Zakaria Taifi defends well versus Mateusz Bogusz from Houston Dynamo. (Photo/Mario Casamalhuapa)
Héctor Herrera needed one moment. Orlando City SC needed just one goal. Only one team got what it came for Saturday night at Inter&Co Stadium.
Herrera's 75th-minute left-footed finish off a quick counter-attack gave Houston Dynamo FC a 1-0 victory, dropping the Lions to 1-1-5 on the MLS season. It was a result that felt both avoidable and, given the current state of this club, entirely on brand.
That's the story right now — a team that does enough to stay in games but not enough to win them.
Interim head coach Martín Perelman played five players age 21 or younger — Zakaria Taifi, Justin Ellis, Tiago, Harvey Sarajian and Iago Teodoro — and the bench carried more teenagers than tested MLS veterans. The youth wasn't the problem. The predictability was.
With Wilder Cartagena, Joran Gerbet and Duncan McGuire all out injured, and David Brekalo and Griffin Dorsey listed as questionable and not available Saturday, Perelman leaned on what he had. The result was a recognizable pattern: Iván Angulo burning down the left flank, serving crosses into the box for Martín Ojeda or Braian Ojeda to attack.
Houston read it. Adjusted. And waited for their chance. Herrera's goal, when it came in the 75th minute, was everything Orlando's attack was not: direct, decisive and clinical. He gathered in the center of the box and stroked home his first of the season. That was that.
To their credit, Angulo and Martín Ojeda were among those who looked capable of breaking the deadlock. Angulo was a consistent threat down the left side and provided the service that created the best of Orlando's late chances. Ojeda, as he often does, found pockets and created opportunities that a sharper side might have finished. But without a full complement of veterans to vary the attack and change the tempo, the Lions became a one-dimensional threat — and a disciplined Houston backline is not the opponent to expose that against.
The first half had its moments. Tiago hit the right post in the 44th minute, the closest either side came to scoring before the break. Eduard Atuesta and Houston's Felipe Andrade both picked up yellow cards in a physical opening 45. Houston made an unusual halftime switch in goal, bringing on Jimmy Maurer for Jonathan Bond — and it was Maurer who stood tall when it mattered, making three saves in the second half including a sharp stop on Justin Ellis in the 81st minute.
The Lions pushed late — Braian Ojeda picked up a yellow card in stoppage time pressing for an equalizer — but the final shots-on-goal tally told the honest story: Orlando 3, Houston 5.
What's coming is significant — Antoine Griezmann arrives from Atlético de Madrid in July as a Designated Player, and the hope is this group is ready to hit the ground running alongside him rather than still searching for its footing. But that's July. This is now.
And now means Charlotte FC on Wednesday night at Inter&Co Stadium, followed by a road trip to Audi Field to face D.C. United on April 25, a U.S. Open Cup assignment at New England on April 29 and an MLS visit to NU Stadium — Inter Miami's new home — on May 2.
Games are coming fast. The Lions have the schedule, the youth and the blueprint. What they need are results.
