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In the first half, Orlando City dominated all chances in attack, and Nashville came close with one option off a set piece that was no good. It was odd not to see Facundo Torres as a starter, but the saying says, “if ain’t it broke do not fix it..” Orlando City did so well to press Nashville and they caved into their pressure. Mauricio Pereyra was very active as a number 10, reminding us that he is a 10 and not a defensive mid. Orlando City did great submitting Nashville to their pressure. In the 17th minute, Ivan Angulo came so close to opening the score for the Sea Cows. Jansson, with the epic turnover to Nashville that almost cost the Sea Cows big time. Orlando fortunately was able to recover the ball. Orlando was able to generate tons of chances in attack but was not able to capitalize. In the 28th minute, Nashville scored. The Orlando defense fell asleep and Picault punished the Sea Cows. For the rest of the half it was Orlando City dominating most of the game but trailing Nashville. Aside from the chances created. Nashville was able to carve up Orlando City’s defense with the few chances they had. Hoping to see the lions that played against Philadelphia in the second half.
In the second half, after Orlando and Nashville went back and forth with not a single one of them capitalizing on chances, Orlando came close to scoring in the 62nd minute, when Ramiro ended 1v1 with Willis but was not able to finish the play. In the 74th minute, Hany Muktar silences Exploria Stadium. El Pulpo couldn’t do anything against the 1v1. it was 2-0 Nashville. Nashville started to gain momentum and looked much better than Orlando on their turf. After Muhktar’s goal, Orlando had two chances off a set piece but it was not enough. Orlando City with a lackluster performance lost at home against Nashville SC in front of over 20,000 fans. Fans left Exploria extremely upset with the team’s performance.
Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja
“Disappointed, tough being at home in front of our fans and not getting the result. It is the most painful part. In the analysis of the game, I thought we made a couple of mistakes on the defensive phase that costs the game in terms of chasing it all the time. On the other side, in the other box, we are not fine, we were optimistic today because we came off a game where we played very well and today, we were not fine in those two areas. Defensively those two mistakes and then offensively when we had the chances we could not score. I still have to be balanced on the analysis, and not be very passionate, just with the result on our shoulders and don’t see all those things that we did well in the game because we did a bunch of things that were good and correct, and the team is getting in there. So, I have to talk about it too, so we’ll keep on growing on those things but it’s obvious I need to see with the group how we can grow those things that we are doing good and then how can we correct those others.”
Orlando City Defender Kyle Smith
“I thought we controlled the tempo of the game well. We did well building up the field, breaking their press, but I think we need to work on being focused when the ball gets played in behind and then also just creating more volume inside the box and scoring goals.”
Orlando City Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese
“Yeah we’ve got strong plans for the season, we have to solidify those and we’ve got to make sure that moving forward we’ve got a good team. We need to fix what’s going on in terms of some of those goals that are getting through the backline, but we have to know that we’re a solid team whether we win or lose. Those things are going to happen so we need to keep our heads up.”
Orlando will face Minnesota away on April 15th in a must win away match.
Vamos Orlando! Vamos Sea Cows!
All video footage thanks to Orlando City Communications
