Adrian Heath was left with mixed emotions following Orlando City SC’s 1-1 draw on the road Saturday night against Real Salt Lake.
The head coach may have to deal with the loss of Kaka, his captain and star player, following the red card he picked up right before halftime for a hard tackle on Javier Morales. Heath insisted Orlando City would take a close look at the video and consider an appeal of the dismissal that will leave him suspended for their match next Saturday against FC Dallas.
But Heath was also delighted with his team salvaging a point despite being down a man for more than 45 minutes.
“I need to see it again, but it just looked like a coming together,” Heath said. “Ricky [Kaká] said he tried to avoid him on the ground, yet the referee has interpreted it as he stood on him, but Ricky assures us he didn’t.
“I think if it looks like Ricky has not touched him on the video, we will try to appeal it. Ricky is just not that type of player, and it would be very strange for something like that to happen to him.”
The controversial 44th-minute incident threatened to overshadow a battling rearguard action from the Lions, who kept Salt Lake off the scoreboard throughout the second half and almost snatched all three points when Sean St. Ledger was denied from close range by RSL goalkeeper Jeff Attinella.
In the end, Heath was thrilled to leave Utah with a point and had widespread praise for his men, led by a sterling performance from ‘keeper Tally Hall.
“I think they were absolutely magnificent,” Heath said. “We spoke about it at halftime, about not losing our shape and staying disciplined, and I thought the attitude of the players was fantastic. I could not be prouder of their effort.
“The irony was that we could have snatched it with the best chance of the second half from Sean, but I am certainly happy with a point. The back four did particularly well, and Tally was outstanding again, but everybody did their job tonight.”
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It is the third time this season Orlando have managed to claim a point despite being reduced to 10 players, following their opening-day 1-1 draw at home to New York City FC and a similar outcome against San Jose on May 24 when Brek Shea was sent off.
On Saturday the OCSC coach opted for a defense-minded 4-4-1 formation after Kaka was sent off.
“At that stage you are thinking you are really up against it,” he said. “But the lads rallied round incredibly well. We had a really good shape in the second half, and they worked their socks off to keep it.
“You can’t afford to carry anybody when you are away from home and down to 10, and we didn’t. We played a tight back four and kept a solid midfield four in front of them, leaving Carlos Rivas on his own up front, and he put in a really good shift for us as well.”
Heath’s prime concern now is in potentially losing his most influential player – and leading scorer – for the visit of FC Dallas next Saturday. City are already down to a bare 18 players through injuries and international call-ups, and they have a six-game unbeaten home streak to protect, as well as a place in the Eastern Conference’s top three.
“It will be a tough pill to swallow if that’s the way it goes,” Heath admitted. “But hey, if that’s what happens, that’s the way it is and we’ll just get on with it.”
Simon Veness covers Orlando City SC for MLSsoccer.com.
