Top 7 Whiniest Orlando City Complaints About The D.C. United Free Kick Call
Top 7 Whiniest Orlando City Complaints About The D.C. United Free Kick Call
Rather than playing better soccer, Orlando City have elected to complain — a lot.
Last night D.C. United and Wayne Rooney defeated Orlando City SC 2-1 in Orlando, Florida, the home of Disney World and alligators and, apparently, the kind of people who really love to not let a call go.
While some of us think the purple team should just be happy that they broke the Black-and-Red's streak of having not conceded a goal. Or maybe the purple team should've concentrated more on putting their 55 percent possession to better use, or perhaps hitting the target on more than five of their 16 shot attempts.
Instead, the purple team complained a lot. Here are the seven best I saw.
7. The 'Welp' Approach
31' - D.C. scores off the resulting free kick because obviously. Dwyer never even touched Rooney and there was no call until he got up and yelled at Armando Villarreal. 2-0. Welp. #ORLvDC
— The Mane Land (@TheManeLand) March 31, 2019
This one comes from The Mane Land, the SB Nation site that follows the club. I get the wordplay. It's very clever! There are some pretty tasty morsels of fan anger below the main tweet. Always love to see that.
6. The Wordless Approach
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) March 31, 2019
The club itself tweeted out a clip of the call, with no commentary whatsoever. This is very good stuff. Three seconds of infraction or non-infraction, depending on whichever team you root for or set of interpretations you cling to. I respect this a lot and wonder of the Orlando City social media person ran through a couple of rough drafts or whether they just pulled the trigger on it immediately.
5. The Cosmic Unfairness Approach, Part I
Nani himself chimed in after the game:
The score should have been different, but if we keep playing like this and believe in ourselves, results will come. The support we got was amazing, thank you all. See you next saturday!#VamosOrlando #MLS #ORLvDC pic.twitter.com/FQ7diD2EoR
— Nani (@luisnani) April 1, 2019
C'mon, man! That's your old teammate who scored. I think this is a low blow.
4. The Cosmic Unfairness Approach, Part II
Another incredible atmosphere last night, not the result we deserved. Big positives to take from the game and build on, this group is growing. See you Saturday. #VamosOrlando pic.twitter.com/20cmbIZ4IW
— Dom Dwyer (@Ddwyer14) April 1, 2019
Dom Dwyer decided to chime in as well.
If you back out of the particular issue his tweet addresses, I love the idea that one team or other "deserves" to win the game. One of the many terrible, wonderful things about soccer — and about sports in general — is when a team is severely, overwhelmingly outplayed and still wins. Whether or not that's the case here is up for debate, but I'm glad brought this up.
3. The 'Sick Of It' Approach
Orlando City coach James O’Connor: ‘I’m sick of explanations’ from officials https://t.co/KVDlc5FH3Y pic.twitter.com/3H32Fw3Xay
— ProSoccerUSA.com (@ProSoccerUSAcom) April 1, 2019
James O'Connor is sick of it!
2. The Subtle Jab Approach
30' | D.C. strikes on a crossed in free kick.
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) March 31, 2019
0-2 | #ORLvDC
Another tweet from the club, whose salty social media tweeter really earned their paycheck last night. You see, the super-duper sneaky insult here is that they're saying Rooney didn't purposefully aim for the goal. You have to stare at the tweet for a while to unearth this expertly buried slight.
1. The 'The Free Kick Was Given Because Rooney' Approach
Yes Dwyer jumps into the challenge showing intent but there is no touch on Rooney whatsoever.
— All Orlando City (@AllOrlandoCity) March 31, 2019
The referee allowed play to go on.
Wayne Rooney asked for the free-kick.
The referee gave it.
Wonder if that was any other player if it would have been given....
Whoever is behind these tweets voices a common opinion on the internet for the purple team: The referee gave the decision because it was Wayne Rooney. I wonder when the first human being complained — in the context of sports — of unfair treatment because of a certain person's reputation. Probably a long time ago, though I'm no sport historian.
Alas, Orlando City SC did indeed play quite well in this game, controlling large portions of the play and registering a high number of chances. But they lost 2-1.
D.C. United sit in first place in the MLS Eastern Conference while Orlando City occupy seventh place.