Orlando’s inability to finish inside the box was their downfall on Friday when they lost to Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 at home.
“We outplayed them for large amounts of the game; we’ve had great opportunities. We just haven’t managed to take the final piece, which is the most important piece. We get into great areas, create opportunities. It’s just incredibly frustrating, and the players don’t deserve that,” said O’Connor.
The game started with a lot of energy and aggression, and in the 19th minute, Galaxy scored when right-back Rolf Feltscher was at the right side of the pitch, and he sent a cross inside the box which was cleared by Orlando’s defender Robin Jansson. But the ball rolled exactly to Galaxy’s midfielder Jonathan dos Santos, who sent it to the back of the net with incredible power to make it 1-0 for LA.
After Galaxy’s goal, they took control of the majority of the first half until the last 15 minutes, when Orlando started to create more chances.
At the 31st minute, Orlando midfielder Sebas Méndez was taken down in the box by LA’s Dos Santos. Orlando had an opportunity to get back in the game when the referee called a penalty. Nani was the one that took the penalty, but just like last game he missed it, and this time he wasn’t so lucky to get a rebound off it.
Orlando City controlled the second half of the game. The Lions created chance after chance, but Galaxy’s park-the-bus strategy was too strong for Orlando to handle and they ended the game with a victory.
The Lions had 19 shots and seven on target, and LA had four shots and only one on target. Orlando also had 57.2 percent possession while LA only had 42.8 percent possession the whole game – which shows that Orlando suffered from their inability to finish.
“We wanted to win that game really bad it felt like it was really important at home to get the three points,” Chris Mueller, Orlando’s forward, said. “We threw everything we could at them. It’s really frustrating not to come away with the win, but we’ve just got to keep moving forward, right?”
Orlando’s next game will be against Montreal Impact on June 1st at 5 p.m.
