Justin Ellis making an assist to Antoine Griezmann for a goal. Photo by Mark Thor Orlando City SC Staff Photographer
Orlando City SC lost a two-goal lead in five minutes Wednesday night. It took Tyrese Spicer one swing of his left foot to get a point back.
The Lions and Minnesota United FC finished in a 3-3 draw at Allianz Field in a match that turned twice and settled nothing. Orlando led 2-0 through 70 minutes. It trailed 3-2 by the 75th. Spicer, a second-half substitute who had needed treatment eight minutes earlier, finished from a difficult angle on the left in the third minute of stoppage time to end it level.
The scoreline flattered Orlando from the opening whistle. Minnesota came out on top of the visitors and stayed there. Maxime Crépeau made three saves inside the first 21 minutes — twice denying Anthony Markanich, once stopping Jefferson Díaz from the right side of the box — before Orlando had produced anything of note. The Lions scored anyway. Daryl Dike put away a right-footed finish from the right side of the six-yard box in the 28th minute, and Orlando took a 1-0 lead into the break it had not earned.
The second goal was the good one. In the 64th, Justin Ellis released Antoine Griezmann on a fast break with a through ball, and Griezmann buried it low into the bottom-right corner. Two-nil, an hour gone, Orlando in front by two on a night it had been second-best throughout.
Then it came apart. Marcus Caldeira converted from very close range in the 71st off a Kelvin Yeboah assist. Three minutes later, Markanich rose to meet a Joaquín Pereyra corner and headed it into the top-right corner. In the 75th, Yeboah tucked home from close range to put Minnesota in front — and Crépeau had made another save on Kyle Duncan seconds before it. Three goals, five minutes, a two-goal lead gone and the Lions with no answer.
The best news of the night for Orlando came in the 81st minute, when Martín Ojeda checked in for Zakaria Taifi. Ojeda has been out injured, and his return gives interim head coach Martín Perelman something he hasn't had: two proven creators on the field at once. He looked sharp, forcing a save from Alec Smir in the 87th with a left-footed strike from outside the box. A Griezmann-Ojeda pairing behind this young roster is the version of Orlando City that was drawn up in the offseason.
Orlando found its equalizer soon after. Marco Pasalic had a shot blocked in stoppage time. Then Griezmann, already on the scoresheet and already booked, slid the ball to Spicer at a bad angle on the left. Spicer squeezed it inside the near post. Minnesota pushed through seven announced minutes of added time — Carlos Harvey headed over at 90+8 — and it stayed 3-3.
The full picture is uncomfortable. Minnesota outshot Orlando 18-5 and put eight on target to the Lions' five. Crépeau made six saves. Orlando had 51% of the ball and 89% passing accuracy, and none of it mattered much. The Lions were carried by their goalkeeper and rescued by one moment of quality.
The result leaves Orlando ninth in the East at 7-4-11, 25 points, minus-17 on goal difference. Fifty-four goals conceded in 22 matches is the season in one number, and a stoppage-time equalizer does nothing to it. Minnesota walks away with its own problem: a two-goal lead of its own thrown away inside 20 minutes.
Help is coming for that back line. On Aug. 27, the club announced it had acquired Brazilian left back Vinícius Nogueira on loan from PFC Ludogorets of Bulgaria's first division. Nogueira joins the roster pending receipt of his visa and clearanc , and Orlando holds an option to make the deal permanent when the loan expires. A defense that has conceded 54 goals can use the body.
Orlando returns to Inter.Co Stadium on Saturday to host San Diego FC. The Lions have Griezmann. They have Ojeda back. They have a bench that produced the goal that saved them. What they don't have is a night where none of that was necessary.
