Thank you to Orlando City Communications for the pictures shown in this editorial.
By Luis Carlos Pineda
Orlando City came out swinging in the first half. The lions dominated and created attacking chances. Alexander Pato, Urso and Facundo Torres connected several times but they were not able to finish the play. It seemed Orlando’s attacking third was solid both offensively and defensively but again the finishing seems to be the lions’ achilles heel. First, every time Facundo Torres attempted to attack through the left flank, two Miami players closely guarded him. Second, Jr. Urso as a winger has been great so far. Orlando City controlled the pace of the game. In regards to Inter Miami, Emerson and Mota were their best players in the first half. Of those two, I would say Emerson was the toughest for Orlando’s backline to contain. Callender saved the night for Inter Miami in the first half. Stats at the first half were 13 total shots for Orlando, only 3 on target. 329 passes for Orlando City and not one single goal. Despite all of that, Orlando deserved to leave to the half winning at least by two goals.
In the second half, Orlando in the first minutes came out with the same intensity. The Lions forced an early corner kick 20 seconds after the half started. As well, Kyle Smith assisted Pato and the Brazilian shot a rocket that almost become the 1-0 for the lions. Momentum kept shifting towards the lions side and clearly they were the better team throughout most of the half. Inter Miami attempted to stay compact while Orlando wasted chances through set pieces. Inter Miami’s best player in the second half was again Emerson Rodriguez. He was very dynamic and connected several times with Mota attempting the counter when Orlando turned the ball over down the midfield. In the 94th minute, Mota scored for Inter Miami and silenced Exploria Stadium. The Brazilian dribbled past Andres Perea and hit a shot hard from the left side. Stajduhar couldn’t do much. The herons’ lead lasted only 3 minutes. Facundo Torres dribbled from right to left then over a defender and hit a superb banger to Callender’s left post and tied the match in the 97th minute. The wall erupted.
The game went into extra time and Orlando still controlled most of the chances. Campana from Inter Miami had a couple of chances as well but was met by a solid Orlando City backline. The sunshine derby went to penalty kicks. Kara hit the first penalty for the lions and it was a superb rocket. Then, Yedlin missed and shot the ball over the bar. Mauricio Pereyra scored the winning goal and Orlando City won categorically in penalty shootout by 4-2.
Oscar Pareja in post press conference mentioned:
“A fantastic performance. Besides the victory, it was an incredible effort from the players. They just played three days ago, so to have that courage and that willingness to do everything they did [was great]. I thought we managed the game the whole time and had the best of the game. We have been fighting to be more precise, which we’ll do. They overcame a situation in Austin that was very unfair. That was not easy to overcome mentally, so I want to recognize that effort from the players. Their hearts are big and we’re proud of that.”
Orlando City advances in the US Open Cup and will play the quarterfinals against Nashville at home on June 29th. Also, the lions will play against FC Dallas at home tomorrow.
Vamos Orlando!
