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Roma routs Orlando City in winter friendly

AS Roma are a team in mid-season form, and Orlando City found that out the hard way on Wednesday.

Roma defeated the USL Pro club, 5-0, at Barker Family Stadium in Winter Park, Fla. in a friendly on Wednesday afternoon that capped off their brief U.S. winter stop in Central Florida. Erik Lamela scored the winner two minutes into the friendly and added a second in the 13th. Miralem Pjanic, Mattia Destro and Alessandro Florenzi added the other three goals.

U.S. Men’s National Team midfielderย Michael Bradley started and played 45 minutes for Roma, and he helped the Italian heavyweights dominate possession against an Orlando City team that was playing in front of a sold-out crowd.

What do you think of Roma’s win over Orlando City? Impressed with Bradley’s outing?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I attended the game and the thing I enjoyed the most is that Michael Bradley, is an unquestioned star for this team.
    He dictated much of the play and his teammates rely on him to run the midfield.

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  2. Some of you are really pathetic. Yes, we get it, Roma is a premier club and Orlando City isn’t. You’re not being ironic or showing any more soccer knowledge by pointing it out AGAIN in the comments. Geesh.

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  3. The one thing that goes unmentioned is that Roma fielded more starters than Orlando City did. They only brought a handful of players and Orlando was fielding a team with more trialists than first-teamers. It was a lot of fun either way and I had a great spot to watch the action as close as can be.

    For those wondering how Bradley played, his vision was as good if not better than anyone on his team. It was easy to tell that he just knew exactly where everyone on the field was and was supposed to be at any time. The whole game can be found on the AS Roma youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/asroma

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    • Wouldn’t that be awesome. To be some 19-23 Prospect kid gettin a look and coach says, suit up, your starting against Roma!!

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  4. Roma was in town winter training at disney ESPN world of sports.

    Bodes well for a lot of interesting friendlies when we gwt a SSS and MLS in town!

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  5. Orlando likely retains more players than some other USL Pro teams but I highly doubt that Orlando had anything near a full squad. Roma likely didn’t play a lot of players either. Still is really cool for a USL team to get a friendly against a Serie A team. Too bad they couldn’t get this game solidified earlier at a larger venue to create a bit of revenue for the club.

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  6. Watched the first 45 min. Bradley looked sharp…extremely comfortable on the ball and saw the field well. Beyond that it was an amazing display of the Grand Canyon gap between Serie A & US Pro.

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  7. Roma has a sponsorship deal with Disney, hence the trip to Orlando. Bradley has been starting and playing in most games this season. He’s really making a name for himself in the Serie A. It’s good to see him hold his own against international veterans like Pirlo, Cavani and Robinho.

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  8. Just once I’d like to see a big team take a friendly like this seriously and put things in real perspective. I bet Roma could have put 10-15 on Orlando City.

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  9. I was at the game. Roma was clearly the superior squad. Overall they played crisp football and are in midseason form.

    The game was a legit sellout. They have about 1,000 people in the stands and a good 500 people surrounding the fences around the gate. Tickets were going for $25/$10 a seat. The game was played in a small college venue just outside of downtown Orlando. Because the game was confirmed at the last minute, Orlando City could not secure a larger venue on natural grass. It is hard to take much out of this game considering the disparity in talent. That said, Orlando City played very well in the second half splitting posesion of the ball and getting a few good looks on target. A few of their younger prospects took full advantage of the big stage and played well. The Lions should do well in USL competition next season.

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    • “Roma was clearly the superior squad.”

      Does this even need to be said? Roma, who are pretty much the most exciting team in Italy right now under Zeman, just put up 4 on both AC Milan and Fiorentina, I doubt they had to break a sweat vs third division Orlando City.

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    • “playing in front of a sold-out crowd.” Apparently, they played in front of Orlando fans who were bribed into rooting for Roma. Sell-outs.

      Reply

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