Connect with us

Uncategorized

Orlando City Coach’s Show Recap: Adrian Heath Talks Chicago, Looks Forward to New York

Published

11 years ago

on

On this week’s Orlando City Coach’s Show with Adrian Heath, the Lions’ boss discussed Saturday’s 1-0 win in Chicago, previewed Friday night’s game against the New York Red Bulls, and talked about other aspects of Orlando City SC.

Team Mood After Last Two Wins

"Couple of weeks ago everybody was a bit down and a bit doom and gloom about it, but obviously a couple of wins makes everything a bit better. I said a couple of weeks ago, this team is capable of winning three or four games and, if that was the case, it would pull us very close to being in the playoffs. I wanted to keep it alive and I think we've kept it alive for another week, and I want to keep it alive until we get Montreal here."

Chicago Game

"Before the game, as I said to the players, with the social media now we knew that New York were winning. We knew that Montreal were going to win. I said ‘That doesn't change anything for us.' We have to take something from this game and we have to concentrate only on what we are going to do."

"We had a good shape. We didn't do anything silly. We didn't beat ourselves. As I always speak about, don't do something that's going to beat you. Don't give them anything. And we did that really well."

"You look at the strengths of the opposition. If they're going to squeeze high and leave space behind us, the way they did in Chicago, you're actually saying put the ball in behind you and then it's going to be a race. And when you have pace against you, you ain't winning them races."

David Accam

"Accam's probably one of the quickest footballers I've ever seen on a football field. So at times, one-v-one, you're leaving space behind you, you're vulnerable. So what we said to Rafa or whoever was on that side on him, ‘Let him beat you with tricks but give yourself enough depth as he's not just going to outrun you. That would give us enough time to get some bodies around and give you some help.' And fortunately it worked well."

Back Line

"The back four did really well on the night. One of the things we've been guilty of is beating ourselves at times. Make silly mistakes that give the opposition too many good chances, and I don't think we did that the other night. We cleared our lines when we had to. We defended well in numbers, but we had really good shape in the box when the ball went wide and that was probably one of the most pleasing away performances we've had this season."

Thoughts Going Into Final Stage of Season

"We had a really good heart-to-heart last Thursday where we spoke about what the next four or five games mean to us as a group. I think it's had an effect because they've shown their desire the last couple weeks and it sets us up for what's now going to be a huge game for us on Friday."

Full Backs Staying Home vs. Chicago

"We said, ‘The only way you go and join in is when you have to go and join in, and maybe make a two on one in their half of the field and make Accam or make [Patrick] Nyarko go and defend you. I don't want you being on the front foot saying it might come out here and leave big holes.' So we kept the back four intact for as long as we could."

Carlos Rivas

"We're trying to put him higher up with less defensive responsibility."

"Most of the people who are criticizing Carlos have never left America and gone to a foreign country where they don't speak the language, and it's a completely different way of life. So first and foremost, he's a kid. He's 20 years of age. And he's had a lot of problems on and off the field this year. You don't take a kid from Colombia, or Benfica or Inter Milan, and people like that we're trying to buy, if he's not got talent. We know he's got talent and I've said all along, even in the early parts of the season, the best parts of all of our younger players are ahead of them. If we had waited another year, they wouldn't have been available. Not for the money that we got them for."

"Has he given us enough this year? Probably not. But you're not going to get it off a 20-year-old with all the new stuff going on around him in his life."

Lewis Neal

"He wasn't great on the ball, Lewis Neal. But his positional play and his starting points to defend when we turned the ball over was absolutely fantastic."

Tally Hall

"When I look back at my own career, every time I was in a team that was successful, we had a great goalkeeper. Goalkeepers that can somehow save you a point. You come off after a game and go, ‘How the hell have we won that game?' And you look back and it's your keeper has made two huge saves at important times. Tally does what he does. He's a good goalkeeper. He's been one of the best goalkeepers in this league for years."

"He led by example. After the goal and at the end of the game, when people say ‘Does it mean something to them,' I think you see the reaction of the players. It shows it means an awful lot to them."

Bryan Róchez

"He's been doing so well we thought about starting him. And we might do Friday in New York."

Darwin Cerén

"Darwin's probably been the player of the season for us this year."

Playing Without Kaká

"They need some belief that it's not a one-man team. I'm sure that Ricky will be the first to say that the success or failure of our club will be a collective and not an individual. I've played in teams where there's been one individual who's been absolutely fantastic, but if the rest can't support him properly and adequately enough and do their own job properly, then you don't win very often."

"We've had to change the system a little bit. We put Lewis Neal in who is obviously different than Ricky. Ricky likes to attract people to the ball before releasing it. Whereas Lew plays very simple, keeps the ball ticking over, gets himself in little holes trying to fit it where the opposition midfield play, so it's a little bit different really."

Brek Shea, Awaiting the Birth of His Child

"Brek left training early this morning to go with his wife. He might not train tomorrow. Does he train the day after? So that would affect whether or not you're going to throw him on for the start on Friday."

Kaká Ready for Friday

"We hope he's going to be fit. He's trained really well the last two or three days, and then we have to understand whether he's going to be match fit."

The Wave

"I don't like it. Let Mexico keep it."

USL Team

"Rob Valentino has been back in the building and back looking at training. I think he and Anthony Pulis will be really good."

"I think there will be one or two (USL) announcements in the coming weeks."

Red Bull Arena

"In terms of the stadium being built, Red Bulls is the best by a mile I think."

New York Red Bulls

“Peter Reid, who I worked with at Sunderland, had him [Bradley Wright-Phillips] at Plymouth. He had a lot of knee injuries but he did say the kid had a goal in him. And he obviously came over here and he’s done really, really well. Done better than most people in England thought he was going to do. He’s obviously got an eye for the goal. I think that, whether it be [Mike] Grella or his brother, Shaun Wright-Phillips. Whether it be on the other side with Lloyd Sam and [Sasha] Kljestan has been a real integral piece as to what New York has done this year. He makes it work from back to front. He’s been their catalyst this year. And then they’ve got Dax [McCarty] and obviously Felipe who have done absolutely fantastic to feed Kljestan, who has runners ahead of him. It doesn’t surprise me they’ve been top of the league. They’ve got really good players and I think they’re going to be one of the favorites to go all the way this year.”

Approaching the Game

“Don’t give anything away early on because they come out flying in Red Bull Arena and they’ve scored a lot of early goals. So we have to be ready from the off and we will be. I’m really looking forward to the game. We’ve been playing with a lot of confidence lately. The mood in the camp is really good. And I think we match up real well with them. The last time, before Cyle Larin got sent off, and we took it to the 90th minute that day, we were still pressing until that second goal in the 91st minute.”

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

4 days ago

on

July 22, 2026

By

Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of tonight’s match.

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

Continue Reading

Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

Continue Reading

Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

Continue Reading

Trending