Orlando City SC (7-5-4, 25 points) scored its earliest and latest goals of the season to earn a thrilling 3-3 draw against the Montreal Impact (4-4-6, 18 points) Saturday at Orlando City Stadium. Matías Pérez García and Jonathan Spector scored their first goals as Lions and Carlos Rivas scored his third of the season.
“Another night of positives and negatives. Some really big positives with us, how we played in the first 45 minutes, what we were doing with the ball, the number of chances we created. We looked composed on [the ball] and we managed the game well. The negatives are obviously that I felt we gave them all three goals,” Lions Head Coach Jason Kreis said. “But then to finish off the game in an extremely positive situation with us reacting well and continuing to work hard and score the equalizer.”
The Lions took it to the Impact from the start and after several close calls broke through in the ninth minute. Giles Barnes drove in from the left wing and slipped the ball through for Kaká, who raced onto it and centered for MPG, who stretched for the tap-in. They were Kaká and Barnes’ second assists of the season.
Montreal quickly answered with a goal from Blerim Dzemaili, who blasted Ignacio Piatti’s pass after some clever work.
Barnes started the Lions’ second goal with another run from the left wing. The Jamaican served it in for MPG to lay off for Will Johnson, whose first-time rip deflected off Bush and Laurent Ciman on the goalline. The ball popped out for Rivas, who sprinted on and blasted it into the back of the net.
A slower second half saw Montreal build off the counter attack, tie and suddenly take the lead with two goals from Piatti in two minutes.
City continued pressing and turned it up even more as the game wore on. The Lions created chance after chance, with Kaká and MPG working magic on the ball at times. Three second-half yellow cards and five substitutions garnered six minutes of stoppage time, and City earned corner after corner in the shadow of The Wall and the eighth sell-out crowd of 25,527 at Orlando City Stadium. In the 94th minute, MPG floated a ball onto the six-yard box for Jonathan Spector to head perfectly into the far corner for the equalizer.
“Talk about players that showed commitment tonight,” Kreis said of MPG. “He had to be for me one of the most committed players out there. Scored the goal, he had a part in the second goal and he assisted on the third. Really important match for him tonight, I thought he did a fantastic job. He, like everybody else, kept working till the bitter end.”
The Lions embark on a three-game road trip that will see them visit Seattle on Wednesday, June 21, for a 10:30 p.m. ET kickoff. City then visits Chicago on June 24 and Real Salt Lake on June 30 before returning to Orlando City Stadium on July 5 to host Toronto FC.
Tickets to all City home matches are available at OrlandoCitySC.com or by calling 855-ORL-CITY. Follow the latest Orlando City news and updates via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
