Final Score: Orlando 1 (Torres 56′; PK), Red Bull 0
The start of a new season is supposed to bring joy, but after 90 minutes in Orlando, everyone around Red Bull soccer is frustrated and annoyed. The final score from Exploria Stadium was Orlando City one, Red Bull’s nil.
For the season opener, Red Bull manager Gerhard Struber picked the right team, had the perfect game plan, and Red Bull created a plethora of chances while dominating most of the run of play because of that game plan. But just like seasons past, they couldn’t find the back of the net.
Without their scoring boots, Red Bull is headed back to New Jersey empty-handed after being punished by a “questionable” penalty that ultimately gave Orlando the victory and the home fans something to celebrate.
“We came into a tough place to play. We wanted to win the first game of the season, but the ball didn’t land on our side tonight”, said Lewis Morgan of Red Bull’s performance in the season opener.
Red Bull in the first 15’ of the game was VERY active with their pressing and when they had the ball in the attacking third. A player that stood out early, good and bad, was Andres Reyes.
Stepping in for the now departed Aaron Long wasn’t going to be easy, but early in the game, Reyes stamped his authority on the game and looks to be the exact partner that captain Sean Nealis needs going forward if the Colombian can stay healthy.
Newly placed right-back Cameron Harper, who slotted in at the position for an injured Kyle Duncan, also looked promising.
Offensively, he took on his defender multiple times, even creating a partial chance off the dribble before the ball was poked away from his feet inside the Orlando box.
Defensively you can see that Harper has work to do to become as steady as JMi is at LB, but Harper did what he had to do and didn’t look out of place.
Gerhard Struber was all praise for young Cameron Harper post-match.
“Cameron Harper did a great job today. From the fullback position involved in the attacking area and I was very happy with him today”
With that change to the XI, here’s how Gerhard Struber had Red Bull lining up against Orlando.
Pretty much what everyone expected with the 4-2-2-2 formation, but it was surprising to see Struber go with Harper over Dylan Nealis, even with Harper performing well in preseason.
Elsewhere, Struber kept everything the same from their time out in Coachella.
From the strike partnership of Tom Barlow & Elias Manoel to the midfield of Lewis Morgan, Luquinhas, Cristian Casseres Jr., and Frankie Amaya staying intact, Red Bull hoped the chemistry they built in preseason would translate into the regular season.
Red Bull started to find their groove in the 19’, getting their first shot on target as Casseres Jr., who played in his 100th MLS game Saturday night, picked out a pass to Morgan wide open on the left side, but the Scot fired it straight at Pedro Gallese, stinging to Orlando Gk’s hands. Easy save in the end.
But Red Bull would get a second chance just moments later. Manoel found himself behind the Orlando defense. With a defender on his back, Manoel just about rushed his shot, poking the ball wide of the net and squandering what was Red Bull’s best chance of the first half.
Orlando grew into the game a bit after the early Red Bull pressure. Going forward Orlando was able to get a few decent looks in the Red Bull box, but it was never anything threatening to Carlos Coronel in goal.
It didn’t help that Orlando’s two superstars Facundo Torres and Martin Ojeda were not able to get into any dangerous spots to make Red Bull nervous and were for the most part shut down.
Red Bull’s pressing was successfully stifling Orlando’s ability to transfer the ball from defense to the offense as they were trying to build out the back, leading to multiple counterattacks for Lewis Morgan and co.
Going into the half there were some major positives for Red Bull.
They had been the better side, outshooting Orlando seven to one while creating multiple high-quality chances. Even without the opening goal, it seemed like Red Bull was doing everything right. All in all, it was a solid start to the 2023 season for Red Bull.
The start of the second half was more of the same for Red Bull as they were able to create two solid chances in the first seven minutes of the restart.
The first came from another forced turnover, and with a 4-on-3 in the Orlando box, magically nobody from Red Bull got a shot on target. Frankie Amaya brought the ball into the area but started stumbling before laying the ball off to Luquinhas, who had his shot blocked.
Just a couple of minutes later in the 52’, Elias Manoel was able to run straight towards the box on the left wing before finding Lewis Morgan wide open at the top of the box. But yet again a Red Bull player wasn’t able to test Pedro Gallese, as the shot went wide of the left post.
“We created more than Orlando tonight – take nothing away from them, they won the game, they’re the happier of the two sides – but we’re going to start scoring these chances. I’m happy to see that we’re creating them”, said Lewis Morgan on Red Bull’s missed chances.
Everything would fall downhill after that. In the 55’, Cesar Arujo headed a ball off a corner into the body of Sean Nealis and the referee Guido Gonzalez pointed to the spot.
In an age where there are video assistant referees and where everything is looked at from multiple angles and different camera angles, was there a reason why this wasn’t checked?
If you look at the replay, down below, you will see that the ball CLEARLY hits Nealis in the chest first before hitting his arm. According to FIFA rules should never be called a penalty.
In the end, the penalty call stood, and Orlando City star winger Facundo Torres buried it, which was Orlando’s first and only shot on target in the game.
“My understanding is, when the ball goes on the chest after that on the hand, the rule is very clear, no penalty. I think we lose this game with the wrong decision.”, said Struber post-match.
From there on it would take until the 85’ for Red Bull to come close to an equalizer. Corey Burke tried to find Tom Barlow in the box, but the pass was blocked before it even got to the striker.
Fortunately for Red Bull, the ball would fall graciously to Cristian Casseres Jr who was 1-v-1 with Gallese.
With all his power behind the shot, Casseres let a rocket go from his right foot. But today would not be Red Bull’s day to score as Gallese would stand tall once again, this time making the save with his shoulder.
After eight minutes of stoppage time, referee Guido Gonzalez blew his whistle for full time, marking a 1-0 defeat for Red Bull. A frustrating way to start the 2023 season.
Looking back on the game, Gerhard Struber was pleased with the performance of his players.
“Yeah, I think when we look back in this game, I think everything that we are going in the direction we want. We controlled against the ball, I will say the whole game, and we limited them to a few chances, many from corner kicks or free kicks, but I think from the open game they have nothing. This was of course, our big plan that we let high quality players not to come in a game I think we crushed it“.
Struber was right in his assessment of the game. When you look at the stats from the game, Red Bull did an excellent job at limiting what Orlando did in the final third, allowing just four shots with the only one on target being that penalty.
Lewis Morgan also echoed his coach’s post-game.
“Obviously, what we came here expecting wasn’t that result. Games at this level are won by fine margins, especially at this stage of the season when maybe we’re not clicking 100% in front of the goal. We’ve got 33 more chances to put things right. We’re in a good spot and I feel there are positives to take from it, but obviously, we wanted to win.”
It will be a quiet trip back to Newark airport, but Red Bull has some big positives to take away from this game. They took the game to a very good Orlando side, and if it were for better finishing they would have walked away with the three points.
Looking forward to next week Gerhard Struber said that they need the fans at Red Bull Arena next Saturday to help the team secure the victory.
“Now we are looking forward. We have a home opener against Nashville next weekend. And I’m very happy with many things today and I hope also for a great atmosphere in our stadium. I think we need our fans, we need the right push in the back, so we can in the end win our first game at home. My boys today were going in a very good direction, but in the end, you need also a little bit of luck and today we missed it.”
Reigning MVP Hany Mukhtar and Nashville SC come to town next week. Nashville is riding high after dominating New York City FC 2-0 in their home opener, as they kicked off the new Apple TV era of MLS in the first game of the season for the league.
Red Bull will have a chance to right the ship with a win in the home opener and maybe the debut of one Dante Vanzeir can help fix Red Bull’s finishing woes. See you at RBA!
Final Match Stats:
- Final Score: RBNY 0, ORL 1
- Possession: RBNY 49%, ORL 51%
- Shots (On Goal): RBNY 14 (4), ORL 6 (1)
- Fouls: RBNY 18, ORL 16
- Corners: RBNY 3, ORL 4
- Saves: RBNY 0, ORL 4
Next Game: March 3rd, Nashville SC (Home Opener), 7:30 PM EST
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