Orlando City’s Leagues Cup campaign came to an end Wednesday night, with Orlando winning the penalty shootout 5-3 against Atlético de San Luis after surrendering a 2-0 lead late in the game. Orlando finishes Phase One with five points, falling short of advancing in one of the top four spots.
“It’s important for us in terms of minutes for the players, it was our goal to have the full roster able to compete, and I think today the guys performed and we faced a good team as well,” Orlando interim head coach Martín Perelman said. “And it was a tough game. It was a competitive game.”
Daryl Dike scored in the 31st minute, his first goal since rejoining Orlando. Wilder Cartagena had the pass in to Tiago, who fired a shot that was saved by Gibran Lajud. Dike was waiting in the middle to poke it home, giving Orlando a 1-0 lead.
Justin Ellis added a second in the 69th minute. Tiago had a lifted cross into the center of the box, teeing up a simple header for Ellis to put past Lajud. Adrián Marín set up the play with his pass to Tiago as Orlando took what seemed to be a commanding lead in the second half.
San Luis, however, pulled one back in the 79th minute to make it 2-1. Felipe Mora’s header was saved by Javier Otero, but Sebastián Pérez Bouquet was there to get on the end of the rebound to put San Luis back in the game.
San Luis leveled it in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time after Orlando missed a chance to score on an open net at the other end. Antoine Griezmann had a chance to fire from midfield, but passed it to the middle of the field instead. San Luis gained possession, and David Rodriguez blasted it past Otero to send the game to penalties.
“It’s a weird feeling because I think we had chances to kill the game off. I think that’s a big thing,” Ellis said. “Obviously we want to be defensively more solid at the end of games, but I think making it 3-1 or 4-1, so we don’t have to get into that situation, would be ideal.”
Griezmann, Ellis, Gustavo Caraballo and Iago all scored for Orlando to start penalty kicks. Sébastien Salles-Lamonge, Mora, and Benjamín Galdames converted their penalties for San Luis before Otero saved Aldo Cruz’s shot to set up Marín for the winner. Marín had no trouble scoring, giving Orlando the shootout victory.
Next up for Orlando is a home match against FC Cincinnati on Saturday.