New England Revolution Draw Orlando City 2-2 with Buksa’s Last-Gasp Double

Orlando, FL. (FNN) — Orlando City put up a valiant effort, but were forced to share the spoils with Eastern Conference leaders New England Revolution this weekend. Orlando City proved their strengths on the pitch.

Orlando City face an uphill battle on the standings against their northern rivals. After an impressive start to the season, Orlando City have stuttered in form. New England, on the other hand, have been the most consistent team in MLS. The NE Revolution come into this contest an entire 10 points ahead of the nearest competitor in either conference.

Despite their shortcomings in the table, Orlando City came out aggressive in the first half. Their creativity in building up offense had been lost in their recent slump, but Orlando found a resurgence in the early going. As the rain piled on, so did the pressure on New England. Orlando City took several chances at goal, with a total of seven shots taken. This offensive pressure eventually bore fruit as Luis Nani nestled in a headed effort into goal. Junior Urso recovered a stray ball just outside the left side of the box. His lateral pass to Moutinho gave a perfect lift for Nani, although he suffered a collision in the motion of his strike.

The second half continued with the same themes of offensive pressure for the Lions. After a missed header by AJ Delagarza, Luis Nani snapped up possession in New England’s territory. Delagarza fell for Nani’s bait, a sublime feint which gave way for Orlando City to go up 2-0 with a converted penalty. After a short discussion in the penalty box between Mueller and Dike, Darryl Dike stepped up to the spot. What followed was a cool right-footed finish into the bottom right corner to give Orlando City a huge boost of confidence.

Subs vs. Starters

With a slew of substitutions put in to make room for starters, New England found a hit of redemption with ten minutes left in regular time. This shift in personnel continued to pay dividends for New England as freshly subbed Adam Buksa made it double trouble. In the span of 12 minutes, Orlando City went from a comfortable three points to sharing a draw.

Orlando City enjoyed a strong start to the season, but their recent run of form has taken some luster off of their third place run. The first 70 minutes of this game saw a much needed resurgence in form. What followed in the final 20 minutes is a reminder of the danger of complacency. Moments like these could be highly replicable in high-pressure playoff situations, especially for great teams like New England, who know how to flip a switch and get physical when it matters.

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Nicolas Vera is a sports reporter for Florida National News, part of the FNN News Network. | info@floridanationalnews.com