Orlando City advanced to the Eastern Conference as it took one of the most chaotic penalty shootouts of all time to get there
After 120 minutes of play couldn’t separate Orlando and New York City after Nani and Maxime Chanot‘s goals inside the opening eight minutes canceled each other out, an insanely dramatic penalty shootout ended in the favor of Orlando City.
Following goalkeeper Pedro Gallese‘s second yellow card for coming off the line, Orlando put defender Rodrigo Schlegel in as keeper. After letting two slip in, the Argentine stepped up and delivered a huge save to set up Benji Michel‘s winning penalty.
Orlando now advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals of the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs, where they will play the winner of Tuesday’s clash between the Philadelphia Union and the New England Revolution.
PRO also issued a statement following Saturday’s contest to clarify some of the decisions that caused much confusion during the penalty shootout. Here are the best Twitter reactions from Orlando City’s unforgettable win.
GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAL! LFFFFFFG!!! @AlmightBenji!!!! LEGENDARY!
— x - Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) November 21, 2020
NYCFC: ❌✅✅✅✅✅❌
City: ✅✅✅✅❌✅✅#ORLvNYC | #MLSCupPlayoffs
https://twitter.com/OrlandoCitySC/status/1330245432149237761?s=20
They really did add this as a specialty and limited edition item in their store for a price of $144.99.
https://twitter.com/OrlandoCitySC/status/1330271747493548032?s=20
"Papi, I can do that."
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 22, 2020
Rodrigo Schlegel: field player turned goalkeeping hero in the @Audi #MLSCupPlayoffs!
https://twitter.com/cmueller1662/status/1330259858067775499?s=20
https://twitter.com/Ddwyer14/status/1330252305359364103?s=20
For any younger player/fan who asks why an MLS veteran may refer to it as MSL I’ll point you to this Orlando-NYC playoff game 🤷♂️😂
— Michael Parkhurst (@MFparkhurst) November 21, 2020
The infamous double post penalty shootout between the Portland Timbers and Sporting KC in 2015…
Did we just whiteness a MLS pk shootout that was wilder than the infamous double post back in 2015??? #mlsplayoffs
— Jalil Anibaba (@jalil_anibaba4) November 21, 2020
#OrlandoCity coach Oscar Pareja sprinted up the tunnel after Pedro Gallese's save to find Ruan in the locker room.
— Paul Tenorio (@PaulTenorio) November 22, 2020
City employee Rob Hildreth chased him down.
Behind the scenes of an "insane" game filled with premature celebrations and unlikely heroes. https://t.co/qhYjLehfwl pic.twitter.com/emUIkNyvh8
Here are some pretty accurate on the entertainment value of the match.
Congrats to Orlando for winning a soccer match scripted by the writers of real housewives and WWE
— The Cooligans (@SoccerCooligans) November 21, 2020
Wow#MLSCupPlayoffs
https://twitter.com/SachaKljestan/status/1330245652392120326?s=20
I may have just watched the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in soccer!! #orlandoNYFC
— Aron Jóhannsson (@aronjo20) November 21, 2020
That. Was. Awesome. #ORLvNYC
— Alexi Lalas (@AlexiLalas) November 21, 2020