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Orlando City has essentially mastered the art of the comeback.
The Lions conceded first in seven of their nine games so far this season. During five of those seven games, they’ve come back to win or tie.
It might not be the best strategy for sustainable success, but it’s given Orlando City confidence heading into what promises to be a challenging match against Atlanta United on Sunday.
“I guess not very important … it hasn’t been the last few weeks,” star striker Dom Dwyer said about scoring the first goal. “Atlanta’s a good side. We’re taking it week to week. This week we’re playing Atlanta and we’re looking forward to it.”
“We have a belief that we’ll score goals. We think we’re a very good side and we shouldn’t be letting in so many goals. We’re going to fix that.”
The Five Stripes have scored first in seven of their 10 matches this season. They’re unbeaten in matches where they’ve scored first (6-0-1) and lost twice in the three matches matches where they gave up the first goal. Both of those loses were shutouts.
The first lost was a 4-0 thumping at the hands of the Houston Dynamo in the club’s season opener. Dwyer said Atlanta United is a different, and much-improved, squad when compared its first match of the season.
The second loss was on Wednesday. Atlanta United fell 2-0 to Sporting KC, though the Five Stripes played the majority of that match with 10 men after goalkeeper Brad Guzan received a red card and was sent off in the 34th minute.
Unless the card is successfully appealed, Guzan will miss United’s match against Orlando City. The match is 6 p.m. on Sunday in Orlando City Stadium and it will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.
Atlanta United’s lone comeback victory this season came against the Montreal Impact. The Impact took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute and held on until the 70th minute. Miguel Almirón got the scoring started for Atlanta United with a penalty kick in the 70th minute, and United ran away with a 4-1 victory.
“I think that we need to understand that in the game of soccer, one team will score first all the time. We want it to be ourselves, especially when we’re at home,” Orlando City coach Jason Kreis said. We want to be on the front foot. But I think we’ve proven now, in a number of games, it doesn’t matter that much.”
Kreis, who in the past has said he wants to see his club control matches, said the Lions have proven getting the first goal isn’t a requirement for victory.
“We believe in ourselves. We believe we have guys who can score goals at any given moment,” he said. “We believe we can win games from a losing position. We believe we can win games from a drawn position. We believe we can get results if we’re a man down. We’ve done all these things already.”
“As you go through a season as a coach, you kind of have a checklist of scenarios you want your team to experience. To have some success from all those scenarios, we’ve checked off quite a few of those already this season.”
Midfielder Sacha Kljestan, who has been Orlando City’s captain while Jonathan Spector has been sidelined with a concussion, said the Lions are doing the best to avoid complacency, despite winning six consecutive matches.
“I feel like I say the same thing every week,” Kljestan said. “That we don’t want to give up the first goal, then we do and then our mentality is just that we get stronger as the game goes on and we keep pushing it, we keep creating chances and we don’t get scared. We don’t play nervous and we just keep going after things and that’s a good sign.”
Kljestan added, “But yeah, you don’t want to give up the first goal.”
Statue planned for 2019 season
Orlando City on Thursday announced plans for a UCF student-designed, solar-powered art sculpture called “Gyration” that will go in front of Orlando City Stadium in time for the 2019 season. The sculpture, per club officials, will be 18 ft. high and 6 ft. wide.
According to Orlando City SC, the sculpture, after lighting effects, will produce 1,264 kWh annually, enough to offset an electric-vehicle charging station.
The sculpture was created by an 11-member team comprised of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and art students.
The design was chosen by executives from Orlando Utilities Commission and Orlando City SC.