On Sunday night, Midfielder Matías Pérez García made his first appearance for Orlando City. Garcia, who was traded to Orlando City this past week from the San Jose Earthquakes, came on in the 54th minute for Midfielder Hadji Barry and gave a spark the club’s attacking game.
There is no doubt that Orlando City had a much better attacking presence in the second half. Orlando City had nine shots in the second half, while the Seattle Sounders only had three. Orlando City had 65% possession in the second half, coming up after losing in the possession game during the first half. García helped create many of these opportunities, winning some battles in the midfield and drawing three fouls.
“He’s very creative,” Defender Seb Hines said after the match. “He showed glimpses today of what he’s capable of.”
Orlando City is still in the early days of the Jason Kreis era, and the team is still adjusting to his style of play. García only had a couple of days in training before Sunday’s match, and adjusting to a new team while the team itself is still adjusting to a new coach can be a big challenge. “I’m sure once he gets comfortable in Orlando, we’ll see his full quality,” Hines said.
Kreis was impressed with García’s performance and the boost that he gave his team in the second half. “I think he did some interesting things,” Kreis said after the match. “We’ll look at that for consideration for next week.”
