Orlando City beats NYCFC in a truly bizarre ending, a breakdown

Nov 23, 2020 1.5M views 6:30

What Happened

In a 2020 MLS Cup playoff match, Orlando City SC faced NYCFC in a penalty shootout that produced one of the strangest endings the league has ever seen. Orlando appeared to win when their keeper made a save, and the coach sprinted down the tunnel to grab celebratory champagne. But officials ruled the keeper had come off his goal line before the kick was struck, forcing a redo and handing him a second yellow, which meant a red card and ejection. With no substitutions allowed in a shootout except for injury, an outfield defender had to strap on the gloves and finish the job, eventually making saves and converting a kick to send Orlando through.

Why This Matters

The whole mess hinges on a single rule most casual fans never think about: goalkeepers must keep at least one foot on the line until the ball is struck. The 2021 update softened the penalty to a verbal warning for a first offense, but MLS was still running the old version, so the keeper's second yellow turned into a red. That triggered the bigger problem. Shootout rules forbid swapping in a fresh keeper unless someone is injured, so the backup couldn't legally enter. A defender had to go in net, which is rare enough to feel like a glitch. The sequence is a clean teaching case for why officials and players both need to know obscure rules cold. For Orlando, blowing this would have been a brutal way to exit the postseason after thinking they'd already won twice.

At 1.5M views this soccer detour ranks 174th of 1,583 breakdowns, landing in the top 11% of the catalog despite being a rare non-baseball entry.

Key Moments

Who / What Is Involved

Players: Rap.

absolutely crazy finish to this playoff

game orlando city versus new york city

football club wait orlando city soccer

club versus new york city football club

it goes to pk's orlando city has scored

four

new york has only scored a three if

orlando makes this save

they win goalie spits into his hands

concentrates

spreads himself real big as a

distraction makes the save

orlando wins their advance in the

playoffs let's go

let's go everyone's excited the coach is

so excited

he just runs straight off the field down

the tunnel

into there he had a big surprise plan

for him he had like giant champagne

bottles

now wait what do you mean

celebration stops they say that the

goalie

came off the back line before the ball

was struck

which is true he's off the back line

there uh just barely

but that's the rule he came off his line

before the ball was struck redo

and the goalie gets a yellow card now in

the 2021 season

apparently the new rule is that the

goalie the keeper just

gets a verbal warning but apparently mls

isn't doing the updated rules they're

just

they're still doing the old rules which

says he got a yellow card he already had

a yellow card so now he's got a red card

and he's out of the game if i'm wrong

about anything i say in this video

people in the comments that may be wrong

themselves but

think they're right will comment it and

some will be right and it'll be

up to you to figure out who's right and

who's wrong so now they got to bring in

the backup goalie and the coach has to

be led back from the tunnel he's like

wait what happened i was setting up my

big champagne surprise

you're saying we didn't just win he

walks all the way back he's trying to

figure out what's going on he's like

what

he came off what oh my god

okay here we go so they substitute in

the backup keeper for the goalie on the

field

the only problem with this move is per

the rules

once you're in pks

you can't substitute for a guy on the

field

unless that person is injured so

this is an illegal substitution that the

referee allowed to happen

now he's getting a call from heavens

above saying that was illegal

so he tells the backup goalie uh

you can't be in it it has can't be a

substitution has to be someone from the

field to play

that's what they're telling me up above

backup goal is like what but you just

subbed me in

we did the whole numbers on the little

flippy switchy thing it was official

coach is like

big champagne is going to be awkward if

we don't finish this thing off he's got

to take off the gloves

the coach says it's unbelievable and is

unbelievable now this guy the defender

he's like i told you i'll go in because

it needs to be someone from the field

he changes his kit he starts putting his

hair up goes into warrior mode

he put but now they're letting the

backup goalie back onto the field

and then the ref is like no no no no no

no you can't play

he's like what the hell's going on no

one understands what's going on

in comes this player and he's just a

defenseman

not a goalie he tells the ref like yeah

okay if i save it though

you gotta count it you can't kick me off

all right ref's like i can't make jokes

right now i still don't really know

what's going on

he gets to his spot fixes his hair goes

into warrior mode

once again he's on the line they've iced

the hell out of this kicker he doesn't

know what to do the season's on the line

he needs to make this one two three

okay he made it so now they go into

extra kicks

tried to step left make him go the other

way didn't really work

but he watches the replay he takes notes

smoldering intensity

he's like next time i will be better now

if 17 makes this

they win and nothing matters and who

cares

but he does not make it and he looks at

the reps he says was he on the line

was that a clean save it was a nice save

gets the right hand way up there and

foot still on the line by the time the

ball

is kicked so clean nice save by new york

right there

okay this goalie is like holy [ __ ] now

we're going to extra kicks

this is nuts it's all my fault the

defenseman is in goal again

this guy's up here we go

oh he guessed the right way but he does

not make the save

and he was way off the line so even if

he did make the save this wouldn't have

counted it would have been a redo which

is kind of funny

because that's the whole reason you're

in there is because the guy

did that and now you're doing it but

the game goes on i mean this is a crazy

finish

just pretty insane the announcers were

going nuts seething watching the replay

i will

fix this so now this guy has to make it

otherwise orlando loses and that would

be a [ __ ] show

because of everything that transpired

but he doesn't he doesn't

miss it he makes it so now they're tied

up they go to another round

the defenseman's in net and he makes the

save he jumps

very high he goes crazy they celebrate

here's the play just a nice save gotta

suck if you're number 20. that dude is a

goalie

they checked the replay was his foot on

the line

um yeah yeah good job

good job goalie defenseman keeper

but it gets weird again oh yeah

bam now they're checking it to make sure

he's on the line they're waiting they're

waiting they get word that it's good

they celebrate like the game is over and

they have won

but we're only halfway through the p

case

they still need to kick they still need

to make it

they get another chance if they miss it

it just stays tied and the coach is like

guys come over here

and they're like yeah we still need to

make it those guys are complaining

this guy steps up he's like okay one

two three drills it they make it orlando

wins

it's real this time can't stop him just

just i mean wild i watched this i edited

it

it's just so much happened

in the end orlando wins