Ivan Angulo’s goal in the 89th minute proved to be the difference as host Orlando City defeated the Columbus Crew 3-2 on Saturday in an Eastern Conference match played in wet and rainy conditions.
Angulo’s tally came on the counterattack after Orlando goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau stopped a point-blank shot from Columbus’ Gonzalo Tapia. Angulo ran onto the ball and carried it well past midfield before passing it to Martin Ojeda, who then made a run toward the goalmouth.
Ojeda passed to Angulo, who beat Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte into the bottom right corner, and the Lions (11-13-4, 37 points) held on from there to end a two-match losing streak in MLS play.
The Crew (8-15-5, 29 points) saw a two-game MLS winning streak snapped.
The first 16 minutes of the match were wild, with the Lions scoring twice and Columbus finding the net in between the two Orlando goals.
Orlando’s Harvey Sarajian opened the ledger with a ringing right-footed shot into the bottom right corner in the first minute. The goal came from near the 6-yard line after a crossing pass by Antoine Griezmann and a second assist from Angulo, with Sarajian’s shot leaving Schulte flatfooted.
The Crew quickly responded as Taha Habroune outworked four Orlando defenders to get to a pass from Santiago Rodriguez and boot the ball past Crepeau and into the net in the eighth minute. Mohamed Farsi garnered the second assist for the pass that started the scoring play.
Six minutes later, Griezmann found the net with a curving, clinical strike on a free kick from Schulte’s left, burying the shot into the lower left corner to put Orlando back up at 2-1.
Crepeau had four saves and Schulte stopped two shots through the rest of the half to keep the game at a one-goal margin at the break.
Brais Mendez tied the match for Columbus in the 53rd minute, producing a stirring run into the goalmouth after and pass by Habroune. Mendez calmly pulled Crepeau off his line before beating two Lions defenders with a soft left-footed shot that trickled over the goal line. Rodriguez earned his second assist of the game with the pass that began the play.
–Field Level Media
