Cyle Larin almost didn’t get the chance to score the hat trick against the New York Red Bulls that kept Orlando City SC’s playoff hopes alive for at least another week.
Lions head coach Adrian Heath admitted the coaching staff had thought about starting Bryan Rochez up front for the must-win game after the Honduran had struck in successive games as a substitute and Larin had been held scoreless for seven outings in a row.
But Orlando kept faith with their prospective Rookie of the Year and he delivered a powerful statement with his 12th, 13th and 14th goals of the season to make the league’s rookie goalscoring record his own in emphatic style, in a 5-2 win over the Red Bulls on Friday night at Red Bull Arena.
“We honestly thought about starting Bryan tonight because he has worked hard enough to do it,” Heath explained. “But, although he’s looked a bit tired in recent weeks, Cyle seemed fresher in training this week.
“So we spoke about it this morning. We said ‘We expect a big performance out of you because you’ve looked tired. Now, if you’re telling us it’s not tiredness, then we expect more out of you.’ And he more than repaid our faith in him. It has obviously been weighing on his shoulders a bit, so to give the performance he did, with the great finishes he had, I am just delighted for him.”
While Larin took the goal plaudits, Heath was ecstatic with every aspect of his team as they took the game to the Eastern Conference leaders after a sticky first 20 minutes and ran the Red Bulls’ backline ragged by the end.
“We knew they were going to come out flying and the important thing was not to concede early on and give them some momentum,” Heath added. “But I thought we set up well against them and we could be very dangerous on the break.
“We said beforehand we wanted to make sure there was something on the game next week against Montreal. It is going to be huge now. It gives us an opportunity to stay in the race. It has been a magnificent effort from all the players. I am delighted for every single one of them, and the supporters who travelled up today.”
Heath also singled out Rochez for an unselfish performance in taking the substitute's role in the Orlando attack once again, and the Honduran scored his third goal in as many games.
The other starring roles for the Lions were provided by the Colombian duo of Cristian Higuita and Carlos Rivas. The former covered just about every blade of grass in the defensive midfield role while Rivas, forced on as a replacement after the first-half injury to defender Seb Hines that led to a major defensive reshuffle, served up two assists for hitman Larin.
“I have said all along I think the best years are ahead of them,” Heath insisted. “They are both tremendous young players. People forget they are only 20 and they are only going to get better. I look forward to working with them and I enjoy working with them. If they don’t get any serious injuries they can go anywhere in the world and play. They have great talent.
“Once the game gets stretched, Carlos is very, very quick and he started to pick a pass tonight. I thought he looked dangerous every time we broke.”
Larin admitted his pre-game pep talk from Heath had been a big factor in revving him up for the game, while his first goal – a magnificent header from Kaká’s corner – was something he had learned from bitter experience.
“Yes, that talk definitely motivated me,” Larin said. “It pushed me to score that [first] goal and help my team win. If we score goals, I know our defense will make it stand up.
“For the corner, Kaká played a great ball and I made a run and flicked it to the back post and I have been working on that. I learned that from a guy who I was covering and he scored on me like that so I added it my game and it worked.”
It was a second successive hat trick in New York for Larin, who also bagged a treble in Orlando’s losing 5-3 performance against New York City FC in August.
“I guess I like New York,” he added with a smile. “Every time I come here I feel good and things seem to open up for me. It felt really good to break the record and score the hat trick. But I credit Carlos for most of the goals. He gave me balls like that in previous games so I was just waiting for it and made sure I put them away.”
Larin admitted the long wait for his 12th goal had been weighing on his mind. He bagged No.11 to tie the 2003 record of Chicago’s Damani Ralph on August 1, and then hit a complete barren patch.
“Yes, it was getting to me but I just made sure I kept a clear mind and didn’t get down on myself,” he said. “To win with my team and score the goals, now everyone’s happy.”
