Lions aware of flaws that led to first loss
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Last week, an Orlando City player said the team was getting results without playing its best soccer.
The Lions’ heart, determination, fans and defense were enough to compensate for slight deficiencies in possession, finishing and positioning. It was a good sign for a group of players that hadn’t been together long, is competing without its star captain and is still working to implement a new style of play.
But Saturday night, the Lions were reminded of those weaknesses when the Columbus Crew handed them a shutout loss at MAPFRE Stadium.
Orlando City coach Jason Kreis and many players acknowledged the mistakes made during the match, but they also said there were plenty of good things to take into the upcoming week of training.
“As I said, this was our third game of the season,” Kreis said. “We go home next week, with a fantastic opportunity to show a really positive reaction to our first negative of the season.”
Coaches and players often tout the positive aspects of a losing performance, using clichés like, “this is a learning experience,” or, “there were some positives to take away.” But, in Orlando City’s defeat, those rang true.
The Lions now have played another game — they entered the match having played two matches compared to Columbus’ four. Scott Sutter made his debut at right back, furthering his integration with the team. Errors made were minor not systemic — miscommunication, slow reactions and, at times, questionable shot selection
“They made it tough on us,” Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter said after the game. “They kept fighting. Defensively they were very good. They made it very difficult for us to circulate the ball. The second half they stepped up, they pressed higher, and it was challenging. I told the guys that this win will go a long way because it doesn’t always have to be pretty, but it’s the fact that mentally you can grind through it and make some big plays at big times to get the win.”
And Crew defender Alex Crognale called the Lions’ attack “potent.”
Kreis said many times leading to the match that having two games in a month was not ideal, that it’s better to continue playing. Players need games to work out kinks.
Fortunately for Orlando City, games are coming. The 2-0 loss Saturday was the first of five games this month, the next being Sunday at 4 p.m. against the New York Red Bulls at Orlando City Stadium.
Then, there’s seven games in May.
Lions midfielder and team captain Will Johnson and decisionmaking. said the Lions will need to be more aggressive, clean up the mental mistakes and make more plays in both boxes moving forward. Overall, he estimates a 10 to 15 percent improvement overall will be enough to get results.
“We’re OK, ya know,” Orlando City midfielder and team captain Will Johnson said after the match. “We’ve got a group of guys now that is starting to create an identity of who we’re going to be and what we’re going to be about. We’ve got pieces that we’re still working in.
“Cristian [Higuita] is starting to really get healthy, Scott [Sutter] is coming back in, hopefully we’ll have Rafa Ramos back and Tony Rocha, and hopefully Ricky at some point. We’re still getting our group of guys an figuring out who is going to be our best XI, but in the meantime, we’re establishing an identity on how we want to play, what we want to do.
“We need to keep pushing forward in a positive way and understand today wasn’t quite good enough but we can use some of the positives from this game to help us get some points next week.”