With incredibly early fouls in the first half, it quickly became a physical game. Orlando City with 7 fouls conceded to New York FC’s 4. In the 14th minute of play, an Orlando City corner was easily corraled by NYCFC keeper Josh Saunders. Another opportunity for OCSC came in the 20th minute where Kaka’s shot was defended yet again by Saunders.
New York City FC found themselves with a few collective opportunities in the 21st, 22nd, and 30th minute of play where they fell short of scoring their first goal of the night. Orlando City’s keeper Joe Bendik punched the ball out of the crowded 6-yard box with an incredible save in the 22nd minute.
The momentum quickly turns as Orlando City charged toward their goal with a give and go from midfielder Servando Carrasco connecting with forward Kaka. In the 32nd minute Kaka drilled the ball to the right side of the net, but again it was blocked by NYCFC’s keeper Saunders. However, the ball deflected back to Kaka as he followed through and finished it off. This put Orlando City out in front with a 1-0 lead, which they would take into the locker room at the half.
In the second half, Steven Mendoza put New York City FC on the board with a goal in the 55th minute to tie the match at 1. Both teams battled the next seven minutes looking for the next goal. In the 62nd minute, Kaka was taken down in the box, which awarded him a PK that he capitalized on to give Orlando City the lead back at 2-1.
Orlando City continued their attack, firing off five shots over the next 8 minutes as they looked to put the nail in the coffin. However, all of their shots were misfired or blocked coming up short of a third goal. As time winded down New York City FC heightened their attack with shots coming from David Villa, Frank Lampard, and Tony Taylor as they desperately looked for the equalizer. However, their efforts were to no avail as the final whistle blew with Orlando City in front 2-1.
“For me the most important thing tonight was the performance. I’m seeing continued improvement in the performance, continued improvement in how we’re defending and it’s pleasing. It certainly wasn’t a perfect night, and we are after perfect. So, for 15 minutes in the beginning of the second half we were poor and we got punished for it. Credit to the guys, they had a positive reaction to that adversity [from the beginning of the second half] and we end up winning. I’m really pleased for the players.” Said Orlando City Head Coach Jason Kreis after the match.
Orlando City will look to utilize this victory as motivation as they make their final push for the playoffs. Their next match will be an away game against the Montreal Impact on September 7th at 7:30 pm ET.