At one point, Orlando City was the team hungry to beat a MLS team and add that as a notch to their belt — a sign the organization and team was ready for the step up. Louisville City is at that stage. The USL PRO side, sitting second in the Eastern Division, had everything to prove like Orlando City did for so many years.
The Lions? They were like many of the MLS sides who made it to the Citrus Bowl for friendlies and maybe even a U.S. Open Cup game or two — wanting to rest their players and get ready for the rest of their season.
Maybe Orlando City could have used a friendly as a chance to gain some positive momentum. Maybe the team tried. But it was Louisville City dominating the game on its way to a 3-1 victory at Slugger Field in Louisville on Tuesday. Orlando City played without Kaka, Cyle Larin, Tally Hall and the still-injured Brek Shea.
Still, the Lions continued to look somewhat lifeless and facing the same struggles that have marred the team for the past month. There was little connection between the midfield and the attacking third. The defense had moments hwere it looked lost, getting broken down by Matt Fondy time and time again.
If it were not for some incredible work from Earl Edwards, Jr., the game could have gotten out of hand really quickly on Fondy’s feet alone.
Louisville City continued to put pressure on Orlando City’s defense throughout the game. It got rough when Edwards misplayed a pass and gave up an easy goal for Louisville’s second goal. Edwards came off his line to make the save, but the ball squirted past him. Otherwise, Edwards was stopping anything that came near him until Fondy finally broke through with a shot to the upper corner of the goal from inside the box.
The Lions failed to maintain any sustained attack. Danny Mwanga finally scored in the 66th minute breaking a long scoring drought for the Lions. Orlando City just was not sustaining any type of pressure though. The goals to equalize the game were not coming. Louisville City was going to keep pouring things on.
It may not have counted, but the frustration from Orlando City was still pretty evident. This is a team searching for some confidence or at least a break to go their way. They are looking to the wrong places and not sustaining much of an attack to try and get goals on the board.
Especially without the Lions’ stars, that task was going to be difficult. Orlando City has struggled with its depth and struggled to consistently sustain pressure. The defense’s issues cleaning up attacks and preventing runs on goal has continued to be a sore spot.
This game did not solve any of those issues.
Maybe it was not supposed to. Orlando City showed up and gave Louisville’s record crowd something to cheer about. It probably will not have much of an effect when the Lions take the field Saturday at the Citrus Bowl. It will almost be a completely different team with those three key players back (and with Ramos and Winter suspended on red cards).
It was just a friendly, so everything needs to get taken with a grain of salt. For sure, though confidence is not building for the Lions as the season nears its end.
