Mario Pasalic urged Orlando City to quickly put the 1-1 draw with the Columbus Crew behind them.
Orlando looked set to frustrate the Crew on Sunday, until Diego Rossi came up with a nice finish in the 80th minute at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field.
The visitors took the lead in the 14th minute, when Pasalic finished off a great team move with a shot from close range.
However, that was Orlando’s only shot on goal, as Columbus increased the pressure. Maxime Crepeau held firm, making some good saves, but Rossi’s effort finally got the Crew back on level terms, marking the first time they scored at home in MLS this season.
Although he is frustrated, Pasalic doesn’t think Orlando should be too hard on himself.
He told club media: “We started very well. We hadn’t conceded a goal for 80 minutes, then we made the changes and that mistake happened, but that’s football.”
“I’m happy that the team showed mentality today, that we showed that we can handle things after these big losses. And, I mean, on the one hand, I say that this team didn’t deserve these losses in the past, so I’m not going to talk about that anymore.
“I look to the future and we can connect the games of the future with this game of today.”
Orlando came into the game as just the third team in MLS history to lose consecutive games by a margin of five goals or more, joining the San Jose Earthquakes in 2020 and the New England Revolution in 2019, so steadying the ship was vital for coach Martin Perelman.
He said: “I think we came to a difficult stadium and we fought and the players made an incredible effort. Of course we wanted to win, as always, but again I want to highlight the players’ effort.”
The Crew, who lost forward Wessam Abou Ali to an injury that appeared serious, will feel they were at least worthy of a point, taking 20 shots to Orlando’s five, and hitting seven on target.
Meanwhile, their 1.54 expected goals eclipsed Orlando’s 0.61.
