"Little mistakes" doomed the New York Red Bulls in Orlando on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Bulls fell to Orlando City SC 4-3 in a back-and-forth affair, with the Lions scoring the eventual game-winner in the 86th minute.
New York went up early on Florian Valot's first MLS goal, gave up the lead, then went ahead again on Derrick Etienne, Jr.'s first MLS goal before Orlando evened it up before halftime. Orlando went ahead at the start of the second half before Aaron Long headed home an equalizer in the 82nd minute. Four minutes later, Orlando scored to earn the win.
"We have so much talent on our team that we know we can come back when were losing," Valot said. "The little mistakes that we made today caused us a lot. I think today didn't go our way and we should've came out with the win if it wasn't for the errors we committed."
Head Coach Jesse Marsch said he could find positives in the loss, especially concerning some of the younger players who got starts in Florida.
"When I look at it, there’s some real positives in there and then there’s some things we need to continue to address and get better at," Marsch said. "Ultimately, the game was the revealer and it helps us identify some of those things and hopefully we can continue to use the games and the experiences to grow certain players within the system so they can get better and better."
Marsch also took issue with some of the refereeing in the match.
Etienne, Jr. blamed a lack of concentration on some of the goals, which let the game slip away.
"We scored some good goals. We did a lot of good things, good saves by Luis [Robles], but some chances just missed," Etienne, Jr. said. "We gave up a goal, a set piece, some throw-ins... little things like that, lack of concentration. That is what we need to work on."
Marsch said the team will need to refocus on what works for the club.
"We have to stick to controlling the things we can control and we’ll continue to do that," Marsch said.
Despite both players scoring their first career MLS goals, both Valot and Etienne, Jr. said they would both trade in their goals for three points for the club.
"I'd rather switch my goal for a win," Valot said. "It was a great team effort that lead to me scoring, but I would still trade it for a win."
The Red Bulls will take the match as a step forward, even if they're coming away without points.
“I thought we went after the game, even though it was warm, the crowd and a good team," Marsch said. "We looked much more aggressive and much more threatening and now it was some little things getting away from us at the back. We’ll continue to move forward in that way. Overall, from Salt Lake to here even though they were both losses, it was a step forward.”
