Orlando City earns an extra point on penalties in first Leagues Cup game against Houston

ORLANDO, Fla. — Friday night, much of the soccer world had their eyes glued to Messi’s debut in Ft. Lauderdale, while the Lions were home in Orlando, eyeing their run at the Leagues Cup title against Houston Dynamo FC.

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Oscar Pareja kept a majority of his lineup from the past two matches.

The only change this week, Captian Mauricio Pereyra was out of the lineup and replaced by Martín Ojeda.

Orlando City dominated a majority of the possession for the night, but Houston Dynamo FC would get on the board first.

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In stoppage time of the first half, Rafael Santos was called for a foul against the Dynamo’s Griffin Dorsey just inside the corner of the penalty box.

After a few minutes of City of players asking the ref to review and two yellow cards to Lion’s Pedro Gallese and Robin Jansson, the Dynamo’s Amine Bassi stepped up, sent Gallese to the left, while he slotted the ball in the top-right side of the goal, Houston up 1-0 at the half.

But it would only take the Lions rookie Duncan McGuire one minute after the break to tie it up.

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McGuire capitalized on a bad pass from Houston’s goalkeeper, Andrew Tarbell, as the Dynamo tried to play out of the back.

McGuire intercepted Tarball’s pass at the top of the box and was able to dribble to his right and around Tarbell to score his ninth goal of the year in all matches for the Lions and tie the game at 1-1.

Despite Houston making some international subs in Mexico’s Hector Herrera and Panama’s Adalberto Carrasquilla, the Dynamo could not break down the Lions’ defense.

The Lions also brought in some fresh legs and striking power in the second half, with forwards Ercan Kara and Ramiro Enrique entering in the 63-minute, but were unable to get another goal to seal the win.

When the final whistle blew, many fans started to leave the stadium until the stadium announcer informed the crowd the game would move into penalties, one of the differences in Leagues Cup play from other regular season matches.

The team that wins the shootout earns an extra point in the Leagues Cup standings.

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So off we went, and there was no running of the wall this time, as PKs would happen on the supporters’ end of Exploria Stadium.

Oscar Pareja opted to go with three defenders in his top five for penalties, with Robin Jansson, Rafael Santos, and Antonio Carlos getting the call.

Houston would shoot first and the Dynamo’s Hector Herrera would be the first to challenge Gallese.

Herrera would try to beat Gallese to his right, but El Pulpo would extend and dive to his right to push Herrera’s shot wide.

Orlando City’s Ercan Kara would be the Lion’s first penalty taker and beat Houston’s Tarbell to the top left corner.

Houston’s next four players would make their penalties along with the Lions and designated player Facundo Torres converted the Lions’ final attempt to secure the extra point in Leagues Cup play.

Orlando City will return to Exploria Stadium on Saturday, July 29, for their second Leagues Cup game against Liga MX Santos Laguna.

Next Games

When: Saturday, July 29 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Exploria Stadium

Watch: AppleTV+

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