Orlando City defender João Moutinho had never faced the club that drafted him in the 18 months since he was traded from LAFC. He also hadn’t scored.
But with the Lions trailing 1-0 in the final seconds of the quarterfinal match, none of that mattered. Moutinho dashed into the box, shouldered inside his defender and flew up to level the score 1-1 with a searing header.
The goal lit a fire under the Lions, who outplayed arguably the best team in Major League Soccer for the majority of Friday’s match. They carried that passion into penalty kicks, finishing all five and turning away one from LAFC to advance to the semifinals of the MLS is Back Tournament.