SANDY, Utah (July 8, 2023) – Orlando City SC (9-6-7, 34 points) were defeated by Real Salt Lake (9-7-6, 33 points) on Saturday night by a 4-0 scoreline. City came into the match riding a four-game unbeaten streak, including recent back-to-back wins at home.
City will look to turn the tides as they are set to take on their rivals to the North in Atlanta United FC on Saturday, July 15 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The two sides faced off earlier this season, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw at Exploria Stadium.
Scoring Summary:
23’ Chicho Arango (Pablo Ruiz) – RSL 1, ORL 0
The home side struck first in the match, off a set piece on the right side. Pablo Ruiz sent an inswinging ball into the box that found Chicho on the back of his defender, heading the ball in for the opener.
41’ Justen Glad – RSL 2, ORL 0
RSL extended its lead to two goals just before the halftime break off a corner kick that was initially deflected by an Orlando City defender. However the ball fell to the head of Justen Glad, who beat Pedro Gallese on the redirect.
78’ Jefferson Savarino (Bryan Oviedo, Andrew Brody) – RSL 3, ORL 0
RSL scored their third with Bryan Oviedo and Andrew Brody building up play along the left flank and sending a ball to the back post. Jefferson Savarino was there, brought the ball down with his chest and struck the ball into the back of the net.
89’ Anderson Julio (Pablo Ruiz) - RSL 4, ORL 0
Anderson Julio found the fourth goal of the night with Ruiz threading the ball through the backline to him and Julio then being able to take a touch, turn and complete the finish.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
"Obviously a difficult experience today against Real Salt Lake to have this moment when we are getting our confidence higher and coming from a good stretch of games. Today, we ran into a team that was very effective going forward when they had their chances. I thought we had our chances too, but we didn’t have the capacity to finish our opportunities. We are going to observe it and keep our mentality intact. We have no excuses. Salt Lake were much more effective and obviously, the score reflects that.”
