Courtesy of Orlando City
Andres Perea may have opened the scoring for the Lions, but that wasn’t enough to overpower a Chicago Fire side which claimed a 3-1 victory over Orlando City on Wednesday night at Solider Field.
The result marks the first time this season Orlando has suffered back-to-back losses.
“Obviously sad with the result,” Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match, “It’s difficult after the loss like this, when you concece three goals, to see all the good things that the boy did during the game. We are going without excuses and obviously, as a result, with responsibility. I have to say it also that the boys fought for the game all the time and we couldn’t put the ball back of the net today.”
The Lions (6-3-3, 21 points) opened the scoring in the 34th minute, when a cross sent in from Michael Halliday was not cleared by Chicago, before Perea came in and smashed the dead ball past Bobby Shuttleworth for his first goal in an Orlando City uniform.
But the Fire managed to find the equalizing goal just before halftime, when a cross from Alvaro Medran found an unmarked Boris Sekulic, who headed the ball past Brandon Austin to tie the game at 1-1.
Medran would secure a second assist in the second half, when he threaded a ball to Robert Beric, who converted the go-ahead goal for Chicago in the 72nd minute.
The Lions would suffer a third goal in the game when a counter attack late in stoppage time saw Chinonso Offor seal the match for the Fire.
Up next…
Orlando City returns to action on July 17 against Toronto FC. The match will kickoff at 7:30 p.m. The venue of the place will be determined at a later date.
Scoring Summary
34′ – Andres Perea (ORL)
45+1′ – Boris Sekulic, assisted by Alvaro Medran (CHI)
72′ – Roberto Beric, assisted by Alvaro Medran (CHI)
90+6′ – Chinonso Offor (CHI)
How the Lions lined up
Orlando City XI: Brandon Austin; Kyle Smith, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Michael Halliday (Chris Mueller, 80′); Oriol Rosell (Mauricio Pereyra, 76′), Jr. Urso (Alexander Alvarado, 88′), Silvester van der Water (Nani, 76′), Andres Perea (Sebastian Mendez, 76′), Benji Michel; Tesho Akindele.
Substitutes: Mason Stajduhar, David Loera, Joey DeZart.
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