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Staff Roundtable Week 7: Orlando City at New York Red Bulls

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10 years ago

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The Lions head out on the road for two consecutive games, hoping to wash off the stink of the 93rd-minute decision that decreed Servando Carrasco’s arm begins at the Orlando City crest on the left side of his chest in Sunday’s 2-2 draw against the New England Revolution. As much of a howler as that error was — and it was the worst of at least three decisions that affected scoring plays — the Lions find themselves entering this weekend tied for second in the Eastern Conference.

We’ll see the Revs again next week, but first up is a trip to Red Bull Arena to take on last year’s Supporters’ Shield winners. The last time City invaded New York’s pitch it left with a 5-2 victory, a Cyle Larin hat trick, and three points. Joining us to discuss whether that could happen again are Wade Williams, Scott Crumbly, and Logan Oliver. We welcome all of them to the big, round, purple table to get their view of life in Lion Nation.

Probably the less said about the New England game the better, but the Lions did turn the game with the insertion of Cyle Larin and Kevin Molino, dropping Julio Baptista underneath the striker and pushing Kaká out to the left. Did we just get a glimpse of Orlando’s best attacking lineup?

Wade: Possibly, but it's still very early to expect the 34-year-old Baptista to match that production over the course of a full MLS season. The glimpse we got was certainly promising — especially given it allows Rivas and Winter to slide into the substitution roles I've long screamed are the best fit for them — but I'm not ready to say it's the best lineup. Not yet, at least.

Scott: I obviously want to avoid any recency bias or overreaction to a small sample size, but I'm going to say yes. Kaká was consistently dangerous from the left side of the pitch, and putting your best player in the best position to optimize his talents is, in my humble opinion, a smart thing to do.

Julio Baptista still didn’t look quite fit enough to play the full 90, although he huffed and puffed his way through, but I think the combination of he and Cyle Larin gives the Lions the most firepower up front, where attacking midfielders like Kevin Molino and Adrian Winter have flashed, but failed to show truly consistent finishing ability. Having The Beast on with Kid Fantastic puts two goal scorers up front, which would hopefully alleviate some of the scoring burden that has often been on Larin during his short career in purple. With this setup, Molino and Kaká can work their trademark chemistry, and the energy and pace of players like Winter and Carlos Rivas is saved for impact roles off the bench, where they’re able to have game-changing impacts from the hour or 70-minute mark on, rather than starting in the first XI.

Logan: Baptista's emergence is definitely a pleasant surprise. The concept of him playing off of Larin is a tempting one, but not every right back Kaká goes up against will be a tiring London Woodberry. If Heath moves forward with Kaká on the left, it will be interesting to see if he can handle the duties of a winger for 90 minutes.

We got our first glimpse of Kevin Alston in purple on Sunday, filling in for an injured Rafael Ramos. Based on Ramos’ season so far, did Alston do enough in that match to warrant keeping him in the lineup even when Rafa comes back from the hamstring injury?

Scott: Ramos has certainly had a slower start to the season than I had anticipated, which is disappointing, but the 21-year-old is still Orlando's highest-ceiling option at right back. I don't think that Alston's performance, while certainly not a bad one, merits a promotion to the starting lineup over a healthy Ramos unless the Portuguese struggles for a prolonged stretch following his return from his hamstring tweak.

Logan: He did a solid job on defense and almost got himself a goal, things we haven't seen from Rafa so far in 2016. He deserves to start until he loses the spot, but even if Rafa comes back into the lineup straightaway, Alston will probably see plenty of minutes thanks to suspensions.

Wade: I like the addition of Alston, and I think he’s more versatile and an improvement over Corey Ashe from last season. However, Rafael Ramos is this club’s starting right back. He’s slumped horribly in the early stretch, but I don’t think benching him long term is the solution. He’s a talented kid with some insane athletic gifts, I look forward to him finding his form again.

The last time Larin went to Red Bull Arena, he bagged a hat trick. He has seven goals in three trips to New York. Why does he play so well there and does he keep that streak going even though New York will be paying close attention to him?

Logan: Larin's hat trick in Red Bull Arena last season was largely thanks to the Carlos Rivas Show, but these Red Bulls don't look like the Supporters' Shield winners of last season. Their defense hasn't been great, so even if they do key on him I think Larin bags a brace this weekend, but only if he listens to Taylor Swift's "Welcome to New York" as he steps out of the airport. At least I assume that's what he does. (Editor's note: Ugh.)

Wade: Kid Fantastic plays well there because, first and foremost, he's an extremely talented player. The Red Bulls are a bit small on the back line, though, and that surely helps the big, strong kid work in the box. I like to think he plays extra hard in the state just to keep those loud-mouthed Yankees as quiet as possible.

The Red Bulls defense has been terrible so far, allowing 15 goals already. Look for Larin to score six — the amount of slices you get from one of those overrated NY pizzas. If New Yorkers would shove more of that garbage in their mouth every time they wanted to talk about soccer, we'd have world peace.

Scott: "It's a nice place to play in New York. I think every time I go there I get excited and I put the ball in the back of the net."

Those words from Larin prior to Orlando's trip to face NYCFC in mid-March pretty much explain it all: New York is a nice place to play, he gets excited and, ipso facto, goals ensue. Even in that match at Yankee Stadium last month, Larin's excitement couldn't be curtailed by an illness, with the Canadian scoring the eventual winner early on an effective, if unorthodox, header.

Other than the excitement factor and the big city lights, however, I do think Larin finds the net against NYRB. He looked dangerous last Sunday off the bench and, assuming he's fit enough to start this week, I expect his work to pay off against a Red Bulls team that will struggle with his strength and has conceded two or more goals in six of its seven matches, including two three-goal showings.

There have been a lot of curious decisions from referees in Orlando City’s matches this season. Can we finally get through a game without any controversy on Sunday?

Wade: Unless we joined a new league overnight, or a new referee union is being used, the answer is an easy no. In no major North American sport are the officials this bad. Even in combat sports, where officials are employed by local athletic commissions and not the leagues themselves (IE UFC, Bellator, etc), the officials are far more competent. If I can tell you with a straight face that Steve Mazzagatti is better at his job than you are at yours, you should take that as the ultimate insult. That's worse than slapping your mother. That's worse than pissing in your cheerios. Those are fighting words.

At the end of the day, bad officiating really doesn't bother me — as long as it's consistently bad. I don't want to see garbage offside calls against one team and garbage handball calls against the other. If you consistently suck at properly reading an offside call, then at least I know that you consistently suck at properly reading an offside call the other way, too.

But when you blow your whistle and then seemingly try to come up with a reason why, before a stadium full of fans breaks out into chants about the line of work you truly belong in, it becomes painfully obvious, painfully quickly, that you're in over your head. And that is something we should all refuse to accept from our officials.

Scott: Much has been written, on this site and elsewhere across the Internet, about the ineptitude of PRO refs. I've decided to hop on board with our boy Jeff Milby who has proposed that we stop trying to hold PRO to any kind of reasonable standard, as we'll only wind up disappointed. Accept the chaos for what it is at this point, because it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. All this being said: I can't imagine the controversy matches the levels we saw last week (although it can't be ruled out with PRO), but something wacky will more than likely occur. Let's just hope that the soccer gods are feeling generous and that whatever it is, it benefits the Lions.

Logan: Given that Hilario Grajeda has the match, I doubt we see anything too out of the ordinary. There will be some questionable calls but I don't think he'll decide the outcome of the match.

What’s the key match-up on Sunday and how do you see Orlando City at New York Red Bulls unfolding?

Scott: Handling Dax McCarty will be key for Orlando City this week. Hopefully, Cristian Higuita will be ready to play for Orlando, coming off a groin injury, because the play of he and Darwin Cerén in the middle of the park will be very important to limit McCarty’s time on the ball, where he acts as NYRB’s engine and pulls strings for his teammates up the field. If Higuita can’t go, one or both of Antonio Nocerino and Servando Carrasco can be included here, and they’ll need to keep McCarty from dictating the game in the midfield, as the back line will have its hands full tracking runs by Bradley Wright-Phillips in behind.

Logan: The major issue will be if City’s back line can handle the attacking threats that the Red Bulls possess. They looked shaky against the Revolution for the entire match and Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan, and Felipe are a little more intimidating than a lonesome Lee Nguyen. There will be goals in this one, but I think City edge it out 3-2 with some late magic.

Wade: It's all about the kid against the back line. NYRB has struggled all season, they can't score goals, and they can't stop them, either. Larin should look to strike early and often, getting Orlando ahead and letting the Red Bulls crumble from within under the pressure yet again.

Bonus: What's your attendance prediction for the Orlando Pride vs. Houston Dash on Saturday at the Citrus Bowl? Will the club break the NWSL attendance record of just over 21K? What's your ballpark number?

Logan: I think they get there but it'll be close. I'm hopeful for 23k.

Wade: I'm probably the least knowledgeable member of The Mane Land when it comes to the Pride. I would imagine they'll get at least 15K — the promo work around the city and on social media hasn't been lost on me, this city is clearly a soccer city first and foremost, and the best woman on the planet is a helluva draw. I hope the fans do manage to break the league record. At the least, they'll get up to around 75% of it.

Scott: Both #FillTheBowl campaigns thus far have succeeded, so I don't doubt what this city can do when it comes to painting the Citrus Bowl purple. I'll venture to say that the Pride draw just enough to break the record, with a total shot-in-the-dark guess of 23k.

* * *

And thus concludes your roundtable discussion for Week 7 as Orlando City prepares for a date with the Red Bulls and the Pride get set to host their first ever home match. My personal thought is that the Pride will draw closer to 30,000 than 20,000. Call me optimistic.

Feel free to add your answers to the questions above 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

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!

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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

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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