ORLANDO, Fla. (July 3, 2021) - Orlando City SC (6-2-3, 21 points) fell to the New York Red Bulls (5-5-1, 16 points) on Saturday night, dropping a 2-1 result at Exploria Stadium.
In what served as his 75th professional start, Chris Mueller found the back of the net for the second time in as many matches, with Mauricio Pereyra tying Mueller and Tesho Akindele for the team lead in assists on the finish with his fourth of the year.
City faces a quick turnaround, set to travel to the Windy City to take on Chicago Fire FC on Wednesday, July 7 at Soldier Field.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“Obviously sad with the result, but with our heads very high with the effort of the players. We looked heavier today than the other games and I think that’s normal due to the frequency of the games that we have had in the last two weeks. We don’t want to use that as an excuse, but I want to recognize the effort of the players in a game that brought us too many things to deal with. We accept it, I think we need to move forward. It’s a quick turnaround with a game in the middle of the week, but I keep recognizing the effort of the players. The moments where we were not playing our best game, they [Red Bulls] were trying to get in in a different way. We found our equalizer and had a couple chances even to go ahead, but New York did a good job also. I think they [Red Bulls] wanted the result and in the end they got it.”
Scoring Recap:
6’ Cristian Casseres Jr. (Patryk Klimala, Fábio) - RBNY 1, ORL 0
The visitors struck early with Cristian Casseres bending a left-footed shot around goalkeeper Brandon Austin from just outside the penalty area.
59’ Chris Mueller (Mauricio Pereyra, Daryl Dike) - ORL 1, RBNY 1
City leveled with Daryl Dike picking the pocket of the Red Bulls’ defense and slotting a ball to Mauricio Pereyra who one-timed it to Chris Mueller to his left. Mueller then took a touch before rifling his shot into the top-right corner for the equalizer.
79’ Fábio (Patryk Klimala, Dru Yearwood) - RBNY 2, ORL 1
The Red Bulls regained the lead with Fábio Gomes running in behind the Lions backline before cutting the ball to his right foot and sending a finish into the bottom left corner of the net.
Match Notes:
- Chris Mueller scored his second goal in as many matches on the night, contributing to the attack in the fourth-consecutive match with two goals and two assists through the last four contests.
- Mauricio Pereyra registered his fourth assist of the year on the night, tying Mueller and Tesho Akindele for the team lead.
- Daryl Dike notched his first assist of the year in what served as his 20th start in purple.
- Kyle Smith tallied his 40th start as a Lion on the night. Captain Luis Nani tallied his 65th appearance for City in the match.
- The Lions were forced into an early substitution in the match, with Rodrigo Schlegel entering the game in the 14th minute for Antonio Carlos. The appearance served as Schlegel’s first since May 22 against Toronto.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made one change to his starting lineup from last Friday’s match at Inter Miami, with Chris Mueller earning the 75th professional start of his career on the night.
Next Match: The Lions face a quick turnaround, traveling to take on Chicago Fire FC on Wednesday, July 7 at Soldier Field. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.
