Orlando City SC (7-13-8, 29 points) fell to the New England Revolution (11-9-7, 40 points) 3-0 before 18,854 fans at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, as the Lions played without three key members of the team’s starting 11 – Kaká, Cyle Larin and Darwin Cerén – due to international call-ups.
Despite several noteworthy saves from veteran goalkeeper Tally Hall, Orlando fell behind with three minutes remaining in the first half when Diego Fagundez tucked away Lee Nguyen’s ball into the box to give the Revolution a 1-0 advantage.
In the second half, Hall was equally impressive in goal for the Lions, denying New England’s attack on multiple occasions with several quick-reaction saves from close range.
With the game still within reach in the second half, Head Coach Adrian Heath made two attacking changes to provide fresh legs in the final third, introducing strikers Bryan Rochez and Danny Mwanga for Pedro Ribeiro and Cristian Higuita, respectively.
Moments after being brought into the game, Rochez had a chance to level the scoreline in the 71st minute after intercepting a poor touch from center-back Andrew Farrell but hit his final effort high of the target.
As City committed numbers forward, the Revolution took full advantage on the counter with second-half substitute Juan Agudelo and left-back Chris Tierney both finding the back of the net in the final 10 minutes of the game.
“I thought our shape was okay. We gave up a poor goal for their first one, but I have to tip my hat off to them. They are what we want to be in the future,” said Heath. “I thought they were better than us in every department with pretty much a full strength team. Obviously at this moment in time when we get injuries and international call-ups, it affects the product on the field. I can’t fault the players. I thought they worked really, really hard. We just got beat by a better team this evening.”
The Lions will return to the Orlando Citrus Bowl on Sunday, September 13, to host Western Conference foes Sporting Kansas City. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.
Article provided by Orlando City Soccer Club Communications