Short-handed Lions extend unbeaten streak with 0-0 tie
Orlando City lost its momentum after a Rodrigo Schlegel red card but salvaged a point by blanking the New York Red Bulls.
Orlando City forward Luis Muriel, 9, tries to dribble around New York Red Bulls defender Tim Parker in a Major League Soccer match Saturday in Orlando. Photo: Orlando City SC.
‘We lost those two points’
Orlando City dominated the New York Red Bulls in the first half Saturday at Inter & Co. Stadium, but a 55th-minute red card quashed the Lions’ momentum. Playing down a man for more than 30 minutes, the Men in Purple were lucky to escape with a scoreless draw and a point in the standings.
The tie didn’t satisfy Orlando City coach Oscar Pareja.
“Obviously, it is another story when the red card came.”
— Oscar Pareja, Orlando City SC
“I thought after the performance, especially that we had in the first half and part of the second half until the red card came, we felt that we lost those two points,” Pareja said after the match. “It was a team that we dominated…. Obviously, it is another story when the red card came, and obviously [New York Red Bulls] pushed and then we had to congest a little bit in the middle of the field. Then it was another game played there; it was not the same game.”
Defender Rodrigo Schlegel received a yellow card, his second of the match, for a high boot on Red Bulls’ forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. The second yellow triggered the red card and automatic ejection.
It was Orlando’s second straight scoreless draw after a 0-0 tie in Philadelphia.
Standings
Orlando City and the Red Bulls kept pace with the Chicago Fire, which played Inter Miami to a 0-0 draw Sunday at sold-out Soldier Stadium. The three Eastern Conference playoff hopefuls have identical 3-2-3 records for 12 points each. Orlando City is seventh in the conference standings because of its +3 goal differential. Chicago and New York both have a goal differential of +2, but the Fire are in eighth place because they’ve scored 14 goals to New York’s nine.
Gallese reaches a milestone
While preserving Orlando’s precious points in draws against the Union and Red Bulls, goalkeeper Pedro Gallese chalked up a minor victory of his own; the clean sheet against New York was his 50th in MLS. The 35-year-old Peruvian has 105 shutouts in all competitions over the course of his career, including five for Peru’s national team.
For comparison, Nick Rimando, who played 21 MLS seasons — Miami Fusion (1999-2002), D.C. United (2003-2007), and Real Salt Lake (2007-2019) — is the league’s career leader in clean sheets with 168 in 553 matches.
What’s next?
The Lions travel to Canada to play last-place CF Montreal (0-6-2, 2 points) before returning home April 26 to play 11th-place Atlanta United (2-3-3, 9 points).