MLS is Back: Top 5 performances from Matchday Two
By Matt Coles
4. Chris Mueller
This has been a wonderful tournament so far for Orlando City, who have been playing at ‘home’ so to speak. They took their second victory in as many games with a victory over New York City FC and Chris Mueller was the key man.
The 23-year-old American, who was the No.6 overall selection in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft, put the Lions into a commanding position in the match inside the opening ten minutes, by scoring twice.
Mueller’s first goal came in just the fourth minute, as he got a wonderful touch to a Joao Moutinho free-kick. The Orlando left-back swung a ball in from deep that evaded the Sky Blues’ backline, with the forward able to fire home a volley from 15 yards out.
The second goal came just six minutes later, with right-back Ruan sending in a flighted ball. Dom Dwyer headed it back across goal to where Mueller was waiting, with the American bringing the ball down and taking a great touch around goalkeeper Sean Johnson before rifling the ball home.
Jesus Medina went on to pull a goal back for New York City, but a late goal from Tesho Akindele made the points safe for Orlando, who have now won both of their games in Group A. Mueller has now scored three times in those two appearances and is one of the bright sparks of the tournament so far.