This was the first home game by Orlando’s newest player Julio Baptista, the former Brazilian international. Baptista entered the game with a really fast start, winning a penalty kick in the first minute of the game, Kaka took the PK and was able to put it into the back of the net for the first goal of the match in the 2nd minute.
After Kaka’s goal, the whole first half was New England’s, holding 58.2% of the possession. The Revs were pushing Orlando’s door with several opportunities until the 37th minute when Teal Bunbury scored with a header. Orlando was against the wall the rest of the first half but New England’s second goal never came.
The second half started like the first half ended, New England dominating. But Orlando was balancing the game each minute that passed, until Adrian Heath made two substitutions that would change the balance of the game. Cyle Larin and Kevin Mollino enter the game substituting in for Adrian Winter and Carlos Rivas, changing Orlando’s initial formation from 4-4-1-1 to 4-2-3-1 with Baptista going down to the offensive midfield, Kaka going to the left, Molino to the right and Larin in the top.
The last 20 minutes, Orlando went up and they had several chances with Kaka, Larin and Molino, but it was not until the 92th minute were Molino scored what was surely the winning goal for the Lions. But 2 minutes later the referee, Baldomero Toledo, made a controversial decision by calling a handball on Molino, first he called a free kick outside the box but later he rectified and called a penalty kick for the Revs. Lee Nguyen, the U.S. International, did not waste the opportunity and drew the game in the last minute.
After the game Orlando City’s coach, Adrian Heath did not want to comment about the controversial decisions of the referee, but he got positive feeling’s in the game with Cyle Larin and Julio Baptista “We have a couple of options in attack, I thought he was a thread in attack (Julio Baptista) against New England”
Kaka also didn’t want to comment about the controversial decision, “Now is the time to rest and on Tuesday will start thinking about the next game (against New York Red Bull), we want to keep the momentum we had against Portland (4-1 win)”
Kevin Molino played his 100th cap with Orlando City SC today and he celebrated it with a goal.
Julio Baptista was happy to have played the whole 90 minutes in his home debut. After an experience and long career playing in Spain and England, he said “ Soccer is great everywhere, I’m just happy to be part of this team and I will work hard to give the fans what they deserve.”
Orlando City SC now looks ahead to their next match which is against the New York Redbulls on April, 24th.Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm at Redbull Arena.
Final Score: Orlando City SC 2-2 New England Revolution.
Final Stats
Possession: Orlando City SC 48.6%-51.4% New England Revolution.
Shots: Orlando City SC 15-20 New England Revolution.
Pass Accuracy: Orlando City SC 74.6%-76.6%
Lineups:
Orlando City SC New England Revolution
Initial Lineups
1-J.Bendik GK 22-B.Shuttleworth GK
12-K.Alston DEF 15-J.Watson DEF
29-T.Redding DEF 2-A.Farrell DEF
3-S.Hines DEF 28-L.Woodberry DEF
20-B.Shea DEF 8-C.Tierney DEF
17-D.Ceren MID 7-G.Koffie MID (Yellow Card)
22-A.Nocerino MID (Sub, Yellow Card) 6-S.Caldwell MID (Sub)
32-A.Winter MID (Sub) 14-D.Fagundez MID (Sub)
11-C.Rivas MID (Sub) 11-K.Rowe MID
10-Kaka MID (Goal) 24-L.Nguyen MID (Goal)
19-J.Baptista FWD 10-T.Bunbury FWD (Goal)
Substitutes
36-E.Edwards Jr. GK 18-B.Knighton GK
14-L.Boden DEF 40-Sambinha DEF
78-A.Collin DEF 21-Z.Herivaux MID
44-D.Mateos DEF 16-Daigo Kobayashi MID (Sub)
5-S.Carrasco MID (Sub) 33-D.Smith MID
18-K.Molino MID (Sub, Goal) 9-C.Davies FWD (Sub)
9-C.Larin FWD (Sub) 88-F.Hollinger-Janzen FWD