Orlando City SC are off to the Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16, winning 3-1 Tuesday evening at Inter&Co Stadium against Canadian Premier League side Cavalry FC to clinch a 6-1 aggregate victory in their Round One series.
After a Facundo Torres brace powered a 3-0 result in Leg 1, a second-half strike from Nicolas Lodeiro put the Lions in cruise control before a Ramiro Enrique golazo and Kyle Smith insurance tally officially iced the proceedings. Luis Muriel, Orlando's new DP striker, had a 79-minute debut and assisted Lodeiro's first goal for the club.
With the win, Orlando have set up a rematch of last year's Round of 16 series against Liga MX power Tigres UANL. Now they'll host Leg 1 on March 5 before traveling to Estadio Universitario on March 12 to determine who reaches the quarterfinals.
Cavalry's first-ever CCC goal came in the 64th minute via a close-range finish from forward Myer Bevan.
Goals
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: It was a business-like effort from Oscar Pareja's group, who only needed to avoid a catastrophic meltdown after affording themselves a three-goal cushion with their first-leg dominance. Now, they're looking to settle the score in a juicy rematch with a Tigres side that eliminated them in the Round of 16 last year, but only on the away goals tiebreaker after a hard-fought series finished 1-1 on aggregate.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Enrique's 71st-minute rocket occurred with the series already decided, but still made for a spectacular highlight.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: With that aforementioned golazo in mind, we'll give the honors to Enrique for sending the Lions off to the Round of 16 in style.
Next Up
- ORL: Saturday, March 2 at Inter Miami CF | 4:30 pm ET (Apple TV - Free, FOX)
