Last night’s 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids featured yet another display of strong support for soccer here in Orlando.
Despite a brief albeit torrential downpour that delayed the start of game, the Club’s supporters came out in droves to once again Defy Expectations, resulting in one of the highest attended midweek games in MLS so far this season.
The crowd was just as loud, if not louder, than they have been all year, propelling the Lions to another entertaining victory at home to maintain third place in the East.
After the game, Colorado boss Pablo Mastroeni was quick to point out the uphill battle after conceding at the Orlando Citrus Bowl.
“Goals change games. I cannot emphasize that enough. But again, you get behind in a place like this against a team like that, it’s not going to be easy.”
Mastroeni isn’t the first coach or player to take note of the intimidating environment in Orlando City’s rookie campaign. Even NYCFC manager Jason Kreis was forced to admit that there was some nerves within his side due to the crowd in the season opener.
“I think it’s inevitable for them to be a little nervous. You had 62,000 people here. They were so loud it was a fantastic environment here. So it’s a question of how quickly you calm yourself down and get focused in this environment.”
The team’s 2-2 draw against Columbus was a battle from start to finish, and after the match both coach Gregg Berhalter and goalkeeper Steve Clark talked about the tense atmosphere within the stadium from start to finish.
““It was tense. The fans, bless their hearts they were great. They’re going at it, we’re going at it, refs are going at it, players are going at it. It was quite an atmosphere,” said Berhalter.
“It’s a difficult place to come. It’s really loud and they’re whipping in balls. I got four guys on me on every cross it seemed like. They make it difficult on teams that come here. They’re a solid team,” Clark added.
City’s only other 2-2 draw at home took place against New England, in one of the most dramatic games at the Citrus Bowl so far this season. After going down 2-0 early to the Revs, a few tactical changes from Heath and the crowd’s increase in volume spurred the Lions to fight back for a draw, leading to veteran center-back Aurélien Collin’s powerful header deep into stoppage time that sent the fans into an uproar.
“They’ve got a great crowd behind them, so it’s tough to play here. It was just… it’s just a tough goal to give up in the circumstances, but we’ve just got to do better next time,” said New England forward Charlie Davies.
And then you have Ben Olsen’s verbose comments after the Eastern Conference leaders’ 1-0 loss to City…
“Not an easy place to play. They scored and we didn’t.”
While it may seem new to the rest of the teams and leagues in MLS, the idea of the Citrus Bowl being a fortress is a familiar concept for the City faithful.
While in USL, opposing teams always found it difficult to secure three points in Central Florida.
In four years, Adrian Heath and the Lions only suffered defeat 4 times while on home territory – a true testament to not only great coaching and talented players, but also the Wall of fans that are always there to urge on the team when they need it most, singing songs such as “Vamos, Vamos Orlando! Esta noche, tenemos que ganar,” and “I believe that we will win,” amongst others.
Some might say it’s too early to start using the word “Fortress” in MLS, due to City’s slow start at home earlier in the season. But, I say recent results prove otherwise.
Plus, history has a way of repeating itself.
