Orlando City is falling off a cliff, and the 4-2 scoreline of Subaru Park was extremely generous to the Lions. You look at the box score in the morning with two late goals by Ivan Angulo and Martin Ojeda and tell yourself that Orlando City gave a good fight to the Philadelphia Union. They didn’t. For roughly 75 minutes, Orlando City thoroughly and embarrassingly humiliated itself, and the horrific defensive ghosts of the early season returned in full effect.
And how horrifically did it go? It was so bad that Philadelphia took care of business without needing Cavan Sullivan. No need for the generational wonderkid to shred Orlando City’s defense. Instead, Milan Iloski was made to feel like prime Messi with his hat trick, while Vassilev chipped in with the fourth as Orlando found themselves down 4-0 just after halftime.
What is happening with Orlando City defense? Right now, the Orlando City defense is a mix of individual amateurism and structural collapses. Orlando City is now leaking 18 goals in their last six road games, and that’s 3 goals per game on average. You cannot win in Major League Soccer with this kind of number.
Martin Perelman’s tactics as interim head coach also deserve criticism. Over the international break Martin went with a 4-4-2 formation with Maxime Crepeau in goal and behind Bernardo Rhein, Robin Jansson, Iago, and Zakaria Taifi in defense; Joran Gerbet and Eduard Atuesta in the middle; and Angulo and Ojeda on the flanks trying to provide assists to Daryl Dike and Antoine Griezmann, who returned to action. On paper it is a very potent offensive line-up. Unfortunately for the Lions, Perelman’s tactics set Orlando City up for disaster. The gap between the midfielders and defenders was astronomical, which left guys like Iago alone with their island of despair against fast-breaking teams. Orlando City played right into the hands of Philly, and Union was notorious for being deadly efficient in breaking down defenses by sitting back and absorbing the pressure.
The stats tell the story. Orlando City owned possession, controlling the ball for 58.1% of the match and completing 83.2% of the passes. But having possession just for possession’s sake is like training. Philadelphia let Orlando knock the ball in the middle third, waited for the mistake, and ruthlessly punished them. The opponents had 41.9% possession but created 19 shots for Orlando’s 10 and completely controlled the shot-on-target statistics (9-2).
But while it’s easy to blame the tactics of the interim head coach, players on the pitch have to look in the mirror and take responsibility for their actions. The amount of unforced errors was astronomical. Zakaria Taifi practically gifted the second goal to Philly with his pass right to Nathan Harriel with miles of open space ahead of him. Iago could easily get the title of the worst player on the pitch. He was consistently spectating on the runs, making awful giveaways in the defensive third, and failed to clear the ball on Vassilev’s goal, which made it 3-0. Even offensive players have to blame themselves for the defensive struggles. Angulo had an awfully soft back pass, which almost gifted Iloski an extra goal. Not to mention Ojeda’s turnovers, which ignited the counterattack and resulted in the 3rd goal. You could have the best tactical setup in the world, but if your fullbacks and wingers pass the ball right to the opponents in dangerous situations, you are going to get blown out.
If there is a silver lining, then it belongs to Maxime Crepeau. He was the undisputed “best player” on the pitch for Orlando, and it sounds odd to hear that about a goalkeeper who conceded 4 goals. But it would have been much worse for Orlando City if not for his incredible saves on point-blank shots against guys like Ezekiel Alladoh down the stretch, which kept this match from becoming 6-2 or 7-2. On the attacking end, Angulo and Ojeda earned their respect points by stat-padding late on the pitch, which makes the scoreline decent (and extends Ojeda’s scoring streak to 3 games and ties the club record). Also, young sub Harvey Sarajian finally showed some life by providing the assist on Ojeda’s 90th-minute goal. Griezmann and Dike had flashes of class, but overall they lacked good service inside the box.
So the ultimate question is what will happen next? Orlando City are sitting at 10-13-4 with 34 points. Somehow stumbled into a play-in or wildcard spot, and can this Orlando City team realistically go through as a top-3 contender in the MLS playoffs?
Based on this performance, the answer right now is a clear no.
Post-season soccer is all about grit, limiting errors and defending as a team. Top contenders like Inter Miami, Columbus, or Cincinnati will smell blood as soon as they see the tapes of this Philadelphia match. If they are able to put 4 goals to you using straightforward counterattacks without the help of the top prospect, imagine what a top-3 team will do to your defense in a single elimination knockout match on the road.
Orlando City has to be something more than an easy obstacle in the post-season, and their defensive hemorrhage should come to an end immediately. Players should stop giving away the ball in their own half, and Perelman has to figure out how to protect the backline, which completely lost its confidence. Until October 10th, against the Columbus Crew, is their time to fix everything. Otherwise, it is going to be very short and very painful post-season.
Vamos Orlando!
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