October is here, and while in most recent years that meant Orlando City and the Pride working to lock in a good playoff seed and actual playoff games for Orlando City B (OCB), that is not the case this year.

OCB went ahead and dressed up as a pumpkin well in advance of Halloween, failing to make the playoffs after a strong early start to their season. The Pride need, I don’t know, just about everything to go their way (you can create scenarios at this link; it is possible but exceedingly unlikely) in order to make the playoffs, and Orlando City is in a tight battle to qualify, with playoffstatus.com giving it just a 34% chance of making it this year.

October could indeed live up to its scary billing if the Pride do not get their miracle and the Lions falter and drop below the line. Not since 2019 have all three Orlando teams missed their respective playoffs during the same year, and the Lions are realistically the City Beautiful’s only hope for postseason soccer.

I generally prefer optimism to pessimism, so with that in mind, I wanted to look at something more on the glass-half-full side this week, with that glass being half full of goals. Goalkeepers and defenders can have fun too, but their fun is often more like that of an actuary or accountant — clinical and black and white. Goals are expressive and explosive and full of color (in this case, a heavy helping of purple) and joy. I like thinking happy thoughts while I write.

The three Orlando teams have scored more than 150 goals this season across all competitions, and the chart below details the makeup of all three teams and where those goals came from, using data from fbref.com for Orlando City and the Pride and from the MLS NEXT Pro website for OCB:

*Goal contributors are the players that scored or provided the primary assist on the goal

More than 80 players have appeared in at least one game for an Orlando team thus far, with 13 players appearing for both Orlando City and OCB. Seven players are goalkeepers, and if you remove them from the players used count, that leaves 76 field players, of which 54 (goalkeeper Juan Rojas had an assist for OCB) contributed to at least one goal (71%, not bad).

Barbra Banda, Martín Ojeda, and Issah Haruna are the leaders for their respective teams thus far. OCB’s season is over, so Haruna — and his seven goals and seven assists — is locked in as the leading contributor for OCB. Ojeda has been in the lead for nearly the entire season for Orlando City, but Antoine Griezmann started playing after the World Cup break and has been rapidly cooking up escar-goal contributions ever since. As for the Pride, it was Agatha Barbra all along, and as our Sean Rollins noted earlier this week, it has not even been close.

I mentioned earlier that 13 players have played for both men’s teams this season, and even though Ojeda leads the Lions and Haruna led the Young Lions, neither are the leading contributor on the men’s side of the club. In fact, neither are the leader or the player in second place, as it is Justin Ellis who sits in first place and Harvey Sarajian who trails him on the men’s side.

Both players have delivered goals for the senior Lions and Young Lions this season, and if you throw in the two goals from his recent stint with the U.S. Men’s National Team, Ellis has crested 20 goal contributions in 2026. Those do not count for the graph below, even though the first was in Inter.co Stadium and the second came from an assist from Alex Freeman, both of which feel very much like they should count as Orlando goal contributions. Alas, Freeman is “Forever A Lion” but not currently on the Lions, but the following 10 players are and coincidentally they are both the top 10 and only 10 with at least 10 goal contributions thus far this season:

Banda jumps out as the leader and the only Pride player in the top 10, Haley McCutcheon (a defensive midfielder!) is second on the team and 11^th overall with eight goal contributions, and Jacquie Ovalle is third on the Pride and tied for 13^th overall with six. The Pride have once again really been a one-woman band(a), as evidenced by how the low numbers are for their second- and third-leading goal contributors.

Back on the men’s side, Daryl Dike only has three goal contributions, so he is down at 23^rd in those rankings, but his 0.58 goal contributions per 90 minutes has him ninth on the per-90 chart. Tiago, who may become a lot more important now that Tyrese Spicer is likely out for the season with a Jones fracture, is the other player not in the top 10 for actual goal contributions but in there per 90 minutes, as he sits 10^th at 0.51.

It is not surprising that the two players with the highest pedigree rank in the top two on the per-90-minutes chart. Both Banda and Griezmann have been as advertised all season, and if both had been available all season, each team would likely be higher in the standings.

The Pride have three games remaining (though their next one is not until Oct. 18 due to an international window) and Orlando City has seven, so there is still ample time for movement on this top 10 chart. Perhaps McCutcheon goes McClutcheon and bags a few more braces, or Ovalle or Ally Lemos (fourth on the Pride, also as a defensive midfielder) go on a late heater and catch Pedro Leão. More likely, however, is that no other Pride player makes a leap and Banda just adds to her totals, and we see if Ellis, with four more games left to play than the Zambian, can catch her for the number one spot.

Ojeda has a chance to follow his 31 goal contribution season in 2025 with a 20+ season in 2026, and if any of those goal contributions come from goals, he will pass Facundo Torres and take sole possession as the club’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Orlando City’s season resumes Saturday against Columbus, and hopefully the Lions will return from the international break locked and loaded for the stretch run. Whether the goal contributions come from a top 10 performer or someone well off the list is irrelevant. All that matters is that the Lions can score at least one more than their opponents.

And if they can do that a few more times, that will contribute to extending their playoff run to a seventh consecutive year.

Vamos Orlando!

Orlando City is back in action Saturday taking on the Columbus Crew at Inter.com Stadium. Every point matters as the Lions chase a seventh consecutive playoff appearance. Orlando City is above the Crew in the standings, but the Lions lost to Columbus last month in the U.S. Open Cup and drew in the previous league matchup earlier this season. Hopefully, Orlando City can get a different result this go around. What must the Lions do to get a victory over the Columbus Crew this weekend?

Defend in the Den

The Columbus Crew scored two goals to knock Orlando City out of the U.S. Open Cup back in September thanks to goals from Brais Mendez and Josef Martinez. Mendez scored the winning goal, but it was the Martinez goal that irked me the most. One would hope that it was a backup goalkeeper and back line that gave up those two goals, but it wasn’t. Maxime Crepeau started in goal with a back line of Bernardo Rhein, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, and Zakaria Taifi. At this point, Taifi is the only backup. The defense needs to do better this go-round.

​There’s a chance Orlando will have Griffin Dorsey back in for Taifi, which would be good. Brekalo will also be back from international duty. Additionally, the Lions are coming off a small break as opposed to playing their third match in eight days as they were in September. With that in mind, perhaps they will be better rested both physically and mentally. 

Let’s Go Wilder

I’m going to suggest that Martin Perelman do something I don’t think he will do: start Wilder Cartagena. I know that Perelman is an all gas, no brakes kind of coach, but the last time these two teams met, he started Joran Gerbet along with Eduard Atuesta. Neither of the two are midfield destroyer types that the Lions need to shield the back line.

Cartagena brings a more defensive mind and attitude to the pitch without sacrificing too much going the other way. As I mentioned above, the defense needs all the help it can get, and I think Wilder can provide that in a way that neither Gerbet nor Atuesta are able to do. 

Designated Player Powers Activate!

It’s no secret that Martin Ojeda was Orlando City’s best attacker prior to his injury. It’s also no surprise that Antoine Griezmann has taken the league by storm and made the Orlando City attack better in all respects. What we’ve yet to see is these two truly combine to devastate an opponent’s defense. We’ve heard they work well in training, and they looked good together in the friendlies prior to the season restarting post-World Cup, but I want to see it all come together against the Crew.

Columbus has given up 43 goals so far this season. That is way better than Orlando City’s 64, but the Crew are not impossible to break down. If Griezmann and Ojeda can combine for at least two goals, Orlando City will have a much greater chance to win. If Justin Ellis’ knock from the USMNT match Tuesday night isn’t hindering him, then the attack will be that much more dangerous. Patrick Schulte is a pretty good MLS keeper, so the Lions will need to finish the chances they get.

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

How’s it going, Mane Landers? October has been going well so far for me, although I wish we got some fall weather instead of the afternoon showers that have made an umbrella a necessity as of late. It at least beats the usual oppressive heat I’m used to here in Florida. But enough about the weather, let’s get to the links!

Orlando City Prepares for Columbus Crew

Orlando City will be back in action on Saturday against the Columbus Crew in its first match since the international break. This game will be a rematch of the U.S. Open Cup semifinal between the two in Ohio, where the Crew won 2-1. Hopefully playing at home gives the Lions an edge this time around as they fight for a spot in the playoffs. Forward Harvey Sarajian spoke on the team’s excitement to get back on the field following the international break as it prepares to face the Crew yet again.

Dan Lock Hired for Orlando City’s Academy

Orlando City named Dan Lock as its academy head of methodology and coaching for him to oversee efforts to improve the pathway for academy players to develop. He joins Orlando after over a decade in youth soccer development, including time with the Columbus Crew as their academy director and leadership roles in the academies of Charlotte FC and the Seattle Sounders. Lock has also been a coach educator for U.S. Soccer and MLS NEXT.

Justin Ellis Impresses With USMNT

Multiple MLS players stood out at the United States Men’s National Team’s series of friendlies, including Orlando City forward Justin Ellis. The 19-year-old scored in the opening match against Peru and then again to beat Canada. Cavan Sullivan and Julian Hall also did well as the youth movement is in full swing with the USMNT to prepare for the 2030 World Cup. The only downside to Ellis’ international break was a knock picked up during the win over Canada, but hopefully it doesn’t take too long for him to recover from the contusion.

USWNT Will Face Tough Test from Spain

The United States Women’s National Team will take on Spain on Saturday in the first of two friendlies between the top two teams according to FIFA’s rankings. Spain has talent across all of its roster, but the offense in particular should challenge a USWNT defense that will be without key players like Naomi Girma, Emily Sonnett, and central midfielder Sam Coffey. The U.S. has put an effort into developing a solid player pool to provide depth when needed at times like these, so it will be interesting to see how Head Coach Emma Hayes aims to keep Spain’s attack in check.

Free Kicks

• The USMNT will play against Haiti on Nov. 14 and 17 in the Concacaf Nations League quarterfinals. The first leg will take place at a neutral location and the second will be at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati.
• Despite winning all four of its games over this past international window, the USMNT remained 16th in the latest FIFA rankings.
• Mikel Arteta signed a new contract with Arsenal that will last through 2030. He’s been with Arsenal since December of 2019 and led Arsenal to a league title last season.
• Former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega announced that he will go up against Gianni Infantino and run for the FIFA presidency.
• David Silva is coming out of retirement at 40 years old to join Supreme Sha Tin in Hong Kong.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!