Dwyer feels better, returns from injury absence of 4 weeks
KISSIMMEE — Orlando City striker Dom Dwyer returned to training Tuesday morning after a four-week absence due to injury.
Dwyer suffered a lowerbody injury at the start of February and was designated as “week to week” for the remainder of the preseason. The striker started in the Lions’ first preseason match against the Montreal Impact, but he was unavailable for the first two matches of the regular season.
Tuesday marked the first time Dwyer trained with the rest of the first team, but his status remains “day to day” as the team nears its next home game against the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
Dwyer finished the 2019 season with seven goals and four assists as one of the team’s three designated players.
After logging a minute on the pitch during the team’s season opener, midfielder Andrés Perea played his first full 90-minute match on the road in Colorado on Saturday.
The starting debut was one to remember as he notched the first assist of the season for the Lions. Perea threaded a pass into a narrow lane between three defenders, delivering the ball directly to the feet of striker Chris Mueller.
His teammates said the play gave a glimpse of the spark the 19-year-old could provide to the Lions’ attack.
“I think he’s got a lot of range,” Mueller said. “He covers a lot of ground. He applies really good pressure on the defensive end of the ball . ... You can see he’s got great vision.”
To coach Oscar Pareja, it wasn’t just that single scoring play; he found all 90 minutes of Perea’s play in Colorado to be a bright light during an ultimately frustrating match for the Lions.
The young midfielder achieved Pareja’s ideal of purposeful possession, using his movement to always focus toward goal. Besides serving up the only assist of the night, Perea also fired a team-high three shots, including a scorching shot rifled from outside the top of the box that forced the keeper to dive for the save.
Perea connected 26 of his 37 passes Saturday, and he was most efficient moving the ball through the gut of the field, connecting on 15 of 20 total passes from the middle third of the field.
To teammates such as Kyle Smith, this vision and efficiency in the midfield points to a promising future for the young player.
“I see it at practice every day — he’s a great player,” Smith said. “He works hard, he makes the right runs at the right time.
“I think the sky’s the limit. As long as he works hard at practice every day, and continues to grow and develop, I couldn’t tell you what level he could reach because I think it’s the top.”