Mark Thor, courtesy Orlando City SC
Orlando City faces choices and challenges in first road game
by Chris Kimball, Orlando
There can only ever be a single inaugural game in a franchise’s history. With theirs now squarely behind them, Orlando City must try to bottle some of last Sunday’s electricity as they go on the road to face the Houston Dynamo on Friday (UniMas, 7:00 EST).
Despite dropping points at home to start their inaugural season, there was plenty to keep Orlando’s coach optimistic about the road ahead:
“I think this team’s only going to get better,” Adrian Heath said after the match. “It’s early days. 23 players to bring in and we’ve got to get everyone on the same page. So it’s a work in progress. I thought we did some really good stuff in the first half.”
Heath will be forced to make at least one adjustment to his opening day roster. Center back Aurelien Collin is unavailable due to a red card suspension. The Frenchman will likely be replaced by Republic of Ireland national team defender Sean St. Ledger. With St. Ledger and battery mate Seb Hines having only played a few minutes side-by-side during Sunday’s opener, Orlando City’s success in Houston could well hinge on the speed with which the two central defenders understand their roles on the back line.
The Lion’s defense will be thankful that Erick “Cubo” Torres won’t yet be wearing Houston orange come Friday. But the likes of Will Bruin, Giles Barnes and Boniek Garcia will bring plenty of dangerous attacking play to bear for the home squad.
Houston Dynamo opener photo gallery
Orlando’s gaffer may also be considering a change at the top of his formation. Against New York City F.C. Heath surprisingly selected Carlos Rivas as the lone striker in the Lions’ usual 4-2-3-1 setup. The Colombian speedster had scarcely played during preseason, and the time he did log was as a winger. But Heath had seen a weakness in New York’s central defense that he wanted to exploit with Rivas’ speed. Rivas troubled New York for much of the match, but also mistimed a number of runs at crucial moments.
Player Ratings: Rivas caught offside once too often
Waiting in the wings is Honduran striker Bryan Rochez, another talented, young Designated Player. Heath could move Rivas back to his more natural position to make way for Rochez, but this would send Lewis Neal, the team’s wily MLS veteran to the bench, leaving Kaká up front to shepherd an energetic but relatively inexperienced attacking group through the franchise’s first ever away match.
If nothing else, Orlando City will enter Friday’s match with some familiarity of their opponent. Adrian Heath and Houston’s first-year gaffer Owen Coyle are old “mates.” In fact, during a radio interview this week Heath implied that he may have played a small part in Coyle’s hiring in Houston.
Adding to the familiarity, these club’s met during preseason at the Carolina Challenge Cup, a match which Houston dominated after Orlando received a pair of red cards. Heath, having also seen Houston take down an excellent Columbus Crew last week, understands the challenge his team faces:
“It’s going to be a difficult game. We know it’s going to be difficult. Hopefully we can get the goal that Columbus couldn’t.”
