Cyle Larin scored twice in the second half to help Orlando City to a 2-1 win over rival New York City FC, keeping the Lions alive in the playoffs.
Cyle Larin’s two second-half goals, within 10 minutes, helped Orlando City stay alive in the Eastern Conference Playoff race as Orlando City defeated New York City FC 2-1 at the Citrus Bowl on Friday, the final home game of Orlando City’s inaugural season.
Larin first scored in the 62nd minute to tie the game off a header from a cross from Corey Ashe. He then followed that up nearly eight minutes later when Adrian Winter, playing in the place of Kaka as the center attacking midfielder, broke toward goal fired a shot at goalkeeper Josh Saunders, collected the rebound and slid the ball to Larin for the finish.
The two goals add to Larin’s rookie record for goals and continued his dominance of New York teams. He recorded a hat trick against N.Y.C.F.C. earlier in the season.
The win was extremely significant for Orlando City too. It kept the team’s playoff hopes alive, putting the pressure on Montreal Impact to match with a win to officially eliminate Orlando City from playoff contention. The Impact currently sit one point ahead of the Lions entering their game against the Revolution on Saturday.
More important for Orlando City, the win marked the exorcising of more than a few demons.
The Lions and N.Y.C.F.C. finished the season 1-1-1 thanks to their victory. That could be considered a relative draw for the two expansion franchises.
It was also a game where Orlando City dominated play but failed to break through, eventually going down a goal against the run of play. And with a controversial call to boot.
New York City scored just before the half when Kwame Watson-Sirobe collected a deflected ball back into the box and put it past Tally Hall. The play was set up by a corner kick which drew the fans’ ire.
And it was completely against the run of play. Throughout the entire game, Orlando City, despite missing Brek Shea and Kaka, dominated play. They got the ball to Carlos Rivas down the left side numerous times and put dangerous passes into the box for Larin to collect.
Orlando City dominated possession during the first half and seemed ready to push for the goal. It was not until the Lions went up 2-1 that N.Y.C.F.C. began getting on the ball more.
It was a cathartic way for an often frustrated Orlando City crowd to celebrate a win. They had defeated both their team nemesis and the referee nemesis, getting the breakthrough win the team deserved rather than the disappointment of playing better with a poor result.
Sometimes the soccer gods smile just a little bit.
Orlando City though does not control its own destiny. It still waits to see what Montreal does Saturday before knowing what it has to do in its finale at Philadelphia to make the playoffs.
With five straight wins — after spending almost all of July and August without a win — the Lions have put themselves in position to do something special. They have at least built some momentum for the offseason.
