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Staff Roundtable: Orlando City SC Pulls One Point in Last Two Ahead of NYCFC; Pride Returns to Action

Published

10 years ago

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The Lions were busy this week, holding on for a 0-0 draw with the Colorado Rapids before conceding a late goal to lose to Toronto FC 2-1 at home. Did Jason Kreis find the solution to the back four equation? With the third match against New York City FC up next, what should be remembered from the first two matches? What will the Pride do without Steph Catley?

Gavin Ewbank, Austin David and Robby Torrence discuss all this and more in this week's edition of The Mane Land Roundtable.

Against Colorado, we saw José Aja and Mikey Ambrose start on the back line, bringing good results with them. What did you like seeing out of them in keeping even with the Rapids?

Robby: They stayed focused, which has been a consistent problem with the back line all year. Ambrose did a great job defending the left flank and showed flashes of what he can contribute on offense. Aja put in a solid 76 minutes of work, but it would be a little more ideal to see him fully match fit so he can go the whole 90.

Austin: I think what most people liked seeing from the two new starters was just something different from the norm. It's been a struggle with the back line throughout the year and grabbing a shutout on the road with two new starters is always something that will pique interest for the future. While both of them, specifically Ambrose, looked a bit timid at times, more games under their belts could only help their confidence. If they can replicate what they did in Colorado, who would say no to that?

Wednesday night against Toronto, Luke Boden played left back better than he has in recent memory, highlighted by a beautiful cross to Cyle Larin for Orlando City’s only goal — do you think he is the starter moving forward, or is Mikey Ambrose the better option?

Austin: I feel that, depending on the match-up, either one could start. Both of them have different aspects of their game that benefit the team, but how those are utilized can change depending on which team the Lions face. Boden provides better service into the box, while Ambrose is quicker and is able to track back to defend easier. One of them will have to flat out earn the starting spot, but for now, it's completely up for grabs.

Gavin: Outside of his assist on Larin's goal, I really did not think Boden was all that great in this match-up. I thought the obvious reason for his start was because Ambrose started and played just a few days ago, at altitude, so he wouldn't be fresh enough to play against Toronto. That said, I personally would give the nod to Ambrose this Sunday against NYCFC.

New York City FC comes to the Campground this weekend and finds itself second in the table. Orlando City won the first match-up and pulled even for a draw in the second — tactically speaking, how do they remain undefeated in round 3?

Gavin: Well, the biggest difference between the first two meetings is that Orlando City will actually be hosting this match-up as opposed to being on the road at the tiny bowling lane pitch in Yankee Stadium. The Lions are going to need to be able to stop David Villa, who is making a strong case to be the MLS MVP this season, and that means Tommy Redding stepping up for another strong game against Villa like we’ve already seen this season. Defense is the key, as always, for Orlando facing a strong attacking side that’s even seeing Frank Lampard producing big numbers now.

Austin: NYCFC is on fire right now in terms of game form. Orlando City is, well, not. The only benefit going into this one for the Lions is that it's on their home turf. The crowd always has an effect on games, so I could see Orlando pulling out a result. But with David Villa scoring goals the way he has been and the Lions' defense and their recent play, it won't be an easy task. Having Kevin Molino back and healthy will also be key for Orlando, since he has been most of the team's offense this year. Defense shutting down Villa + Molino back = result for Orlando (fingers crossed).

Robby: The defense is what it comes down to for a shot at points this weekend. NYCFC has a very consistent attack and a lot of players with the capability to score. Orlando needs to control the possession and minimize the work for the defenders.

Tommy Redding did a great job on David Villa when given the task — if given the option, which center back would you want to see marking the striker?

Austin: Tommy Redding hands down. No other center back on this current roster has the pace to keep up with Villa in a foot race and with his veteran knowledge of the game, he can get behind the back line and really make it a nightmare for Orlando. Redding has been good in keeping Villa in front of him most of the time and has limited his chances against the Lions. If he can replicate those past performances against Villa in Orlando, there's no one else i'd rather have marking him.

Robby: After this last match, Aja should get the nod for this weekend. He played with a chip on his shoulder and is definitely not letting his opportunity for minutes go to waste. Plus, he contributed to a rare OCSC clean sheet.

Gavin: Like I said above, Redding has shown already he can handle anyone in this league, and it's going to take a team effort to stop Villa and company, but I believe Redding on Villa gives Orlando its best opportunity to grab three points — or at least keep Villa off the board.

PRIDE TIME

With Stephanie Catley injured, what can Tom Sermanni do to get the team ready for the Washington Spirit’s No. 2-ranked offense?

Austin: It’ll be a tough ask for the Pride to replace a player like Catley, but both Sam Witteman and Kristen Edmonds have played as left backs as of late and have previous experience playing there. Edmonds has been a key cog on the offensive end this year, so I would give Witteman the nod for the back line job. The rest of the defense is fresh out of Rio, so hopefully their fitness wouldn’t be an issue. Other than that, shutting down Crystal Dunn and Estefanía Banini will be key to keeping the scoreline close.

Robby: Losing Catley is a big blow to the team's defense. Luckily, since she has had international duty, the team has already explored other potential players to play left back.

Gavin: I imagine they will go with either Kristen Edmonds or Sam Witteman to cover for her loss, but of course you can't rule out bringing in another defender.

The Pride managed just two shots the last time they met the Spirit. Is there an exploitable weakness in Washington's defense? How can the Pride threaten the net more this time?

Gavin: They have Alex Morgan back now, so that helps with their offensive concerns.

Austin: The influx of offense returning to the Pride lineup should bolster their chances on the offensive end compared to the team's most recent matches, but even at full strength the team couldn't break down the Spirit defense. Playing at home this time should play in Orlando's favor, but they'll need Morgan, Edmonds and Spencer to step up and be creative in the attacking third. Luckily for the Pride, the two teams have already faced each other, so if there is a way to exploit the Spirit defense, Sermanni and his staff will have watched the film from the previous game and found it.

***

And this edition of the roundtable is adjourned. Let your opinions be heard below, and remember to tune in Saturday night when Orlando City B faces the Richmond Kickers in a rematch to see who may be next to receive the call-up.

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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

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Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

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

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

2 weeks ago

on

July 14, 2026

By

Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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