(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)

Match Recap

ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s come down to luck for Orlando City SC. Statistically, everything worked in favor of the third-year Major League Soccer side. Despite the plethora of chances and overwhelming dominance of possession, the Lions (8-11-7, 31 points) fell to the Vancouver Whitecaps (11-9-5, 38 points) 2-1 at Orlando City Stadium in front of 24,406 people Saturday night.

“A little bit of a loss for words, honestly,” City head coach Jason Kreis said after the match. “Because I just have never felt like I’ve been in such an unlucky situation. We just can’t seem to get anything to go our way. Feeling that we get something to go our way, right now, we could get a lot of good results ‘cause we’re performing well and playing well. But the struggle continues.”

A pair of mistakes by young Orlando City center-backs put the Lions in an early deficit. Third-year defender Tommy Redding attempted to head away an incoming cross, but his folly clearance resulted in an own goal in the ninth minute. Former Lion Brek Shea then doubled Vancouver’s lead in the 53rd minute after first-year Lion Léo Pereira sent an errant pass toward midfield to allow the Whitecaps’ counterattack.

“Well I think for those players, in particular, they need to look at these experiences as learning experiences, developmental tools,” Kreis said. “Because you need to go through difficult times. You need to make mistakes so that you can correct those in the future. So those two players, in particular, need to look at the game tonight very critically and see what they may have done much better to help us.”

Said goalkeeper Joe Bendik on Redding and Pereira: “I think they’re doing a good job for—I mean, what? They’ve played two, three games this year? You know, they’re tight to the attackers when we’re in attack. They’re proactively defending. And they’re just getting punished for small errors, you know? And that’s hard. That’s really hard on the two of them, but you can do nothing but just try to keep them up.”

City scored its lone goal in the 62nd minute, courtesy of halftime substitute Cyle Larin. Midfielder Cristian Higuita first played the ball down the left flank to an open Yoshimar Yotún. The Peruvian then took one look into the box and one-timed the cross to Larin’s head to cut Vancouver’s lead in half.

“Yeah, I know my teammates are always gonna be there in the box, so you try to put the ball near them and where they’re gonna be,” Yotún said, translated from Spanish, after the match. “We were able to get the goal, but, unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for the win.”

Orlando City was unfortunate not to score more, as Vancouver’s defense did just enough. By the 32nd minute, the Lions were attempting their fourth-consecutive corner kick. Team captain Ricardo Kaká first sent the ball to the top-left part of the Whitecaps’ box to an open Carlos Rivas. The Colombian’s initial shot was deflected toward Redding, who struck it toward Vancouver goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic. After Marinovic’s first save, Higuita managed a soft header. Forward Dom Dwyer slipped the ball to Giles Barnes for a soft shot that was caught by Marionvic.

In the 78th minute, City had another chance like their 32nd-minute opportunity. Right-back Scott Sutter unloaded a shot from the top-right part of Vancouver’s box. The ensuing rebound fell to Larin who couldn’t equalize. Marinovic cleared the ball from the ground, but it fell to City midfielder Dillon Powers, who was making his Lions debut. Powers’ ensuing shot was deflected out.

Barnes had City’s last chance at an equalizer with a deep, 86th-minute strike that smacked off the crossbar. City out-shot the Whitecaps 25-7 (4-3 on goal) and held 72.5 percent of possession.

“I will say the effort that the guys are putting forward, I think the last five or six games now, is second to none,” Kreis said. “The belief that they have, the willingness to work to the bitter end is fantastic, and I can’t be anymore thankful for that. But, for whatever reason, it seems like it’s bad luck after bad luck after bad luck.

“To go through a game tonight where we gave them both goals and then weren’t able to finish one of the plethora of chances we had—it’s difficult. Really, really mentally and emotionally difficult time for us.”

Man of the Match: Yoshimar Yotún

Yotún finished the match with two shots (zero on goal) and created a game-high six chances. The next-highest was a tie between Higuita and Dwyer, who each had three. The first-year Lion also completed 75.4 percent of his 65 passes, recorded a tackle and drew three fouls.

What’s next?

City will next travel to face the New England Revolution on Saturday. The game was originally rescheduled from the beginning of the season because of bad weather in Massachusetts.

Cyle Larin, Antonio Nocerino Don’t Start Against Vancouver

Larin and midfielder Antonio Nocerino were absent from the starting lineup in the loss to Vancouver. Prior to the Vancouver match, both players started 21 of their 22 appearances. For Kreis, a variety of factors played into the decision.

“I was looking for a little bit more mobility. I liked the combination of having Carlos drop into the midfield a little bit more, into some wide spaces with a target forward and really wanted to get Dom his first start at home,” Kreis said. “So, really thought that combination was the right one for tonight.

“But what I found in the first half was that we would have Dom making little diagonal runs outside of the box and looking to play the ball into the box, and there was nobody there. And so that’s why the change was made at halftime. It was a tactical adjustment. It wasn’t necessarily anything to do with Carlos’ play. It was just, I thought, that that’s what the game was affording us was opportunities to get into wide spaces pretty easily, to make crosses, but we needed more members in the box. So Cyle’s—you know he’s always going to be in and around the penalty box.”

Larin finished with three shots (two on goal) and completed 80 percent of his 10 passes. Rivas took five shots and created one chance while completing 84.6 percent of his 13 passes. Larin came into the game at halftime.

Dillon Powers Makes Orlando City Debut in Loss to Vancouver

Powers made his Orlando City debut in the loss to Vancouver when he substituted on for left-back Donny Toia in the 57th minute. He took one shot (zero on goal), created one chance and completed 80 percent of his 20 passes.

“I thought he had some pretty positive moments,” Kreis said. “And, again, another player that’s never played in this tactical system. I think trying to find his way a little bit about what’s exactly expected of him and how high he needs to be or how low he needs to be. I thought there was some occasions, especially in the second half, we’re gonna need those midfielders in those positions—take up high positions and be aggressive with their decisions.”

The former Colorado Rapids midfielder was acquired by City in a trade that sent Luis Gil to the Rapids on Aug. 10.

Highlights

14′ | Shouts of ‘Way to go Yoshi’ from the crowd as he rips an effort towards goal. 0-1 | #ORLvVAN pic.twitter.com/QbHbb7p8YQ — Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) August 26, 2017

21′ | Dom with a dummy and Yoshi not far off… 😲 0-1 | #ORLvVAN pic.twitter.com/tRSOTvBJ7m — Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) August 27, 2017

57′ | Donny Toia off. Dillon Powers on for his City debut! 0-2 | #ORLvVAN pic.twitter.com/YggKBOC0AW — Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) August 27, 2017

The clinical header from the big man. 👌 pic.twitter.com/5wMumurqLn — Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) August 27, 2017

78′ | Sutter with a chance. Cyle with a chance. Giles with a chance. Powers with a chance. 1-2 | #ORLvVAN pic.twitter.com/q7ndvCu5Mu — Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) August 27, 2017

NDR Notes

Larin and Nocerino didn’t start Saturday’s game. Larin entered the match at halftime, and Nocerino substituted on with less than 10 minutes to go. Prior to Saturday’s game, each had started 21 of their 22 appearances.

Powers made his debut in an Orlando City uniform in the loss to Vancouver Saturday.

Dwyer made his first Orlando City start in the loss to Vancouver.

Scoring

Time Team Goal-scorer Assisted by 9’ Vancouver Whitecaps FC Tommy Redding OWN GOAL 53’ Vancouver Whitecaps FC Brek Shea Erik Hurtado 62’ Orlando City SC Cyle Larin Yoshimar Yotún

Statistics and Starting Lineups

Goals Assists Shots Shots on Goal Possession % Orlando City SC 1 1 25 4 72.5% Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 1 7 3 27.5%

Orlando City SC starting XI (4-3-1-2): Joe Bendik (GK); Donny Toia, Léo Pereira, Tommy Redding, Scott Sutter; Yoshimar Yotún, Cristian Higuita, Giles Barnes; Ricardo Kaká (C); Carlos Rivas, Dom Dwyer

Vancouver Whitecaps starting XI (4-2-3-1): Stefan Marinovic (GK); Jordan Harvey, Aaron Maund, Kendall Watson (C), Jakob Nerwinski; Marcel de Jong, Russell Teibert; Brek Shea, Bernie Ibini-Isei, Nicolás Mezquida; Erik Hurtado

For more on City, as they close out the regular season, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.