ORLANDO – (7-18-4, 25 points) and the Houston Dynamo (8-13-8, 32 points) battled to a 0-0 draw on Saturday at Orlando City Stadium. The Lions are heading to finishing out a dismal season, yet 23,723 fans still showed up to support their team.
Orlando has now also failed to score in three straight games dating back to Sept. 1 against the Philadelphia Union. The team has lost nine straight matches at one point this season and had won just once in its last 20 matches.
The Lions are coming off of a humiliating 4-0 dismantling at the hands of an equally abysmal Chicago side last week.
City goalkeeper Adam Grinwis made his Major League Soccer (MLS) debut in the match, earning his first career shutout.
The Lions jumped out of the gates early, with Sacha Kljestan finding Dom Dwyer with a clever flick in the third minute but the forward was called offside. Later, in the 15th minute, Grinwis’ outlet to Scott Sutter led to another chance for City, using two touches to build up the field for the opportunity.
City maintained its pressure out of the halftime break, with Yoshimar Yotún generating multiple chances in the early minutes. The Peruvian midfielder first found Kljestan on a free kick but the veteran’s deflection went wide. Yotún took two chances of his own minutes later, with his shots whistling just wide of the Dynamo goal.
Grinwis came up with his most important save in the 57th minute, coming off his line to stifle Romell Quioto’s transition chance. Captain Jonathan Spector cleaned up the second chance, heading away Tomas Martinez’s follow-up as Grinwis raced back into position.
“I think there were some lovely passages of play. I think the intensity was better. I think the final third eluded us tonight. I thought we had some half decent chances but I thought we were the better team tonight,” Lions head coach James O’Connor said. “Obviously, the positive keeping the clean sheet; it gives us a stronger foundation to hopefully go on and move forward.”
With a bye weekend coming up, City will next head out on a two-game road trip, beginning with a visit to FC Dallas on Saturday, Oct. 6, at 8 p.m. ET. The Lions then visit the New England Revolution on Oct. 13, before returning to Orlando City Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 17, to host Seattle Sounders FC
