ORLANDO — During the first few games of Orlando City’s season, designated player and former Manchester United winger Nani was one of the team’s strongest passers.
And star striker Dom Dwyer said the best was yet to come.
Dwyer’s prediction came true Saturday night. Against the Colorado Rapids, on a stormy night in front of an announced crowd of 22,450 at Orlando City Stadium, Nani delivered on the promise that came with his signing during the offseason.
Nani netted a brace, his first two goals as a Lion, to help Orlando City (2-2-2, 8 points) secure a 4-3 victory over the Rapids (0-4-2, 2 points). It was Orlando City’s first home victory of the season.
“It’s always good to score goals for the team,” Nani said. “It’s always good to help. Obviously, it’s not the most important [thing]. We wanted to win to win for our fans. What they’ve been doing [every week] is fantastic. I never saw that in my life. I’ve been playing for many teams and when the things [are] not going well, everyone knows how the fans normally react. These fans, they are special. I wanted so badly to help the team to win.”
Nani stepped up and delivered the match-winning goal for the Lions by converting a penalty kick in the 89th minute, which came after Colorado’s Axel Sjöberg was called for a hand ball in the penalty area.
It almost looked like the Lions would let the match slip away in the second half after they went into the break up 2-1.
The match was delayed for an hour and a minute due to lightning after the end of the first half, though many of the supporters stuck around to see out the match. After a brief burst of Orlando City energy, Colorado took advantage of two defensive lapses to score goals in the 61st (Nicolás Mequida) and 71st (Cole Bassett) minutes of the match and the Lions looked lifeless.
Then second-year winger Chris Mueller stepped on the pitch.
The young fan favorite subbed on in the 80th minute with the Lions reeling after giving up the lead. About a minute later, he scored his second goal of the season to level the match at three goals apiece. Nani was involved with that goal, too. He headed the ball to forward Tesho Akindele, who managed to touch the ball toward Mueller, who put his shot between Howard’s legs.
Mueller entered the match after the crowd was growing restless and chanting “We want Mueller!”
“It means a lot,” Mueller said. “There was a lot of mixed emotions going through my head but I was just trying to focus for when, if I got my chance to go into the game, that I could just make an impact. It’s been amazing. The fans were amazing being there, holding out through two rain delays. My hat goes off to them.
“The team did outstanding to lift the energy and to come back and not put our heads down. We showed a lot of character and fought through a lot of adversity in that second half and I’m really proud of everybody.”
O’Connor said Saturday’s game was the proudest he’s been of Orlando City since he arrived during the summer of last season.
“Not just because of the way that the players have come back, but you look at the supporters, we’ve got a rain delay, you’ve got lightning, and you look around and it feels like the whole of Orlando’s in the stadium,” O’Connor said. “You know, it’s just, it’s incredible. This is a very special football club. For us to be able to go and win the game like that, we’re obviously very, very pleased.
“When you look at Chris, the easy thing for him to do to is to sulk and think, ‘Oh, well I’m not going to buy into that. I want to start the game.’ But he didn’t. You know, he was on board with what we’d spoken about and he’s impacted the game again in a really, really positive way.”
Brazilian right back Ruan was involved in both of the Orlando City’s goals in the first half.
The first came after he nutmegged Dillon Serna to get into the penalty area. He sent a cross in front of Colorado’s goal that didn’t connect that Akindele whiffed on, but the ball eventually found left back João Moutinho.
Moutinho sent in a cross for Nani, who scored his first goal as a Lion with a header from close range in the 31st minute.
The Lions grabbed their first home lead of the season two minutes later. Striker Dom Dwyer cleared a Rapids corner and Ruan led the counter-attack. He sent in a cross that was deflected and fell to star striker Dom Dwyer, who fired a shot that was saved by Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard.
The rebound fell to Akindele, who made up for his earlier miss by scoring his second goal of the season. Akindele was playing in his first match since leaving the Lions’ match against the Chicago Fire on March 9 with a hamstring injury.
The match started a lot like Orlando City’s three previous home matches.
Orlando City trailed early after giving up a head-scratching goal. Neither side asserted much dominance in the early going, but the Rapids grabbed the lead after striker Kei Kamara put away a ball from left back Dillon Serna.
The ball deflected off Orlando City centerback Robin Jansson before falling to Kamara. It looked like both Janasson and fellow centerback Lamine Sané were in position to make a play on the ball, but Sané couldn’t head the ball away and Jansson didn’t jump.
It was the fourth time in four home matches Orlando City trailed in the first half.
Orlando City came alive after an injury to Carlos Ascues – who was playing centerback to start Saturday’s match – forced a change in shape. Ascues went down holding the back of his left leg and was subbed off for holding midfielder Uri Rosell.
The Lions went to a four-man back line and better controlled the remainder of the first half.
Orlando City fans who stayed despite the lightning delay, steady rain and mistakes on the pitch eventually were rewarded with a dramatic victory.