions broke through.
A Martín Ojeda corner kick from the left side turned into a frenzy inside the 18-yard box, and Orlando’s Robin Jansson cleaned up the chaos by getting the Lions on the board. Assisted by defender David Brekalo, his fourth of the year, Orlando was able to cap off what was an offensive onslaught.
Orlando headed into halftime up 1-nil, a lead that wasn’t good enough to get three points against Montréal. Unfortunately, that story repeated itself, and Orlando’s inability to score a second goal came back to haunt them.
In the 87th minute, a loose ball from a corner kick by New York’s Andrés Perea resulted in an own goal by Orlando’s Kyle Smith. Then, to make matters worse, a turnover in the midfield produced a two-on-one opportunity for NYC three minutes later, which the Pigeons capitalized on and put the game out of reach.
“It’s difficult to find the words right now,” Angulo said. “A hard game, a loss that hurts us. It was a game that we controlled. We had a good first half [and] the second half we were also in control. We had a few chances to win, and it’s difficult that we lost.”
Freeman said that getting a bigger lead may be the key to fixing the team’s lack of positive results.
“I feel like it’s just something that we need to improve in training,” Freeman said. “Learn to finish and be able to be sharper and not in our third. If we have the second goal, it could be a done game, and we can be more comfortable.”
Boos from Lions’ fans after the final whistle have both players and coaches asking themselves why they aren’t closing out games.
Orlando Head Coach Óscar Pareja took some responsibility for that reality.
“I said to the players, ‘This is the coach, and we’ll have to have responses in the players,’” Pareja said. “They did good and I don’t want to point out anything from them. I’m responsible for the performance of the group and today we’re still not finishing the games, and we need to fix that.”
Multiple goal-scoring opportunities for Orlando were not taken advantage of, some of which with just the goalkeeper standing in the way. In the 58th minute, Freeman took advantage of open space and beat the last defender, but skied the ensuing shot. Forward Luis Muriel had two similar chances in the first half, but both found both of New York goalkeeper Matt Freese’s hands.
“He’s a very talented keeper. We know that we’ve seen him in the biggest stage in the World Cup,” Freeman said. “He’s made some good chances, but as a team, we still should be able to finish some [chances]…We should have put some chances away.”
Orlando will hit the road to play the New England Revolution on Saturday with hopes of getting back on track.
“Going into Saturday… we just fix what we need to fix, and then be able to go to early 100% to be able to get a win on the road against New England,” Freeman said.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. from Gillette Stadium.
