Orlando City opened the season with a difficult 2-1 loss to the visiting New York Red Bulls.
The Lions’ new lineup struggled at times, and New York took advantage to earn its first win under new head coach Michael Bradley.
“I think as a team, we started a little slow in that second half, and I think everybody could see it. I can only speak for myself, but I think from the start it just needs to be a little bit better,” Orlando City defender Griffin Dorsey said. “We need to start more on the front foot, and I think we saw a lot of positives coming out of the second half, putting them under pressure.”
New York opened up the scoring in the 8th minute after an excellent move into the box from Emil Forsberg. The Swedish midfielder worked his way through the defense, sent goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau the wrong way and then sent a pass across goal to Julian Hall, who scored to make it 1-0.
The Red Bulls doubled the lead with a second goal from Hall. The 17-year-old was in the right place at the right time to pounce on the end of a failed clearance and fired it at the near post for a 2-0 lead.
Orlando looked much better in the second half, shoring up the defense and creating more attacking opportunities. A goal from Dorsey was called off because of a handball in the buildup, but the Lions were getting into good position to score.
“(Coach) Oscar (Pareja) just had a tactical switch going in the second half, and obviously making some changes and getting us prepared to play in a different style, more aggressive style, which I think helped us,” Dorsey added. “As for the goal, I didn’t think that it hit my hand, so I celebrated like that was my first Orlando City goal.”
New signing Tiago scored a consolation goal in the 95th minute, assisted by Zakaria Taifi. Ivan Angulo’s pass to Tiafi allowed the young defender to square the ball to Tiago, who scored his first goal for Orlando City.
Orlando’s next match is at home against Inter Miami next Sunday.