Orlando City’s first road game of the season results in the team’s first loss as the Lions fall 2-0 to the Columbus Crew.
Columbus’ Meram dooms Orlando City with 2 goals
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Orlando City wanted to win its first road match, to prove it could perform away just as well as at home and build on the momentum gained from two consecutive victories.
Instead, the Lions (2-1-0, 6 points) dropped their first match of the season as Justin Meram scored twice to give the Columbus Crew (3-1-1, 10 points) a 2-0 victory Saturday afternoon at MAPFRE Stadium.
It was a disappointing but not a wholly concerning setback for a team working to build a new identity this season.
“Disappointed to suffer our first loss in our first away game, but a lot of positives from my point of view,” Orlando City head coach Jason Kreis said after the match, supplying a list that included creating a lot of chances and getting into Columbus’ half of the field well.
“I thought we lacked a little of sharpness though in the final third. It’s our third game of the season, so, not too surprising to say that we weren’t deadly and real sharp in the attacking third of the field when we
have to combine and make plays. That’s pretty typical, so I’m not surprised by it and I’m not too disturbed by it.”
Orlando City did outshoot Columbus 14-6 and maintained more than 50 percent possession. The Lions looked to be on track to equalize when Meram delivered his second blow in the 77th minute.
Cristian Higuita, who subbed on for Servando Carrasco in minute 62, passed forward to Antonio Nocerino, who stretched for the ball but couldn’t secure it, giving possession back to the Crew while defenders were caught in a forward motion.
Meram beat Lions defender Scott Sutter — who made his debut for the team when he subbed on six minutes earlier — and sent a grounder through a cluster of boots and into the net.
“I thought we were securing the ball, so I kind of bombed forward, and then having realized we lost it had to sprint back,” Sutter said. “That was a mistake on my part. It was just a simple mistake that led to the goal. These are the mistakes that can’t really happen and we have to iron out.”
The attack was more cohesive in the final minutes, but nothing got by Crew goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who made four saves in the match.
Quick Crew transitions in the first half mostly resulted in offside calls, but at times placed players behind the Lions’ backline for dangerous looks. One of those times was in the 13th minute, when Artur lofted a ball forward to Meram and Ola Kamara on the run.
The Lions seemed to expect another offside call and slowed down for half a second before hustling after Meram when the whistle never came.
Centerback Jonathan Spector closed in on Meram, but the midfielder got a shot off to the far post, past charging Orlando City goalkeeper Joe Bendik.
“A little bit of a tactical issue there with our outside backs ... but I think if we broke it down, the number of times they actually played behind us and were onside was relatively small,” Kreis said.
Six minutes later, the official handed Meram a yellow card for a hard tackle. Orlando City’s Servando Carrasco and Tommy Redding also were handed yellows in the game.
The Lions’ defense took a hit in the 40th minute when centerback José Aja went down with a hamstring injury. Redding took his place, making his 2017 debut. Aja will be evaluated further on Sunday, but a club spokesman said it looks to be a mild muscle strain.
Kreis has said in the past he never wants to substitute out a centerback unless there is an injury.
He used his other subs later to set up a more attacking-oriented formation, shifting from a 4-4-2 to what looked like a 4-2-1-3. When Sutter came in at right back, Will Johnson shifted to the midfield and Giles Barnes playing higher, in line with strikers Carlos Rivas and Cyle Larin, who each had one shot on goal.
“It’s mistakes,” said Johnson, who wears the captain’s arm band in Kaká's absence. “Margins are small when you come on the road. We’re still a new team that’s learning to pay together, and so we don’t have a lot of margin for error.
“The effort was there, the passing was good. They made two plays in the box, where they scored two goals and when we got in and around the box, we didn’t make the plays. That’s the difference on the day.”