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In a match with more than enough bookings, the first yellow was issued to Christian Higuita for Orlando City in the 12th minute. Only 2 minutes later Sebastian Hines was issued Orlando City’s second yellow of the match.
Shortly after, the Lions opened up the scoring in the 21st minute as Kaká was able to put a shot into the back of the net off an assist from Darwin Ceren. This gave Orlando City and early 1-0 lead and sparked the crowd’s excitement.
In the 24th minute Columbus Crew’s frustration started to show, as Kevan George picked up the first yellow of the game for Columbus.
Orlando City continued to put tremendous pressure on the Crew keeper Brad Stuver. In all in the 1st half, Orlando City were able get 5 shots off. In the 35th minute, Columbus was able to deflect the ball away from Ribeiro, but off the deflection Carlos Rivas sniped in a shot from 22 yards away to make it 2-0 Orlando City.
Crew would find themselves in trouble with the officials for another booking in the 39th minute, as Aaron Schoenfeld was given a yellow card, the 4th one of the match up to this point.
At the half, both teams had tallied 9 fouls each.
The second half saw continuous pressure from Orlando City on Columbus, but they were unable to add to their score. That wasn’t a problem for the Lions however as Tally Hall was able to keep a clean sheet despite 13 total shots on the night from Columbus.
Kaká continued to build off his string first half and finished the match with 4 shots to lead the Lions. In all Orlando City took 11 shots and put 6 of them on target, despite having 3 of their shots blocked.
“My confidence is increasing. Now I know where I can play. I’ve found my place on the field. The team now has created an identity and now I can play more on the position I like the most. This is giving me more opportunities during the game to be more effective and I feel happy every time I score and help the team.” said Kaká post game.
Orlando City was again able to control majority possession over the course of the match, this kept Columbus from having a chance to claw their way back in this one.
Orlando City’s next match will be in MLS play against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday July 4th with a 10 pm ET kickoff.
The Lions next match in the US Open Cup will be played against the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park. With a win, Orlando City would advance to the semifinals for the first time in franchise history. The match will be played on July 21st or 22nd.