ORLANDO, FL – Orlando City SC (3-3-2, 11 points) fell to DC United (3-4-2, 11 points) 3-1 on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 19,514 fans at Explore Stadium.
Orlando came into the match ,fresh off of a 2-1 victory over Minnesota United last weekend, sporting their “One Planet” kits, with bold teal and black stripes.
Orlando is looking to bring the fire of the Minnesota victory back to their home pitch, as the last two home matches resulted in losses. It didn’t happen.
Orlando, Florida, USA, April 22, 2023, DC United forward Taxiarchis Fountas #11 reacts after scoring in the first half at Exploria Stadium. (Photo Credit: Marty Jean-Louis)
Orlando and DC managed to play a fairly even match in. the first half stat-wise, nearly matching in possession time, total shots, even passing accuracy, and even the opening half score, 1-1.
DC drew first blood in the 15th minute, with Mateusz Klich finding a streaking Ruan up the field, Ruan sending it to Taxi Fountas. The speed of the play blew past Orlando’s back line, leaving Fountas one on one against Gallese. Fountas easily found a slot past the keeper for the games opening score.
Orlando Equalized in the 23rd minute, when a DC mistake made an opening for Martin Ojeda to get a ball in to Duncan McGuire. McGuire ripped the ball past keeper Tyler Miller for the equalizer.
DC re-took the lead in the 52nd minute. Klich whipped a corner kick into the box, and Donovan Pines managed to send it in off of the post for a 2-1 lead.
In the 62nd minute, DC increased their lead lead when Victor Paísson headed a ball into the box in a scrum. Christian Benteke managed to secure the ball and put it in for a score, giving us the final 3-1 score.
It was a frustrating night for Lions fans. Orlando Head Coach Oscar Pareja didn’t hide his disappointment.
“It is a very disappointing night and not getting results at home.” Said Pareja “It’s just getting the consistency here and not getting our points at home that creates that disappointment. Apart from that, the development of the game, I thought it was very hard in the game and it did not flow and [we] couldn’t find that rhythm.”
There is also the frustrations of not winning one at home. Martin Ojeda spoke on that.
“It’s complicated, right?” Said Ojeda “We just came off having three points away, where those points count a little bit more and they’re a little bit more difficult to come by and then we come back home and we weren’t able to get it done. I think everyone on the team has their things that they have to improve on, myself included. We will have to do that self-critiquing and analysis and it’s just got to be better. So we take each day, we continue to improve and hopefully we’re able to touch that limit of perfection and bring it home in the future.”
The Lions will welcome LA Galaxy to Exploria Stadium on Saturday, April 29 for an MLS regular-season matchup. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET.
