All season Orlando City’s motto has been “Defy Expectations.”
Expansion teams are not supposed to take the league by storm and challenge for a Playoff berth. That is just not how things work. The excitement of the new team should be enough to carry fan interest. Wins are not the norm.
Orlando City is not normal. They put the Playoffs as their goal. How else could they get Balon D’or winner Kaka to sign up if he was not going to be winning in the twilight of his career.
July and the four-game losing streak and lone-point result of the past 31 days or so was the first time Orlando City looked like an expansion team. But to that point, Orlando City remained — and still remains in the playoff hunt.
That made Saturday’s win so huge. It stemmed the tide and returned confidence to a team that needs to gain some points for the stretch run.
“No, it’s just another win,” Orlando City coach Adrian Heath told Paul Tenorio of the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s stopped the rot. I know four [losses in a row] can go to five quickly and go to six. I’m just pleased we stopped it. If you look at the table, it’s getting closer by the week. As I said before, every game against the Eastern Conference is going to be huge. I think it’s going to go down to the wire and this was another big win for us against what I think is one of the better teams in the MLS.”
The Lions have defeated the Crew already this season in U.S. Open Cup play. They drew their previous match in Orlando.
Still it was a big win. Columbus sits in third place following Sunday’s action. So it was a big win.
As things stand right now in the standings, Orlando City sits in seventh place, tied with Montreal on points with 27 for the last Playoff spot. However, Montreal has three games in hand. The Lions have to continue picking up points to make up for this disadvantage.
That starts Wednesday as the Lions take on Toronto FC at BMO Field. Toronto is also right in the thick of things with 28 points, one point ahead of Orlando City. If things are not big enough, Orlando City will travel to Toronto one more time this month for a big matchup with major playoff implications.
These three games in eight days probably could not have come at a worse time for Orlando City.
The good news is the Lions got some much needed confidence with Saturday’s 5-2 win. They have to believe that will spin things forward and provide a boost for this important stretch.
Defy expectations indeed.
