This is it. A summit. Not the summit. A summit. Because this is only the beginning. Orlando City put one more piece of its past behind it last night with their 3-1 win over Adrian Heath and Minnesota United. It was the first win over that team by the MLS iteration of the Lions. It's probably for the best that Dom Dwyer left the Bubble. With no Lion left on the field from Inchy's storied history in the City Beautiful, there was no room left for psychological blocks. It became just another game. The way it should be. We have decent history against the Portland Timbers. I remember our first MLS match, an April 2015 away match. The Ruckus and the Iron Lion Firm filled an entire section of what is now Providence Park with away fans. The Lions won, 2-0. Portland is a team Orlando usually does well against. But now is not the time to take the boot off the accelerator. As I said, more summits await. And as I have repeated throughout this exercise, next up after this is the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. And its prize, the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup. Before that, there is the restart of the 2020 MLS season. Which will undoubtedly be abbreviated, but still has its prizes. Orlando City has demonstrated that it is ready to handle the pressure. Now, the team needs to execute. Execution is another thing that the team has historically come up short in, but appears to have finally figured out in the Bubble. The real question is, after Tuesday night, can Orlando City translate what it has learned to the actual MLS season and beyond? Is this team ready for the mantle it is about to claim? For one, I am excited to find out the answers.
I've been saying ever since all the restarts began to take shape that these will be anyone's game. Certainly as far as MLS is concerned, I have not been disproven. The question, win or lose, is how well Orlando City translates the lessons they have learned going forward.