Considering his team had just chalked up their first MLS victory and overcome their first road test in MLS, at BBVA Compass Stadium, Orlando City SC head coach Adrian Heath might just have been the calmest person in Houston.
The Lions completed a solid 1-0 result on Friday courtesy of an own goal by Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric, and Heath was the epitome of soccer cool in the wake of the team’s inaugural win.
“I am just delighted for everybody connected with the club,” he said. “I think we were the better team for the second game running and we deserved to get the three points.
“I thought we matched up with Houston really well and, when we started to quicken things up in the second half, we started to open them up. This is a notoriously difficult place to play, and to play as well as we did bodes well for the future.”
More importantly for Heath, the victory – added to Sunday’s come-from-behind draw with New York City FC – gives his league newcomers some breathing room as they look back at their first six days at this level.
“We are still a work in progress,” he insisted. “But the most important thing that this three points does for us is that everybody can relax a bit. If we had lost, the pressure would have been enormous for the next game, but now we can start concentrating on what we are trying to build here.”
The win came courtesy of the intervention of a Brazilian. But, unlike last Sunday’s last-gasp equalizer from Kaká, this one was down to towering ex-Philadelphia striker Pedro Ribeiro, who charged down Deric’s clearance and forced the Houston stopper into slapping the ball into his own net in the 74th minute.
“I just said to him it wasn’t the prettiest goal he’ll ever be involved in but he got his rewards for looking sharp in training all week,” Heath explained. “He went in there with some attitude and it opened things up for us.”
Orlando were without midfielder Cristian Higuita, who picked up a leg injury against New York, and Honduran striker Bryan Rochez, who Heath felt was still short of match fitness, hence the 6-foot-4 Ribeiro got the call when Carlos Rivas tweaked a hamstring in the 54th minute.
Arguably Heath’s biggest call of the night, though, was in subbing for captain Kaká in the 82nd minute, giving Eric Avila the chance to cement victory with a holding role in midfield.
“When you see what Ricky has done over our last three games, he has probably covered more distance than anybody else on the team,” Heath observed. “I just thought we needed some fresh legs out there, but Ricky can be very pleased with his shift.”
Heath was equally satisfied with a glance at the Eastern Conference standings, with his fledgling outfit at the top of the table with four points from their first two games, albeit with the rest of the weekend's games yet to come.
“Yes, that looks very nice,” he admitted. “Okay, so it’s only two games but we haven’t lost and this gives us some confidence we can play at this level and are comfortable at this level. It’s a good start.”
