Orlando City SC did a massive first half performance. Every single player was giving 100% from the start to the end of the first 45 minutes. They kept control of the game and New York seemed lost for many phases. David Villa was trying to get his team on the attacking side but Rafael Ramos, Cristian Higuita and Mehdi Ballouchy did a wonderful job on keeping the New York strikers away from the danger zone. It was when New York opted on throwing the ball to their strikers and not playing with a precise passing game as Orlando City was doing the entire first half.
Ricardo Kaka created a beautiful classic play from the middle corridor, pushing his team to the rival box, and ended up shooting when everyone expected a pass to Molino or Bryan Róchez. Kaka scored for Orlando on a dream start against their newest rivals. At this point, Orlando was ruling every aspect of the match and New York knew they were in big trouble if they didn’t react soon. Conveniently for them, the first half came to an end and it was time to fix things at the changing room.
The second half was completely the opposite from what happened on the first 45 minutes. Orlando did a beautiful first half but lost control of the game when New York scored. The defense manifested their fear towards the dangerous David Villa and the sneaky Tony Taylor. New York kept pressing from the start of the second half and eventually obtained the goal that got them back in the game. David Villa stole the ball thanks to a disastrous defensive error by Orlando and performed a deadly pass to Khiry Shelton, who was in the precise place and the right moment to send the ball to the back of the net.
Both Orlando City SC and New York City FC share the contentment on joining the MLS this upcoming season. Their big rivalry has been created towards demonstrating which expansion will do better when the season starts. Round one ended as a draw and everything is set for round two at the Orlando Citrus Bowl on March 8th between these new titans.