For much of his postgame press conference following Sunday night's 2-2 draw at Austin FC, Orlando City SC head coach Oscar Pareja contained his emotions.
But as the question-and-answer session wound down, the Colombian manager’s passion boiled to the surface.
“It's unbelievable. The corner that they gave up is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable,” Pareja lamented. “ … The boys are working hard and the team doesn't need to be given anything, you know? Austin have a lot of players that can do things. That play was unbelievable.”
Pareja was referencing a corner kick awarded to Austin deep into second-half stoppage time, which eventually produced striker Moussa Djitte’s 95th-minute equalizer. It was the final defining moment of arguably the wildest game of the 2022 campaign so far, with the Lions scoring twice in the first half before getting shown two red cards across a nine-minute span in the second half.
Orlando’s quick-strike goals came from DP forward Ercan Kara and right back Ruan inside of 22 minutes, and they could have had more if not for some wayward finishing. Then it all unraveled in the 60th minute when center back Rodrigo Schlegel was shown two yellow cards in quick succession, the second (handball) awarding a penalty kick Austin midfielder Sebastian Driussi deposited.
The 10-man Lions were promptly reduced to nine men in the 69th minute, with a Video Review check determining midfielder Cesar Araujo had kicked out at ATX captain Alex Ring following a challenge. From there, the Q2 Stadium crowd bellowed with energy and Austin poured on the pressure.
Again, emotions were clear as Pareja sorted through what transpired shortly beforehand.
“It's frustrating, very frustrating – the management of those plays,” Pareja reflected. “We're going to take this point. There is disappointment at this time, and not just that, you mention the handball that has been called and the yellow card and the ejection of the player, we've got to protect the game. The game, we've got to protect it.
“Then when it hurts us the most, when they score a goal it was a corner that was called – they were in front of him and the Austin players get the ball out. It was our ball and they call a corner, and that's what's frustrating the most.”
The result puts Orlando at third place in the Eastern Conference after Week 13’s action, while Austin dropped to second in the Western Conference and Supporters’ Shield races after LAFC won at the Columbus Crew. The margins in a salary-capped league like MLS, with parity abound, are always remarkably slim.
But was it a just result for ATX, all things considered? Head coach Josh Wolff contended they should have left with all three points.
“Given how the first half started, I would say yeah,” Wolff said. “Given what it ended like with nine guys, I’d say we should win it.”
Truth be told, they’re points dropped for Austin. The emotion-filled match had strong MLS After Dark energy, and neither team will depart all too satisfied.
“Obviously the end of the game is the end of the game and I’m probably more disappointed that we didn’t somehow grab the win given that we were up two guys,” Wolff said. “It wasn’t a great start for us and we have to continue to address those things.”
