Ercan Kara produced a goal on a nifty play in the box and teammate Facundo Torres also scored as Orlando City topped the visiting LA Galaxy 2–0 on a rainy Saturday night.
Orlando City (4–3–2, 14 points) won a home game for the first time since February.
Orlando City goalkeeper Pedro Gallese became the franchise’s all-time leader in games played by a goalkeeper. It was his 93rd game, one more than Joe Bendik. Gallese recorded three saves for his third shutout of the season.
The Galaxy (1–5–3, six points) were coming off their only victory this year, but they couldn’t produce a repeat result.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann made four saves for the Galaxy.
Given the weather conditions, it was a sparse crowd. But Orlando City gave those who showed up something to cheer about.
Kara scored in the 38th minute, with Michael Halliday’s assist setting up the sequence. Halliday controlled the ball down the right side and sent it toward the box, where Kara’s redirection resulted in the tally.
It marked Kara’s first goal this season, coming in his fourth game. He posted 11 goals last year for Orlando City.
Orlando’s first goal came right after Galaxy defender Julian Aude was given a yellow card for a bad foul.
Torres notched his second goal of the season in the 57th minute. That scoring play was initiated near midfield by Kara before Martin Ojeda took off with possession and sent a pass to Torres.
Klinsmann came out on Torres and appeared to slightly deflect the ball with his left hand, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the goal.
A couple of minutes after the second goal, Los Angeles midfielder Gaston Brugman’s bad foul resulted in a yellow card.
The Galaxy had just one shot on goal in the first half.
