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Orlando City Had Some of the Best Bargains of the Transfer Window

Published

11 years ago

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On Tuesday, the MLS salary dump was released, showing the salaries of every player in the league, and revealing quite a few of the mysteries of what players acquired during the transfer window are making.

With a busy transfer window, Orlando City acquired quite a few players, some familiar to MLS fans and others not. The two most intriguing acquisitions were that of David Mateos and Adrian Winter. With the release, we found out that Mateos was the highest paid player brought in, making $300,000 in base salary, and Adrian Winter is making $180,000, the same as former Houston defender Corey Ashe.

Each has made their impact felt with the Lions in recent weeks, as their play has continued to improve with them jelling more with their teammates the more they get on the pitch. Winter scored his first two goals in Orlando City’s 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Sept. 13.

Orlando City was one of the most active teams during the summer transfer window, as expected. Some teams chose to make one or two big moves, while others chose to make numerous smaller moves, and some chose not to do much of anything.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest transfers around the league from a monetary standpoint (above $150,000 base salary), and what those players have done for their teams.

  • Giovani dos Santos – LA Galaxy – $4 million – Easily the biggest signing of the summer, dos Santos came to LA from Villareal on a $7 million offer sheet. Since arriving, dos Santos has appeared in six games, registering two goals and three assists. With the Galaxy an already solid team, dos Santos elevates them to one of the favorites to come out of the Western Conference.
  • Andrea Pirlo – NYCFC – $2 million – Pirlo was perhaps the transfer that received the most media attention, despite him being on the down side of his career. Pirlo has the ability to set up anyone with his passes, and is one of the most dangerous free kick takers on the planet, but with nine appearances already under his belt, he only has two assists and has yet to score on 14 shots.
  • Didier Drogba – Montreal – $1.6 million – One of the targets that Orlando City was reportedly interested in, Drogba ended up on a Montreal Impact team that is battling Orlando City for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. And he could be the player that makes the difference. In five appearances, Drogba has scored five times and has an assist under his belt. If he is the player that pushes Montreal into the playoffs, he will be well worth the salary they are paying him. It may be one of the moves Orlando City regrets not being able to pull off, although the league has rather nebulous rules with overseas stars (i.e. discovery rights and such).
  • Nelson Valdez – Seattle – $960,000 – A rather high profile signing, Valdez was said to make Seattle one of the best-positioned teams for the second half of the season. However, Valdez hasn’t had a major impact, but rather he has played second fiddle to Obafemi Martins. Valdez has scored one goal in six appearances that includes four starts.
  • Juan Manuel Martinez – Real Salt Lake – $710,000 – Martinez has been a good player on a not-so-good team since arriving at Real Salt Lake, but it has come at a hefty price of more than $710,000 in base salary. He has a goal and an assist in three games.
  • Tranquillo Barnetta – Philadelphia – $624,000 – Barnetta has made seven starts and scored one goal and has an assist.
  • Gaston Sauro – Columbus – $583,200 – Sauro has made one start for Columbus since arriving from FC Basel. Not exactly a bargain but, at 25, he could be a build for the future kind of move.
  • Roman Torres – Seattle – 438,000 – Another pricy player that Seattle brought in to help its chances come playoff time. Torres started four games and recorded one assist for the Sounders before he tore his ACL.
  • Alvaro Saborio – D.C. United – $400,000 – Saborio was brought to United in a deal for Luis Silva. He makes quite a bit more than Silva, but has provided some consistent chances offensively and has three goals in 13 games.
  • David Mateos – Orlando City – $300,000 – Mateos, the most expensive OCSC transfer, has probably been the best and most consistent since arriving. He has started all six games he’s appeared in, logging 540 minutes. He hasn’t logged any goals or assists, but he has clearly been solid in the eyes of the coaches or he wouldn’t keep getting his number called in the XI.
  • Ahmed Kantari – Toronto – $300,000 – Kantari has been just as solid for Toronto as Mateos has been for Orlando City. He has started eight matches and played more than 700 minutes. Steady defenders like Kantari and Mateos are well worth the price tag attached to them.
  • Amobi Okugo – Sporting KC – $275,000 – Okugo found his way on the end of the bench for Orlando City, but has managed to get some time on the field with SKC. He has one assist in two appearances.
  • Jack McInerney – Columbus – $270,000 – Once Orlando City fans discovered how little it took to acquire McInerney, many thought the Lions should have made a run at him. Instead, they used a second round pick for a much cheaper Adam Bedell and sent him out on loan to the Danish League. McInerney has been solid, but unspectacular for Columbus at a fairly high price tag. He has started in one of his three appearances and scored once.
  • Herculez Gomez – Toronto – $240,000 – Gomez was a late deal in the transfer window, and a big one for a Toronto team trying to hang on to a playoff spot. He has only started one match though, and unless an injury occurs to Sebastian Giovinco or Jozy Altidore, he probably won’t be much more than an expensive substitute.
  • Bakary Soumare – FC Dallas – $225,000 – Sitting atop the Western Conference, FC Dallas didn’t need much help. And they didn’t get much help with this deal. Soumare has yet to appear in a match.
  • Gonzalo Veron – New York Red Bulls – $200,000 – Veron has one goal in one start and seven appearances. RBNY has a deep pool of attacking players and Veron may come in handy as a substitute off the bench for Lloyd Sam or Mike Grella late in games, but that’s a lot of dough to spend on a backup — unless you’re trying to win a Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup, like New York is.
  • Adrian Winter – Orlando City – $180,000 – Winter has made five starts for Orlando City and scored two goals playing mostly on the wing. It took a few matches for Winter to prove what he could do with Orlando City playing shorthanded in two of his first few matches due to red cards. But he’s a player with pace and solid ball and foot skills.
  • Corey Ashe – Orlando City – $180,000 – After being relegated to the bench in favor of DaMarcus Beasley, Ashe was moved from Houston to Orlando City, and the former all-star has been quite solid at outside back. It’s a bit of a rotation at outside back with Rafael Ramos and Luke Boden working in as well, but I would argue that Orlando City is a better team with Ashe on the pitch than without, as he has enough to get forward and create opportunities offensively. Ashe has seven starts in eight appearances and two assists.
  • Andreas Ivanschitz – Seattle – $180,000 – Ivanschitz has appeared in just two matches for Seattle, though he has been decent when on the pitch. But he’s likely not going to become a full-time starter.
  • Harrison Afful – Columbus – $150,000 – Afful has been a reasonably priced addition for Columbus’s back line and has played quite well. He has five starts and has logged 400 minutes. A nice bargain on the back line for one of the most dangerous teams in the east.

Orlando City, Columbus and Seattle were the only three teams to add more than two players that will make more than $150,000 base salary in 2015. Orlando City will spend $660,000 in 2015 base salary on Mateos, Winter and Ashe and has three starting caliber-starting players to show for it. The trio has combined for 18 starts since arriving, which so far has worked out to pretty good value for a team that is fighting for the final playoff spot.

Meanwhile, Seattle spent more than $1.5 million to acquire Valdez, Torres and Ivanschitz, who have combined for nine starts since arriving. The acquisitions might not be as good of a value so far for Seattle, but Valdez will certainly be an integral piece for the Sounders come playoff time.

Columbus is paying Afful, McInerney and Sauro slightly more than $1 million in 2015. The group will probably be the least effective, for the shear fact that Sauro makes more than half of what Columbus is spending on its three major transfer acquisitions and has made just one appearance. But Columbus is obviously much better positioned to make a run this season than Orlando City is, and is arguably better off than Seattle, since the Crew play in a weaker conference.

Many fans wanted Orlando City to go out and make a splashy signing during the transfer window, but it could easily be argued that the Lions helped themselves more than any team in the league by adding three starters for good values.

The only major signing that so far looks like a good value is the Drogba signing for Montreal.

Unfortunately for Orlando City, that may be the signing that costs them a playoff spot in 2015.

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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

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July 22, 2026

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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!

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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

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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.

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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

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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.

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