Away - November 21 - Orlando - Round One (Postgame)

Wow. I didn't even know about the penalty fiasco. I had briefly lost connection, then when it came back I saw their keeper running and celebrating. I immediately turned off my phone and cussed it out rightly. It would have been cool if we had ended up winning, but alas.
I was wondering WTF lion was talking about when he said Gudi missed.
 
This was a coin flip game between two even teams. We wanted heads, it came up tails. For every "what if" for City there was a "what if" for Orlando. Perhaps NYCFC was better for more of the game - Gallese was incredible - but if you cannot score up a man for 30 minutes, you live with a (hilarious) penalty result.

Personally, I am fine with this result and intrigued by next season. A case could be made that if you removed DP's from each MLS team, NYCFC would be the strongest squad. If CFG makes good use of the two open DP slots, and if playing actual home games is possible, I realistically expect a run at Supporters Shield. A number of ifs, granted, but unlike other years there is a path to DP improvement which is essential under the current roster rules of MLS.

The seeds for today's loss were planted months ago. This offseason might be the most important in team history.

I absolutely agree, and I also would add that PRO referees are laughable but not biased. Just crappy. I mean, nothing could be more outrageous for supporters and could look more to an independent observer like a legalistic coup product of bias or bribe than what they did to ORL after Taty missed his penalty and they were already celebrating. To invalidate the last, game-clinching penalty, after 30 minutes of extra time for a stupid rule in a situation that was technically true but not flagrant (Gallese´s back foot was inches from the line, not a yard) and THEN send the goalie off??? If it had been against us we would had thrown the TV out the window...

In that context it is ridiculous to argue we deserved a penalty against Nani. Although it wouldn´t have been unfair if he gave it. Same for Rosell´s tug of Callens shirt with both hands. Jansson could have been sent off for his elbow on Maxi, but also Acevedo for his bad tackle. PRO is just bad, inconsistent and lots of unintentional fun.

Let´s also remember that Akindele missed an empty goal from 4 feet away at the end of regulation.

That said the first 45 were the best soccer I have ever seen in MLS, and while NYCFC were better ORL wasn´t half bad. It was quite nice.
 
The fiasco at the end overshadowed what seemed to be a significant fitness gap between the two teams. Our boys looked like old men.
Also, the blame for the general impotency up a man has to fall to our man Deila. I know they played well down the stretch, but his tactics and ability to manage subs should cost him his job.
 
I absolutely agree, and I also would add that PRO referees are laughable but not biased. Just crappy. I mean, nothing could be more outrageous for supporters and could look more to an independent observer like a legalistic coup product of bias or bribe than what they did to ORL after Taty missed his penalty and they were already celebrating. To invalidate the last, game-clinching penalty, after 30 minutes of extra time for a stupid rule in a situation that was technically true but not flagrant (Gallese´s back foot was inches from the line, not a yard) and THEN send the goalie off??? If it had been against us we would had thrown the TV out the window...

In that context it is ridiculous to argue we deserved a penalty against Nani. Although it wouldn´t have been unfair if he gave it. Same for Rosell´s tug of Callens shirt with both hands. Jansson could have been sent off for his elbow on Maxi, but also Acevedo for his bad tackle. PRO is just bad, inconsistent and lots of unintentional fun.

Let´s also remember that Akindele missed an empty goal from 4 feet away at the end of regulation.

That said the first 45 were the best soccer I have ever seen in MLS, and while NYCFC were better ORL wasn´t half bad. It was quite nice.

agree with comments about pro's inconsistent calls and just poor reffing in general. but i wholeheartedly believe them missing the clear read of Ruan's linebacker tackle of Anton is inexcusable. If a ref is unable to protect the players on the field from flagrant fouls like that, even with the aid of VAR, how can they live with themselves?
 
The fiasco at the end overshadowed what seemed to be a significant fitness gap between the two teams. Our boys looked like old men.
Also, the blame for the general impotency up a man has to fall to our man Deila. I know they played well down the stretch, but his tactics and ability to manage subs should cost him his job.

i'm not surprised about fitness. i don't know how other teams train, but when i watch our training videos, whenever we are doing conditioning exercises, many of our guys seem to be half assing it. Mata is one who is always giving it 100% in training, which is great to see. I think he had a great season and believe he should have stayed on the field til the end. He didn't look particularly gassed with me and no longer had Ruan to deal with. Taking him off was a mistake.
 
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Agree with much of what’s been said. Just want to add:
1) Gallese stole the maych
2) Ruan on Tinner is a straight red. If that’s called the. It changes the tenor.
3) Maxi up first? Seriously?
4) I want Medina around next year.
5) Isi was off. Allowed himself to be driven to the corner the whole time he was on.
6) Chanot deserves a ton of credit. He had a monster of a match.
 
All of the above- flubbed chances throughout by our attackers, incomprehensible subs and game management by Deila, Chapman being everything we expect from Chapman- this match added drama and intrigue that none could have ever anticipated! A farce of a penalty shootout that should get its own 30 for 30 someday, I settled in for 90 minutes of football and 3 1/2 hours later was perplexed, riveted and glued to the broadcast. Has there ever been a soccer match like this?!? Has there ever been a moment where sports delivered up a more welcome diversion in the midst of a pandemic?!? We should have won this match in so many ways, but were you not entertained?!? I was and though I also thought we were ready for a deep run towards MLS Cup, everything about this match captured the moment we are living through. I too thought we would advance but nothing has captured 2020 like this loss!
 
Man. That was unbelievable. Where to even start. Probably the most NYCFC loss I've ever seen.

First of all, after going up a man, NYCFC had only 1 SOG over approximately 45 minutes of game play (including stoppage time). Inexcusable. Just a terrible performance after the red card.

We can complain about the refs all we want -- and we should for how absolutely atrocious they were during the shootout), but after a really good first half and a decent second half, we just continue to lack that killer instinct in big games. In crunch time of big games, this group of players continually plays like they're scared to lose instead of looking to win. Quite frankly, they're chokers in big games. That's just the way it is. Ronny said something similar in his postgame press conference. Talked about how they did not have a champions mentality.

On the shootout: Someone needs to explain to me why Gudi would shoot chest high at a field player. Shoot it on the ground, the guy is never getting down in time. I feel for Gudi, you know how badly he wants to prove his worth with us, but ... man. What a brutal PK that was. It's not why we lost, but ... sigh.
 
Oh and yes. That Ruan challenge on Tinnerholm has to be a straight red. How does the VAR not recommend a review. Flying shoulder to the head. Insane. And after that, Ruan knows he's on a short leash, and he kicks out at Mackay-Steven. Unreal. Gallese was incredible for Orlando -- that double-save in the first half was unreal. We had our chances and should have won that game, which makes the result all the more frustrating.
 
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It's weird -- usually the end of the season is so crushing and disappointing. I'm almost not even upset after what happened. That was just so bizarre and entertaining, I'm not even that upset tonight. I'm not happy, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't feel like the way a "normal" end of season does.
 
Would also like to add that their CB’s took better penalties than our forwards. There was like 3 straight penalties into the top corner. Rocha completely wiffed his and it somehow trickled in. Just about all our penalties were saveable.
 
agree with comments about pro's inconsistent calls and just poor reffing in general. but i wholeheartedly believe them missing the clear read of Ruan's linebacker tackle of Anton is inexcusable. If a ref is unable to protect the players on the field from flagrant fouls like that, even with the aid of VAR, how can they live with themselves?

Absolutely. They are incapable of protecting the players, keeping steady control of the game, or giving any rhyme or reason for their calls. My point is simply that they aren't biased. They are equal opportunity offenders.
 
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The worst part about Ruan picking up the straight red just minutes after the Tinnerholm challenge, is now we can’t feel “screwed over” that he didn’t get the straight red he deserved from the Tinnerholm challenge.

Plus we wouldn't have gotten Ruan's incredible Oscar-worthy acting job on his "injury." It was worth the price of admission.
 
Plus we wouldn't have gotten Ruan's incredible Oscar-worthy acting job on his "injury." It was worth the price of admission.
That was ridiculous. Did he actually get in the wheelchair they brought out. Probably taking lessons from Nani. That dude is good but what a drama queen.
 
That was ridiculous. Did he actually get in the wheelchair they brought out. Probably taking lessons from Nani. That dude is good but what a drama queen.

They cut away quickly, but it looked like he was moving to walk past it.