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Staff Roundtable Week 5: Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union

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10 years ago

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Orlando City is coming off its first complete game of the season Sunday night in a 4-1 drubbing of the Portland Timbers. The matches keep coming, however, and the Lions can’t rest on their laurels. They must forget the win over the defending champions and get mentally prepared for a trip to Philadelphia to play the Union.

The Lions had their problems with the Union a year ago, and Philly is off to a better start in 2016, so three points won’t come easy, especially with injury concerns to Cyle Larin and Tommy Redding. On the other hand, Kaká is back and the Antonio Nocerino is a week closer to being fully match fit.

Here to break down the trip to land of cheesesteaks for Friday's match are Lindsay Harrison, Gavin Ewbank, and Luis Hernandez, who take their place at the big, purple roundtable this week. Let's find out what they're thinking.

Well, Kaká is still good at soccer. He influenced the Portland game both as an attacking midfielder and as a false No. 9 after Cyle Larin got hurt. Let's play coach for a moment — if Larin can't go Friday at Philadelphia, would you have the captain reprising his false 9 role or would you go with someone else up top (and who)?

Lindsay: I think if Sunday’s performance taught us anything it’s that Kaká is back. Therefore, if Larin is not ready to go, I wouldn’t hesitate in playing him back in that false No. 9 role against the Philadelphia Union. You have to also factor in that midfielders Antonio Nocerino and Julio Baptista should be available for selection on Friday so we have people that can play and support him up top in that role.

However, since that is a potential boring answer, I am also going to play devil’s advocate and say that Adrian Heath may move Kevin Molino up front (now that he has found his scoring touch) and then have Kaká provide support and send through balls to the humble Trinidadian and then you’ll see Carlos Rivas start on the left with Adrian Winter on the right.

Gavin: I’m hopeful that Larin will be available and good to go for the game against Philly, but I think the bigger question we should be asking is whether or not Julio Baptista will be ready to start for Orlando City. It doesn’t sound like he’s 90 minutes fit yet, which is understandable, but I think if Adrian Heath deems him ready to play we’ll see Baptista get the start and play about 60-70 minutes. If not, then Pedro Ribeiro is probably next up on the forward depth chart.

Luis: With a short week, I don't expect Larin in the starting XI for the Lions. If I were Adrian Heath, I'd actually use a 4-3-3 with Kaká, Molino, and Winter acting as a tandem, but I don't think the coach will abandon the single striker formation. If Cyle can't go against the Union and Baptista isn't ready, I'd expect to see Pedro Ribeiro on top, which makes me a little sad to say since I think that's taking a step back to last year.

We’ve talked a lot about Kevin Molino’s final ball, and indeed Sunday he still had some of the same issues we’ve discussed at length. But, he finally got his first MLS goal. Does he now settle down and be the player he’s always threatened to become?

Gavin: Well, I can't say we haven't seen Kevin Molino play like the old Kevin Molino yet because he's played well, even though the goal totals don't tell the whole story. The goal against Portland — even it if was a just a penalty — will be huge for him moving forward, and I think this is only be beginning of Molino finally contributing on the scoresheet for Orlando City.

Luis: Kevin Molino scores a goal during the FIFA break, comes back, and looked great against the Timbers. His first MLS goal was certainly well deserved. I could see from the supporter section the amount of confidence scoring gave him and he nearly had a second one. He absolutely settles down and finds a way to impact the match on Friday. Or as some of other writers would say Molino Mania is alive!

Lindsay: There is no doubt that Kevin Molino is a special player with a huge amount of potential. With him cut down so early last season, we never truly got to see how he would perform in MLS. For those of us who remember him from the USL days, he had a special quality that we knew we all wanted to see more from. I hope that Kevin can regain the confidence that I think has been lacking thus far since his return but I'd like to see him convert a goal on his own during the run of play before I confidently can say that he's ready to be a threat.

After two solid outings in a row, has Joe Bendik officially silenced the doubters among the Orlando City faithful, or are they still waiting for the other shoe to drop? How do you assess his prospects for the rest of the season based on his first four games?

Luis: After the PK save, the supporters chanted Bendik's name. I think it's safe to say he has calmed any fears fans had over him. He hasn't given up any bad goals and has several saves. I think he's gotten confidence from these first four matches, and I think he'll keep us in all our matches. As the broadcasters said during Sunday's broadcast, Orlando City has never had back-to-back clean sheets in MLS, so that's should be something I expect during the season.

Lindsay: I will admit that I have been a Bendik skeptic. His first two games had me questioning front office sanity and wondering if we were in another Ricketts-type place holder situation. However, his shutout against NYCFC and his near-shutout against Portland (that Adi PK save!), are making me a believer in Joe Bendik. Bendik seems to be getting more comfortable with his new team and has figured out how to communicate with his back line and I hope that what we have seen from him in the past couple of outings are a preview of things to come, and not just a flash in the pan.

Gavin: I think Joe Bendik has done an outstanding job for the Lions so far, and is quickly making people forget about his past in Toronto. Heath talked about it postgame after Portland how much Stewart Kerr — the new goalkeeper coach — raved about him, and I think that partnership between the two is paying off big time for Bendik and the Lions. Is he going to have a bad game at some point? Everyone does. But I think he'll be fine moving forward.

Orlando City is 6-3-3 in 12 matches against the Western Conference in two seasons, yet has struggled with teams like Chicago, Philadelphia and other Eastern Conference foes. Do the Lions simply play to the level of their competition or are there other factors involved here?

Lindsay: The last time an Eastern Conference team won MLS Cup was Columbus in 2008 and the Crew were managed by Sigi Schmid, one of the best managers in MLS, who moved to the Seattle Sounders after that win. The statistics show that the West dominates MLS and the most simplistic answer is that Orlando City rises to the challenge of the harder conference. The other answer is that it’s hard to get amped about going to Chicago or Philly to play in front of mediocre crowds when we can draw double that attendance on an average night at home. Heck, it’s hard for me to get amped about watching these games, so I can’t imagine trying to psyche myself up to play the worst team in the league. What we need to start doing is going in there and seeing how much we can demolish them by. Raise the bar and make a new drinking game for fans — nutmeg a player, take a drink! Score a goal off of Seb Hines‘ head, take a drink!

Gavin: I mean, that's actually pretty fair to say. Look at the teams they beat last season: LA, Portland, Sporting KC, Columbus a couple of times. And at the same time, you mentioned they struggled against the Phillys and Chicagos of the league, so yes, you can definitely say that they play to their competition at times. But that was also last season, and this is a team with a year of MLS experience under their belts, so hopefully you can say they'll avoid those games and actually take the points when they should.

Luis: Yeah, I think there could be some play to the level of the opponent involved, but I also think other factors are involved. Travel is one of them. Crossing the U.S. and changing time zones which your body isn't use to is also a part of that. Second factor is familiarity with Eastern opponents. Playing the Western teams once a year versus Eastern teams, multiple times including during the Open Cup all factor in.

Philadelphia seems to be much improved so far this season, with Chris Pontius having a positive effect on the Union after coming over from D.C. United. How do you think the Lions will deal with C.J. Sapong and company on Friday night and what are your match predictions?

Gavin: Well, if Orlando City defends Philly like they did Portland and New York City FC, there won’t be much bad to talk about on Saturday morning. Darwin Ceren and Cristian Higuita, naturally, will be the keys in the midfield. Seb Hines and Tommy Redding have been a formidable duo on the backline, and those guys (if Redding plays) will be put to work again on Friday. I’ll say 2-1 Orlando City.

Luis: For some reason, we don't play our best when we've faced Philadelphia. Sapong is going to give us trouble, but Orlando City has to step up in a big way defensively. I'd hope we start the same back line which we've started so far, but I don't know if Redding will be cleared for Friday. Being on the road with a short week, I'm going to say 1-1 draw.

Lindsay: The Union have undergone a resurgence this season and they are certainly seeing the benefits to committing to head coach Jim Curtin for another season (sound like any other team we know?). The acquisition of Pontius and the decision to let some big names go in the offseason such as Cristian Maidana and Andrew Wenger have certainly paid off for the front office and made this team tough to deal with especially due to the breakout season of Keegan Rosenberry.

I expect that Orlando City will deal with Philly the same way they did against the Portland Timbers. They will try to pack the midfield and stop Warren Creavalle, Ilsinho and Pontius from being able to supply Sapong with opportunities. I do however expect it to be a tough contest and with Orlando on a short turn around away from home, I am going with a prediction of a 2-2 scoreline.

* * *

That's your roundtable discussion for Week 5 as Orlando City heads to Philadelphia. Feel free to add your answers to these questions or explain why our staff is right/wrong in their predictions or analysis in the comments section below.

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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

2 weeks 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

3 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.

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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

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.

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