Cavan Sullivan’s first MLS goal isn’t enough as the Union lose at Orlando
Sullivan helped the Union rally from 2-0 and 3-1 down in the second half, but the back line threw a point away when Martín Ojeda scored a too-easy winner in the 90th minute.
Some day, the Union’s game at Orlando on Wednesday might only be remembered as the one when Cavan Sullivan scored his first goal in MLS play.
In the immediate, it goes down as a 4-3 loss, another awful defeat in this awful season. The Union rallied from 3-1 down to level the score at 3-3, then threw it away when Orlando’s Martín Ojeda scored the winner in the 90th minute.
Even worse, Sporting Kansas City was leading the Los Angeles Galaxy, meaning the Union officially had the league’s worst record (1-9-3, 6 points) to coincide with the league’s lowest payroll.
The night started with a rotated Union lineup, which was no surprise between the midweek date and a long injury list. Goalkeeper Andre Blake, defenders Japhet Sery Larsen and Frankie Westfield, and midfielder Jesús Bueno were all out.
So Andrew Rick was in net, Ben Bender was at left back, and Jeremy Rafanello was on the attacking midfield line next to Indiana Vassilev.
The Union were flat nearly from the start, including a trio of far-too-easy breakaways for Ojeda in a span of just six minutes. All three times, the Union’s back line was pushed high up the field, and Ojeda ran right through it.
On the first, in the 11th, Ojeda shockingly shot wide. The second came barely a minute later, Geiner Martínez chased him down, and Ojeda blew it again by flopping just outside the 18-yard box.
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On the third, in the 17th, Olwethu Makhanya misplayed a ball, and when Ojeda got into the box, Andrew Rick tripped him up. It was no doubt a penalty kick, and Ojeda coolly dispatched it.
“It’s more of a technical error, I would say,” Carnell said to state his view. “But it’s certainly nothing that we’re not accustomed to, in the positions that we’ve found ourselves [in], to control the ball or to get hold of the ball or to sort out a sequence defensively. We’ve faced that a million times — today there’s two moments that get away from us with that.”
Griffin Dorsey made it 2-0 in the 27th, on a play that started with Tiago Carvalho taking the ball from Bender’s feet in the Union’s own 18-yard box with barely any pressure. Carvalho then eluded Makhanya and laid the ball off for Dorsey to slam in from close range.
Late in the first half, Jovan Lukić reported feeling dizzy, and had to leave the game in the 44th. Sullivan entered, with Rafanello dropping back to Lukić’s defensive midfield spot.
Sullivan promptly made an impact, whipping in a cross off a corner kick play that Martínez headed past Orlando goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau but hit off the crossbar.
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The second half started much better. A passing sequence from Rafanello to Sullivan to Harriel up the right side ended with Harriel squaring a pass from the end line that Iloski slammed home.
Carnell made his second substitution in the 65th minute, sending in Agustín Anello for Vassilev. Seconds after that, Sullivan uncorked a long-range hit that curled just inches wide.
But all the momentum disappeared in the 73rd. Iloski was easily dispossessed, then Orlando substitute Tyrese Spicer dribbled through Rafanello, Harriel, and Martínez in only a few steps. That opened up a 3-on-1 breakaway, and Makhanya was helpless when Spicer passed to Duncan McGuire for the finish.
As a rainstorm intensified, Sullivan struck in the 75th to make it 3-2. He started the play with some pretty dribbling on the right flank, hit a cross-field pass to Bender, then got the ball back when Bender’s low cross bounced to him.
Carnell then rolled the rest of his dice, swapping both strikers at once: Stas Korzeniowski and Ezekiel Alladoh for Iloski and Damiani, who were largely ineffective on the night.
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Remarkably, the bet paid off. In the 79th, Korzeniowski drove into the box with the ball, then laid off for a hard-charging Bender out wide, who fired a low curler into the net to level the score. For a moment, Bender was allowed to play like the attacking midfielder he usually is instead of the left back Carnell keeps trying to make him be, and he fired a low curler into the net.
In that moment, Orlando finally looked like the team that has given up a league-worst 37 goals this year, and the Union looked like a team with some gumption.
Korzeniowski nearly put the Union ahead soon after that, and in the 87th Sullivan set up Harriel for a rocket off the crossbar.
Just when it seemed the Union were on the way to sealing the tie, they threw it away. Adrián Marin had an easy cross, and Ojeda had an even easier header in front of Makhanya, that stood as the winner.
“It would be great to have everybody fit and healthy; it would be great to not play people out of position,” Carnell said. “There’s a whole bunch of things that would be great, but it’s not the hand we’re dealt right now, and we can’t be sad about that. We have to move on and attack the moment, and some will go our way, some won’t.”
The next moment will come Saturday, when the Union host the Columbus Crew in their last home game before the World Cup break (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).
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