He had already hit the woodwork and sent in multiple delicious crosses, and he had made more extended sprints than seemed humanly possible by the 88th minute. But Fafa Picault wanted a victory; he wanted to leave Orlando with three points.
So when he received Haris Medunjanin’s pass out wide, his entire focus was on getting into shooting position. Everybody else on the field was dragging, but Picault was fired on by thoughts of nine points in eight days. He zigged, zagged, cut, and cut again. Oriol Rosell was left twisting, the rest of the Orlando defense could scarcely believe the Union winger still had possession of the ball after so many changes of direction in tight spaces.
But he did, and then he fired. The shot was deflected, and it floated dreamily past Joe Bendik, a fitting reward for a tireless performance.
Of course, Picault was not nominated for goal of the week. Nor was he selected for the US Men’s National Team’s international friendlies. The winger has already equaled his key stats from last season, and he has every chance of finishing as the highest scoring American winger in Major League Soccer for the second consecutive season.
But none of that mattered on Saturday. For Picault, it was about desire, heart, and effort. And that’s why he was selected as the Man of the Match.
