ORLANDO, Fla. -- There were numerous issues for Orlando City SC head coach Adrian Heath to address after his team’s shock 2-1 home defeat by the NASL’s Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, with the end result that of considerable frustration.
After watching his men create chance after chance in the second half and through a dominant 30 minutes of extra time, Heath was exasperated to lose to a breakaway goal in the very last minute.
He was also upset that the winning goal by Victor "PC" Giro was allowed to stand after the visitors took a quick free kick some way from where the offense occurred, after referee Caleb Mendez had been paying close attention all night regarding the position of free kicks.
“I thought we had enough chances to have won the game comfortably,” Heath insisted. “We haven’t done that and, when it’s 1-1, you always leave yourself open and, unfortunately, we got done by a sucker punch late on.
“Incredibly, it was from a free kick that was probably 15, 20 yards away from where the initial foul was given. Considering we’d been pulled up all night for moving the ball two or three yards, it was a little bit frustrating.”
Heath was also curt in his response to a visiting team that looked to be time wasting and feigning injury on numerous occasions in the later stages as the game got increasingly chippy following a 65th-minute flashpoint.
“I don’t want to talk about Fort Lauderdale,” Heath said. “I’m not mentioning them at all.”
The major flare-up saw red cards for both City goalscorer Kevin Molino and Fort Lauderdale’s Maicon Santos, after Molino initially clashed with PC.
“We’ll have to see it again but, if Kevin’s raised his hand, he deserved to go,” Heath added. “He knows the rules. But it’s a wonder their goalkeeper didn’t go down when Kevin clashed with the midfield player. But that’s another thing.”
City outshot the Strikers 24-7, including 9-4 in chances on frame, with 20 of those coming following a lukewarm first 45 minutes. The visitors scored with their only shot after the halftime break.
“At halftime I wanted us to get further up the pitch and get into them a bit more,” Heath confirmed. "We were a bit lackluster in our approach and I thought we gave them too much space and time. In the second half, when we put them under pressure and took them out of their comfort zone a little bit, I thought there was only one team that was going to win it, and we certainly had our chances.
“Ultimately, I think we are all frustrated we haven’t progressed and I will talk about us tonight. We can play better but we have had opportunities and we should have won the game. But the other stuff I’m not going to talk about.”
The crowd of just 3,162 was Orlando’s lowest at their Camping World Stadium home since their first USL season in 2011, and it was City’s first home defeat since July 19 last year.
“One or two of our supporters are not happy tonight and that’s fair,” Heath added. “But this group has gone a year without losing at home and, over the last 21 games [stretching back to last season], we would be top of the league on points, so we’re doing okay. We will stick together and work hard and we’ll go again.”
