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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Montreal Impact: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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8 years ago

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Orlando City finally got back into the win column with a 2-1 win over Montreal. Impact fans may feel a bit salty about not getting an offside call on Cyle Larin on the last goal and Mauro Biello certainly disagreed about the foul call that led to the first, but if all of the early season bad calls (and bad no-calls) that cost the Lions points are going to even out over the long haul, it’s got to start somewhere, and I’m certainly not going to feel bad for anyone over it.

The Lions started the match kind of a mess, and Montreal did grab a much deserved early lead. But as the game wore on, a funny thing happened — Orlando City started to play as a team. Adrian Heath promised lineup changes and we got them. He put Cristian Higuita and Servando Carrasco in the central midfield above his back line and went with an attacking midfield of Carlos Rivas, Kaká, and Adrian Winter, pushing Antonio Nocerino and Kevin Molino to the bench. Seb Hines returned to the starting lineup but his night ended early with another knock.

I had a lot of very low ratings running through my head for the first half hour of the match, but now some of these will probably be scoffed at as too high. That’s OK. These are my grades and disagreement isn’t a bad thing. Let’s get to those player ratings.

Starters

G, Joe Bendik, 9 (MOTM) -€” Another sparkling outing for the former Toronto FC man, who made some key saves in the second half, including somehow stopping a deflected shot one-handed while moving the other direction. He came off his line twice to prevent dangerous chances for Montreal and finished with six saves on the seven Montreal shots on goal, including a huge save in the 71st on Oduro. The only one he couldn’t keep out took a deflection and he could do nothing about it. Kept the game level long enough for the Lions to find a late winner.

D, Brek Shea, 5 -€” He spent much of the first half trying to get booked (and eventually succeeding in the 41st minute), getting a lecture in the 11th and 29th minutes from referee Mark Geiger. Venegas flopped in the 40th to try to get him booked, and succeeded, but the left back should never have gone after the Montreal player, after having already won the free kick. Should have scored off a cross in the 51st minute but the ball went between his legs as he attacked the net. Worked well with Rivas down the left, though, so it wasn’t all bad for Brek.

D, David Mateos, 7 -€” Solid if unspectacular night for the Spaniard. Headed away a free kick in the 24th minute. Worked well with both Seb Hines and Tommy Redding, teaming up to keep Oduro and Piatti from getting many quality looks. Completed 87.2% of his passes and completed five of his seven long balls.

D, Seb Hines, 7 -€” Was having a good night before leaving in the 40th minute with a knock. Completed 94.7% of his passes and all five long balls were accurate. Stopped Oduro in the open field just moments before Piatti opened the scoring. Dispossessed Lucas Ontivero in the 30th off a free kick to clear the danger.

D, Rafael Ramos, 3 -€” Before leaving with an apparent hamstring injury in the 34th minute, the Portuguese youth international was having somewhat of a nightmare game. He was beaten on Ignacio Piatti’s goal in the fourth minute, he allowed a free kick with an unnecessary foul in the corner, and Dominic Oduro also beat him in the 15th minute, before having his cross deflected. Speaking of deflected crosses, neither of his were accurate. Ramos had one blocked and mishit another. Just a tough night all around for the youngster.

MF, Servando Carrasco, 6.5 -€” Started the match a bit tough, deflecting the Piatti shot that beat Bendik and taking a couple rough challenges, but came into the game as it wore on. He completed 80% of his passes and two of his five long balls were accurate. He finished with two tackles, two clearances, three interceptions and a blocked shot and helped Higuita lock down the middle of the pitch just above the back line.

MF, Cristian Higuita, 7 -€” Led the team in tackles (6), interceptions (6) and clearances (5) and completed 86.2% of his passes. Tracked back in the 33rd off a Ramos turnover to thwart the counter attack. Was better in the air than usual, getting his head on a few of Montreal’s set piece crosses to clear the danger. I have to mark him down a bit for taking a silly yellow card for dissent when a call went against him in the 53rd after he thought he’d dispossessed Piatti cleanly.

MF, Carlos Rivas, 5.5 -€” It was a night of almosts for the Colombian, who may have been a tad rusty after not seeing the field much recently. Used his speed to get up the left wing and create havoc but only three of his team-high nine crosses were accurate. Nearly served up an easy goal for Baptista, but the pass was just off. Came close to an Olimpico on a corner kick but it was cleared by Montreal. Completed just 66.7% of his passes and took an unnecessary yellow card for kicking the ball away to keep Montreal from playing quickly. Made a bad play going for goal in the 89th from a bad angle rather than heading to the corner to waste some valuable seconds. He was an agent of chaos, but that’s not always a bad thing.

MF, Kaká, 8 -€” If not for some slight disappearances in the opening 20 or 25 minutes, this could have been an even better night for the captain. Assisted on both of Larin’s goals and took three shots, forcing a save on one. Got in alone on goal and Wandrille Lefevre had to be perfect on his tackle to avoid a penalty. Led the team with four key passes. Really asserted himself in the game starting late in the first half and willed his team to victory.

MF, Adrian Winter, 6 -€” Typical hustle game for Winter but he didn’t really get into dangerous spaces with the ball, had only one key pass, and didn’t get any attempts at goal. Earned an early yellow card with a couple of crunching tackles and settled down after that. Managed only 25 touches in his 74 minutes.

F, Cyle Larin, 8.5 -€” Scored one with his head and one with his foot, and got into dangerous spaces all night. He earned the free kick that led to his first goal, sprinting up the left sideline. Lefevre got the ball cleanly on the slide tackle but raised his boots and took down the Canadian. Three of his game-high five shots were on target, including a header at Evan Bush in the 75th minute and the two goals. It wasn’t a perfect night, as he took a heavy touch in the clear in the 55th and shot just wide from a poor angle instead of squaring the ball to an open teammate for the easy goal. Still, a good night for Kid Fantastic, who got his first multi-goal game of the season.

Substitutes

D, Kevin Alston (34′), 7 -€” Subbing in for the injured Ramos in the first half, Alston showed well in the game. Adrian Heath called his efforts “smashing” after the match. He missed on a few passes and long balls, and he took a yellow after getting beat by Piatti in the 66th, but defended well overall and was an attacking presence. His wicked cross in the 87th had to be punched away by Bush.

D, Tommy Redding (40′), 7.5 -€” Spelled Hines and picked up where the starter left off with a fantastic performance. His vital tackle on Piatti in the box in the 73rd minute had to be perfect and it was. In the 80th, he shut down Michael Salazar’s bid to get past and into the box with a neat tackle. Finished with only three tackles but all were 1-v-1 and kept Montreal from generating a dangerous chance. He also completed 86.7% of his passes and both of his long balls were accurate. His positioning wasn’t always perfect but the youngster played well.

MF, Julio Baptista (75′), 6 -€” It wasn’t the best outing for The Beast until his gorgeous chip to Kaká set the winning goal in motion, although he did complete 85.7% of his passes. Fell in the box on a Rivas cross while trying to reset his feet to get a shot off. Attempted one shot but it was off target.

* * *

Those are my grades for the Lions’ skid-snapping win over Montreal. Please vote for your Orlando City Man of the Match in the poll below and let me know what your ratings were.

Polling Closed

Player Votes
Kaká 118
Cyle Larin 43
Joe Bendik 149
Cristian Higuita 34
Tommy Redding 12
Other 12
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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. CF Montreal, Leagues Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions begin their 2024 Leagues Cup quest at home against Montreal.

Published

8 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread for a Friday night Leagues Cup matchup between Orlando City and CF Montreal at Inter&Co Stadium (8 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). It’s the first match of the competition for both teams, and tonight’s game marks the third time the two Eastern Conference sides will meet this season. The teams split the points in both regular-season matchups, drawing both times. More on that later.

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

History

The Lions are 8-9-5 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 9-10-5 in all competitions since they joined MLS. OCSC is 4-4-3 in its home stadium against Montreal and 5-4-3 in the greater Orlando area when including a win in the knockout rounds of the MLS is Back Tournament in 2020.

The two sides last met in Montreal on April 20, trading goals back and forth in a 2-2 draw at Stade Saputo. Mason Toye opened the scoring early but Facundo Torres equalized from the spot a few minutes later. Ariel Lassiter appeared to win it late in normal time for the hosts, but Ivan Angulo struck in stoppage time to earn Orlando City a road point. These teams opened the 2024 season against each other in Orlando and played to a 0-0 draw. The Lions dominated the stat sheet but had a goal waved off for offside and simply weren’t lethal enough in front of goal.

The teams met twice in 2023, completing the season series on Sept. 30, 2023, with the Lions winning 3-0 in dominant fashion. Jonathan Sirois’ own goal opened the scoring, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Torres added strikes for Orlando City. That was a good measure of revenge for OCSC, after Montreal defeated Orlando City 2-0 and handed the Lions their first road loss of the 2023 MLS season on May 6 at Stade Saputo. A Robin Jansson own goal got Montreal started in the second half and Romell Quioto added a second goal four minutes later.

These two sides played their biggest game against each other in the 2022 MLS playoffs, with CF Montreal knocking Orlando City out of the postseason by a 2-0 scoreline on Oct. 16, with goals by Ismael Kone and Djordje Mihailovic — the latter coming deep in stoppage time from the penalty spot.

Each team won at home in the two-game, regular-season series in 2022, with Montreal thumping Orlando 4-1 on May 7. Joel Waterman, Mihailovic, Joaquin Torres, and Zachary Brault-Guillard did the damage on the scoreboard and Orlando City managed just two shot attempts, with Joao Moutinho’s goal on a set piece helping the Lions avoid a shutout. Orlando City did not have either starting center back for that match, and it showed. The teams also met on opening day of the 2022 season, when Orlando City captured a 2-0 home win behind second-half goals from Alexandre Pato and Benji Michel.

In 2021, the teams met in Montreal on Decision Day, with the Lions earning a 2-0 road victory at Stade Saputo to clinch a playoff spot. Sebas Mendez and Daryl Dike provided the goals. That season’s matchup in Orlando came on Oct. 20, 2021, with the visitors managing a 1-1 draw. Chris Mueller struck for the Lions just before halftime, but Rudy Camacho answered on a corner kick header shortly after the restart. The first meeting of 2021 took place Sept. 15 in Orlando with the Lions falling 4-2 and finishing the game with just nine men after both Nani and Andres Perea were sent off. Quioto led Montreal with a goal and two assists. Mathieu Choiniere and Quioto put Montreal up 2-0, but despite already being down one man, Jansson and Ruan tied things up. The visitors got two more from Lassi Lappalainen and Sunusi Ibrahim.

The teams met at Red Bull Arena in late 2020 as the team then known as the Montreal Impact played home games in New Jersey due to the pandemic. Orlando City got a Dike goal in the 39th minute to win 1-0 on Nov. 1, 2020. It was the second meeting of the 2020 season, with Orlando also beating Montreal 1-0 in the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds on July 25 to advance to the quarterfinals. Tesho Akindele scored the game’s only goal on a Montreal defensive mistake.

Orlando City snapped a six-game winless streak against Montreal (0-5-1) in MLS regular-season play dating back to 2016 when the Lions put the Impact to the sword in a 3-0 drubbing at Stade Saputo on June 1, 2019. Nani (penalty), Akindele, and Will Johnson supplied the offense that day. The Lions fell 3-1 at Exploria Stadium back on March 16, 2019, and Ignacio Piatti was a big reason why, scoring his ninth and 10th career goals against Orlando, adding to a strike by Orji Okwonkwo. Dom Dwyer added a cosmetic goal late for Orlando City to spoil the clean sheet.

Montreal did not allow a goal against the Lions in 2018, sweeping the two-game set from Orlando, and the Impact shut out Orlando City in three of the six meetings in that 5-0-1 run. The lone draw in that time frame was a 3-3 shootout in Orlando in 2017, in which the Impact led deep in stoppage time, only to see Jonathan Spector’s well-placed header steal the Lions a point.

Orlando won the first two meetings in 2016 by a combined score of 6-2. The teams split three meetings in 2015, with each going 1-1-1.

Match Overview

Orlando City enters this match on a five-game unbeaten run (4-0-1). The Lions are coming off a tightly contested 1-1 home draw against New York City FC on Saturday. The only Orlando goal was provided by Ramiro Enrique, but the Lions conceded a Hannes Wolf strike five minutes later. Enrique is in fine form, having scored goals in each of his last four games. Regardless of Orlando’s form, this competition is not part of the MLS regular season, so it’s difficult to know how teams and players will approach it. In addition, it’s not like the Lions have lit it up at home in 2024, amassing a poor record of 3-5-4 at Inter&Co Stadium. However, the Lions have been better of late, going 2-0-1 in their last three at home.

Montreal sits four spots and seven points behind Orlando in the Eastern Conference standings at the Leagues Cup break, struggling to defend in 2024. CF Montreal has allowed 49 goals this season, which is just one fewer than D.C. United’s conference-worst 50. The Canadian club, which is coming off a 1-0 home loss to rival Toronto on Saturday, is 2-7-4 on the road this season and is 0-7-3 in its last 10 road games against MLS competition (0-7-4 on the road in all competitions in its last 11).

A new competition offers hope for both teams, especially Montreal. There is not as much pressure to get a result for the underdog visitors, and it’s a chance to reset and chase a trophy. Ibrahim and old nemesis Josef Martinez are offensive players the Lions must account for, as they are Montreal’s leaders with six and five goals, respectively. Former Lion Ruan will present enough speed to keep up with Orlando City’s Angulo, so that will be an interesting battle to keep an eye on tonight (assuming both play).

“First, we are very excited to participate in this tournament. Last year, I thought it was a successful one, and the experience we had playing the two leagues was good,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “We played against Houston [Dynamo] and Santos [Laguna], which is one of the best teams in Mexico, and the experience was good. Overall, we are preparing and respecting the tournament as much as we can. Everyone is excited to be a part of it.”

As of this writing, it doesn’t appear that availability reports will be a thing for the Leagues Cup, but it’s fair to say the Lions will be without Duncan McGuire (international duty), Mason Stajduhar (lower leg), and Michael Halliday (knee).

Match Content

Projected Lineups:

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.

Attacking Midfielders: Martin Ojeda, Nico Lodeiro, Facundo Torres.

Forward: Ramiro Enrique.

CF Montreal (3-4-2-1)

Goalkeeper: Jonathan Sirois.

Defenders: Joaquin Sosa, Fernando Alvarez, Joel Waterman.

Midfielders/Wingbacks: Raheem Edwards, Mathieu Choiniere, Samuel Piette, Ruan.

Attacking Midfielders: Ariel Lassiter, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint.

Forward: Josef Martinez.

Referees:

REF: Adonai Escobedo González.
AR1: Enrique Bustos Díaz.
AR2: Enedina Caudillo Gómez.
4TH: Lizzet Garcia Olvera.
VAR: Melissa Borjas Pastrana.

How to Watch

Match Time: 8 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.

Radio: FM 96.9 The Game (English).

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Orlando City

Examining the Sustainability of Ramiro Enrique’s Scoring Explosion

Is Ramiro Enrique’s scoring outburst sustainable, or is a regression to the mean on the horizon?

Published

9 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Since Orlando City’s 5-0 thumping of D.C. United back on July 6, Ramiro Enrique has tapped into a red-hot vein of form. He’s got four goals in four games, matching his scoring output from the entirety of the 2023 season, and doing so in four matches and 245 minutes, as compared to 30 matches and 1,019 minutes last year. That brings us to the big question: is this sort of output sustainable?

We’ll start by looking at the expected goals on each of his four tallies. While xG isn’t a perfect statistic, it provides a fairly good measure of how good a chance is. To get a clearer picture, we’ll also take a look at each goal to help gauge how difficult the chance is.

Against D.C. United, Enrique latched onto a flicked-on header from a corner kick and used a header of his own to score the Lions’ fifth and final goal of the night. That strike had an xG of 0.1. In truth, that number seems a bit low to me, as once Enrique’s in front of his defender, he has the whole net to aim at, and the ball comes in at a great height for him to get his head on it. He makes no mistake and sticks it into the side netting, where the goalkeeper has no hope of reaching it.

Against the New England Revolution, the Argentine again scored from a corner, sneaking in front of goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic and flicking the ball past him before he could collect Cesar Araujo’s header. His second goal of the season had an xG of 0.4. That number seems more reasonable to me. Once he does the hard work of losing his marker and getting across Ivacic, the goalkeeper is helpless to stop any ball that isn’t coming straight at him, and it’s a good finish.

Against Nashville, he collected a pass from Ivan Angulo a few yards outside of the six-yard box and blasted it off the crossbar and in. The tight angle from which he scored means the xG of 0.04 isn’t too surprising. Once again, Enrique managed to lose his defender and got himself into a really nice area of open space. The finish is outstanding, but it wouldn’t have been surprising to see a save or shot off target from this angle.

His fourth goal of the year had elements of skill and luck, as he redirected Martin Ojeda’s shot against NYCFC. The effort from Ojeda took a deflection off Enrique that caught the goalkeeper leaning the wrong way and had enough pace to carry it into the net, for an xG of 0.11. Again, I’m surprised the number is as high as it is. That’s probably due to the deflection happening in the box and leaving Matt Freese next to no time to react. While it was a clever touch to redirect it, there was also a good deal of luck involved.

Those totals add up to 0.65. In other words, Enrique would be estimated to score 0.65 goals off those chances (or one, rounding up, as there are no fractions of goals), and he instead bagged four. There are a couple ways you can view that. The optimist would say that he’s simply a good finisher and has been making the most of the chances that have come his way, even when they aren’t very good ones. The pessimist would say that him converting low percentage chances at this rate isn’t sustainable, and he’s due to regress back to the mean soon.

We can also look at the bigger picture of his statistics up to this point in the year. Across 11 games and 483 minutes, Enrique has taken 18 shots, put nine of them on target, and scored from four of those. He’s also got a season xG of 3.52, which is pretty much in line with his goal total of four, although he’s slightly outperforming it. That isn’t a bad thing though, as the best strikers score difficult chances too, not just the easy ones. Cristian Arango, Christian Benteke, and Denis Bouanga are the top three scorers in the league, and Bouanga is the only one not outperforming his xG (17.68 xG compared to 16 goals).

In my opinion, the truth of Enrique’s case lies somewhere in between. He’s put 50% of his shots on target this year, which is a great number, and getting the ball on frame is half the battle in this sport, so that’s an encouraging place to start. Each of his first three goals in 2024 came as a result of getting into space in a dangerous area and making no mistake with his finish once the ball arrived. Against D.C., he did well to get in front of his defender. In New England, he snuck in from the blind side of the defense. And against Nashville, he found space in the box and stayed onside until Angulo was able to find him. That sort of movement and ability to get yourself into dangerous areas is something that can be replicated, even if finishing low-percentage chances like the strikes against Nashville and NYCFC probably isn’t.

If Enrique continues being clever with his movement and finding dangerous spaces, Orlando’s offense has begun to look fluid enough that his teammates will find ways to get him the ball. As long as he keeps getting shots on frame and his finishing stays sharp, it isn’t unreasonable to assume that he’ll grab some more goals this year. It probably won’t be at the rate he’s done so in July, but if nothing else, he should be able to provide some extra firepower to an OCSC attack that has woken up in recent weeks. Keep your fingers crossed, folks. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 7/26/24

Orlando City plays CF Montreal tonight, USWNT wins against Zambia, Marta provides assist in Brazil’s win, and more.

Published

12 hours ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Mark Thor

Happy Friday! I hope the work week has gone easy on you as we get ready for a weekend filled to the brim with soccer to enjoy. The Olympic opening ceremony is also today, and I’m interested to see what the organizers in Paris have come up with. But for now, let’s get this Friday started with today’s links!

Orlando City Takes On CF Montreal Tonight

The Leagues Cup kicks off today and Orlando City will host CF Montreal tonight in its first of two group games. The Lions will then take on Atletico de San Luis on Aug. 4. It’s worth noting that these games will go into a penalty shootout if the score remains level after 90 minutes, with the winner of the shootout getting an extra point. The top two teams of each group advance to the next round and Orlando will play the Philadelphia Union, Cruz Azul, or Charlotte FC if it survives the group stage.

USWNT Beats Zambia in Summer Olympic Opener

The United States Women’s National Team started its Olympic campaign with a dominant 3-0 win against Zambia. The USWNT’s attack looked free and dangerous, with Trinity Rodman striking first and Mallory Swanson scoring twice in quick succession to give the USWNT a comfortable lead. Those goals also came before Zambia was reduced to 10 players after a red card to Pauline Zulu. The Orlando Pride’s Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda both started for Zambia, although Chanda was subbed out in the first half when Zambia had to make changes due to the red card.

There is some bad news along with the good for the USWNT though. Jaedyn Shaw missed out on playing in the opener due to a leg injury, and Sophia Smith had to exit in the 42nd minute.

Marta Assists in Brazil’s Olympic Win

The USWNT was far from the only team to win its first game of this year’s Olympics, as there were no draws after the first round of games. Pride star Marta provided the assist on Brazil’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Nigeria. Marta did well to pick out Gabi Nunes from a tough angle, and the striker had a great first touch and strike to put it away. Pride defender Rafaelle helped secure the shutout, with Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena coming up with huge saves as well. Elsewhere in Group C, Spain’s Aitana Bonmati had a goal and an assist in her team’s 2-1 win against Japan.

New Zealand struck first against Canada in Group A, but the Canadians rallied to come back and win 2-1. France scored three goals in the first half and survived a rally from Colombia in the second half to win 3-2. Germany may have had the most impressive win so far, beating a talented Australian side 3-0.

Analyzing New Zealand Ahead of Olympic Clash

The United States Men’s Olympic Soccer Team will aim to bounce back from a loss to France when it faces New Zealand on Saturday. New Zealand beat Guinea in its first game and is coached by Darren Bazeley, who led New Zealand to the knockout stage of the 2023 U-20 World Cup. Minnesota United center back Michael Boxall and Viking FK midfielder Joe Bell are two of New Zealand’s overage players and give the team some stability. Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, who joined Bournemouth this summer, is capable of coming up with acrobatic saves to give the U.S. fits as well. As for New Zealand’s attack, midfielder Sarpreet Singh and striker Ben Waine are a couple of the dynamic players the U.S. will have to keep in check.

Bev Priestman Removed From Canadian Olympic Team

Canada will have to go the rest of the Olympics without Head Coach Bev Priestman, who was removed from the team by the Canadian Olympic Committee. This decision comes amid a scandal involving spying on New Zealand’s training, which led to Canada Soccer suspending Priestman for the rest of the tournament. Reports have also surfaced that Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have tried to spy on opponents for years, including during the women’s team’s winning campaign in the 2021 Olympics. Only time will tell if Priestman will coach the team after this tournament and if punishments for the team’s actions will be handed out.

Free Kicks

That’s all I have for you today. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend. Enjoy the Olympics!

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