Orlando City Vs LAFC: 3 things we learned – Upset city
By Daniel Garza
Orlando City advanced to the semifinals of the MLS is Back Tournament by defeating LAFC in penalties. Here are three things we learned.
The craziness that is the MLS is Back Tournament continued on Friday night. Orlando City equalized in the 90th minute and then went on to defeat Los Angeles FC on penalties in one of the biggest upsets of the competition thus far.
For LAFC, they once again fall short of reaching a tournament final. Bradley Wright-Phillips had given them a 1-0 lead but they failed to hold on to their advantage and were unable to dominate possession and produce a high number of scoring opportunities as usual.
Orlando City, meanwhile, are in the semi-finals and are enjoying one of their best runs since their inception in 2015. They will face Minnesota United later this week. Here are three things we learned.
3. Orlando shut down LAFC
It was an excellent performance from Orlando’s backline against LAFC. They limited the impact players such as Diego Rossi, Brian Rodriguez, and Bradley Wright-Phillips had on the match. And although Wright-Phillips did score, he had few other high-quality chances to continue his prolific start to life with the Black and Gold.
Rodriguez and Rossi were not at their best. Orlando made life extremely tough for the wide pair thanks to the performances of full-backs, Ruan and Joao Moutinho. The pair were fantastic as they entirely shut down their opposite numbers, stifling offensive opportunities, rarely getting beat for speed, and driving them the other way when Orlando were in possession.
By full-time, Orlando had more than double LAFC’s shots. Their nine shots are half of their next lowest figure in the tournament. Their 2.5 expected goals is their second-lowest figure in the tournament. Orlando stifled the best attack in MLS, and they looked very comfortable as they did it.