VIDEO: Orlando City Opens New Stadium With Shutout Win Over New York City FC 1-0

By  //  March 5, 2017

Attendance for Sunday Night Was 25,527

ABOVE VIDEO: Orlando City opened their new stadium Sunday Night with 1-0 win over New York City FC in front of a sold out crowd of 25,527.

ORLANDO, FLORIDA – Orlando City opened their new stadium Sunday Night with 1-0 win over New York City FC in front of a sold out crowd of 25,527.

Tickets for the first match against New York City FC at Orlando City Stadium were priced as high as $1,000 each on Orlando City’s ticket resale site.

The atmosphere, before and during the match, was electric.

Excitement was short lived near the beginning of the game, however, when Orlando City’s captain Kaka went down with a hamstring injury in the 8th minute. After a few minutes the injury hampered Kaka, to the point, the newly acquired forward Giles Barnes substituted in for Kaka in the 11th minute.

Barnes was part of Orlando City’s trade with Vancouver that sent Lions’ Brek Shea to the Whitecaps.

Barnes made a impact right away when he made a good break in the 15th minute, setting up young star Cyle Larin up for a beautiful header shot that resulted in Orlando City’s first goal in their $155 million dollar state-of-the-art stadium.

“I saw Giles get the ball, he looked up once and I knew he was going to cross the back post then he saw me and I just made sure I scored the goal,” said Larin talking about the game’s lone goal, following Orlando City’s shut out win over New York City FC 1-0.

ABOVE VIDEO:  Sights & Sounds From Orlando City’s Win Over New York City FC

Barnes loved the crowd and felt how special the moment was for this team.

“Great camaraderie, everybody was excited to get here. Seeing the boys get together, heading to the stadium with all the fans outside and greeting us as we walked in as a team. We went out there and showed what we can do,” said Barnes.

Despite being outshot by New York City 14-7, the Orlando City defense, led by goalie Joe Bednick played fabulous.

In the 17th minute, Bendik made a excellent save off the boot of NYC star David Villa inside the box.

Bednik totaled seven saves for the match.

Later in the 32nd minute, Alexander Ring from New York City FC left footed a shot from the right side of the box that was saved by Bednik.

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NYC’s Jack Harrison could have had the equalizer in the 53rd minute, but another great save from Bendik denied New York City another chance to at least escape with a draw.

Orlando will travel north to take on New England March 11 and will head back home to Orlando for a March 18 matchup with Philadelphia.

As for Kaka’s injury, doctors will evaluate his hamstring injury tomorrow. Head Coach Jason Kreis said, “It looks like this could be a pretty serious injury.”

BY THE NUMBERS:

– New York City controlled the time of possession at 68-percent, while Orlando City managed to possess the ball 32-percent.

– NYC totaled 9 corner kicks compared OC’s 1

– NYC recorded 0 saves

– Orlando City committed 10 fouls, compared to NYC’s 12