Orlando City wins 4th straight game beating San Jose 3-2
Orlando City turned in their best performance of the season as they beat San Jose Earthquakes 3-2 at Orlando City Stadium on Saturday night.
Goals from Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan and Dom Dwyer’s 100th professional goal sealed the win against a poor Quakes side in a game the Lions really should have won by a more emphatic scoreline.
Orlando made a terrific start to the game as Mueller charged down the right hand side before slotting home past San Jose keeper Andrew Tarbell in the second minute.
The Lions then added to their lead in 35th minute when Kljestan poked home after a delightful move that saw Dwyer superbly control a difficult high ball on the right hand side by the half line. The forward laid off a neat ball to Yoshimar Yotún who played a 30 yard cross field pass into the path of Mueller who was unmarked and he waltzed into the penalty area before unselfishly crossing the ball to Kljestan to make it 2-0.
Orlando should have made it 3-0 in the 43rd minute when they again broke free of the San Jose defence but Yotún chose to play the wrong ball behind Dwyer and Stéfano Pinho and the chance went begging. Yotún then found himself clean through on goal seconds later but seemed to lack confidence in himself and tried to cut back across the defence only to allow François Affolter to nip the ball away from him.
Dwyer then hit his landmark 100th professional goal in the 69th minute as Justin Meram, who had come on for Pinho in the 60th minute, released the 27 year old English born striker and he rounded Tarbell to stroke the ball home and give Orlando a 3-0 lead.
The home side looked totally in control and if anyone looked like they were going to score it was Orlando but typically they then let their opponents back into the game as Earthquakes captain Chris Wondolowski flicked on a right wing corner and Florian Jungwirth tapped home from close range.
The game should have been sealed for the Lions in the 86th minute when Meram saw his penalty kick comfortably saved by Tarbell after Dwyer had been brought down. San Jose then put the jitters into the boisterous home crowd when they scored from another Magnus Eriksson right wing corner as Jungwirth nodded home for his second goal of the evening in the 90th minute.
This left a nervous period of added time for Orlando to negotiate and finally the final whistle blew to give the Lions their fourth consecutive MLS win. It was a win they fully deserved even though they made it far more difficult than it needed to be and it moves them into 3rd place in the Eastern Conference with 13 points after seven games.
Orlando’s next game is on 29th April against Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, kick off at 4pm EST.
Attendance: 25,527
Lineups/Substitutions:
Orlando City SC – GK Joe Bendik, D Mohamed El-Munir, Amro Tarek, Lamine Sané, Will Johnson, M Yoshimar Yotún, Cristian Higuita (Uri Rosell 84’), Stéfano Pinho (Justin Meram 60’), ⓒ Sacha Kljestan, Chris Mueller (Josué Colmán 78’), F Dom Dwyer
Substitutes Not Used: GK Earl Edwards, Jr., D Donny Toia, RJ Allen, M Dillon Powers
San Jose Earthquakes – GK Andrew Tarbell, D Shea Salinas (Jackson Yueill 68’), Francois Affolter, Yefferson Quintana, Nick Lima, M Jahmir Hyka (Valeri Qazaishvili 68’), Florian Jungwirth, Anibal Godoy, Magnus Eriksson, F Danny Hoesen (Quincy Amarikwa 82’), Chris Wondolowski
Substitutes Not Used: GK Matt Bersano, D Jimmy Ockford, M Fatai Alashe, Christopher Wehan
