Orlando City’s hopes of salvaging their inaugural season playoff ambitions may hinge on the visa paperwork for their new signings. The Lions need on-field reinforcements, and fast, according to head coach Adrian Heath as he summed up their 4-1 shellacking at Toronto FC.
The league newcomers signed Spanish center-back David Mateos and Swiss midfielder Adrian Winter last week but both are still tied up in the red tape necessary to complete their MLS credentials as international players.
In the absence of injured captain Kaká, who was ruled out of the trip with a swollen ankle from last Saturday’s win over Columbus, Orlando were a pale imitation of the side that routed Crew SC 5-2.
“The players who we’re bringing in can’t come quickly enough,” Heath insisted. “This team needs some help. Luke Boden had a really good game but, apart from that, I don’t think anybody did well and I can’t think of any part of our game we were pleased with.
“We were very poor, conceded really cheap goals and it’s just been a disappointing evening. I actually thought we started quite brightly, but I was very disappointed with the response in the second half.”
Even without their influential skipper, Heath had reason to hope for better with 10 of the team that started against Columbus last weekend. But, after battling Toronto to a 1-1 halftime scoreline, the visitors mustered practically nothing in the second 45 minutes while conceding three goals. They were outshot 10-0 after the interval and failed to disturb the Sebastian Giovinco-inspired Reds in any phase of the game.
Rookie of the Year front-runner Cyle Larin was all but invisible after the first 10 minutes as the Lions failed to provide much in the way of service and gave the ball away far too often in midfield, much to Heath’s chagrin.
“Cyle had a couple of early opportunities, and I thought we started okay,” Heath added. “But, as I said to the players at halftime, I thought we were fortunate to still be in the game with the way that we played.
“I think that obviously Giovinco was very good. But equally, I thought we were very bad. So couple that, put that together, and it’s not a good recipe. I just don’t know what we’re going to get from this team at the moment in terms of the performance.”
Things started to go awry for Orlando after just 11 minutes when veteran centerback Aurelien Collin conceded the penalty from which the Atomic Ant struck his 14th goal of the season and, defensively, Orlando didn’t get much better - as Heath was quick to point out.
“It was a ridiculous decision [to challenge Giovinco],” the head coach fumed. “He was out on the byline. He can't score from there. Why [make the] tackle?”
Veteran goalkeeper Tally Hall - who prevented worse damage with several crucial saves - is equally puzzled by the team’s Jekyll and Hyde performances in the past three games, a 5-3 defeat at New York City, the 5-2 home win last Saturday and then the Toronto misery.
“We punished ourselves,” Hall said. “Uncharacteristic from everybody and that’s difficult. When you’re uncharacteristically poor with your quality, it’s going to be tough. But we can’t dwell on this.”
Indeed, Orlando will need to get back in the winning column again quickly, starting on Saturday at home to Philadelphia.
Mateos and Winter could be at training on Friday, but there is still no clear idea of when their paperwork will be complete. Kaká is hopeful of being fit again, as is Rafael Ramos, but the problems at Toronto were widespread, and City now have just 11 games in which to rebuild their failing season.
“As I’ve said before, all the games between now and the end of the season are crucial for us,” Heath added. “We brought every available player with us here, but that was an insipid effort and we need better players.”
Boden was the lone bright spot with his first MLS goal, but he was also at a loss to explain the lackluster performance.
“From a personal point of view, it was nice,” he said. “But I would have swapped that for a win tonight. I can’t put my finger on it, but I know we’re going to have to work hard at training on Thursday and Friday to get back on track.”
