ORLANDO, Fla. (March 12, 2022) - Orlando City SC (1-1-1, 4 points) fell 2-1 to FC Cincinnati (1-2-0, 3 points) on Saturday night at Exploria Stadium. Júnior Urso scored the Lions’ lone goal in the match, his first of the campaign and third in his career against the Orange and Blue.
Facundo Torres recorded the assist on the finish in what served as his first goal contribution since joining the Club this past offseason, while forward Ercan Kara made his first start for the side on the night.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“It’s difficult accepting that we didn’t get a result tonight. Obviously you can’t hide that feeling, especially after the effort that the boys put in during the game. The boys tried from every single angle in the first half and the second half and we were not effective putting the ball into the back of the net. This is a game where you get points when you score goals, but the performance was good. I was proud of the effort and obviously the way they started gelling together, especially the new ones coming in and doing sequences that we like and have a lot of volume in the attack. At this point, you just have to breathe and keep going. It’s a long season and if we keep working in the right way, we’re going to win games.”
Scoring Recap:
13’ Brandon Vázquez (Luciano Acosta) - CIN 1, ORL 0
The visitors got on the board with Alvas Powell finding Luciano Acosta in the middle of the pitch, who then thread a ball in behind the City defense for a running Brandon Vázquez to slot home the far post finish.
42’ Júnior Urso (Facundo Torres) - ORL 1, CIN 1
The Lions leveled it up near the end of the first half, as Facundo Torres picked up a wayward clearance from Cincinnati defender Geoff Cameron and crossed it into the area, where a running Júnior Urso headed the ball into the lower left corner of the net to equalize.
53’ Brandon Vazquez (Dominique Badji, Yuya Kubo) - CIN 2, ORL 1
Cincinnati took the lead under 10 minutes into the second half, with Dominique Badji receiving a long diagonal on the wing, muscling past Ruan to put in a cross to the box. Brandon Vazquez got a head to the cross in front of Pedro Gallese to take the lead.
Match Notes:
- Júnior Urso scored his first goal of the campaign on the night, the third time he’s found the back of the net in just four matches played against FC Cincinnati in his MLS career.
- Facundo Torres recorded his first goal contribution as a Lion in the match, earning the assist on Urso’s first half finish.
- The defeat served as the Lions’ first to FC Cincinnati in Club history, putting their record at 3-1-2 in six matches played against the 2019 expansion side.
- Ercan Kara made his first start as a Lion on the night after coming off the bench in the Club’s first two matches of the year.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made two changes to his starting lineup from last week’s visit to Chicago with Robin Jansson reentering the fold for the side in addition to Kara’s debut in the first XI.
Next Match: The Lions head back out on the road for its first of two trips to the west coast, set to take on the LA Galaxy on Saturday, March 19 at Dignity Health Sports Park.
