Forty-seven minutes. That was all it took.
Antoine Griezmann did not ease his way into Major League Soccer. He announced himself. On his first competitive night in an Orlando shirt the Frenchman scored, set the tone, and walked off having buried any question about why the club chased his signature so hard. Orlando won 4-0 at San Jose. Griezmann made sure the result was never really in doubt.
The goal came right after the restart. San Jose were 2-0 down but still fancied a way back into it. Then Griezmann drifted onto the end of a flowing move and clipped a left-footed finish past the keeper. 3-0. Whatever belief the hosts had left drained away in that single moment.
Try it for $0.99.
A new league does not shrink an old reputation
Crossing an ocean does not reset a career. Griezmann landed in the United States at 35 with a CV most of the league can only picture from a distance, World Cup finals, La Liga silverware, a decade spent at the sharp end of European football. Orlando did not sign him to develop. They signed him for nights exactly like this one, when a game needs settling and someone has to do it without any fuss.
There was a private landmark tucked inside the scoreline. That finish was the 300th goal of his professional career, a total only a handful of French players have ever reached. He greeted it with one of those familiar little celebrations of his, the sort that says the badge has changed and the player has not.
[bet365_cta]
Three points that could count for more than three points
Orlando needed this for reasons well beyond one man’s highlight reel. San Jose are no soft touch in the Western Conference, and brushing them aside 4-0 puts a marker down for everyone else circling the playoff race. The table is tight. Early statements like this one tend to linger.
Where the Griezmann move goes from here, nobody can say yet. One match tells you next to nothing about a whole season. What it did tell Orlando is that their marquee summer gamble can still decide a game inside an hour of arriving.
Find all the latest football news on our website and the mathodds app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply