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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Toronto FC: Final Score 2-0 as Reds Dominate Lifeless Lions

The Lions looked lethargic and lacked any sharpness against Toronto, especially after halftime.

Published

6 years ago

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Scott Carnevale, The Mane Land

Orlando City continued its struggles against Toronto FC in a 2-0 loss that lacked energy or urgency in any part of the field. Except for a decent spell late in the first half, the Reds (5-2-1, 16 points) thoroughly dominated a stagnant and lifeless Orlando squad (3-4-3, 12 points), often anticipating the home side’s next pass better than the Lions themselves.

Jonathan Osorio and Jay Chapman scored in the second half to break open what had been a mostly dull affair and the Reds defended well, even as rumors swirl of the impending arrival of Omar Gonzalez to Toronto. The Lions were shut out for the first time in 2019 as a result.

“Obviously not what we were hoping for or looking for,” said Orlando City Head Coach James O’Connor of his team’s performance. “I think first half we seemed to do a decent enough job of limiting them. I think our expectation was the second half to have something similar where we could go and create some similar chances.”

O’Connor’s only change from the New York City FC game was to insert Dom Dwyer into the starting lineup and move Chris Mueller to the bench.

Toronto did a good job of clogging up the middle of the pitch in the first half and pressuring Orlando into moving laterally across the field. The Lions got some half chances but had trouble finding the target or getting them through traffic.

The best early chance came four minutes in when Justin Morrow headed a back-post cross over the bar for Toronto.

Dwyer hit a drive off target in the 11th and Uri Rosell smashed what could have been a spectacular volley off a corner kick cross that was deflected out by the defense. Orlando’s best chance of the opening half came at the half-hour mark when Tesho Akindele sent in a cross to Will Johnson, who smashed it toward the net with his first touch. Quentin Westberg did well to get down and make the save on a ball behind his momentum.

That came in the midst of a flurry of corner kicks that Orlando won but could do nothing with. The Lions finished the first half with eight corners to Toronto’s one, but couldn’t create anything from them. Nani did well just to get a volley shot toward the goal in the 31st. Robin Jansson sent a shot toward the net in the 36th that Chris Mavinga headed off his own crossbar.

But the teams couldn’t score and went to the half without a goal.

Orlando City went to the half with an 11-2 advantage in shots (but only 1-1 on target). The Lions saw five of their shots blocked by the defense and another five sail off frame. Toronto held 56% of the first-half possession to Orlando’s 44% and the passing quality was nearly equal, with the Reds holding a slight advantage (85.3%-83.6%).

Toronto came out the stronger team in the second half and came close to scoring a few times before breaking down the door.

Brian Rowe did well to get to his corner and keep out a Laurent Ciman free kick in the 48th minute and denied Jordan Hamilton in the 57th minute as the Reds continued to keep possession and turn Orlando over repeatedly. Osorio tried his hand in the 60th, but Rowe again made the save. On the ensuing corner kick, Mavinga made an excellent play to pick a ball out of the air and fire it on target, but Rowe was there again to make the stop.

Akindele fired after settling the ball in the 63rd minute but had his shot blocked in one of Orlando’s few second-chance attempts.

Toronto then got the breakthrough in the 65th. Ruan ran up to win a ball in the air but then hesitated and allowed Toronto to play in behind him. The ball ended up with Osorio to the left side. The Toronto midfielder cut around Lamine Sané and Rosell in the box and fired into the back corner to make it 1-0.

“I take my responsibility,” Sané said after the game. “I say it in front of everybody. It’s like that, soccer, and I take my responsibility.”

Four minutes later, Dwyer had an opportunity to pull that goal back, but the striker sent a header wide for the second straight week on an excellent opportunity. Mueller came on moments later, but his introduction didn’t inject any life into a Lions squad without any energy in the second 45.

Rowe did well to stop a shot by Alejandro Pozuelo in the 73rd minute, but the Reds had their second goal four minutes later. Substitute Chapman made an untracked run down the right side, made a wonderful play to bring down the ball with his foot, then sent a shot toward Rowe. The goalkeeper will want that one back, as he stuck out his foot to block it and it went off the back of his foot and into the net to squash any Orlando comeback hopes.

Dwyer nearly scored a consolation goal in the 89th, but Westberg made a tremendous reaction save to preserve the clean sheet.

The five minutes of stoppage time might as well have been 500, because Toronto kept the ball and the Lions couldn’t generate anything, especially when reduced to 10 men with Ruan cramping and getting treatment off the pitch.

Toronto turned around the shot total significantly after halftime, with 11 second-half shots, getting eight of them on goal. Orlando led in shots (18-13) for the game, but the shots on target were lopsided in favor of the Reds, 9-2. Toronto held 58% of the possession to Orlando’s 42% and out-passed the Lions, 87.4%-81.6%.

“I felt that Toronto got the favor in the second half and they could play through us too easy,” Jansson said. “I think our shape wasn’t that good as in the first half and our control of the tempo of the game and when we had the ball. I think we did a great first half and we just need to bring the first half to the second half and continue the whole way.”

“I think when you look at the second half it wasn’t what we were anticipating,” O’Connor said. “I think there was, I would say a lack of quality in decision making about keeping the ball — areas about where to keep the ball, giving it away really cheaply and it compounded things that way.”

“I’m disappointed,” Sané said. “In the second half they beat us in our game. We have to keep the ball and make them run but I think they changed and we ran a lot and lost our energy. For me, it’s like we tie in New York for nothing if we don’t win at home. We had a big game in New York and when you lose at home, it’s like you played for nothing over there. We have to win at home. It’s most important for going to the playoffs.”

O’Connor cited a notable lack of energy, especially after halftime and said the staff will need to look into the reasons why that occurred before he can address it so that it doesn’t happen again.

“Whether that’s down to mentality, whether that’s down to training load — but I think that’s something we’re going to have to look at, and try to figure out, is it a mentality thing where you need to just have more desire to push through? Is it genuinely that they’ve had too much exposure to the sun and are fatigued? So these are questions that I’ve got to sit down and try to look at and get some answers for myself.”

The Lions will go on the road for the next two matches, visiting Atlanta United on May 12 and the Seattle Sounders on May 15.

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Orlando City

How Orlando City’s Offense Stacks Up Against What Atlanta Does Defensively

How Orlando City has performed against teams playing with three or four defenders, and how that may influence the playoff game against Atlanta United.

Published

17 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The most famous quote about real estate is that “there are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” Soccer coaches also like to think in threes, especially when it comes to points, but for a soccer coach, the three things that matter might be the rhyming triplet “formation, formation, formation,” as that is where they will have the biggest influence on every game that their team plays.

Throughout his tenure as head coach, Óscar Pareja has preferred to use a 4-2-3-1 as his formation (fbref.com’s lineup data shows that the Lions primarily played a 4-2-3-1 in 65% of their MLS matches this season, and 79% of their MLS matches during the last three seasons). The Lions have lined up in a 4-2-3-1 during each of their last 14 games, and my confidence level is strong to quite strong (can you believe Meet the Parents came out 24 years ago?) that they will do so once again on Sunday when they host Atlanta United.

Atlanta United also prefers to deploy a 4-2-3-1, but was less consistent than Orlando City this season during MLS play, as evidenced by the chart below that shows how Atlanta lined up this season:

The purpose of this image is a table to show how Atlanta United lined up in 2024 (mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but also in one of six other formations).

I am relying on the coders at Opta for their evaluation of the formation, as I do not watch a lot of Atlanta United matches (sounds terrible), but though Atlanta primarily played with four defenders in more than two-thirds of its matches, during the last two matches it played a 3-5-2, the only two matches all season in which interim coach Rob Valentino rolled out that formation. I suspect that the formation change was related partially to playing Inter Miami and trying to defend the Herons’ dynamic offense and partially due to an injury suffered by defender Brooks Lennon in the first game of that series. So, while Atlanta primarily played four in the back for most of the season, there is a good chance it will roll with what worked against Florida’s second-best MLS team when it plays Florida’s best MLS team this weekend.

Now, if you want to read more about Atlanta, then you can read our match preview, which will drop Sunday morning, but I want to look at how Orlando did against teams that play similar styles. Looking only at MLS games, the table below shows how Orlando City performed against different back line structures this season (the left side is how the Lions’ opponents lined up, the right side is how Orlando City performed against opponents in those formations):

Table embedded as an image showing Orlando City doing best in goal differential in 12 games against three-man back lines, second best against four-man back lines, and having played once against a five-man back line (a 1-1 draw).

Orlando City earned slightly more points per game — the stat that matters most — against teams that played four in the back, but the Lions had a better average goal differential when teams played three in the back. Atlanta will likely deploy one of those two formations. In both games against Orlando City this season, Sunday’s visitors went with a 4-2-3-1, but as mentioned earlier, they used three in the back in each of their last two matches, so it really could be either.

Soccer is not like baseball, where players primarily stay in the same spot throughout the game, so some of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, as players are not always rigidly in the same position throughout a match. A team may also primarily play with four in the back but switch to three when chasing a game, or five when trying to protect against a late goal.

That said, using the data around Orlando City’s opponents’ general formations, here are the attacking groups who played the most frequently against four defenders during the 24 MLS games where Opta coded the opponents as using a defensive group of four:

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy four defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus eight goal differential for the season.

It is a little ominous that the main starting group, shown in row one, has played 666 MLS minutes against back lines of four this season, but do I like that green goal differential of +8 in those minutes, which is a strong +1.08 per 90 minutes. I like that goal differential more than I like all the things that Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin like on their song that is creatively named “I Like It.” Coincidentally, when people ask me what I think about that song, I say, “I like it.” I am very creative.

If we look at the lineups that Orlando City has used against back lines of three defenders then there are some pretty major differences in personnel groupings, but it must be noted that more than half of the games against teams playing three in the back came early in the season, when Ramiro Enrique was unavailable to play. Enrique, my presumed starter at striker, has played fewer than three games’ worth of minutes (265 total) against back lines of three this season, and only 28 minutes with the main starting group, which ranks 13th among all the attacking lineups for minutes played against three defenders. That group scored one goal in their 28 minutes together though, for a robust 3.21 goals-scored-per-90-minutes average.

While the team as a whole has been successful against three-man back lines, I do not expect any of the lineups shown in the table below to play more than a few minutes together this weekend, though the first row and the last row are strong groups and had a lot of success.

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy three defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus three goal differential for the season.

I am sure that all week long the Orlando City coaching staff has been going back and forth on whether it is more likely that Atlanta reverts to its most commonly used four in the back, or if the Five Stripes try for three wins in a row with three in the back. I would prefer that Atlanta plays with zero defenders and goalkeeper Brad Guzan wears a blindfold, but I think that is unlikely to be the case.

Even though Atlanta defeated Orlando City both times while in a 4-2-3-1, based on available personnel and recent results, I believe that the team will come out in a 3-5-2 in Inter&Co Stadium in the conference semifinal. Good things come in threes, and Orlando City’s best offensive production this season has been against three defenders, so I am going to be hoping that this continues, and in the third game against Atlanta the Lions grab the three points. Three’s company!

Well, it is a playoff game, so there are no actual points at stake, but you know what I meant.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final?

Published

19 hours ago

on

November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City continues its playoff journey against Atlanta United Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions are coming off an emotional penalty shootout win over Charlotte FC in their best-of-three, first-round series. Likewise, Atlanta United stunned everyone by taking out Inter Miami to advance in its own best-of-three matchup. Now, the rivals meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

What does Orlando City need to do to get past Atlanta United to advance to the Easter Conference final?

Beat Guzan

Brad Guzan made 16 saves over Atlanta’s three matches against Inter Miami, including seven in the 3-2 win on the road in Game 3. The 40-year-old former USMNT keeper is in excellent form and is a big reason why the Five Stripes are facing Orlando City. Converting chances against Guzan will be crucial to earning a result. There have been times this season when the Lions have struggled to convert their chances. Despite that, the team has done enough offensively to get to this point. Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire, Ramiro Enrique, and others have contributed and will need to do so this weekend.

Cartagena is Essential

Orlando City lost twice to Atlanta United during the regular season. What is interesting, and perhaps relevant, is that Wilder Cartagena was out for both of those matches. Cartagena was shown a straight red in the match against Minnesota United prior to the first match against Atlanta way back in March. He was shown a yellow card in the match against FC Cincinnati and then served a yellow card accumulation suspension for the final match of the season against Atlanta. Fortunately for Orlando City, Cartagena will be available for the match this weekend. I’ve mentioned before the importance of Cartagena to Orlando City’s success. When he and Cesar Araujo are on the field together, the defense is simply better. Cartagena is frankly one of the better defensive midfielders in MLS. Atlanta scored five goals in the series against Miami, and Orlando will need to keep the visitors from having that kind of offensive success.

Overcome the Past

That darn international break in the middle of the playoffs is something I don’t love. More precisely, I don’t like it because Orlando City often struggles after a break. It would have been nice if Orlando City could have ridden the momentum from the penalty kick victory into the Atlanta match, but that’s not to be. Now is the time for Orlando City to break some bad habits, including turning around its historical lack of success against Atlanta, and tendency to struggle in the first match after a break. Oscar Pareja needs to have the players in the right frame of mind, and the players need to execute the plan. A full house of supporters can also make a difference. Given it’s a Sunday afternoon match, there’s no reason not to pack the house.

That is what I will be looking for Sunday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 11/21/24

Marta’s chance to shine in NWSL Championship, NWSL and MLS award winners announced, 2025 SheBelieves Cup details, and more.

Published

22 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’ve been spending most of this week plotting out some holiday shopping to make things a little less stressful for myself over the next few weeks. A big weekend filled with Orlando soccer awaits us, so make sure to get any errands or obligations out of the way sooner rather than later. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s NWSL Championship between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, including Marta’s opportunity to put an exclamation point on what has been an excellent season for the Pride. Orlando has been enjoying the fruits of its labor this season after a rebuild over the past few years that’s included plenty of change in the City Beautiful. Marta has been a constant, however, enduring some difficult seasons since joining the Pride and adapting her game She’s scored in both of the Pride’s playoff games so far and has a chance to author a storybook ending on Saturday.

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was named 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, beating out the Pride’s Anna Moorhouse and Utah Royals FC’s Mandy Haught for the honor. It was Berger’s first year in the NWSL and she’s the first European player to win the award. She only conceded 16 goals across her 22 matches for Gotham this season and was a key reason behind her team’s success. I’m not too surprised that Moorhouse did not win, considering how solid the Pride’s defense was as a whole, but this won’t take anything away from a record-breaking season for her.

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

Columbus Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy was voted 2024 MLS Coach of the Year after a historic season in which the Crew set club records in both points and goals. The Crew also won the Leagues Cup this summer and their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign included advancing past Tigres and Monterrey en route to the final. This is Nancy’s first time being named Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the award every year since 2021. The Frenchman received 40.02% of the vote, winning the award over Inter Miami’s Gerardo Martino and Colorado Rapids Head Coach Chris Armas.

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

The 10th annual SheBelieves Cup will take place next year and the tournament will return to its usual format where each of the four teams plays each other once. The United States Women’s National Team will host Japan, Colombia, and Australia in February in what should be an exciting tournament. The U.S. will take on Colombia on Feb. 20 in Houston before facing Australia in Arizona on Feb. 23 and finishing the tournament on Feb. 26 against Japan at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. These games will also be the first domestic games of 2025 for the USWNT as it prepares to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

FC Dallas announced that Eric Quill will become the team’s next head coach. Quill joins Dallas after a great year with New Mexico United that included trips to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and USL Championship Western Conference semifinals. It’s also a reunion of sorts for Quill, as he previously coached North Texas SC and was named USL League One Coach of the Year with the club in 2019. Dallas missed out on the playoffs this season, with Peter Luccin coaching the team on an interim basis after the firing of Nico Estevez in June.

Free Kicks

  • District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser challenged Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to a bet involving this weekend’s NWSL Championship, with embarrassing lightshows on the line.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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