NYCFC falls in playoff stunner
Orlando City centerback Rodrigo Schlegel eagerly tugged on the goalkeeper gloves, his face scrunched up in concentration as he jogged toward the goal during the final minutes of the first MLS playoff match in club history.
Behind him, the Wall roared in support as the 23-year-old shouldered the jersey and expectations of star goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.
During the first penalty kick taken by Nicolás Acevedo, Schlegel didn’t even jump. During the second shot, however, he threw his body airborne, flinging out both gloves to block away the potential go-ahead attempt.
Saturday’s game wasn’t won quite yet — homegrown winger Benji Michel was the one to ice the win a minute later. But that didn’t stop the entire Lions bench from swarming the field, alternating between grabbing Schlegel and shouting praise in his face.
Eventually the team was corralled off the field, and Michel sent the game-winning ball into the net. Purple smoke flooded the air, fans roared from the stands and the players lofted Schlegel above their heads in front of a tifo reading, “Orlando versus Everybody.”
Orlando City earned an elimination playoff win over NYCFC by a score of 1-1 (6-5 penalty kicks). The Lions finished down two men due to ejections, surviving two overtime periods and a wildly unusual penalty-kick series.
It’s hard to explain how we got here. First there was a red card on Ruan in the 87th minute, then two halves of overtime. Gallese saved the first NYCFC penalty kick only to be ejected with his second yellow card minutes later.
In the end, Schlegel carved his place into the Orlando City storybooks to send the team to the next round of the MLS Cup playoffs.
This wasn’t ever going to be easy or simple or boring. It’s Orlando City and New York City FC in a single-elimination playoff match. The stakes were high and the drama was guaranteed.
And in the most confusing, convoluted, contentious chapter of this 2020 season, the Lions punched their way into another historic finish.
In the opening eight minutes, the match seemed set for an overdose of adrenaline. Nani earned a penalty kick in the fourth minute when his back post header was deflected by Anton Tinnerholm’s hand.
The captain coolly slotted his shot into the net, running to the corner and greeting the wall in celebration of the team’s first MLS playoff goal.
But that celebration was shortlived. Maxime Chanot headed down a corner kick to level the score in the eighth minute, cutting short the Lions’ lead after only three minutes.
After trading body blows, both teams seemed dazed, struggling to connect passes or rope together any sort of attacking momentum. NYCFC pelted the Lions’ goal with shots in the first half, but the Lions were held together by the core of their defense — centerbacks Robin Jansson and Antonio Carlos and Gallese.
Days before Saturday’s match, the Lions thought they’d have to start the playoffs without Gallese after his Peruvian call-up to the South American World Cup qualifiers. But a last-minute charter flight from the league allowed the keeper to skip a quarantine period, putting him back between the posts against New York.
Throughout the first half, Gallese proved why the Lions needed him. He saved four sizzling onframe shots in the first 45 minutes alone, including a one-handed double-save while sprawled out on the ground.
RED BULLS FALL
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Pedros Santos, Darlington Nagbe and Gyasi Zardes scored and the Columbus Crew beat the Red Bulls 3-2 on Saturday to advance to the MLS Eastern Conference semifinals.
Third-seeded Columbus will play Nov. 29 against the winner of the Tuesday night match between second-seeded Toronto FC and No. 7 Nashville.
Seventeen-year-old Caden Clark gave the Red Bulls the lead in the 23rd minute. Santos tied it on a penalty kick in the 26th, Nagbe put the Crew ahead in the 46th and Zardes made it 3-1 in the 68th.
Brian White scored for New York in the 90th.