The game in 100 words (or less): A first-half red card for either side made for tons of space and a wide open game of soccer in Orlando on Sunday, as 10-man Orlando City SC drew 2-2 with 10-man Real Salt Lake on goals scored in the 94th and 95th minutes. It was simply an utter capitulation from RSL’s defense. For 93 minutes, RSL were by far the better side and looked so confident and so assured of starting their season with three points away from home. A fun debate to have would be, “which of the two red cards was dumber?” I’ll take Darwin Ceren’s cheap shot on the head of Javier Morales, but could easily be talked into Demar Phillips’ head-high boot on Cyle Larin. Fun times. We’ll wait until either said plays a full 11-v-11 game before trying to discern too terribly much from their performance, but you have to wonder about RSL’s psyche after a self-destruction like this.
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Three moments that mattered
20' & 45+2' — Phillips, Ceren sent off, both sides down to 10 — Look, if you’re opposite number is going for a 50-50 ball with his head, you can’t try to win the ball with your foot. Phillips tried anyway, and rightly saw red. Ceren should also know you can’t intentionally target the head of an opponent without making any play on the ball. Both sides down to 10 men, wide open soccer to ensue.
25' — Movsysian taken down in the box, PK to RSL — Down a man? No problem for RSL, who won a penalty kick five minutes after Phillips’ dismissal. Seb Hines tried to win the ball off Yura Movsysian from behind, and ended up taking the Armenian down instead. Joao Plata converted the ensuing spot kick, 1-0 to RSL.
Foul on @YuraMovsisyan, @JoaoPlata10 converts. 1-0 #RSL https://t.co/YOdFCb6mZ1
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) March 6, 2016
90+4' & 90+5' — OCSC hits RSL twice in two minutes, steals a point — What in the world happened, RSL? You were fewer than 60 seconds from closing out a thoroughly professional away victory to start your season. Cyle Larin bagged the first goal, which should have been nothing more than a late consolation, before Adrian Winter hammered home from a simple long ball over the top to rob RSL of two more points and grab one for themselves.
Stoppage time comeback ✅@OrlandoCitySC comes from behind to tie 2-2 with #RSL https://t.co/ZwSFiSoHUn
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 6, 2016
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Man of the match: Joao Plata
Goalscorers: Plata (26' - PK, 66'), Larin (90+4'), Winter (90+5')
The game in 100 words (or less): My advice: put on this track before reading any further and/or watching the below highlights. Got it playing in the background? OK, good. New York City FC and the Chicago Fire are atrocious defensive teams, and that made for a highly entertaining, hilarious game at Toyota Park on Sunday. The two sides combined for seven goals from seven different goalscorers, most of which were of the highest comedic value. Fortunately for NYCFC, they’ve got the firepower and intent to outscore just about any team in the league. This isn’t the last seven-goal game in which they’ll be involved this season. It’s almost surely not the highest-scoring game in which they’ll be involved, either. They’ll be appointing viewing each week. As for the Fire, well, the less said about them right now, the better.
[ MORE: Previewing MLS First Kick 2016 ]
Three moments that mattered
10' — McNamara opens the scoring for 2016 — Tommy McNamara scored the first goal of the 2016 season, and a beauty it was — right-footed curler, from just outside the 18-yard box, banged in off the inside of the post.
Must 👀 goal.
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) March 6, 2016
The first goal of the 2016 MLS season goes to @NYCFC's Tommy Mac https://t.co/7OlwqhBpUr
19' — Cocis gets in behind and slots it home — NYCFC were an unmitigated disaster defensively in 2015, and 2016 looks to be no different, at least early on. Simple things like tracking runners and not getting beat by archaic long balls are the least you would expect of a professional soccer team. Alas…
29' — Yakety Sax defending from Chicago, and it’s 2-1 — Veljko Paunovic has a lot of work to do, doesn’t he?
The @TTaylor777 goal that put #NYCFC up 2-1 #WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/WQXlZPhOpF
— New York City Football Club (@NYCFC) March 6, 2016
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Man of the match: Tommy McNamara
Goalscorers: McNamara (10'), Cocis (19'), Taylor (29'), Shelton (36'), Igboananike (49'), Diskerud (63') Accam (72' - PK)