As I often like to do, I will start this article on Orlando City by writing about…baseball. America’s pastime — or at least it was for most of the 20th century — is celebrating opening day for the 2025 season this week, but that is not why I mention baseball. Rather, when I think about baseball I often think about baseball movies, and that brings me to one of the seminal sports films of all time, The Sandlot.

There are many great characters and moments in this movie, but a fan favorite was Michael “Squints” Palledorous. If you have not seen The Sandlot, you should, because that movie is fun and fun is good, but the reason I brought Squints up is because…wait for it…if you squint really hard when looking at Orlando City’s newest Designated Player, Marco Pašalić, then you can see Orlando City’s former Designated Player, and all-time leading scorer, Facundo Torres.

I say you have to squint really hard because aside from being similarly aged (Torres is 154 days older than Pašalić), left-foot-dominant players who play on the right side of the field, the styles of play for both players are quite different, as is how Orlando City has played in 2025 with Pašalić vs. toward the end of 2024 with Torres.

Let’s start with Orlando’s style of play in 2025 vs. the end of 2024, and we will look at the two individual players after that. I am choosing the final games of last season, because those are the most recent games played by the team, and as was frequently discussed in the run-up to this season, Orlando City brought back many of its key players from last season and has much of the same coaching staff as well. If you look at the statistics though, the team is playing differently this season as compared to 2024.

I’ve broken this out into three sections: the first five games of the 2025 regular season, the five 2024 playoff games, and the final five 2024 regular-season games. Playoff games are played differently than regular-season games, so I did not want to just compare the most recent five games of 2024 to the first five of 2025. This data is sourced from fbref.com, tracked by coders from Opta (all data is on a per-game basis):

We will get back to the attacks down the right side more specifically when we look at Pašalić and Torres, but look at the major differences in all of these numbers. This year’s team, at least through the first few games, is playing a different style of soccer than the 2024 team played at the end of the season. They are possessing the ball less throughout the game but also in particular while in the attacking third of the field. This comes from rapid counterattacks and excellent transition offense as well as a more direct approach to creating shots.

We can see this more direct approach by looking at the reduction in touches per game in the attacking third of the field juxtaposed against an increase of more than 20% in shots per game, meaning that the ratio of touches per shot in the attacking third has decreased dramatically from last year to this year. During the final five regular-season games, the Lions were averaging 13.7 touches per shot, and thus far in 2025 that number is 8.9.

In this context, a touch is counted not as every individual dribble or pass but rather as a count of each person who possesses the ball in the attacking third of the field. So, a pass from player A to player B, who then takes four dribbles and passes to player C is three touches, even though player B dribbled the ball four times.

The upshot of the reduction of touches per shot is that Orlando City is getting to its shots in a reduced number of possessors of the ball, meaning that there has been lower risk of a bad exchange since there have been fewer exchanges. This year’s team is generating shots from more dangerous locations (using expected goals) as well, and the Lions’ 13 goals scored in the first five games leads the league at this point of the season.

Looking at the final row in that table, there is also a big difference in the location of where the Lions are emanating their attacks from. The team is more frequently launching attacks down the right side, and that is where the comparison of Torres and Pašalić starts to come into play. It must also be noted that the primary right back in 2024 was Dagur Dan Thórhallsson, whereas in 2025 it has been future USMNT starter Alex Freeman (I crossed it out, but I do believe that Freeman is a serious candidate to play on the national team), and it is likely not coincidental that there have been more attacks down the right side with the direct playing style of the Pašalić-Freeman combination.

Torres also always made a point to play all across the attacking zone, often switching sides with Iván Angulo, whereas that has not been the case this season with Pašalić. I pulled the heatmaps (thank you very much, whoscored.com) for Pašalić and Torres from the same five-game periods from the table above, and you can see that in Torres’s heatmaps the blue shading goes all over the field, whereas for Pašalić he stays mostly to the right side (Orlando City is attacking from left to right on all of the heatmaps below).

These heatmaps and the following stats show some stark differences between the Croatian Designated Player and the Uruguayan former Designated Player in terms of how they play/played for Orlando City (all data is on a per-game basis):

Across nearly every metric there are big differences between the players, but in particular the ones that stand out to me are how much of the offense flowed through Torres last season and how the Lions looked for him to initiate as compared to how Pašalić appears to get his offense in the flow of play — at least through the first five games of this season. Pašalić also attacks more off the dribble than Torres did, as shown by his much higher rate of take-ons per game, and he is able to get shots off at a higher rate as well.

That leads me to the last comparison, which is not shown in the table above, but is the most critical category for any offensive player — goals scored. Orlando City has not yet played 15% of its 2025 MLS regular-season games, but Pašalić has scored four goals and assisted on another. With so many games still to play, we can extrapolate the numbers to see a pace of 27 goals scored and seven assists, but we can also consider that defenses will adjust over a long season and it is unlikely that the pace will remain the same for the next seven months.

Torres, sadly, is not on pace to score any more goals for the Lions, but he did score 37 MLS regular-season goals during his three seasons, including two seasons of 14 goals each, and he added 20 assists as well. His numbers are real, not theoretical or extrapolated, and while it is incredibly exciting to think about Orlando City’s offense and what it could be and what Pašalić could achieve, we are still only five games into the new season, so let’s keep our excitement from boiling over for at least another week.

Pašalić still has a way to go to show that he can consistently create goals the way that Torres did, but if you squint real hard, you can see that the potential is there for him to do so or perhaps even surpass his predecessor out on the right wing. He is playing with a different offensive style but going after the same result.

We will see.

Orlando City heads to the other coast to take on the defending MLS champions LA Galaxy Saturday. The Lions are coming off a dominating 4-1 victory over D.C. United at Inter&Co Stadium. Orlando City looks capable of beating any team with the way the offense is humming, but road wins are tough to come by in MLS. Here’s what Orlando City needs to do to earn all three points against the LA Galaxy.

Keep the Good Times Rolling

Orlando City leads MLS in scoring with 13 goals so far this season. Just as importantly, the Lions’ three Designated Players — Martin Ojeda, Luis Muriel, and Marco Pasalic — have accounted for nine of those goals. Additionally, the trio has provided seven of the 16 total assists this season. I’m no math guy, but 20 goal contributions from the players that are supposed to be doing just that is good stuff.

The Galaxy have shipped 10 goals so far this season. The champs are vulnerable and the Lions are on a goal-scoring hot streak. If the Lions can get the first goal of the match early, they will better be able to dictate the terms to the home team. As such, the Orlando City offense, led by the Designated Players, needs to keep things going against the Galaxy. I expect it will take multiple goals to secure a win.

Get Gritty

Cesar Araujo made his return against D.C. United and it was the first time Orlando City didn’t give up multiple goals this season. I want to see him be the enforcer he usually is against the likes of Edwin Cerrillo and Christian Ramirez. However, I also want to see Eduard Atuesta show a bit more grittiness in the defense as well. You can’t push the ball forward if you don’t take it away from the opposition.

Pedro Gallese will be back for this match, and he will rightly get the start. I’m not taking anything away from Javier Otero’s first start, but sometimes defenses take on more responsibility when you have a younger, less experienced keeper in goal. That shouldn’t mean Araujo or the back line can take it easy. We’ve seen what happens when this defense loses focus and it isn’t good. Show me the grit.

The Intangibles

Traveling all the way across the country to play is never an easy proposition. Away matches in MLS are always difficult because your routine is a bit messed up. You don’t get to sleep in your own bed, the climate is different, and in L.A. you’re kicking off when you are usually going to bed. The Lions need to overcome all of those elements to maximize their chances.

Of course, not all the intangibles are against the Lions. The Galaxy have struggled to start the season, and a team can press too much when looking for a win in front of the home fans. Additionally, the Galaxy are playing in Concacaf Champions Cup, with their next match three days later on Tuesday night against Tigres UANL. Hopefully they’ll be keeping an eye on minutes played for their starters in anticipation of the Champions Cup match.

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

We’re another day closer to what should be an awesome Saturday, with both Orlando City and the Orlando Pride in action. All three of Orlando’s soccer teams have been doing well lately, which is not something we can say too often. Hopefully that trend continues this weekend and beyond. Let’s get to today’s links!

Marco Pasalic Wins MLS Goal of the Matchday

An Orlando City player has won MLS Goal of the Matchday for the first time this season, with Marco Pasalic claiming the award for his strike against D.C. United. The goal was a real team effort from the Lions, as all three Designated Players linked up to get the ball up the field in a hurry for a counter. Pasalic did well to create space and then curl the ball into the back of the net from distance. His goal garnered 64.7% of the vote, beating out goals from Daniel Rios, David Martinez, and Deandre Kerr. In his first year as a Lion, the Croatian winger has already recorded four goals and an assist so far.

Pride’s Zara Chavoshi and Yolanda Thomas Join U.S. U-23 Camp

Orlando Pride defender Zara Chavoshi was called up for the first U-23 United States Women’s National Team training camp of the year, which will run alongside the senior team’s camp in California. The 22-year-old, who was signed by the Pride directly out of college after four years at Wake Forest, will develop her game at the camp alongside other promising young defenders like Savy King, Gisele Thompson, and Eva Gaetino. Orlando Pride Assistant Coach Yolanda Thomas will also be in attendance as an assistant coach at the camp, and it’s great to see her get this opportunity.

Orlando City B Defeats Crown Legacy FC on the Road

Orlando City B won its first road match of the 2025 season, beating Crown Legacy FC 1-0 to extend its unbeaten run to three games (2-0-1). The Young Lions didn’t make things easy on themselves by not converting some solid opportunities to extend their lead, but they ultimately held on to secure all three points. Orlando is now tied at the top of the Eastern Conference standings with New York City FC II with eight points from three matches. OCB’s next match will be a road game against Chattanooga FC on April 5.

Say Hello to Boston Legacy FC

Boston’s NWSL team has rebranded itself as Boston Legacy FC, which is leagues better than BOS Nation FC. The team initially went with that anagram of Bostonian as its name back in October as part of a brand launch that also included a widely criticized marketing campaign involving the slogan “Too Many Balls.” While I’m not crazy about the name, the team deserves credit for not defaulting to something too generic after whiffing on its first swing. The Boston Legacy will take the field for the first time next year as the NWSL’s 16th team.

Free kicks

• Pride midfielder Angelina was called up by Brazil for its friendlies against the United States in California on April 5 and April 8.

• The Pride were well represented in CBS Sports‘ NWSL Team of the Week, with Anna Moorhouse, Rafaelle, Ally Watt, and Barbra Banda all receiving praise for the team’s 2-0 win over NJ/NY Gotham FC.
• From the third round on, every single match of the U.S. Open Cup will be streamed on Paramount+.
• Federal Finance, a development group based in Orlando, proposed plans for a soccer-specific stadium in Winter Garden.
• Bayern Munich winger Alphonso Davies will undergo surgery after tearing his ACL in Canada’s third-place victory over the U.S. in the Concacaf Nations League.
• Alessia Russo had a brace in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. It was just enough for Arsenal to advance on aggregate to the semifinals, where the Gunners will square off against a Lyon side that beat Bayern 4-1 thanks to two goals and an assist from Kadidiatou Diani.
• Despite a 2-1 win against North Korea earlier this week in World Cup qualifying, the United Arab Emirates fired Paul Bento as head coach.

That’s all I have for you this fine Thursday. I hope you all have a terrific day and rest of your week!