Orlando City Falls 1-0 to AS Roma in International Friendly
In an international friendly against Serie A giants AS Roma, Orlando City SC fell 1-0 to the Italian side on Friday night at ESPN Wide World of Sports. Italian International Francesco Totti scored the deciding goal early in the first half to split the sides in a close match.
“That was a monumental effort from our players tonight,” said Head Coach Adrian Heath (pictured below) after the match. “I’ve come down on them pretty hard recently, but I’m delighted with every single one of them. I think they did outstandingly well tonight.”
Orlando started well and took the game to their illustrious opponents as Adama Mbengue twice came close to scoring. Only a well timed tackle from Roma defender Leandro Castan prevented Mbengue from scoring after receiving a cross from the ever reliable and outstanding Luke Boden. Moments later Mbengue shot over the bar after receiving the ball from right back Tyler Turner.
AS Roma started the game with some younger players mixed in with some of the more senior Serie A squad and it took them a while to find a footing in the game. It was Totti (pictured above – No. 10) who gave the game the quality it needed as he struck home a swerving volley in the 20th minute. A neat through ball from left back Dodo found the striker on the edge of the box and he unleashed an unstoppable shot to give Roma an undeserved 1-0 lead.
Orlando hit back and with five minutes to go before the break as Brian “Cobi” Span laid a neat ball through to trialist Kane Hemmings, who unleashed a fine shot that found the back of the net. Unfortunately for Orlando, Hemmings had just strayed into an offside position and the referee correctly ruled the effort out.
The second half began with Roma knocking the ball around and opening up the Orlando defense on a couple of occasions with Totti going closest to adding a second goal when Darwin Ceren carelessly gave the ball away just outside his own box. Totti, clean through on goal, lifted the ball over the Lions keeper and seemed certain to score but somehow, out of nowhere, Brad Rusin appeared and knocked the ball to safety.
Fatigue was a concern for Orlando having played last on Wednesday, as well as six matches in the month of May, and Coach Heath decided to ring the changes as he made multiple changes in the 65th minute in order to give more players some game time. This seemed to do the trick and Orlando started to find some momentum again as another goal was disallowed as Hertzog was ruled offside in the 75th minute.
The game finished 1-0 to AS Roma and it seemed that both teams were satisfied with their night’s work. Previously the Lions had lost to Roma 5-0 in their 2013 meeting so this was a much improved result. Roma also seemed happy with the workout and after the match both Head Coach Rudi Garcia (pictured below) and Totti had praise for the Lions.
“I really like the way that Orlando City plays,” said Garcia. “They play very European with short passes and they try to keep everything on the ground.”
“Orlando City really surprised us tonight,” added Totti. “They have some good attacking players and I think the team has a great future.”
The Lions next match will take place in the Open Cup on Wednesday, May 28, when City faces the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Seminole Soccer Complex. Kick-off is set for 8 p.m.
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