Their timing is pitch perfect
Orlando City brings us some much-needed joy
And on the 123rd day, the sports gods declared: “Let there be soccer!” Real, live, legitimate, genuine, certified, bonafide soccer.
Finally.
Thankfully.
After 123 long, lonely, pandemic-marred days, Orlando City returned to the pitch Wednesday night for the opening match of the MLS is Back Tournament against its new expansion rivals Inter Miami. And not only did the Lions return to the pitch, they returned to the win column for the first time in nearly a calendar year (329 days to be exact!!!)
Orlando City 2, Inter Miami 1
Can you believe it?
Can you conceive it?
During normal times, we might not have jumped up and down quite so joyously after Nani’s game-winning goal 7 minutes into stoppage time or celebrated quite so gleefully after an early-season victory against a first-year expansion team, but these obviously aren’t normal times.
“There was a lot of joy out there tonight, and I’m proud of that,” Orlando City coach Oscar Pareja said.
Joy has certainly been a rare commodity in recent weeks, which is why this victory should go down as the sweetest in Orlando City history. Not just because of who it was against, but because of where we’ve been and what we’ve endured over the last few months. Beating Miami in the first match between the two state rivals made the victory even more special, but this was a night to celebrate no matter who the Lions played or even whether they won or lost.
This wasn’t just the opening match of the MLS is Back Tournament, this was the first men’s professional team sports league to resume play in our country during a pandemic.
“Sports were gone, but never far from our thoughts and our hearts,” a narrator said in ESPN’s dramatic introduction to Wednesday night’s match. “Tonight, we celebrate their return and feel the presence and power of sports.”
You could feel that immense power even before the game started when both teams offered a silent and emotional pregame demonstration in the tumultuous aftermath of George Floyd’s killing. Orlando City’s Júnior
Urso fought back tears as the two teams knelt at midfield while encircled by members of the league’s Black Players for Change Coalition — all of whom raised black-gloved fists reminiscent of John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics.
“We all want a world without discrimination,” Nani said of the pregame show of solidarity. “Everyone needs to help make a difference. We must think about our future and teach our children how to be better people and help create a better world.”
It’s been four months since the MLS halted play, but when you consider what’s happened in our country in the interim, it seems more like five years. Racially, politically and, yes, medically there’s no question that we are a nation in turmoil.
There was immense hope when this tournament was scheduled that the coronavirus was subsiding, but, regrettably the virus has come back with a vengeance and barged right into MLS’s Disney bubble. Quite frankly, the league desperately needed Wednesday night’s game just to get away from all the negativity that has surrounded the tournament during the past few days.
All of the national headlines have been about
MLS choosing to start back up in the middle of global pandemic in a state where the coronavirus numbers are exploding. The league had to deal with backlash from FC Dallas being told to withdraw from the tournament because of double-digit COVID-19 cases. Nashville SC was removed after Orlando City’s match because of nine COVID-19 cases and MLS reigning MVP Carlos Vela chose not to play.
At least for this one night, all of the positive tests and the spiking rates took a two-hour hiatus so we could escape ever so briefly into the The Beautiful Game. No, the return of sports cannot make all the sickness and strife in this country go away, but it can and did give us a brief respite from the clanging cymbals on the cable news networks.
As Montreal Impact coach Thierry Henry said earlier this week: “As we all know and we’re all sad about, people have died; some people lost their jobs, some companies will never be there again. But we’re here, we’ve found a way to come to this tournament.”
No doubt, we are in the midst of one of the saddest times in American history, which is why it seems fitting that MLS and the NBA both chose the “Happiest
Place on Earth” to try to resurrect their seasons.
Actually, Disney
World’s sprawling theme park must have seemed like the “Emptiest Place on Earth” to the players from Orlando City and Inter Miami. It was weird and surreal. It just didn’t seem quite right to see Orlando City playing in its hometown without raucous supporters standing on The Wall at Exploria Stadium, banging drums, singing songs, dancing, chanting, cheering and chiding.
Instead, the game was played without spectators on one of the many fields at the Disney complex designed mostly for youth tournaments. The TV product was good. There were a zillion cameras and angles. And ESPN soccer analysts Jon Champion and Taylor Twellman covered the news about the COVID-19 crisis but rightfully and thankfully focused mostly on the game and the budding rivalry between Orlando City and Inter Miami.
Champion referred to Inter Miami as Orlando City’s “new noisy neighbors” — an obvious reference to how David Beckham’s expansion team is already getting more publicity and exposure than the Lions. “Orlando City,” Champion said, “is not the shiny new toy they appeared to be when they joined the league in 2015.”
But on this one special night, it was almost like it was 2015 all over again.
Orlando City took us back to a better day and a better time.
And you want to know what’s crazy?
In a game played without spectators, Orlando City fans finally had something to cheer about.