It should have led to a scoring chance with Kara beating the defense in the middle but a heavy touch by Halliday spoiled the opportunity. One of those was a first-half beauty to unleash Michael Halliday down the right flank. His lone cross was inaccurate and he was successful on three of his long balls. He was definitely the more conservative fullback, not getting involved on offense beyond lurking outside the box for possible shots. He wasn’t exactly a stalwart in defense, only recording one tackle, but he did enough to strengthen Orlando’s back line so it wasn’t burned by counter attacks. While there were a few giveaways, Smith did well to collect the ball out wide and either find Ivan Angulo on the left wing or calmly get it into the center of the field.

He quietly led the Lions with 82 touches and a whopping 75 passes at a solid 85.3% completion rate. There were a few nervy moments late while trying to play out of the back, but Orlando put out the potential fires and secured the shutout.ĭ, Kyle Smith, 6 - Smith returned to the starting lineup, playing at left back along Orlando’s back line while Luca Petrasso recovers from injury. Gallese finished the game with 28 passes at a 78.6% success rate and was accurate on five of his 11 long balls. His only other save of the match was in the 24th minute, when he swallowed up a driven shot from Tyler Boyd in the heavy rain. GK, Pedro Gallese, 6 - The Peruvian goalkeeper didn’t see much action throughout the match, but came up with a fantastic save to deny Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez late in the match and preserve his clean sheet. Let’s dive into how each individual Lion did their part in the shutout victory. Of course, there is more to this team than its stars and many players put in strong performances. Ercan Kara scored his first goal of the regular season and Facundo Torres scored another in a match that showcased how Orlando’s trio of Designated Players can work alongside one another. Orlando City was able to give its supporters plenty to cheer about in a 2-0 win against the LA Galaxy at Exploria Stadium Saturday night.

Taking Wing by Michael A. Martin