Orlando City News Release -- www.orlandocitysoccer.com
Saturday, February 18, 2012
ORLANDO, Fla. - “Our Hearts Beat Red,” the slogan for Orlando City's first official preseason match, was certainly a fitting name for a game that had the entire crowd’s heart pounding at the end as the Lions earned a 1-1 draw against Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union. Max Griffin scored the tying goal in added time in front of 5,963 City fans, starting out Orlando’s preseason on a positive note.
Philadelphia struck first as Danny Califf scored in the 27th minute. The free kick came after Orlando City goalkeeper Miguel Gallardo came too far out of his penalty area and fouled Union forward Danny Mwanga. The free kick was swung in by the Union’s Gabriel Gomez, with the ball being headed in by Califf to put the Union up 1-0. Both sides had chances in the later part of the first half, but the Union went into halftime with the lead.
The second half was filled with new faces, as the Union essentially substituted in their entire lineup for fresh legs. Head Coach Adrian Heath commented on the first half and what he thought the team could improve on moving forward in the preseason.
“I didn’t think we distributed the ball well in the first half,” Heath said. “We’ve got good players, but the first half wasn’t our strongest performance.”
With the Union having the advantage early in the second, Heath brought in fresh legs at the 65th minute. Orlando quickly regained control of the match, bringing extra pressure to Philadelphia’s second team. This was especially evident up front, with Max Griffin repeatedly giving the Union back line problems.
As the match drew to a close, Orlando City turned up the attack. Griffin, after coming close to scoring just minutes before, finally broke through with only seconds to spare. Philip Borde, a trialist for Orlando City, crossed the ball into the box and found Griffin running into open space. Griffin rounded the Philadelphia keeper Chase Harrison and put the ball into the back of the net, tying the game 1-1.
“Scoring is always the best thing in the world,” Griffin said in the post-game press conference. “The ball was fed perfectly to me at the end, and I got the right angle to score. It means a lot to me.”
Orlando’s next match will be at the ESPN Pro Soccer Classic at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. Their first match will be next Saturday against another MLS squad, Toronto FC. City defeated the Reds in last year’s tournament, with Ian Fuller scoring the lone goal to lift Orlando to third place in the tournament. Tickets are available by visiting their website.