CINCINNATI, Ohio (June 24, 2022) - Orlando City SC (7-6-4, 25 points) dropped a 1-0 decision on the road, falling to hosts FC Cincinnati (7-7-2, 23 points) in front of 24,263 at TQL Stadium on Friday night. The match was decided on Brenner’s 65th-minute goal, the lone breakthrough for the home side despite a season-high eight saves from Lions’ goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.
The Peruvian led the way for Orlando on the night, keeping Cincy off the board with big saves in the 14th, 39th and 53rd minutes of the match.
Defender Antonio Carlos made his first appearance since picking up an injury on April 2, entering the match as a halftime substitute for Homegrown Thomas Williams.
The Lions now turn their attention to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal, hosting Nashville SC on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET from Exploria Stadium.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“I thought it was a game full of inconveniences for us, from warm ups with the need to changes players and things that needed to adapt from our game plan. But with the situation I thought we had a decent first half where we tried to control the ball but not much ambition going forward. But we controlled the ball going forward. In the second half, I thought our roles changed. Cincinnati started having more of the ball and then after the goal we found the reaction needed to be earlier from us and it was not much up front. Again, it was not a superiority from either team. It was a game that could go either way and it ended up just going their way.”
Scoring Recap:
65’ Brenner (Luciano Acosta) - CIN 1, ORL 0
The hosts opened the scoring on the night after Luciano Acosta took a deflected-shot outside of the box that went off the Lions’ post. Acosta then followed up and sent the rebound across the face of goal to a waiting Brenner who finished off the chance.
Match Notes:
- Antonio Carlos returned from injury and made his first appearance for the Lions since April 2 against LAFC. The Brazilian defender entered the match at the start of the second half.
- Pedro Gallese made a season high eight saves in the match, his most since posting nine on July 25, 2021 against NYCFC.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made three changes to his starting lineup from the side’s last match against Houston Dynamo FC, with Rodrigo Schlegel, Andrés Perea and Thomas Williams all reentering the fold.
- The match marked Williams’ second start of the regular season and third across all competitions, getting the nod after João Moutinho was ruled out during warmups.
Next Match: The Lions return home to host Nashville SC on Wednesday, June 29 in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at 7 p.m. ET at Exploria Stadium.
