Orlando City snapped a four-match winless streak in the sweltering heat and humidity of Central Florida in the summertime on Sunday afternoon.
The Lions throttled expansion side FC Cincinnati 5-1 through a brace from both Tesho Akindele and Nani. Dom Dwyer added Orlando’s fifth to help the goal reach the five-goal threshold for the first time in nearly two years.
Sunday’s win was the fourth time in the club’s five-year tenure in MLS that Orlando City has scored five, or more, goals. Unlike, Orlando’s two previous five-star performances the Lions opponent ended the match with 11 players on the pitch.
Orlando City’s most recent five-goal outburst, in MLS play, occurred on Sept. 27, 2017 when the Lions blitzkrieged New England 6-1 at Orlando City Stadium. Xavier Kouassi was red carded, via video assistant referee, in the 11th minute of a scoreless match.
In that match, as well as Sunday’s one-sided win, Dom Dywer scored Orlando City’s fifth goal of the contest.
Panama City Beach native, Kenny Saief made his ninth appearance of the season for FC Cincinnati when he replaced Kekuta Manneh in the 65th minute.
Orlando City (4-6-3, 15 points) improved to 10th in MLS’ Eastern Conference, while FC Cincinnatti (3-8-2, 11 points) remains in at the bottom of the Eastern Conference table.
