Defeating New York Red Bulls 1-0 to start our 2023 MLS campaign with all three points, Orlando City SC now face FC Cincinnati in a second successive home fixture.
Now undefeated in nine MLS opening fixtures, last Saturday’s win wasn’t perfect, far from it, but was gutsy all the same with Oscar Pareja‘s Lions earning a satisfying clean sheet against a notoriously difficult opponent.
Whenever facing Gerhard Struber’s high pressing Red Bulls side, you need to match their desire, intensity and fight.
In truth, the first-half saw Orlando City SC really struggle.
The visitors played protagonist with Elias Manoel, Lewis Morgan and Cameron Harper making City’s defence look disorganised, sluggish, and pedestrian.
Nullifying Iván Angulo, Martín Ojeda and Facundo Torres who were on the fringes of the first-half, City supporters were relieved with a 0-0 half-time scoreline.
The second-half display was much more pleasing, however.
In a fiercely competitive encounter, referee Guido Gonzales Jr. brandished seven yellow cards. But the game winning moment came in the 56th minute.
After Sean Nealis handled a goal-bound César Araújo header, Gonzales Jr. immediately pointed to the spot, consulted VAR thereafter, and then confirmed Orlando City SC‘s penalty to rapturous applause.
Up stepped Facundo Torres who sent an ice cool left-footed penalty down the centre of Carlos Coronel’s goal to send the 24,088 Exploria Stadium crowd crazy!
At full-time, New York Red Bulls had 14 shots to City’s 6. It was doubly pleasing to take the lead after hanging tough in the game.
And hang tough Orlando City SC did in the 43 overall minutes that remained.
There were a few hairy moments, especially on 86 minutes when Pedro Gallese stood tall to deny Cristian Casseres Jr. one-on-one, but City held on for all three points.
Ramiro Enrique also deserves an honourable mention too.
Making a 36-minute cameo from the bench, the Argentine debutant was mightily impressive. Matching tenacity with a blistering turn of pace, Lions fans really enjoyed what they saw.
Sure, Orlando City SC‘s performance was disjointed and chaotic at times but it’s important to remember that our connections and fluidity will come with time.
Now welcoming FC Cincinnati to town, the Orange and Blue defeated City twice in 2022 (1-2, 1-0) with Pat Noonan’s side starting 2023 with a 2-1 win against Houston Dynamo on Gameweek 1.
Orlando City SC vs FC Cincinnati
Last 3 head-to-heads
- October 16, 2021: FC Cincinnati 0 Orlando City SC 1 (MLS)
- March 12, 2022: Orlando City SC 1 FC Cincinnati 2 (MLS)
- June 24, 2022: FC Cincinnati 1 Orlando City SC 0 (MLS)
2019/22 head-to-head stats
- It was 1-0 to Cincinnati the last time the sides met (June 2022)
- Played Cincinnati 7 times in MLS – Orlando 3, Draws 2, Cincinnati 2
- The last 3 MLS head-to-heads have been separated by one goal
- Across all competitions, Facundo Torres has scored in 4 of Orlando’s last 5 home fixtures, 3 of which were penalties
- Cincinnati have gone 0-1-3 in their first away fixture of all 4 MLS campaigns so far
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Watching the game
Orlando City SC vs FC Cincinnati will be shown live on Apple TV at 00:30 (GMT) on Sunday, March 5.
Remember, UK supporters can watch all of Orlando City SC‘s 2023 MLS regular season fixtures by subscribing to Apple TV’s “MLS Season Pass”.
Subscribe now by clicking here.
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