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Despite beating New York Red Bulls 3-2 yesterday, Orlando City SC head coach Adrian Heath was far from pleased with his teams’ performance in the friendly win at ChampionsGate Sports Complex.
While the Lions managed to grab a victory right off the back of a 2-1 pre-season defeat upstate at Florida rivals Jacksonville Armada last Saturday, it was the manner of City’s win that didn’t sit well with Heath, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel.
“It looked as though they actually wanted to win the game more than we did,” claimed a clearly baffled Heath to Paul Tenorio in his post-match interview with the City boss bemused at how the Lions managed to get a win out of the game.
Despite losing to the Armada last weekend, Heath was bullish in his claims he was happy with what he saw beyond the scoreline itself but it was the total opposite against New York Red Bulls yesterday with a win prevailing but not the performance.
62′ GOAL! Adrian Winter with the equalizer! It’s 2-2. #CityPreseason pic.twitter.com/FvE6ZHJFq8
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) February 17, 2016
Adrian Winter ties up the score at 2-2 yesterday afternoon in Davenport
“Poor, very poor,” said Heath with the head coach also alluding to the fact that Orlando City B‘s 1-0 win over Toronto FC straight after the New York Red Bulls encounter displayed much more passion and determination.
While these encounters were behind closed doors, Orlando City SC will participate in a final public pre-season fixture against Brazilian outfit Bahia at the Citrus Bowl on Saturday February 27th at 7:30PM EST.
After that, the 2016 Major League Soccer campaign will start for real against Real Salt Lake at home on March 6th.
Orlando City SC 3 New York Red Bulls 2 – ChampionsGate Sports Complex – 17/02/2016
Lions
Bendik
Ramos
Mateos
Hines
Boden
Cerén
Higuita
Barry
Kaká (GOAL 23)
Winter (GOAL 62)
Larin
Subs – IN – 70 minutes
Edwards Jr.
Alston
Collin
Redding
Ambrose
Carrasco
A.Ribeiro
Molino
Rocha
P.Ribeiro (GOAL 85)
Red Bulls
Robles
Lawrence (GOAL 36)
Baah
Ouimette
Zizzo
Felipe
McCarty
Kljestan
Verón
Sam
B.Wright-Phillips (GOAL 25)