Orlando City earns wild playoff win over NYCFC in penalty kicks

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando City centerback Rodrigo Schlegel eagerly tugged on the goalkeeper gloves, his face scrunched up in concentration as he jogged toward the goal during the final minutes of the first MLS playoff match in club history.

Behind him, the Wall roared in support as the 23-year-old shouldered the jersey and expectations of star goalkeeper Pedro Gallese.

During the first penalty kick taken by Nicolas Acevedo, Schlegel didn’t even jump. During the second shot, however, he threw his body airborne, flinging out both gloves to block away the potential go-ahead attempt.

Schlegel’s reaction was immediate, joyous, launching himself skyward with both fists clenched. Behind him, the same emotions played out, again and again, in the faces of the Orlando City supporters lining the Wall.

Saturday’s game wasn’t won quite yet — homegrown winger Benji Michel was the one to ice the win a minute later. But that didn’t stop the entire Lions bench from swarming the field.

Eventually the team was corralled off the field, and Michel sent the game-winning ball into the net. Purple smoke flooded the air, fans roared from the stands and the players lofted Schlegel above their heads in front of a tifo reading, “Orlando versus Everybody.”

Schlegel’s heroics delivered an elimination playoff win over NYCFC by a score of 1-1 (6-5 penalty kicks) for Orlando City. The Lions finished down two men due to ejections, surviving two overtime periods and a wildly unusual penalty-kick series in a match that won’t be forgotten — by the club, the city and the league.

“Today the game played with us in our minds and put us in all these roller coasters of emotions,” coach Oscar Pareja said. “It showed us the beauty of this sport, showed us the connection of the community with the players. But most importantly, it just showed the heart of the players.”

This wasn’t ever going to be easy or simple or boring. It’s Orlando City and New York City FC in a single-elimination playoff match. The stakes were high and the drama was guaranteed.

And in the most confusing, convoluted, contentious chapter of this 2020 season, the Lions punched their way to a historic finish.

It’s hard to explain how the Lions got there. First there was a red card on Ruan in the 87th minute, then two halves of overtime. Gallese seemed to make the game-winning save only to be ejected minutes later.

And in the end, Schlegel carved his place into the Orlando City storybooks to send the team to the next round of the playoffs.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

Both teams scored in the adrenaline-fueled opening 10 minutes of the match. Nani opened scoring with a penalty kick after Anton Tinnerholm handed a ball in the box. But the Lions held that lead for only three minutes until Maxime Chanot knocked in a corner-kick header.

The fury of the opening moments dazed both teams. The Lions and the Pigeons struggled to create meaningful chances, and their frustration poured over into crunching tackles and body blows.

The referee handed out seven cards in the final 20 minutes of regulation, including a red card for Ruan after he kicked at Gary Mackay-Steven with his studs in the 87th minute.

The Lions played more than half an hour of extra time with just 10 men on the pitch.

“The 10 men on the field multiplied themselves for this team,” Pareja said. “That made me very proud. … That showed the big heart the players have and the franchise and the community have. It’s the representation of all those emotions that have been waiting to come out.”

After a last-minute charter flight home from international duty cleared him for the match, Gallese proved why the Lions needed him for the playoffs. The keeper fended off six sizzling shots to hold the Lions through to penalty kicks, including a one-handed double-save while sprawled on the ground.

But somehow, Schlegel will be the goalkeeper most remembered from the match.

The penalty-kick round seemed destined to tilt in the Lions’ favor — NYCFC’s opening shot ricocheted off the crossbar, and the first four Orlando City shots flew by keeper Sean Johnson with ease.

For a brief time, it seemed as if Gallese had won the game. He blocked away the fifth shot taken by New York, setting off a cacophony of excitement.

But the referees immediately waved off the save. Moments later, the referees ruled Gallese had stepped off his line for the save — a decision that not only rescinded the save but sent Gallese off the pitch with his second yellow of the game.

When Gallese was ejected, the match descended into madness.

It didn’t help that Pareja wasn’t on the sideline.

After he thought Gallese made the game-winning save, Pareja took off at a sprint into the tunnel. He was headed for the locker room, where Ruan had been waiting since being sent off.

“I knew Ruan was by himself in the locker room,” Pareja said. “I know what it means for him not being there. I don’t think he was even looking at the game. So when Pedro stopped that, I didn’t think about anything else but him. I came to tell him we won.”

It took a moment for someone to chase down Pareja and get him back to the sideline, where the referees seemed unsure of the rules.

Backup goalkeeper Brian Rowe was formally subbed, then walked off the field, then allowed back on and finally sent off again by the officiating crew.

Executive vice president of soccer operations Luiz Muzzi pulled up the rules of the game on his phone. Team administrator Joe Schuchmann alternated between pulling Pareja out of the official’s face and pleading with the referees himself.

Pareja didn’t have a field player designated to step into goal. This wasn’t something he’d planned for in advance.

And amid the chaos, Schlegel approached Pareja with an earnest proposition — “Papi, I can do that.”

Schlegel didn’t have a minute of professional goalkeeping experience. He stepped in for an injured keeper for three or four games during his youth academy days in Argentina, and sometimes put on the gloves to play pickup against his cousins and uncles.

But besides that, Schlegel only had one thing — confidence.

“We just gave him the gloves and prayed,” Pareja said. “He did an astounding job. After what just happened, I can laugh. Believe me that this is insane tonight.”

When Gallese was presented with Man of the Match after the game, he shared it with Schlegel, posing for a picture with both men holding the trophy. The Lions went a step further, putting a Schlegel goalkeeper kit up for sale on the team website.

The Lions will now await the results of Tuesday’s match between Philadelphia and the New England Revolution. Orlando City will face the winner of that match in the conference semifinals next Sunday.

The team’s focus will soon shift to that matchup, to the next goal that can be achieved.

But just for one night, Pareja said, the Lions will bask in the little piece of history they created on the pitch.

“That’s football,” Schlegel said. “It’s emotion. One minute you think you won, the next you don’t. … What matters is the end result. That’s the beauty of sport.”

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