Daryl Dike is back! In his first start since returning from a successful loan spell with Barnsley in the English Championship, the powerful forward struck for a brace to help lead Orlando City SC to a comfortable 5-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes Tuesday night at Exploria Stadium.
The match was delayed about a half hour due to inclement weather and the Lions wasted no time to take the lead courtesy of a Nani penalty kick in the seventh minute. Benji Michel beat Judson and raced into the box where Florian Jungwirth tried to pump the brakes on his tackle, but made contact, resulting in the penalty.
JT Marcinkowski guessed right, but couldn’t get a piece of Nani’s clinical PK into the bottom left corner.
Michel doubled the lead in the 16th minute, beating Paul Marie to a chipped ball in the box by Chris Mueller and tapped past Marcinkowski.
Dike made it 3-0 in the 31st minute, latching onto a Nani through ball, taking a touch around Marcinkowski and slipping in his first goal in the 31st minute.
A second delay lasted nearly an hour when another cell with thunder and lightning rolled through, but it couldn’t cool off Dike, who struck for his second five minutes into the second half. Nani again played provider with a free kick that Dike headed downward and in off the hands of Marcinkowski.
Michel put the finishing touches on the rout, beating Marcinkowski inside the near post in the 90th minute.
Goals
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: Orlando put the game away with three goals in a 24-minute span in the first half and essentially went into cruise control the rest of the way for a second consecutive win in their return from the international break. San Jose stretched a winless streak to six matches with their most lopsided defeat of the season. Not exactly how you want to go into the second Cali Clasico of the year.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: This first Nani-Dike connection of the night truly put this one to bed.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Is it a case of enjoy it while you can Orlando fans? While rumors swirl about a possible transfer, Dike is back in purple and earns the honor with his brace, although Nani, with a goal and two assists) and Michel, who set up the PK and scored a brace as well) also deserve a shout.
Next Up
- ORL: Saturday, June 25 at Inter Miami CF | 8 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes | MLS regular season
- SJ: Sunday, June 26 vs. LA Galaxy | 10 pm ET | UniMás, TUDN, Twitter (English audio) | MLS regular season
