New York City FC (NYCFC) stunned Exploria Stadium into silence within four minutes as the Boys in Blue scored two late goals in a shock 2-1 win against Orlando City on Wednesday evening.
The smash-and-grab win was NYCFC’s second road win of the season in 22 matches, a streak that extended 82 days and 13 matches.
Orlando went 1-0 up through Robin Jansson in the 36th minute off a corner, and it took until the 87th minute for City to find a fortunate equalizer.
Half-time substitute Julián Fernández floated in a corner that connected with Andrés Perea. Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese did well against his former teammate’s header, getting low and to his right to scoop out the ball on the line.
However, his defenders couldn’t match his reactions — Rodrigo Schlegel slammed the ball into an onrushing Kyle Smith, deflecting the ball into the net.
The Boys in Blue scored a clinical counterattack to complete the comeback one minute into injury time. Eduard Atuesta attempted to cross the ball into the box after a corner taken short, but Fernández managed to intercept with his chest and start a flood of six Sky Blue shirts rushing up the field.
Fernández found Alonso Martinez with a well-timed pass to make the attack a two-versus-one with Seymour Garfield-Reid. Martinez slowed his run and slid the ball between Gallese’s legs to complete the comeback.
Alexander Freeman had a chance to tie it up right after kick-off, but Mat Freese made a solid save at his near post to ensure NYCFC got an important three points.
The win allowed City to shake off a flat performance that offered little going forward. Despite a 52% share of the ball, Gallese was not forced into action until the 53rd minute. New York was outworked in the first 45 minutes as well, as the Lions created a few dangerous chances — Luis Muriel had a one-on-one shot palmed away by Freese, and Marco Pašalić danced past Aidan O’Neill to see his shot just miss the right post by inches.
The momentum finally caved in the 35th minute for the Boys in Blue. Martín Ojeda found David Brekalo at the back post, and the Slovenian nodded the ball forward to his captain, Jansson. Jansson chested the ball and swung his left boot to knock the ball past Freese.
It was a case of another slow-reacting defensive line for NYCFC. In their 2-0 loss to Charlotte on Saturday, Thiago Martins was slow to step up against Wilfried Zaha and Pep Biel, who combined for Idan Toklomati’s opener.
As the rest of the blue shirts were stepping up after the corner was played in, O’Neill was caught tracking back towards his goal to mark Césat Araújo with Kevin O’Toole. However, as the ball flies over O’Toole’s head, he pivots and starts moving up the pitch. O’Neill is caught ball-watching as Justin Haak and Perea push up the defensive line, and plays Jansson onside as the header from Brekalo comes in.
Maxi Moralez almost gifted Orlando a second right after half-time, as his failed clearance fell right into Ojeda’s feet, but his effort was just wide of the post.
At the other end of the pitch, Martinez hit the post from six yards out with only Gallese to beat on 62 minutes.
Head coach Pascal Jansen turned to youngsters Garfield-Reid and Shore, who are 17 and 18 years old, respectively, for his last substitutions while 1-0 down and with five minutes left in normal time to play.
Garfield-Reid played an important part in the second goal, providing the extra man and the extra doubt for Orlando. He almost scored his own in stoppage time, but his shot was off-target.
NYCFC faces two more away matches, playing Kansas City this Saturday and Dallas next Friday, while sitting in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, one point behind Orlando.
