Tyrese Spicer Answers Pavel Bucha as Orlando City and FC Cincinnati Draw 1-1 in the Heat

The kickoff temperature was 90 degrees, the match swung back and forth for long stretches, and Saturday night in Orlando produced two shots off the post, a penalty shout shut down by VAR and a rookie kicking himself over a missed chance. Somehow, it finished with one goal apiece.

Pavel Bucha's first-half strike put FC Cincinnati in front, Tyrese Spicer answered three minutes into the second half, and Orlando City SC and FC Cincinnati drew 1-1 in front of 19,015 fans at Inter&Co Stadium. Cincinnati hit the post twice and had a penalty shout wiped away by VAR. Orlando took 17 shots. Neither side found a winner.

Bucha Breaks It Open

Orlando had the early jump. Roman Celentano saved a Justin Ellis shot from distance in the 10th minute, Spicer had two efforts in the 11th, one blocked and one wide, and Antoine Griezmann had a shot blocked in the 15th.

Then Cincinnati struck with its first real flurry. In the 23rd minute, Evander's shot from the middle of the box was blocked, and the loose ball fell to Bucha outside the area. Cincinnati said he took control and finished with a precise strike, and ESPN logged it as a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner, with no assist. It was his fifth goal of the season, which the AP called a career best, and Cincinnati said it was his 20th career goal for the club, moving him alone into eighth on the club's all-time scoring list.

Orlando kept coming. Celentano saved from Ellis again in the 36th minute and again from an Ellis header in first-half stoppage time, and Ellis also missed from distance in the 43rd. Orlando lost Bernardo Rhein to an injury in the 39th minute, with Adrián Marín replacing him, and Cincinnati took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Spicer Turns on the Jets

Orlando brought on Marco Pasalic for Joran Gerbet at halftime, and the equalizer took three minutes. On a fast break, Ellis redirected the ball through into Spicer's path. Cincinnati's account had Spicer winning a physical battle with Bucha, then going around Celentano before finishing. ESPN logged a right-footed shot from the middle of the box into the top of the net.

"I just had to turn the jets on to get there," Spicer said, per Orlando City. "So, I was like, let me try to go around him, and it worked out well."

The next 10 minutes were chaos. Celentano saved from Griezmann in the 52nd minute after two more Orlando shots were blocked, and then Kévin Denkey hit the right post for Cincinnati in the 53rd. In the same sequence, Evander went down in the box. Cincinnati's recap said a penalty was awarded and then overturned by VAR, while ESPN's feed logs the referee ruling simulation and a VAR decision of no penalty. Evander was booked in the 55th minute. In the 64th, Ender Echenique hit the left post from the right side of the box.

Orlando's best late chances fell to Spicer, who missed in the 73rd and 79th minutes, and Pasalic, who missed in the 80th. Maxime Crépeau then made his only two saves of the night on Kenji Mboma Dem in the 87th and Evander in the 89th, and Evander sent one just past the top right corner in stoppage time.

The Standouts

Tyrese Spicer scored what the AP called a career-high fifth goal this season and took five shots. Justin Ellis, the 19-year-old rookie, had five shots, three on target and the assist, his sixth of the season per the AP. He was also hard on himself. "I have to do better with my chance," Ellis said. On the goal, he was more generous: "the goal was all him. I think he deserves all the credit."

Pavel Bucha scored with his only shot. Cincinnati said he has three goals in his last four appearances across all competitions.

Roman Celentano made four saves, three of them in the first half, according to the AP, and kept Cincinnati in it when Orlando had its best spells.

Ellis also handed out his own man-of-the-match award. "I thought he was the best player on the field today, no question," he said of Luis Otávio.

The Moment That Defined It

The turning point came in the 53rd minute. Cincinnati was five minutes removed from conceding, Denkey's shot came back off the post, and Evander went down in the box. Had Cincinnati been given a penalty there, it could have reclaimed control. Instead, the VAR check went Orlando's way, Evander was booked two minutes later, and the match settled into a long, sweaty stalemate.

The Numbers

• Possession: 50 percent apiece.
• Shots: Orlando 17, Cincinnati 11. On target: Orlando 5, Cincinnati 3.
• Saves: Celentano 4, Crépeau 2.
• Woodwork: Cincinnati hit the post twice.
• Offsides: Cincinnati was caught 8 times, Orlando once.

What It Means

FC Cincinnati moved to 7-6-6 with 27 points, which Cincinnati said left it sixth in the Eastern Conference. Per the AP, Cincinnati is 3-1-1 over its last five matches. It hosts New York City FC on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Orlando City moved to 6-3-10 with 21 points, and the result was a clear step up from May 23, when Cincinnati won 6-2 at home. Ellis noticed. "We conceded six last time, and it was a good game," he said. Interim head coach Martín Perelman kept the big picture simple. "We need to take the point and move forward because this league is long and we are still there," he said. Orlando hosts the Chicago Fire on Wednesday.

Sweat Equity

This was the soccer equivalent of a summer blockbuster with two leads and no clean ending: two posts, a VAR reversal, a rookie kicking himself over one chance and a winger turning on the jets for the other. Cincinnati will feel it left two points on the frame of the goal. Orlando will feel it got a point without its best finishing. Both are right, and in a 90-degree Florida night, a point each is about as fair as it gets.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by Orlando City SC (orlandocitysc.com). Match notes from FC Cincinnati (fccincinnati.com) and the AP via ESPN.