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Orlando City B’s Mental Errors Cost the Lions against Chattanooga FC 1-3

David G.

Courtesy of Orlando City B Social Media

Orlando City B (8 pts, 2-1-1) went up to Tennessee to take on Chattanooga FC (7 pts, 2-1-2), after the international break. With the first team playing on Sunday, OCB lost the ability to have some of the first team players they have been using but still looked to come out strong on the road. New Orlando City B Manager Edward “Eddie” Wilding took charge of his first match with the squad.

Lineup

The starting lineup featured two first team players in Harvey Sarajian and Gustavo Caraballo. The lineup is the biggest change since OCB has played this season, with a few first team players unavailable. Bolgodere, Baczewski, and Okonski all get starts in this one, something they haven’t done most of the season.

 

First Half

The first half started choppy for Orlando City B, with a bit of play that wasn’t all that fluid. This shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s watched OCB this year since the squad was missing a few of their regulars in this matchup.  The squad found it difficult to keep long stretches of possession, allowing Chattanooga to possess the ball and make them play through their defense.

Yearwood and Okonski played a very solid first half, really settling into the game and staying compact. Okonski made two tackles that stopped Chattanooga in their tracks. Sarajian made a driving run from midfield towards the net, after a great pass from Caraballo and Haruna around the 11th minute. He was pushed just off balance making his shot go wide. After the run from Sarajian, OCB got a bit more on the front foot, leading to a few shots in the next few minutes.

The young Lions got a real quality shot on goal by Baczewski. but the keeper was up for the save, and OCB’s pressure was smothering. However, on a counter OCB committed a foul on their end resulting in a yellow card to Okonski and two set pieces that required Himes’ intervention. Haruna comes in hard on a tackle which results in a yellow card. On the next possession, Chattanooga goes quickly out wide with Rhein having it covered but he lets up thinking the ball goes out of play. It does not and Chattanooga is able to square it for another player who slams the ball home putting Chattanooga up 0-1.

 

OCB gave a push to end the first half but it wasn’t enough to tie it up and the young Lions would go into half 0-1 down.

Second Half

The second half started with a sub for Orlando City B, as Ignacio “Nacho” Gomez came on for Issah Haruna. Haruna was carrying a yellow but also seemed to be walking off the pitch gingerly at the half. OCB would push hard to start the second half, getting a few opportunities on net but nothing would get in. On a counter, the other way, Yearwood and Okonski would defend hard leading to Damien Barker John going down, with the referee calling a very soft penalty. Barker John would then step up to take the penalty, knocking it past Himes and putting Chattanooga up 0-2.

Orlando would continue to try to push but couldn’t find a way to break through against Chattanooga. Sarajian and Caraballo would have moments with nothing going in. Things would get worse, with Barker John making a quality run on the left side getting past two defenders slotting it home and putting Chattanooga up 0-3.

OCB had a great passage of play where they were able to break on the counter, get the ball out wide to Caraballo who was able to cut in and take a shot that would go off the post and Sarajian would head it down to himself in an attempt to take a shot but it would be blocked off the line. Orlando wouldn’t stop as a few moments later, Sarajian would strike first for OCB as he shielded in a pass from Nacho Gomez, went past his defender, and put it home making the score 1-3 Chattanooga.

Orlando City B tried hard to get another goal back but couldn’t find a way to put one more in resulting in the game ending 1-3.

As an extra note, I will say the referee for this game, Deny Kulasinac, was not great for either side. He lost control late in the first half which caused him to be yellow card crazy. He called a very soft penalty against OCB and really tilted the game towards Chattanooga.

Players to Highlight

  • Harvey Sarajian-Harvey makes the list again as he’s had 5 games with a goal contribution totaling 3 goals and 3 assists on the year. He played as a striker tonight but was still able to make his impact felt. He had an 89% passing percentage, with a chance created, 2 shots on target, and one goal on the night. He won 40% of his ground duels and had one successful dribble. Sarajian has to start getting first team looks with that stretch of games. He is clearing the competition in front of him and seems like he’d be very much up to the challenge.
  • Landon Okonski-This was Okonski’s first game for OCB and I thought he put in a very solid shift. His game wasn’t perfect but he played well while he was on and partnered well with Yearwood. He ended with a 91% passing percentage with 87 touches on the night. The night ended with 2 tackles, 1 block, 4 recoveries, while only committing 2 fouls. I’m excited to see more games from him.
  • Issah Haruna-Haruna got another game for Orlando City B and he showed his talent that he had in college. He looked silky smooth throughout the half (as he only played in the first half) and the pressure didn’t affect him at all. The stats back it up as well with 96% of his passes completed and amassing 32 touches. He won 60% of his ground duels while also notching 1 tackle and 2 recoveries. He should certainly see more time going forward and really makes a solid midfield pairing with Judelson.
  • Jaylen Yearwood-Yearwood had a good bounce-back game for OCB while also playing in a different position, lining up at center back. He had a 94% passing percentage, while completing 88 passes. He surpassed 100 touches, while also having a 50% long ball percentage and having 5 passes into the final third. Statistically, he continued to rack up numbers where he had 2 tackles, 1 block, 4 clearances, 2 interceptions, 5 recoveries, and was only dribbled past twice. Displaying his versatility is key for Yearwood if he wants to make the jump to the first team. This game helped him big time.
  • Parker Amoo-Mensah-The young academy prospect put in a quality shift at right back. He had an 85% passing percentage, winning his one dribble and won all of his ground duels. Defensively he had 3 clearances, 1 interception, and 7 recoveries. He seemed to have a few issues at the end of the match so we’ll have to keep our eye on that going into the next week.
  • Ignacio Gómez-This was the first match for Gómez, the Vélez II product, and he played well. He came in the second half for Haruna and while he wasn’t as smooth as Haruna was, he did provide great play. He had an 89% passing percentage, with 3 shots taken (2 blocked), 1 successful dribble, 2 long balls completed, 1 tackle, and 5 recoveries. I look forward to seeing Nacho get into more games.

 

What’s Next?

Orlando City B return home next Sunday, April 19th, to host Carolina Core. The team will look to bounce back after a fair amount of mental errors but this is to be expected with a young squad. Since the first team plays at home that same weekend, we could see some of the young first team players used for OCB the following day depending on if they are used on Saturday.

Highlights

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