Miserable run continues with loss to Orlando, 1:0
August 13, 2022
If you enjoyed last week's game when Metro and DC totaled a whole three shots on goal while playing to a scoreless draw... well, you're a masochist, but this one was even worse. Metro and Orlando got just one shot each, but, unfortunately, the visitors got theirs into the back and the net. Metro lost its third straight home match, deepening its freefall that started in the Open Cup encounter versus this same Orlando team.
But it all looked some promising from the beginning! The return of Kyle Duncan! A switch to a five-man midfield with all the best offensive weapons playing from the start! None of it mattered. In fact, Duncan, visible rusty, missed a header in the 17th minute. Orlando went the other way, with Carlos Coronel getting a hand on an acute angle shot only for the ball to bounce in off the far post.
And that was it! That was the only shot on goal Orlando got the entire game! Because from that point on, they were content with sitting back and have Metro try to break them down. Metro simply couldn't. And as much as we love to blame Patryk Klimala here (14 straight without a goal), it's not only on him. A team should be capable of getting more than a shot on goal for the second straight week. A team should be capable of creating offensive chances during 90 minutes.
Seriously! In this space, we usually describe good chances missed, but for the second straight week, there weren't any! Maybe not until deep into injury time, when a short Christian Casseres free kick was whipped into the box only to be cleared.
Here's the telling point: needing a goal, Gerhard Struber moved Aaron Long to forward. Yes, the best option for this team is playing its best defender in an attacking position. And this is not on Struber! This is on the absentee, complacent, ignorant owner who failed to do anything in the transfer window beyond temporarily bringing back a player who should have never left in the first place.
This one is on Red Bull.
We keep saying that, and it just keeps happening...
Lineup: Coronel, Tolkin, Long, Nealis, Duncan, Amaya, Yearwood, Casseres, Morgan, Luquinhas, Klimala. Subs: Fernandez, Harper, Edelman, Barlow.
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