In a back and forth battle, Orlando City SC (6-7-6, 24 points) fell to Chicago Fire 3-1 during the U.S. Lamar Hunt Open Cup quarterfinals at Toyota Park on Wednesday night. (Orlando City Image)
ORLANDO, FLORIDA –In a back and forth battle, Orlando City SC (6-7-6, 24 points) fell to Chicago Fire 3-1 during the U.S. Lamar Hunt Open Cup quarterfinals at Toyota Park on Wednesday night.
After conceding two minutes into the game on a Patrick Nyarko finish, the Lions managed to stop several attacks from the Fire in an intense first half.
Rookie striker Cyle Larin was able to level the score 10 minutes into the second half, finishing a cross from Eric Avila after an excellent play from City.
However, Chicago Fire second half substitutions David Accam and Kennedy Igboananike would make a defining impact late in the game. With Orlando pushing forward aiming to reach the semifinals of the Open Cup for the first time in its history, Chicago responded with two lethal counters.
Five minutes before the end of the match, Igboananike found a rebound off the post after a David Accam’s strike and finished it on a counter.
Then, four minutes later, the Nigerian scored the third goal of the night for the Fire to close their victory.
Adrian Heath
“First off, it was a very poor performance,” said head coach Adrian Heath.
“We bumped it up a little in the second half but I think overall, it was a little too late. A team that wanted to run through, got through – a team that wanted to be in the semifinals of the Open Cup and realized they had a really good opportunity – but it is what it is and we move on. We just weren’t good enough and I don’t think we wanted it badly enough, and I haven’t been able to say that much this year.”
“As I said to our players, you cannot pick and choose where you think it’s important because other people will pick for you and that’s what happened today,” said Heath.
