Orlando City Suffers 3-1 Defeat to D.C. United

April 22, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Orlando City SC News Release

ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando City SC (3-3-2, 11 points) dropped a 3-1 decision to D.C. United (3-4-2, 11 points) on Saturday night at Exploria Stadium. The match saw the Lions, along with all teams across the MLS, don their “One Planet Kits” in celebration of Earth Day.

Forward Duncan McGuire found the back of the net for the Lions in the match. It marked the second-consecutive match in which McGuire has scored for City and his third goal overall so far this season. The rookie’s first professional goal came earlier against D.C. United in their 1-1 draw at Audi Field on March 11.

The match also saw Robin Jansson pass former City player Chris Mueller for the Club’s all-time appearance mark in the MLS era. With the start, Jansson played in his 127th match for Orlando City across all competitions, continuing to add to the record list as he is already the Club’s all-time minutes leader.

Scoring Summary:

15′ Taxi Fountas (Ruan, Mateusz Klich) – DC 1, ORL 0

The visitors struck first with Mateusz Klich finding a sprinting Ruan along the right flank, who played a first-time pass into Taxi Fountas. Fountas found himself one-on-one with City goalkeeper Pedro Gallese and was able to slot the ball into the net.

23′ Duncan McGuire (Martín Ojeda) – ORL 1, DC 1

City answered with Martín Ojeda pouncing on a mistake from the D.C. defense and slipping a ball through to Duncan McGuire who took a clean first touch and ripped the ball past a scrambling Tyler Miller.

52′ Donovan Pines (Mateusz Klich) – DC 2, ORL 1

D.C. found their second goal of the match with Klich whipping in the corner kick and finding the head of Donovan Pines at the near post who was able to finish off the cross.

62′ Christian Benteke (Victor Pálsson) – DC 3, ORL 1

D.C. doubled their lead with Victor Pálsson heading the ball into a crowded box, with Christian Benteke able to settle the ball and score.

Head Coach Oscar Pareja:

“It is a very disappointing night and not getting results at home. It’s just getting the consistency here and not getting our points at home that creates that disappointment. Apart from that, the development of the game, I thought it was very hard in the game and it did not flow and [we] couldn’t find that rhythm. That’s probably what worried us most during the game. We knew that the game was going to be decided with a couple of things like that. Set plays, counters in a model that is rigid and hard and does not have…