In MLS, a 2-0 lead on the road is never as safe as it looks. For Orlando City on Saturday night at Allianz Field, it felt like a curse. Interim Coach Martin Perelman’s team played some gorgeous attacking soccer, went two up, then completely fell apart for about four minutes before Tyrese Spicer bailed them out in stoppage time. Final score: 3-3. Wild game. Ugly ending. One point that somehow feels like a loss.
For 70 minutes it looked like a smash-and-grab masterclass. Griezmann was doing Griezmann things, and Dike looked like the old Dike again. Then the midfield vanished, the back line started making gifts, and Minnesota just walked through them.
The numbers were screaming the whole time that the outcome was coming. Orlando actually had a little more of the ball (51.2% at half, 50.8% by the end), but that possession was mostly going nowhere. Minnesota outshot them 10-1 in the first half, 4-1 on target, and won the corner battle 2-0. Crépeau made a ridiculous double save just to keep it 1-0 at the break. After halftime the Loons piled on another 10 shots. Full-time, it was 20-6 in shots and 8-1 in corners. Orlando’s midfield offered the defense basically zero cover.
Dike’s goal in the 29th was vintage Dike. Griezmann and Atuesta kept a broken play alive; Dorsey whipped one in; Dike crashed the six-yard box, took a hit from Callender and Boxall, stayed up, and smashed it in from a tight angle.
Then Griezmann took over. In the 64th minute, Orlando breaks; he finds Ellis, Ellis draws everyone and slips it back, and Griezmann just casually slots it past Smir. 2-0. Game over, right?
Nope.
In the 71st minute, everything fell apart in about 240 seconds. Taifi wandered over to double-team with Jansson; the shape completely collapsed, Duncan was wide open, and Caldeira tapped in. Three minutes later Markanich beat Brekalo in the air on a corner. 2-2. Then Jansson tried to play out from the back and literally passed it to Pereyra in his own half. Yeboah bicycle-kicked it in. 3-2 for Minnesota. Insane.
Griezmann still wasn’t done. Deep in his own half in the 93rd, he spotted Spicer’s run, whipped a gorgeous curling ball over Duncan, and Spicer held off his man and smashed it near the post. Point stolen.
The individual mistakes were ugly, but they weren’t random. Interim Coach Martin Perelman started Gerbet and Atuesta in midfield and left the actual destroyers Cartagena and Otávio on the bench (Otávio only came on in the 58th). Those two are decent with the ball. They are not ball-winners. Without a real No. 6, Minnesota just kept skipping the midfield and hammering the center backs until they cracked.
Interim Coach Martin Perelman can point at the 2-0 scoreline all he wants. The first-half shot count (10-1) was the key. Orlando City was living off transition finishing, and Crépeau was superhuman, not in midfield control. When you’re getting outshot like that on the road, you bring on a shield. Coach didn’t. Jansson and Taifi made the errors, but they were under constant fire because nobody in front was winning the ball.
A point on the road in MLS is usually fine. This one just feels empty. Orlando City can score against anybody. Unfortunately, no lead is safe until interim coach Martin Perelman establishes a solid midfield in front of the back line.
See you all tomorrow, 8:30pm, LPO Podcast LIVE, in our YouTube channel.
Vamos Orlando!
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