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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Nashville SC: Final Score 3-1 as Lions Crash Out of Playoffs

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3 years ago

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Orlando City’s 2021 season is over.

The Lions scored first, but fell victim to a fluky goal and the Nashville SC counter attack in a 3-1 loss at Nissan Stadium. The game was closer than the final score would indicate, but the fourth meeting of the year between the two sides — the third in Nashville — went to the hosts. Daryl Dike put the Lions ahead early but Hany Mukhtar scored twice and Jhonder Cadiz got an insurance goal deep in stoppage time.

The team to score first has still never won in the series and a solid second season under Oscar Pareja — despite a plethora of injuries, suspensions, and international call-ups — came to a close after the franchise’s first ever road playoff contest.

“Those counters affected us today and that was a difference maker in the game,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “I think the effort from the players and the desire and the willingness to be as we’re always asking them, it was there on the field. So there’s nothing to regret, and it’s painful but the boys left it on the field and there’s nothing we can complain about.”

Despite David Loera being the only player on the injury report, Pareja still didn’t have his first-choice starting XI in the lineup. Joao Moutinho did not dress and Nani started on the bench. Pareja had Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Emmanuel Mas, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Ruan. Sebas Mendez and Junior Urso slotted into central midfield, with Mauricio Pereyra and Chris Mueller facilitating the attack to Benji Michel and Daryl Dike up top.

Orlando City started strong and looked to be growing into the game first. A good bit of buildup nearly resulted in a chance for Mueller in the 10th minute. The Lions worked the ball into the area but the final ball from Dike was too far out in front. But Orlando got the opener four minutes later.

Michel won a corner kick for Orlando and the Lions made the set piece pay off. Pereyra sent in a great cross and Dike peeled away from the defense and placed his header toward the far post and in for the first goal in the 14th minute. It was Dike’s first playoff goal.

Nashville tried to get back into it using the dark arts. CJ Sapong took a dive and Ismail Elfath rewarded it by giving the hosts a free kick in a dangerous area. Mukhtar’s free kick hit the wall and came back to him. He tried to pick out Walker Zimmerman with a recycled ball but Jansson cleared it away.

Unfortunately, Nashville tied the match in the 21st minute. Urso was unaware of Anibal Godoy’s quick close-down and gave away the ball in the middle of the field. Godoy poked it off of Urso to Mukhtar who dribbled toward Orlando’s area and tried a long-distance shot. Carlos was unlucky in trying to block it because instead of Gallese having a good chance to make a save, the ball deflected up and over the goalkeeper and in to make it 1-1.

“They bet for counters and they they don’t want to be the team to dictate the tempo,” Pareja said. “They wait and that’s what they do, and they did it well.” 

Randall Leal tried to put Nashville on top three minutes later from Gallese’s left as the defense failed to close him down, but he fired a laser shot right at El Pulpo and the goalkeeper gave no rebound.

Godoy thought he’d scored in the 41st minute off a rebound of a Mukhtar shot that Gallese saved but couldn’t control, but the midfielder was offside on the play and the game remained tied.

That was all the scoring in a bit of a sloppy first half that saw both teams slipping on the football field of Nissan Stadium. Michel had one moment of slippage in his own end that nearly gifted Nashville a scoring chance but Carlos headed a cross intended for Sapong out of harm’s way. Aside from the footing, Orlando had some heavy touches but overall played a solid first half on the road.

Nashville led in most of the statistical categories at the break, holding more possession (55.8%-44.2%), firing more shots (5-1), notching more shots on target (3-1), and passing slightly more accurately (82.4%-82.3%). Orlando City won more corner kicks (2-0).

The first chance of the second half fell to Sapong in the 47th minute as he attempted a header from near the top of the area but didn’t get anything on it and Gallese wasn’t troubled.

Orlando grew into the second half but then got too timid when approaching dangerous areas. Dike laid off a pass for Michel in the 48th minute but the winger opted to take a touch rather than fire first time and the touch was heavy. He tried to drag it back around a defender but ended up losing it and wasting the opportunity.

“In that moment we didn’t have the confidence to do it or we were not sharp enough,” Pareja said of those chances. “And there’s many things that you can say but this is a group has been competing for two years and they have done the job many, many times and unfortunately today we (came up) short.”

A minute later, Pereyra sent a seeing-eye ball that would have sent Mueller in but Daniel Lovitz did well to make a sliding challenge to knock the pass away at the last second.

Michel was again hesitant in the area in the 57th minute, missing a chance to get a shot on target but he did win a corner. The ensuing set piece was knocked to the top of the area to Mendez who fired a shot that was heading on target but it was blocked out for another corner. Mendez again got a chance on the following corner after an initial clearance by Joe Willis, but he sent a rocket just wide to the right.

In the 60th minute, Pereyra led a counter into the top of the box and laid a pass off for Ruan on the right. Urso was trailing the play and didn’t see Ruan. The midfielder made a sliding effort to get a shot on goal but instead took out his right back, wasting another opportunity.

As Pareja was preparing to bring Nani on as a sub, disaster struck. A blocked shot at the top of the Nashville area turned into a Nashville counter and Mukhtar ended up on the right side 1-v-1 with Mas. The Nashville Designated Player cut in from the right toward the middle and Mas couldn’t keep up. Mendez, sitting on a yellow card, was too passive in closing down. Meanwhile, Sapong made a diagonal run that caused confusion between the two center backs and that gave Mukhtar room to shoot. He beat Gallese to make it 2-1 in the 74th minute.

Although the circumstances had changed, Nani’s introduction seemed to have the desired effect. Pareja said after the match that Nani had been having some recent difficulties but was fine to play and they decided to bring him off the bench to have him at his best. Unfortunately, the timing of the second Mukhtar goal meant Pareja was sending him on with the Lions chasing the game rather than level.

Just after he came on, Urso came free in the middle and fired a long-range shot but he hit it right at Willis in the 76th minute. Moments later, Nani cut in left to right at the corner of the area and smashed a rocket toward goal that Zimmerman blocked with his midsection.

The captain then won a corner in the 80th but Orlando could do nothing with it. In the 86th, Nani sent a free kick into the area that deflected to substitute Tesho Akindele. Lovitz closed him down and he tried to pull his shot around the defender but ended up sending it wide.

Moments later, Orlando should have had a set piece in the middle just outside the area. Dike made a good turn and got beyond his defender. He still had to deal with Zimmerman but before he could do that he was knocked down from behind. Elfath swallowed his whistle and Nashville cleared the danger.

The last chance at an equalizer came on a cross from late sub Silvester van der Water. Akindele got his head on it but couldn’t make enough contact to direct it inside the far post.

Cadiz put the game away in the 94th minute after outmuscling Carlos and slotting home.

Both teams finished the game with just nine shots but Nashville got more on target (6-2). Orlando City ended up with more possession (54.3%-45.7%), won more corners (5-0), and passed more accurately for the game (81.3%-79.1%).

“If you ask me for one difference between the teams I think it’s just that they scored the second goal when maybe they didn’t deserve it, because they didn’t (generate much attack) in the second half,” Pereyra said. “But that’s soccer, and that’s what we need to accept and we need to say congratulations to Nashville.”

The home team has won in every MLS playoff game so far this postseason, and that has to rub the Lions the wrong way after a terrible refereeing decision the last time these teams played ended up dropping Orlando from what would have been a home game to having to travel to Nashville.

The Lions will next play a competitive match in late February when they host CF Montreal in the 2022 season opener. Nashville will go to Philadelphia for a conference semifinal match on Sunday.

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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.

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12 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

14 hours ago

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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

18 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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