As Orlando City looks toward the second half of their season the Lions are losing a fan favorite from their roster.
Midfielder Adrian Winter was released from his contract with Orlando City for family reasons, team officials confirmed to BHSN on Friday.
Because the release is a “mutual termination” the team does not owe Winter any money.
The loss of the 29 year old native of Switzerland is a blow to the team. He started 12 games, and added 3 goals and 2 assists. Winter joined the Lions at the end of July last season. The absence of Winter opens an international roster spot for Orlando.
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The team was back on the training pitch Friday morning to prepare for their next match on Monday against FC Dallas in a prime time 4th of July contest . Only five players trained outside while the rest of the team did pool regeneration to recover from Wednesday night’s US Open Cup match against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers (NASL) when they lost 2-1 in extra time. Head Coach Adrian Heath spoke with the team on Friday to make sure they put the tough loss behind them.
“As far as my mind is concerned now that’s done, it’s forgotten,” said Heath. “We move on to the next game. We’ve got six games in 23 days, I think four of them are on the road a lot of travel. So I’m more concerned with looking forward, we did more than enough to have won the game the other night, there’s no point in dwelling on it now.”
On paper, the match against FC Dallas should be a tough one, the Toros have the second best record in the MLS.
“We know that on the counter attack they are incredibly dangerous,” said Heath. “For me it’s all about concentration, can we concentrate when we have possession of the ball in their half because that’s when they’re at their most dangerous.”
“We have to keep working on what we’ve done the last few weeks,” said defender David Mateos. “We have a difficult game on Monday but we have to try and get the three points because for us it’s important to stay on the first six.”