Lions unable to avoid 2nd defeat

In a game that saw Orlando City dominate possession for the majority of the game, it was the Los Angeles Football Club that emerged with a 4-2 victory on Saturday night.

Alexandre Pato and Joao Moutinho were on the scoresheet for the Lions, but that wasn’t nearly enough as LAFC got goals from Brian Rodriguez, Jesus Murillo, Ilie Sanchez and Kwadwo Opoku in front of an announced attendance of 16,753 at Exploria Stadium.

In the 15th minute, Antonio Carlos went down with an apparent lower-body injury after battling for the ball against Rodriguez. The Brazilian centerback left the game moments later and was stretchered off, with Rodrigo Schlegel taking his place.

Orlando (2-2-2, eight points) looked to have scored the opening goal in the 12th minute when Facundo Torres was able to play a cross into the box, finding Pato to strike the ball past the goalkeeper, but the goal was called off after Torres was signaled to be offside.

Despite the Lions controlling much of the early going, LAFC capitalized on its first attempt at goal in the 24th minute when a long ball played to Cristian Arango from Carlos Vela found Rodriguez open to slot the ball past keeper Pedro Gallese to give the visitors a 1-0 edge.

Pato scored his second goal of the season, in his second consecutive game, in the 36th minute after a ball played by Mauricio Pereyra into the box found Ercan Kara, who headed the ball toward the Brazilian forward before he struck a volley to tie the game.

Los Angeles quickly retook the lead after a failed clearance from Ruan off a free kick found an open Murillo, who tucked the ball into the net to give LAFC a 2-1 advantage in the 38th minute.

The back-and-forth affair continued when Joao Moutinho tied the game for Orlando in the 45th minute after being picked out by Pereyra to finish the play.

Orlando’s defensive struggles continued to show in the 51st minute when Ilie Sanchez struck from outside the box to get the ball past Gallese to give LAFC a 3-2 lead.

Opoku capped the scoring for LAFC in the fourth minute of stoppage time after capitalizing on a counter to make it 4-2.

On Saturday, Pereyra tied former captain Nani with the most Orlando City assists across all competitions with 26 after setting up goals by Pato and Moutinho.