The New York Red Bulls slumped to a 1-0 defeat in their opening match of the 2023 MLS season against Orlando City SC at Exploria Park.
Despite dominating the opening 45 minutes and forcing Orlando into constant turnovers, New York failed to find a goal to make all of that good play count.
The Lions marginally improved in the second half, but were awarded a penalty when a shot by Cesar Araujo struck Red Bulls defender Sean Nealis on the arm and Facundo Torres converted from the penalty spot.
Orlando is now unbeaten in nine all-time matches on opening day and has defeated New York in three of their last four matches.
Story of the match
Orlando had trouble dealing with the New York pressure and when the Lions found success in possession, passes split teammates which resulted in giveaways.
Frankie Amaya shot wide for the Red Bulls and a minute later, last year's leading scorer Lewis Morgan did the same as the hosts continuously lost control of the ball.
Five minutes later, Orlando finally gained the New York penalty area and a low cross by Luca Petrasso was cut out by Andres Reyes for a throw-in.
Morgan then fired one straight at Lions goalkeeper Pedro Gallese and seconds later, a turnover led to another chance by the Scot, which he sent wide.
A minute after that, Robin Jansson was booked after stopping Elias Manoel from breaking in behind the defense following a giveaway. The ensuing free-kick was blocked.
Orlando was still struggling to get the ball past the halfway line and failed to make any sort of accurate passes once there. The first half came to an end with the Red Bulls on the front foot.
Although things stayed the same at the start of the second half, the hosts gained more possession of the ball, but more poor passing led to no chances of note.
Two minutes in the second period, Cesar Araujo gave the ball away but got back to block the shot and five minutes later, a poor pass by Torres gave Morgan a chance to shoot, but he fired wide.
A chance finally came the Lions' way on 54 minutes when Michael Halliday sent in a low cross that was just out of the reach of Ercan Kara.
The ensuing corner led to the opening goal. A cross into the box found the head of Araujo and his shot toward goal bounced up and hit the arm of New York captain Sean Nealis.
Referee Guido Gonzales Jr. pointed to the spot and after a review by VAR, the decision was upheld. Torres stepped up and beat Carlos Coronel, who dove left, to the right.
Ramiro Enrique replaced Kara for his Orlando and MLS debut and his energy and fresh legs helped the Lions win more 50-50 balls as the Red Bulls began to tire.
In the 72nd minute, Gallese had to be alert to a floating ball sent in his direction by John Tolkin and after punching away, a shot was sent back at him, but from his knees, he remarkably parried away.
Ten minutes from time, a good sequence of passes ended when Enrique and after getting past two defenders, unleashed a shot that was deflected wide.
After failing to get a free-kick despite Torres being hauled down, Gallese made another spectacular save, denying Cristian Casseres Jr. on the counter first with his shoulder and then his face.
In egiht minutes of stoppage time, New York won two free kicks, but Morgan sent his well over and Casseres Jr. fired his effort straight to Gallese.
Man of the match: Pedro Gallese
The Orlando goalkeeper is probably one of the most underrated at his position in all of MLS and he showed why the Lions re-signed him to a long-term deal in the offseason, making several spectacular saves.