Orlando City ties to remain unbeaten in season

Duncan McGuire scored in his MLS debut for Orlando City, but a late goal from D.C. United’s Chris Durkin mitigated the postgame joy as the Lions played to a 1-1 MLS draw on Saturday night at Audi Field.

McGuire played the entire game for his professional debut as Orlando improved to 1-0-2 with 5 points in the Eastern Conference standings.

The opening goal came in the 53rd minute when a play started by Ivan Angulo found Kyle Smith making a run down the right side before sending the ball into the area, finding Dagur Dan Thorhallsson to head the ball toward McGuire to finish the play from close to give Orlando the 1-0 lead.

D.C. United almost had a penalty awarded in the 58th minute when the ball off a Christian Benteke shot hit Wilder Cartagena’s arm. Head referee Jon Freemon consulted with the VAR before overturning the call to prevent United’s potential equalizing goal.

D.C.’s equalizer arrived in the 80th minute when a ball from Pedro Santos to Durkin beat Cesar Araujo inside the box before Durkin curled the shot toward the bottom-left corner to elude keeper Pedro Gallese.

The Orlando City keeper finished with 4 saves, including a highlight stop in the 28th minute to deny Benteke from close after a failed clearance from Abdi Salim.

Ruan started for DCU against Orlando. It was his first match against his former team after being traded to the nation’s capital during the offseason for an MLS draft pick.

Rafael Santos started in making his MLS debut for the Lions.

Ramiro Enrique did not travel with the team. It’s unclear the status of his health after leaving last Wednesday’s game at Tigres at halftime.

Antonio Carlos was on the bench after recovering for most of the preseason and the first two games of the regular season.

Orlando was outshot 16-9 and had four shots on target.

Saturday was Orlando’s third game in a week, which also saw coach Oscar Pareja rotate his squad in preparation for Wednesday’s Concacaf Champions League return leg against Tigres.