💬 Facundo Torres: "All I was thinking about was, ‘score the goal’" after late penalty wins match for Orlando

Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja

Opening statement 

"First, very happy with the victory not just the three points, which are very important for us, but the way they gained those points. I thought it was a really good game. Our fans today were fantastic, they brought us that energy and I am grateful for them, and we felt that energy over the weekend. Keep bringing people to our place and we respond with soccer like that today. Again, thanks to them and enjoy the victory. We are going to get ready for Charlotte [FC] and a busy week and Cincinnati. The boys dream high and today we showed that we are a very good team.” 

On the message at halftime 

“I thought we were playing the right way. They came out with a different formation. So, the first 15 minutes we needed to accumulate the team again. They were very dense in the middle. They kept the ball and created some spaces, but then we matched that in the middle. We corrected. We tried to impose our ways and that happened. We needed to be more dangerous and try to create options to score with more frequency. I think we did. In the second half, I thought we were the more protagonists against a very good team. I think we did a very professional job.” 

On the importance of the win at home 

“It was important for us. Against a rival, who is at the top of the Western Conference. We were competing high. But we knew about these two upcoming games in Charlotte and Cincinnati, who are rivals and from our conference. We keep our commitment to go there and play good soccer and fight for those points that are crucial for our opportunity to qualify for the playoffs.”

Orlando City SC Forward Facundo Torres

On what he was thinking when he was about to take the penalty kick 

“All I was thinking about was, ‘score the goal’. When I stepped up, I knew this was the opportunity for us to put the game away, get the victory, obviously thinking a little bit about the goal that they scored that didn’t get taken back so thinking about that and just trying to bury it and secure the three points for us.” 

On his first goal after coming back from halftime 

“When I got the ball I looked up and I saw Mauro [Mauricio Pereyra] in a bit of a diagonal and normally he likes me to play those into his feet so I just kind of hit it but thankfully once he got it he played it to Dagur [Dan Thórhallsson] and I just kind of made my run away from him and toward the goal, and thankfully he found me and I was able to put it away.” 

On playing the top team in the Western Conference 

“We know that they are a very tough team, they are showing that in the league this year, and we know they go into every game with that. Thankfully we were able to take the lead early in the second half and find ourselves with a bit more freedom to play the way that we like to play. We found ourselves in a tie again, but this team doesn’t fall, it continues fighting, and we were able to get the three points.”

Orlando City SC Midfielder Dagur Dan Thorhallsson

On the first goal and what the message was at halftime 

“I felt we were doing good and Oscar [Pareja] told us we were doing good, and we just needed that finishing touch. Mauricio [Pereyra] got the ball and then I wanted to chip it over the guy but got it through him and then I saw Facu[ndo Torres] screaming so I just passed it to him and he did the rest.” 

On exposing St. Louis on the wings 

“They were really open if we kept the ball on the left side and then we kicked it over to my side, then I was usually alone with a lot of space. So it was just keep going and try to do the movements that we do in training and that was one of them where I go in and Facu goes out and then I got the ball and just played it to Facu.”

On the difficulty of tonight’s task at right back compared to the previous game 

“It was just the same, I would say. I felt really good. I like the position a lot. I’m still learning and still developing in that position. But hopefully I can just become a really, really good right back.”