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Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union: Final Score 2-2 as Lions Can’t Hold onto Late Lead

Kevin Molino and Cyle Larin bring Orlando back from a 1-0 deficit but a late goal off a corner spoiled what could have been a second straight victory for the Lions.

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Nick Leyva, The Mane Land

Orlando City remained unbeaten at home, but it wasn’t the result the Lions wanted, drawing 2-2 with Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Union. The announced crowd of 24,109 at Camping World Stadium saw a rather dull first half turn into an eventful second period with all four goals coming after the break.

The Lions (3-3-6, 15 points) came from behind to take the lead on goals by Kevin Molino and Cyle Larin but could not hold their advantage, allowing an equalizer by the Union (5-3-4, 19 points). Ken Tribbett’s first MLS goal and a missed late chance for Molino sealed only a single point for the Lions, who must regroup for Sunday’s match at New York City.

They’ll have to play Sunday without center back David Mateos, who was sent off late (barring a successful appeal, should one be attempted), and midfielder Cristian Higuita, who picked up yet another yellow after foolishly throwing an arm out at Sebastien Le Toux as he ran past.

In the end, it was the conference leaders who spoiled the party for Orlando fans, scoring twice off set pieces. Orlando was not nearly as sharp on its set pieces, including a missed penalty by Kaká in the first half. Head Coach Adrian Heath, who made no changes in the starting lineup from Saturday except to replace injured defenders Rafael Ramos and Seb Hines with Kevin Alston and Tommy Redding, respectively, said he was “disappointed” with the result.

“When we got in the lead I thought we’d see it through,” Heath said after the match. “I thought we were dangerous (in the) second half. We had a lot of momentum going at the time. So it’s disappointing…It is what it is. We move on.”

The first 45 minutes were nothing MLS marketing executives will ever use to promote the game of soccer. Both teams came out lethargic, missing passes, turning the ball over, and taking heavy touches and weak shots.

The Lions had the first attempt at goal with Kaká sending a weak effort on frame in the opening minutes. Philadelphia got its first decent chance at the eight-minute mark, with Le Toux sending a cross for C.J. Sapong that Mateos headed behind for a corner.

The Union won a free kick about 30 yards out to Joe Bendik’s right in the 15th minute on a Mateos foul but the cross sailed straight to Orlando’s keeper. Orlando countered with a chance in the 27th off a quick free kick after Sapong fouled Servando Carrasco. Alston crossed for Kaká but the captain’s shot was off target.

The Brazilian was involved for both good and bad throughout the half. He got booked during a counter attack in the 32nd minute, grabbing the back of Le Toux’s neck on the break. Sorin Stoica whistled the play dead and showed a yellow to Kaká as Le Toux made the most of the contact. Four minutes later, Carlos Rivas danced past Fabinho on a two-on-one and fed the captain, who took a touch past Philadelphia keeper Andre Blake and was bundled over in the box for a penalty.

The spot kick, however, was far too close to the center of the goal and didn’t have nearly enough power on it, and Blake was easily able to keep the game level at 0-0.

Philadelphia mustered the last good chance of the half, with Le Toux squaring a ball back across the top of the box for Tranquillo Barnetta, whose shot took a partial deflection, narrowly missing finding Sapong on its way to Bendik’s waiting arms.

The last significant play of a dull opening 45 minutes came when Union defender Yaro came together with Larin. The first-round pick out of Georgetown tried to hold off Orlando’s No. 9 and injured his shoulder in the process. He went down, continued briefly, and then went down again before coming off for Tribbett. That ended up being a fortunate turn of events for the Union.

After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, the second half began with a pair of wide shots by Orlando City’s Adrian Winter and Kaká before things livened up.

Barnetta then opened the scoring in the 52nd minute off a set piece, after an unnecessary Rivas foul. The free kick was from far enough away to not be much of a problem but Chris Pontius headed to Barnetta, who volleyed home with Mateos caught ball watching.

Joe Bendik’s sprawling save on Sapong kept it at 1-0 on the counter attack off a turnover by Larin. But Philadelphia had a pretty good argument for a penalty in the 61st minute when Mateos clipped Warren Creavalle in the box but no foul was given.

Heath subbed Molino and Julio Baptista on for Winter and Rivas, respectively, in the 67th minute, and the substitutions paid immediate dividends. Molino scored on one of his first few touches of the match, knocking his fifth of the season into an empty net after Larin and Blake collided in midair going for a 50/50 ball. With bodies everywhere, the Trinidadian cleaned up the mess to even the score at 1-1 in the 68th minute.

Three minutes later, Kaká rounded Keegan Rosenberry in the left corner and squared a ball across the six-yard box that Larin chested home for his seventh goal of the year.

Orlando City led 2-1 but it didn’t last long. Four minutes after Larin’s tally, a cross to the back post by Philadelphia fell for Brek Shea, who took a heavy touch and conceded a corner. That proved costly. Bendik got a hand on the ensuing cross but the ball fell perfectly for Tribbett for an easy equalizer with just 15 minutes left in normal time.

“We conceded two really poor goals,” Heath said. “Defensively for both goals we were awful. If you give players time and room, especially quality players, it invariably ends up in the back of the net and that’s what we did.”

Molino worked hard to earn a corner just moments later and Baptista thumped a header just wide of goal in the 78th minute. Two minutes later, Philadelphia fashioned a chance against the tiring right side of the Orlando defense, with Fabian Herbers getting a shot on target that Bendik saved.

The Lions had a golden opportunity to regain the lead in the 86th minute, when Kaká sent Shea free in the left corner and the Orlando defender played a cross to the waiting Molino. The Trinidadian’s one-time shot sailed just over the bar in what would be the last great chance for either team.


Orlando will be shorthanded Sunday when the Lions visit Yankee Stadium for the second time this season, with Hines, Mateos (pending a potential appeal), Higuita, and Ramos likely all out.

Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Colorado Rapids: Three Keys to Victory

What does Orlando City need to do in order to pick up three points on its trip out west?

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

After playing its last game all the way back on May 31, Orlando City will return to action Saturday night when it takes on the Colorado Rapids out in Denver. What follows are three things that I think will go a long way towards helping the Lions get back to winning ways out on the edge of the Rocky Mountains.

Respond Well After Time Off

Having an extended break between games can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can give a team time to get healthy, rest up tired legs, and fix any issues that have become evident over the last few games. You might see an energized and focused performance after being able to recharge, implementing some tactical tweaks, and using the extra time to extensively prep for the upcoming match. On the other hand, you might also see a team with its fair share of ring rust. There’s a difference between practice intensity and game intensity, and sometimes it can be hard to ramp back up to the necessary levels after having an extended period of time without games. For Orlando City, it needs to be the former and not the latter. We were treated to an uncharacteristically sloppy performance during the 3-1 loss to the Chicago Fire in the team’s most recent game, and much of what we saw can probably be attributed to fatigue after a grueling May schedule. With any luck, the two weeks that the Lions got between games will help bring back the kind of performances that we saw during the extended unbeaten run.

Maintain Defensive Structure

The Rapids are currently ninth in the Western Conference with 22 points from 17 games. Goal-scoring issues are the primary reason for Colorado occupying the spot that it does, as it has scored just 18 goals in 17 games. The Rapids have scored more than two goals twice this season — in a 3-3 draw against FC Dallas, and a 3-2 home win against San Diego FC. Orlando City has largely tightened things up on defense after an oddly sloppy start to the season, although the defensive issues returned with a vengeance in the loss to Chicago. If the Lions can regain their usual stability at the back, then it’ll go a long way towards picking up three points against a team that’s tied for the seventh-fewest goals scored in the league.

Mute Mihailovic

The best way to go about neutralizing the Rapids on offense is to shut down Djordje Mihailovic. He has seven goals and three assists in 17 games and leads Colorado in both categories. Rafael Navarro is next on the goal contributions list with five goals and one assist, and there’s then a steep drop-off to Oliver Larraz, Cole Bassett, and Darren Yapi, all of whom have three goal contributions. Mihailovic also leads the team with 49 key passes, which is more than double what second-place Navarro has, with 22. Anybody can hurt you on any given day, and the Lions have an unfortunate habit of conceding goals to guys who never seem to score, but the numbers say that if you manage to contain Mihailovic, then it takes away a bulk of Colorado’s danger on offense.


So there you have it. If the Lions can have the right response after their time off, maintain the sort of defensive stability we’ve seen from them most of the year, and put a muzzle on Mihailovic, they should be well set up to claim all three points from their trip out to Denver.

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/13/25

Orlando City prepares for the Colorado Rapids, Concacaf W Champions Cup schedule released, USWNT tops FIFA rankings, and more.

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Mark Thor

Happy Friday! We have some exciting soccer ahead of us over the next few days, starting with the Orlando Pride’s road game against Bay FC tonight at 10 p.m. I’ll be spending most of the weekend working and visiting family for Father’s Day. Let’s go ahead and get this Friday started with today’s links from around the soccer world!

Orlando City Prepares for the Colorado Rapids

The Lions are back in action on Saturday for a road match in high altitude against the Colorado Rapids. Orlando City is coming off a needed break in the schedule after losing two games in a row to close out a busy May. The Rapids have also lost their past two league games and will be without goalkeeper Zack Steffen due to injury. This will be the team’s first match against the Rapids since a 2-0 victory in Orlando back in 2023 and the first in Colorado since a 1-1 draw in 2022. Hopefully the Lions can get back on track with a win to kickstart another strong summer.

Concacaf W Champions Cup Schedule Revealed

The schedule was unveiled for the Concacaf W Champions Cup and we now know where the Pride will be playing this fall. Their campaign will begin at Inter&Co Stadium against Costa Rican club LD Alajuelense on Sept. 2. They’ll then hit the road for their next two matches, playing Chorrillo FC in Panama on Sept. 16 before facing Club America on Sept. 30. The Pride will close out their group play with a home game against Pachuca on Oct. 15. The top two teams from the group will advance to the semifinals, and the winner of the tournament will earn a spot in both the 2027 FIFA Women’s Champions Cup and 2028 FIFA Women’s Club World Cup. It’s going to make for some late-season fixture congestion for the Pride, but that’s the price of success and earning a spot in continental competitions.

USWNT Remains Atop FIFA Rankings

The United States Women’s National Team is still the best team in the world according to the latest FIFA rankings. The U.S. lost points overall in the time since the last rankings in March though, and the gap has narrowed between it and Spain and Germany. Brazil had a decent rise in the rankings, moving up four spots to fourth after beating Japan twice in recent friendlies. With notable international tournaments lined up for this summer, it will be interesting to see how much things shake up when the next rankings come out.

Michael Bradley Named New York Red Bulls II Head Coach

Former USMNT midfielder Michael Bradley was hired as head coach of the MLS NEXT Pro’s New York Red Bulls II. It’s the 37-year-old’s first professional head coaching job after spending time as an assistant coach under his father, Bob Bradley, at Stabaek in Norway. Bradley returns to where he began his professional playing career, as he was drafted by the MetroStars in 2004 at the age of 16.

“I couldn’t be more excited to come back to where my professional playing career began,” says Head Coach Michael Bradley. “This is a dream opportunity as a young coach. I’m looking forward to working everyday with this talented group of players, and I’ll give everything to help them take the next step in their careers. I’m thankful to the club for the opportunity and can’t wait to get started.”

Free Kicks


That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!

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Orlando City

The State of Orlando City at the Halfway Point of the MLS Season

An analysis of Orlando City’s offensive and defensive performances through the first half of the 2025 MLS season.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

I attended my high school reunion this past weekend (let’s agree not to discuss how many years it has been since I graduated), and late in the evening on Saturday night a karaoke machine appeared. What to my wondering ears did I hear but a great many hits that came from yesteryear. One of those hits, naturally, was karaoke staple “Livin’ on a Prayer” from Bon Jovi, with the famous line of “ohhhhh, we’re halfway there” which every…single…person in attendance sang along with. We probably gave karaoke a bad name.

Orlando City did not have a game during this weekend, but after its last game — one we can also agree not to discuss — the Lions also are halfway there, with halfway there in this case being the halfway point of the MLS regular season. Being that we are at the halfway point, I thought it would be a good time to check in on their performance thus far, so let’s take a look at how the squad is doing in some key metrics.

We shall start on defense, because defense wins championships and because, as Linkin Park sings on one of my son’s favorite songs, when talking about a soccer lineup we usually work up from the bottom. Using Opta’s tracking from fbref.com, here is how Orlando City fared on defense during the first 17 games (MLS Avg. is the average of every team except Orlando City):

Metric OCSC MLS Avg.MLS BestOCSC Rank
Goals Allowed per 901.291.390.7511
Shots on Target Allowed per 904.124.302.4412
Shots on Target Allowed %32%35%24%10
Goals per Shots on Target Allowed29%32%21%13
Non-Penalty: G-xG Allowed (full season)-1.7-0.8-8.514
PSxG +/- per 90+0.12+0.05+0.398

The first four rows are pretty self-explanatory, with the team just outside the top third (MLS has 30 teams) in keeping the opponents from putting shots on target and into the net. Prior to the most recent game, the one I do not want to talk about, like Bruno, the team was ranked 10th, giving up 1.19 goals per 90 minutes, but the disastrous first 32 minutes against Chicago knocked OCSC down a spot. In fairness, Chicago has one of the league’s best offenses, but still. Yuck.

The bottom two rows in the table above are the fun advanced stat metrics, with Non-Penalty Goals – Expected Goals being the comparison of actual goals allowed thus far this season to expected goals allowed, and since the Lions’ value is negative, that means that they have given up fewer goals than they were expected to. The defense is performing better than the MLS average, but because several defenses are significantly overperforming against expected goals, the team is only ranked 14th.

Where the Lions are doing much better is in the goalkeeper-focused stat of Post Shot Expected Goals – Goals Allowed, which is the stat that takes into account not just the location of the shot but also how well the shot was struck. In this case, a positive value is good, as it means that the expected goals allowed is greater than the actual goals allowed, and Orlando City’s goalkeepers did well to put the team in the top 10 in this metric.

The last area to look at on the defensive side is the lineups that have been used the most on the back line thus far, and unlike in past seasons, there is a clear first-choice back line playing most of the minutes (1,530 total minutes have been played) through the first half of the season (players listed from left to right just as they play on the field):

Back LineMinsGoals Allowed per 90+/- per 90
Brekalo – Jansson – Schlegel – Freeman8161.10+0.77
Santos – Jansson – Schlegel – Freeman2341.15+0.88
Santos – Jansson – Brekalo – Freeman950.000
Smith – Jansson – Schlegel – Freeman921.960
Santos – Smith – Schlegel – Freeman902.00+2.00

I am interested to see what happens in the second half with regard to the back line, as I am not confident that by crunch time in October that it will still be the four on the top row of that chart who are the first choice back line. That said, this group is averaging only giving up 1.10 goals per 90 minutes and is +8 for the season, and the group that played the most in 2024 gave up 1.37 goals per 90 minutes and finished at only +2. Coming off a two-week break, we will see who gets the starts, and whether Rafael Santos can reclaim the left back position and/or if David Brekalo moves inside to center back. Robin Jansson and Alex Freeman are not going anywhere, but the other two spots may see some changes in the upcoming months.

On the whole, Orlando City’s defense has been solid but not spectacular in MLS play. The Lions have seven shutouts, but they also have seven games of giving up at least two goals and four games of at least three goals allowed. Some of the defensive lapses have been pretty rough, and an overall performance that puts them right on the cusp of the top third but squarely not in the top third feels right to me with how they have played this season.

And now from defense to offense, where there has been much more variation in the lineups and much better performance overall, though as I wrote a few weeks ago, I think the offense should be performing even better than it has. Looking at the same statistics as we did for the defense, plus a few more, we can see that the Orlando City offense is a top 10 offense in the most critical metric of all, goals scored, but not in some of the other metrics, which is a cause for concern:

Metric OCSC MLS Avg.MLS BestOCSC Rank
Goals Scored per 901.821.372.257
Shots on Target per 904.884.286.128
Shots on Target %32%35%44%25
Goals per Shots on Target34%32%48%5
Non-Penalty: G-xG (full season)+1.1-0.9+8.412
Big Chance Conversion28%37%55%28
Goals Scored by Designated Players208.1201

The Lions are still on pace to set a club record for goals scored in the MLS regular season, and had they scored one additional goal during the first 17 games, they would find themselves in the top three for goals scored per 90 minutes. Orlando City played a volume game in the first half of the season, ranking eighth in shots on target per 90 minutes, allowing the team to offset a lower-than-league-average performance in the percentage of shots that ended up on target. When the Lions put their shots on target, they converted them better than most, but the team struggled all season long with the final product, as evidenced by the poor performances in the percentage of shots that went on target and the conversion of what Opta deemed to be big chances.

Fellow Floridians Inter Miami converted its big chances at nearly double the rate of Orlando City, and if the Lions converted at that same rate, they would have scored 0.88, or basically one, more goal per game. It is an oversimplification to say this, but I will point it out anyway, the Lions lost two games by one goal and tied six games, and an extra goal in any of those games would have earned Orlando City more points, and with just three more points they would be sitting in second place in the conference. During the preseason, I predicted Orlando City would finish third in the Eastern Conference, so yes, I am a bit salty about all of the dropped points.

Coming back to the offensive metrics, Orlando City is outperforming its expected goals err…expectation…but not by so much that the Lions are among the top teams in the league. Where they are at the top is in the goal-scoring by their three Designated Players, and with the recent injury news about Duncan McGuire the DPs will need to continue that goal-scoring form to get results.

In looking at the attacking lineups, no group has even played the equivalent of three full games together through the first 17 games of the season. Injuries and untimely (read: bleeping stupid) red cards contributed to the large amount of different lineups, and by my count, the team has already rolled out 55 different attacking groups thus far this season. The five groups that played the most constitute only 56% of the total minutes, and no group seems to have established itself as the favorite to emerge as Óscar Pareja’s go-to group.

Attacking GroupMinsGoals Scored per 90+/- per 90
Muriel
Angulo – Ojeda – Pašalić
Araújo – Atuesta
230
1.96
+0.39
Muriel
Angulo – Ojeda – Pašalić
Araújo – Gerbet
2063.50+2.18
Muriel
Angulo – Ojeda – Pašalić
Gerbet – Thorhallsson
1740.000.00
Enrique
Angulo – Ojeda – Pašalić
Araújo – Atuesta
1302.77+0.69
Muriel
Angulo – Ojeda – Pašalić
Atuesta – Gerbet
1132.39-1.59

The group in the top row may have the inside track, but it was in the second half of the season in 2024 when Ramiro Enrique seized the starting role and Luis Muriel started to excel in a supersub role, so the door is open for any of these, or other, attacking groups to establish themselves as that go-to starting group. The MLS Secondary Transfer Window opens on July 24, and that could be a time to bring in another player to compete for offensive minutes as well.

On the whole, Orlando City’s offense has been really good, bordering on great. No team is immune to bad games, but with 31 goals in 17 games, the team has been far more of a real lion than a paper lion on the offensive side of the ball. Long-time fans of Orlando City will remember several (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022) seasons when the team scored fewer than 45 goals during the full 34-game season, so to see nearly two goals per game this season has been a great sight.

Orlando City has a near-top 10 defense and an offense that is among the best in the league, and if the Lions had just kept their heads instead of receiving not one, not two, but three ridiculous red cards, they likely would be in a league table position that is more fitting for how well they played for most of those first-half games.

Soccer is always a game of inches and milliseconds, and the Lions can point to a whole series of almosts and what-ifs that would have/could have/should have led to different results. They did not happen though, which is why the team sits at only 1.59 points earned per match, 11th best in MLS and placing them in seventh in the Eastern Conference.

Historically, Orlando City plays better in the second half of the season than the first, and if this team can repeat that pattern and execute just a little bit better, it will once again be primed to make a deep run in the playoffs. During the past three seasons, the OCSC season ended in the first round (2022), conference semifinal (2023), and conference final (2024), and I think this team has the ability to continue that run of advancement and make it to MLS Cup.

And speaking of run, the highlight of that karaoke I mentioned earlier was not New Jersey natives Bon Jovi, but rather a classmate of mine absolutely crushing a performance of a song by a different New Jersey icon, the Boss, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run.”

Let’s hope that at the end of the season we are all singing along together as well, specifically to another classic rock anthem — Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”

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