Tonight marked the goalkeeper showdown between Burki one of the best in the west and Pedro Gallese the absolute best in the east. Orlando City started out in this game using their same pace as games before, but they found out pretty quick that St. Louis’ high press was spot on, which caused them to turn over the ball plenty of times. St. Louis was not effective enough to break Orlando’s defensive deadlock. Cartagena and Araujo were not precise enough as earlier games and turned over the ball plenty of times. Aziel Jackson (St. Louis) was superb in the first half and the young midfielder, singlehandedly was able to force Orlando City to make silly mistakes. In 30 minutes the game became very back and forth between both teams, with Orlando making higher strides to score the first one. There was a play between Dagur Dan, Duncan that became almost the 1st score for the lions, unfortunately they did not capitalize. Almost at the end of the half, after a wonderful link up play between Angulo and Dagur Dan on the right flank, Duncan McGuire was 1v1 with Burki and the Swiss international came up big with an amazing save.
In the second half, as soon as the game started, a wonderful play on the right flank by Dagur Dan, with a superb assist to Facundo Torres, and el Cuervo scored a golazo. Exploria erupted. After Facundo’s goal, Orlando starting their attacking onslaught and created most attacking chances between the two teams. They dominated not only posession but also they looked with new found energy in the attacking third. In the 77th minute, St. Louis in transition, after a horrible turnover by Facundo Torres, scored the equalizer but the referee called it off because the ball went out of bounds. After VAR review, the ref called it a legitimate goal despite the ball clearly going out of bounds. Orlando City got screwed yet again due to bad officiating. At the death of the game and after a blatant handball by St. Louis, the ref checked VAR and called a penalty for Orlando City. Facundo Torres scored a brace for the night and the wall went bezerk. Orlando City did not deserve to lose or draw tonight, the 12th man was on point and also they created the most chances throughout the 90 minutes.
Orlando City next game will be away against Charlotte FC on August 30th. Until then, Vamos Orlando!
