ORLANDO, Fla. (April 1, 2023) – Orlando City SC (2-2-2, 8 points) dropped a 2-0 result to Nashville SC (3-2-1, 10 points) on Saturday night at Exploria Stadium. The match saw the return of the Orlando City Sea Cows, with the Club bringing back an April Fools' Day prank in the form of a special-edition Adidas pre-match top worn by the Lions ahead of the contest, as well as special match production features.
City netminder Pedro Gallese tallied his 90th appearance in all competitions as a member of the Club, returning in between the sticks after missing the last match on international duty.
Scoring Summary:
28’ Fafà Picault (Hany Mukhtar) – NSH 1, ORL 0
The visitors took the lead off a free kick taken quickly near midfield by Hany Mukhtar, sending a ball over top for Fafà Picault, who was able to chip it over the head of Lions’ goalkeeper Pedro Gallese into the back of the net.
74’ Hany Mukhtar (Shaq Moore, Dax McCarty) – NSH 2, ORL 0
Nashville doubled the advantage with Dax McCarty finding Shaq Moore up the right flank, who was then able to thread a ball in between the Lions defense to a running Hany Mukhtar. Hitting it with his first touch, Mukhtar shot deflected off a Lions defender and into the back of the net.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“Disappointed, tough being at home in front of our fans and not getting the result. It is the most painful part. The analysis of the game, I thought we made a couple mistakes on the defensive phase that costs the game in terms of chasing it all the time. In the other side, in the other box we are not fine, we were optimistic today because we came off a game where we played very well and today, we were not fine in those two areas. Defensively those two mistakes and then offensively when we had the chances we could not score. I still have to be balanced on the analysis, and not be very passionate, just with the result on our shoulders and don't see all those things that we did good in the game because we did a bunch of things that were good and correct, and the team is getting in there. So, I have to talk about it too, so we'll keep on growing on those things but it's obvious I need to see with the group how we can grow those things that we are doing good and then how can we correct those others.”
Match Notes:
- Defender Rodrigo Schlegel notched his 60th start for the Lions in all competitions.
- Midfielder César Araújo tallied his 40th start in purple on Saturday night.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made one change to his starting lineup from last week’s win at Philadelphia, with goalkeeper Pedro Gallese stepping in net for the 90th time in all competitions as a Lion.
Next Match:
The Lions will have a week off from match play before traveling to take on Minnesota United FC at Allianz Field on Saturday, April 15 in an 8:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
