On Wednesday night, Orlando City traveled to Toronto and earned a scoreless draw against the top ranked team in the Eastern Conference. A positive result in Toronto was crucial to keeping Orlando City alive in the hunt for the playoffs, and with a point on the road against a strong opponent, Orlando City will travel back to Camping World Stadium satisfied.
“Generally I’m pleased, the performance I thought was really good,” Head Coach Jason Kreis said after the match. “Obviously we asked for a massive defensive commitment from the players and they gave us that tonight. When they do that we get shutouts and we put ourselves in the position to win games.”
While Orlando City wasn’t able to capitalize on their many offensive chances, the players were happy to get a point on the road against such a challenging opponent. “I think after the last 3 games were very happy with our confidence to come and tie a good team away,” Midfielder Kevin Molino said. “They’re in top place so we look forward to our home games coming up.”
“I thought a shutout away from home is a very positive thing,” Servando Carrasco said. “I thought that defensively we were very compact and structured. We were willing to work. I think coming to a place like here which is a very hard place to play and getting a shutout is a step in the right direction.”
As for the playoffs, Orlando City players and coaches alike still believe. We’re happy with the performance tonight. We’re happy we got a point on the road,” Kreis said. “We’re happy that we’re still in the playoff picture. We face DC United and Montreal at home and we believe that with positive 3 point result in those games then we still have a fighting chance.”
“I think the 2 games at home are huge,” Carrasco said. “The game against Montreal is gonna be huge… We still have to play DC & Montreal so it’s all for the taking.”
“If you don’t believe that you shouldn’t be in this locker room,” Molino said. “Being a professional you always want to play at the highest level and if you’re not thinking about playoffs you shouldn’t be in this locker room.
