ORLANDO, Fla. -- Corey Ashe is ready for a fresh start with Orlando City SC after being unveiled at Wednesday night’s friendly with West Bromwich Albion as the team’s new left back, just in time to boost the threadbare backline for Saturday’s home clash with New York Red Bulls.
The 29-year-old ex-Houston Dynamo defender is likely to be plugged straight into the lineup against the Red Bulls (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE) with Luke Boden suspended and Brek Shea still out injured, and he insisted he is anxious to make up for lost time.
The two-time MLS All-Star has not started a league game since September 6, 2014, after getting stuck behind veteran DaMarcus Beasley in the Houston pecking order. His only 2015 appearances to date have been in the US Open Cup.
“It is always great to get a fresh start,” Ashe insisted, prior to the Lions’ 3-1 win over the Premier League team. “I am glad to be here and looking forward to contributing and making this organization proud.
“For someone like myself, who is very competitive, it has been difficult for me in the past year or so, but everyone says this is a great organization and I’m just looking for an opportunity to play.”
Unfortunately, Ashe arrived just in time to see another Orlando player go down with what looked like a serious knee injury.
Having lost influential midfielder Kevin Molino to an ACL tear in a May friendly with Brazilian side Ponte Preta, Adrian Heath fielded as many of his young guns as possible against Albion with the fervent hope he could get through without any more problems.
But that hope lasted just 26 minutes, and it was the head coach’s 19-year-old son Harrison Heath who was the latest victim, twisting awkwardly on the Citrus Bowl turf and collapsing as his right kneecap appeared to give way.
The friendly did produce some stunning Orlando goals after Albion had taken a 14th-minute lead through Callum McManaman, and it was the Lions’ three Designated Players who all, uniquely, got on the scoresheet.
First, skipper Kaká—back after his one-game ban—crowned a 45-minute performance with a dazzling strike in first-half stoppage time, running fully 45 yards at a back-peddling defense and firing an unstoppable low shot inside the far post from the right side of the penalty area.
Then Carlos Rivas got in on the action four minutes after the break, flighting a delicious 30-yard free-kick perfectly into the top left corner of Boaz Myhill’s goal, while Bryan Rochez finished things off in style in the 86th minute.
Brazilian Pedro Ribeiro, subbing for his big-name compatriot at halftime, controlled the ball beautifully on the turn and laid off a perfectly-weighted pass outside him to the Honduran, who drove into the box and fired a fierce low drive beyond Myhill and into the far side netting.
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For Rochez, who has spent much of the last seven weeks out of the country trying to resolve visa issues from the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand, it was a welcome return to action.
“It felt very good to be back,” he said via an interpreter. “It was good to get some good work in and play 90 minutes and certainly to get a goal was a real bonus for me. After being away for so long, I was just looking to contribute as quickly as possible.”
Coach Heath was hopeful the injury to his son was not as serious as it first looked, but admitted it will take a full medical evaluation on Thursday to establish how long he might be out.
“We are quite hopeful he is going to be okay,” he insisted. “Harrison’s patella seemed to pop out and then pop back in again and, although he is in a lot of pain and on crutches in the locker room, he is a tough lad and I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
Heath was also delighted with his younger players, all of whom contributed on the night against a highly experienced team, including five players under 21 in the second half, in front of a crowd of 15,172.
“I thought it was an excellent evening from the game point of view,” he added. “We got a lot out of it and quite a few players got some very valuable minutes. We now go into the weekend with a bit of form and confidence under our belts.”
