2:2 New York Orlando Choupo-Moting Gjengaar Ojeda Pasalic 03.15.25 · League

Twice Metro fell behind visiting Orlando. Twice they replied. A hard-though second half seemed likely to find a breakthrough for one of the sides... but steady goalkeeping preserved a 2:2 tie.

Sandro Schwarz gave the first start to Raheem Edwards (remember that name). He also returned Alexander Hack to the backline, which pushed Dylan Nealis out wide and Dennis Gjengaar further up the midfield.

Orlando opened the scoring against the run of play in the 18th minute, when the ball dropped behind the right side of the Metro defense. Martin Ojeda took it centrally, then unleashed a rocket from outside the box that pierced the upper right corner.

Metro responded in the 29th, after VAR deemed a foul on Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting penalty-worthy. (If they didn't, there was a follow-up foul on Peter Stroud that looked even worse.) The German-Cameroonian scored his first Metro goal by perfectly placing his penalty kick inside the left post.

Ten minutes later, Orlando got the lead back on a play that looked incredibly offside... until the realization that Edwards, on the other side of the field, was blatantly behind the play. And minutes after, another breakaway from Orlando was thwarted when their forward tripped over the ball at the top of the box.

Metro came out rejuvenated in the second half, evening the game just two minutes in. Emil Forsberg laid the ball off to Edwards, who shifted to Stroud. The midfielder then sent a goal-mouth pass that was redirected by Gjengaar at the near post. Edwards then missed two huge opportunities himself, first by misfiring wide from the center of the box, then by failing to pounce on a rebound from Nealis the Younger's shot.

Gjengaar had his best game as a Metro, stripping the ball at midfield and racing into the box, only to be thwarted by the approaching keeper. He then hit the goalpost on another shot, as the winner for Metro was nowhere to be seen.

Unfortunately, the team's lack of depth started to show, as Orlando controlled the latter part of the game. Carlos Coronel came up with two fantastic saves in injury time. First, he did just enough to cut off a dangerous angle on a glorious opportunity in the box. Then, he got his foot to redirect a goalmouth opportunity out of danger.

At the end, a point was a fair result, but this team is in dire need of forward depth. Maybe that's where Gjengaar belongs?

Lineup: Coronel, Edwards, Hack, Nealis, Eile, Nealis, Edelman, Stroud, Gjengaar, Forsberg, Choupo-Moting. Subs: Carballo, Hall, Ngoma, Carmona.