A purple haze engulfed downtown Orlando, as a mob of 62,000 people descended onto the Citrus bowl.
March 8 marked the opening day for Major League Soccer’s newest club, Orlando City. Orlando City is the only MLS team in Florida since the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion shut their doors in 2001.
Orlando’s opponent for the opening day was New York City, a team who, like them, was granted MLS expansion in 2013 and was playing its first game. Unlike Orlando City, New York had the total of the $100 million league expansion fee paid for by outside parties, namely the New York Yankees and Manchester City of Europe’s premier league. This outside backing would end up showing during the game.
At kickoff, it became clear that two different schools of thought were being played by the opposing teams. New York adopted the typical style seen in the premier leagues of Europe. They spread themselves far apart and passed the ball rapidly in a triangle formation, patiently waiting for Orlando to make a mistake and capitalize on it.
This was in sharp contrast to Orlando, who adopted an approach that can only be described as maximum attack. The players charged ahead with the ball; their teammates stayed close by. Orlando’s strategy seemed dependent on beating New York man to man, having the individual player outmaneuver his opponent rather than passing to a teammate.
The result of these two strategies meant Orlando was working its men significantly harder to get each yard and by the mid point of the second half they were spent. This gave New York the chance to score, which they did. By the end of the 90 minutes of regular play New York had the 1-0 lead. It was only in the four minutes of stoppage time that Orlando was able to equalize off a penalty kick.
For Orlando, opening with a tie was a let down for fans, but deserved. Being on attack the whole time is a risky strategy that will hopefully pay off for them in the future.
