Orlando City took a grueling flight to Seattle for their recent match. How did they play on the West Coast? Good enough for a 1-1 draw against the Sounders.
After a canceled flight, eight hours stuck in the airport, scrambling to find a different way to Seattle and a 5 a.m. Eastern time arrival Tuesday, it’s safe to say Orlando City’s three-game road trip didn’t start the way the team hoped.
About 12 hours after landing, Lions coach Jason Kreis paused before describing how he felt, “Um, odd.”
The team originally booked a noon flight from Orlando to Seattle with a layover in Dallas on Monday, but when the second leg was canceled, the team was left scrambling to find another way to its Major League Soccer match against the Sounders.
The club and league eventually determined the best option was to charter a flight, Kreis said, and the Lions finally took off at 8 that night.
The players rebounded well enough to pull out a 1-1 draw Wednesday against reigning MLS champion Seattle with a goal off the final touch of the match, but they then turned right round and hopped another flight to Chicago.
“No point in complaining about it, just need to deal with it
best you can,” defender Scott Sutter said of the travel woes after calling the trip awful. “Hopefully [the Chicago flight is] a little bit smoother and we’ll get some much-needed rest for the game and leading up to Saturday.”
Wednesday marked the second game in a row that the Lions gained a point due to a last-second goal, bringing back images of the past two years when stoppage-time excitement was a regular occurrence. The nickname “Cardiac Cats” began circulating again on social media.
Right back Sutter, who joined the team this season and so was unaware of the team’s previous extra-time theatrics, ran a hand over the top of his head, breathed deeply and said, “It’s a good thing I shaved my hair short because I’m getting gray hairs. It’s not easy for the heart, but ya know that’s just the way it is in football. You just need to be ready the whole game, whether it goes 90, 93, 94 minutes.”
He said it’s a good trait to have in the team, being able to produce at the end of matches, although he’d prefer the goals provided wins instead of draws.
Overall though, he and Kreis were pleased with the performance. Orlando City struggled through the month of May, going 1-4-2, but now is unbeaten in its four June games.
The past three of those were draws, including a 0-0 result against the Chicago Fire at the beginning of the month.
Kreis credited a tightknit group for the ability to pull out of the rut and start grabbing points again.
“I think our group now has played pretty darn well quite a few games in a row now in the MLS regularseason games,” he said, being careful with his wordthe ing so as to not include the team’s recent 3-1 U.S. Open Cup loss in between the league matches. “To continue to pick up points always helps because as a coach, you can get very fatigued of telling a team you’re really happy with the way they’re playing when they don’t pick up points and get results. So now there’s some weight behind that message.
“We’ve got a good chemistry amongst our guys, and I would say that they generally like to be together,” the coach added. “I like to be part of the group as well. Ultimately, that’s what matters most when you go through the dog days of summer.”
“We’ve got a good chemistry amongst our guys, and I would say that they generally like to be together . . . . Ultimately, that’s what matters most when you go through the dog days of summer.” Orlando City coach Jason Kreis