After going down two goals in the first half against Los Angeles FC, the Lions showed us the kind of fight and passion that we are used to.
In the second half, Sacha Kljestan pulled back a goal in the 59th minute and Orlando continued to push. 12 minutes later, Kljesten put Meram behind the defense with an excellent pass before Meram slotted the ball across to the box to a sprinting Dom Dwyer who found the back of the net. It was the break that the Lions had been looking for — until the Video Assistant Referee chimed in, declaring that Meram was offside and the goal would be discounted.
It was a heart breaker.
Following the disallowed goal, LAFC extended their lead in the 82nd and 84th to put the game away.
“We just have to deal with it better,” said Sacha Kljestan following the match. “It brings you down a little bit, but you have to have a better mentality to react better than that because after that we gave up two bad goals.”
The Lions new head coach echo’s that mentality.
“I think our reaction to that needs to be better, needs to be stronger,” said O’Connor after the match. “Our mentality and our resolve needs to be a lot stronger. We can point to and can say ‘is it offsides? Is it not offsides?’ But I think it became very evident then that the mentality needs to be a lot stronger.”
A key talking point for O’Connor since his arrival has been confidence, or a lack thereof. When comparing the two teams on the pitch this past Saturday, confidence was one thing that stood out.
“When you look at it, it became pretty evident that there’s one team that is full of confidence and there’s another team that is really lacking confidence.”
The positive? That run in the second half that O’Connor can point to as an example of what this team can do.
“I think you try and coach the players to maintain belief and try to encourage them to strengthen their resolves, their mentalities, and look at the opportunities that we’ve created,” said O’Connor. “It’d be different if we weren’t necessarily creating opportunities, we have created a lot of opportunities there, but equally we need to defend better than that.”
The Lions will have an opportunity to get back on track this weekend when they host Toronto FC on Saturday.
