ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 20, 2021) - Orlando City SC (12-8-10, 46 points) played to a 1-1 draw with CF Montréal (11-10-9, 42 points) on Wednesday night at Exploria Stadium, extending its current unbeaten run to four-consecutive matches.
Chris Mueller scored the lone goal for City in the match, good for his third of the 2021 MLS campaign. Ruan earned the assist on the finish, his third of the year and second in as many matches. The contest also saw the return of Alexandre Pato to the pitch for the first time since April 17, entering the game in the 86th minute of play for Mauricio Pereyra.
The Lions return home on Sunday, Oct. 24, set to host the league-leading New England Revolution at Exploria Stadium. Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET with tickets available here or by calling (855) ORL-CITY.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“It was a great effort by the players. I think we can divide the game into two different halves. The boys did a great job in the first half of creating options and we needed to put the game away and we didn’t. We scored the one goal and left the game there for any opportunity that they had. In the second half, we came into 10-15 minutes where they got the ball and started creating some chances and after that the reaction from our group was better, but at the end it was missing that last pass, that ball that needed to break their line. It’s a bitter result because we chased and we fought for those three points, but we will keep building on that performance especially in the first half where we were very sharp.”
Scoring Recap:
45’ Chris Mueller (Ruan, Daryl Dike) - ORL 1, MTL 0
The Lions got on the board just before halftime, with Júnior Urso threading a ball in behind for Daryl Dike. The USMNT forward went down shortly after, with City playing the advantage off the foot of Ruan, finding a wide-open Chris Mueller across the face of goal for the finish.
51’ Rudy Camacho (Djordje Mihailovic) - ORL 1, MTL 1
The visitors responded shortly after the break, with a corner from the left side whipped in by Djordje Mihailovic finding the head of Rudy Camacho for the equalizer.
Match Notes:
- Chris Mueller scored his third goal of the season on the night.
- Ruan made his 75th appearance as a Lion in the match, tallying his third assist of the year and his second in as many contests.
- Alexandre Pato made his return to the pitch, entering the game in the 86th minute for Mauricio Pereyra. The appearance served as the Brazilian forward’s first since opening day on April 17.
- Daryl Dike earned his third assist of the campaign with the secondary on Mueller’s first half finish.
- Júnior Urso tallied his 50th MLS regular season appearance.
- Uri Rosell made his first appearance in the starting lineup since Aug. 7 at Cincinnati.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made three changes to his starting lineup in the match, with Rosell, Rodrigo Schlegel and Benji Michel reentering the fold for the side.
Next Match: The Lions close out a two-game home stint on Sunday, Oct. 24, set to host the current league-leading New England Revolution at Exploria Stadium in a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
