9-Man Lions Drop Points at the Death in 2-2 Draw at Austin

You possibly can’t actually make up what occurred to Orlando Metropolis within the second half whereas up 2-0 at Austin FC. However you don’t need to make it up as a result of we’ve all seen this film earlier than.

The Lions (6-4-3, 21 factors) went down two males within the second half, permitting Austin FC (7-3-3, 24 factors) to rally again for a 2-2 draw at Q2 Stadium in Austin, TX, within the first-ever assembly between the 2 groups. Referee Joe Dickerson made certain he was the star of the present by sending off Rodrigo Schlegel for a second yellow card for handball inside seconds — with the second within the field and extremely suspect. He despatched off Cesar Araujo minutes later for a warranted harmful play because the Orlando midfielder foolishly kicked out after being stepped on by Alex Ring.

Lastly, Dickerson awarded a nook kick that definitely gave the impression to be a objective kick deep in stoppage time, from which the hosts tied the sport. In truth, it was the participant — Moussa Djitte — who appeared to the touch the ball final earlier than it went out who then scored the tying objective.

All of that apart, it was Orlando Metropolis’s personal fault for not placing the sport away by halftime with the unbelievable possibilities the Lions wasted.

“Properly, first simply permit me to acknowledge the trouble of the gamers right now, attempting to beat all these issues that occurred, particularly on the finish and within the second half, with many unfair issues occurred,” Orlando Metropolis Head Coach Oscar Pareja stated after the match. “However I suppose we’ve obtained to take it. We performed an excellent recreation till all these issues got here within the second half.”

Pareja’s beginning lineup provided no surprises. Pedro Gallese took his spot in objective behind a again line of Joao Moutinho, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Ruan. Cesar Araujo performed within the central midfield with Andres Perea — beginning his third consecutive recreation in all competitions. Junior Urso functioned as a winger on an attacking midfield line with Mauricio Pereyra and Facundo Torres, with Ercan Kara up prime.

The Lions jumped on prime within the second minute. Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver tried taking part in out of the again however despatched his cross proper to Urso. The Bear despatched the ball to Kara in entrance and the Austrian redirected it simply inside the suitable publish to make it 1-0. It was Kara’s third objective of the MLS season — fourth in all competitions — and the fourth-fastest objective from the beginning of a match in membership historical past.

“We needed to press them proper from the primary minute and we did it superb,” Kara stated. “And the goalkeeper (made) a mistake and Urso (noticed) me superb, and performed me the ball, and the remainder was a straightforward end.”

The primary two alternatives for Austin got here off of turnovers by Araujo within the midfield. The primary didn’t end in a clear-cut probability however within the ninth minute, the miscue led to a shot by Maxi Urruti that smashed off the left publish. The rebound was cleared behind for an Austin nook with Diego Fagundez lurking.

Following a very good spell by Austin, the Lions doubled the lead. Moutinho despatched the ball down the left for Torres. The Younger Designated Participant obtained to the top line and crossed again into the world for Kara. The ball was deflected by defender Kipp Keller and fell to Pereyra, who fired instantly. Stuver made a very good save to disclaim the captain however the ball fell to Ruan lurking close to the again publish and the suitable again slotted residence to make it 2-0 within the twenty second minute.

The Lions have been wasteful for the remainder of the primary half. That began within the twenty sixth minute after Kara stole the ball within the attacking third. He fed Urso on his proper and the Bear fired a shot proper at Stuver, who made the snug save.

The hosts got here into the match after that missed alternative, holding way more possession for the remainder of the half. Middle again Julio Cascante fired a long-range shot that deflected effectively over the web. On the following nook kick, a cross discovered Cascante on the again publish. The defender headed the ball down and it bounced over the bar. The play might have been offside however the flag stayed down, so no overview was obligatory.

Proper again Nick Lima lower contained in the wing a couple of minutes later and fired a tight-angle shot that Gallese did effectively to save lots of within the thirty fifth minute. Three minutes later, Moutinho turned the ball over in his personal half and Urruti fired simply large. Gallese was shaken up on the play however continued after receiving therapy from the coaching employees.

Orlando had some possibilities to place the sport in a chokehold down the stretch. Kara let a shot fly from outdoors the world within the forty third minute however Stuver obtained over and made the save. In stoppage time, the Lions had three extra glorious scoring possibilities and will have scored. The primary got here on a transition alternative with Torres and Ruan going 2-v-1. Torres was positioned centrally however selected to ship a cross to Ruan on his left. Ruan not solely failed to carry his run and keep onside, however he additionally missed the large open web. Moments later, Torres had an opportunity to redeem himself on the prime of the world however turned down a shot once more to put off for Kara who was closed down from behind and by no means obtained a shot away.

Within the dying seconds, Moutinho crossed after a throw-in within the attacking third that discovered Urso. The Bear headed on body and Stuver made an enormous save. The rebound fell for Urso who then missed all the pieces from only a couple ft from the objective line.

The Lions went to the locker room up 2-0 however Austin was nonetheless within the recreation due to the missed possibilities.

“I assumed right now was a recreation that we might simply rating two or three targets extra till all this mess occurred,” Pareja stated.

Austin had an enormous benefit in first-half possession (66.2%-33.8%), corners (4-1), and passing accuracy (90.4%-75%). However the hosts fired just one extra shot (8-7) within the opening interval and Orlando obtained extra of its possibilities on the right track (6-2).

The Lions once more had an opportunity to place the sport away within the 53rd minute. Kara laid off for Perea on the prime of the world however the midfielder fired his shot large of Stuver’s objective. 4 minutes later, the Lions created one other probability. Pereyra floated in a ball for Kara, who headed down for Urso. The Bear fired his shot instantly however left it too near the center. Nonetheless, Stuver needed to make an impressive response save within the 57th minute to maintain the rating at 2-0.

Moments later, the complete complexion of the sport modified.

Schlegel was booked for a handball simply outdoors the world within the 58th minute. The defender’s arm was out from his physique and he was attempting to vary course, leaning to dam the shot. Though Schlegel was pulling his arm towards his physique, and virtually obtained it there, the ball hit it and the Lions couldn’t complain an excessive amount of in regards to the free kick. Nevertheless, on the free kick, the supply by Sebastian Driussi hit Schlegel, who was a part of the wall. This time, his arm didn’t look like in an unnatural place and he in all probability knew nothing in any respect about it. In truth, the shot might have been going large.

However, Dickerson confirmed Schlegel a second yellow and pointed to the spot. He additionally booked Orlando’s captain, Pereyra — who suffered 4 play-breaking fouls within the match, together with one in transition, with out drawing a yellow card — for dissent. The dialog with Video Assistant Referee Rosendo Mendoza didn’t take very lengthy and Dickerson by no means went to the monitor himself to have a look.

Driussi took the spot kick proper down the center. Gallese dove to his left however dangled a leg and obtained a bit of the shot. Nevertheless, the ball deflected into the roof of the web to drag Austin again to inside 2-1 within the 63rd minute.

Up a person and now down just one objective, Austin pressed like loopy for the equalizer, profitable a few fast corners. On the second of these, Araujo blocked a cross by Ring, who regarded to have clipped the younger Uruguayan, who lashed out along with his boot in retaliation. There wasn’t a lot contact in it however Ring went down and rolled round. A dialog ensued between Dickerson and Mendoza and this time Dickerson determined to take a look at the play on the monitor himself. He decided it was a harmful play by Araujo and despatched off the midfielder, placing Orlando Metropolis all the way down to 9 males with nonetheless 21 minutes remaining in regular time.

And, as I stated earlier, we’ve seen this film earlier than. Regardless of altering gamers, coaches, and even house owners, this retains occurring.

Pareja despatched on Tesho Akindele, Kyle Smith, and Jake Mulraney to supply some power because the shorthanded Lions tried to see out the match. He withdrew Kara, Pereyra, and Torres.

Mulraney practically made his presence felt instantly, pressuring the ball excessive and poking it towards objective, however the shot rolled large within the 73rd minute.

Two minutes later, Austin Head Coach Josh Wolff despatched Djitte for Daniel Pereira, as he not had want of a holding midfielder, chasing the sport whereas up two males.

Orlando caught a break when Driussi despatched a free header over the bar within the 77th minute, however the Lions’ stayed compact with their 9 males and invited crosses reasonably than giving Austin area to get inside.

Austin tried to get a 3rd Lion despatched off when Fagundez tried to rush Gallese, choosing the ball up and strolling towards Orlando’s goalkeeper. Jansson stepped between the 2 gamers and Fagundez lowered his shoulder and initiated contact. Jansson definitely didn’t get out of his approach and lowered his personal shoulder on the final second. Fagundez crumpled to the bottom to promote a name and did handle to get Dickerson to e-book Jansson within the 82nd minute.

A minute later, the ball ended up on Fagundez’s foot behind the protection. He beat Gallese with a far-post shot however the ball caromed off of the woodwork and Orlando recovered.

Gallese purchased his group some relaxation with a prolonged delay because the trainers got here out to take a look at him for the second time within the match. However Austin went proper again on the assault after that.

A cross in discovered Djitte unmarked, after the ahead had gotten in entrance of Smith, however his header went over the bar within the 89th minute. A minute after that, Ring had a go from the highest of the field and Gallese made a sensational one-armed save to protect the lead — for the second anyway.

The fourth official signaled seven minutes of harm time, and Pareja tried to waste a few of that with a few substitutions, sending Sebas Mendez and Michael Halliday on in separate switches for Urso and Ruan.

Dickerson made his closing vital mistake within the fifth minute of stoppage time. A ball into the world was headed off of Djitte’s shoulder and out for an obvious objective kick — however not obvious to Dickerson, who signaled for a nook.

Orlando gamers have been incensed and argued vehemently to no avail. Austin performed the nook brief and despatched a back-post cross in that Djitte obtained a contact on and knocked into the web to stage the sport at 2-2 within the ninety fifth minute.

“It’s irritating, very irritating, the administration of that. These performs,” Pareja stated of the officiating. “When it damage us probably the most is once they scored a objective, it was it was a nook that was known as that…no approach. It was our ball and so they known as a nook and that’s what frustrates us probably the most. It’s unbelievable the nook that they gave up. It’s unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unacceptable for me.”

Orlando regarded to have one thing going moments later. Akindele went straight up and headed an aerial ball, then appeared to have an opportunity to get in alone on objective when the defender fell. Dickerson, nonetheless, noticed some form of infraction on Akindele and gave Austin the ball again.

The 97th minute got here and went, then the 98th, and the 99th, earlier than Dickerson lastly blew the full-time whistle. Orlando Metropolis was in all probability lucky to get any form of end result, given the circumstances, however the Lions might have, and will have, come residence with three factors.

Austin completed with far more possession (71.4%-28.6%), pictures (22-12), corners (10-2), and passing accuracy (90.4%-73.1%). Orlando had extra pictures on the right track (7-5).

“It was a troublesome recreation, however I feel we performed very effectively,” Kara stated. “And we did good within the first half and in addition to start with of the second half, however the crimson playing cards put us from our approach, and it was laborious choices from the referee, however but we nonetheless preserve preventing. It’s a degree away and we’re trying ahead.”

The Lions could have a fast turnaround with a Wednesday evening residence U.S. Open Cup match-up in opposition to Inter Miami CF. Schlegel and Araujo will miss Saturday’s match in opposition to FC Dallas.