ORLANDO, Fla. – Though Orlando City SC has given away the first goal in every match it’s played this season, that hasn’t stopped the Lions from earning results. In five matches, City have won two, lost two and drawn one.
Each of their results came by way of last-minute scoring chances.
Against D.C. United, first-year Lion Stéfano Pinho scored a stoppage-time equalizer to salvage a 10-man draw. Then, against the New York Red Bulls, City trailed twice and were tied three times before rookie Josué Colmán scored an 86th-minute winner.
The Lions most recently scored three goals in the final 10 minutes of the game to overcome a 2-0 deficit to beat the Portland Timbers.
“You can go back to the D.C. game, we’re down a goal, and [we] get a goal late to manage a fantastic result, being down a man for 60 minutes,” Kreis said after training Tuesday. “And then to be down multiple times in the same game against the Red Bulls and come back to get three points was massive.
“But then to top it off with being down two goals and coming back to win the game, again, says a lot about the character of the team…and, also, I think a little bit about our fitness levels that we can be that dangerous at the end of a match.”
For midfielder Sacha Kljestan, City’s fitness is proving useful in the early-season going. This kind of work rate, however, might not be sustainable.
Kljestan’s looking for City to make the necessary adjustments that will translate into goals throughout the game rather than solely at the end. Making those changes isn’t as clear-cut as it seems, though, as Kljestan, who has led Major League Soccer in assists the past two seasons, said there isn’t a widely apparent solution.
“No, there’s never really an answer for the way things need to be fixed because, in the end, you’ve got 11 different people on the field that have to get on the same page,” Kljestan said after training Tuesday. “And I think the coaching staff has gotta find a way to get all of us on the same page.
“You know, maybe we need to do more in training; maybe we need to sit and talk about it more, but the mentality of everybody has gotta be that it’s a race to the first goal, and we’ve gotta be the team on the front foot from now on.”
Like Kljestan, Kreis understands that his team can’t solely rely on character and fitness to reach City’s end-of-season goals. The Lions have done themselves no favors, giving up the opening goal in the 32nd, the 12th, the 62nd, the seventh and the 20th minutes.
In fact, the win over Portland was the first instance in which City have come back from down 2-0 in their MLS history.
“From a negative side of it, you’d hope that you wouldn’t be chasing every single game. But we have been,” Kreis said. “And I think that’s causing us some problems. We want to be a team that’s more in control of the match. That’s always going to be difficult to do if you’re coming from behind.”
The Lions will have a chance to extend their two-game winning streak on Friday against the Philadelphia Union. Both teams kick off at 8 p.m. at Talen Energy Stadium.
For more on the Lions, as they look to continue their first winning streak of 2018, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
