ORLANDO, Fla. — Antoine Griezmann scored in the first half and Maxime Crépeau made it stand up for Orlando City in a 1-0 victory over San Diego FC on Saturday night.
Griezmann used assists from 19-year-old rookie Justin Ellis and Daryl Dike in the 28th minute to give Orlando City the lead. It was the 35-year-old’s fifth goal in his first eight MLS matches. It was the eighth assist for Ellis and the first this season for Dike in five appearances.
Crépeau finished with two saves for Orlando City (8-11-4) for his third shutout in 23 starts this season. He has nine shutouts over 157 career starts.
CJ dos Santos turned away three shots on goal for San Diego (8-9-6).
“Our performance didn’t match our intentions, you know? And ultimately, it wasn’t one of our better games. We all know that we can be much better than that,” SDFC coach Mikey Varas said.
Orlando City held the ninth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference at the start of the day before improving to 6-4-2 at home.
San Diego falls to 2-6-3 on the road after beginning the day in eighth place in the Western Conference.
SDFC returns to Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday to take on the San Jose Earthquakes.
“We need to turn it around very quickly, and we got to put together a winning performance in four days,” Varas said.