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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Miami FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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7 years ago

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Orlando City Head Coach Jason Kreis put it best: “For me this is the most disappointing night I’ve had since I’ve been here with Orlando.”

It was a highly embarrassing performance from the home side where there was no motivation and it was outplayed by an NASL team. All the credit goes to Miami FC, as the South Floridians were clearly the better team.

Here are the grades from tonight’s performance, or lack thereof.

Starters

GK, Josh Saunders, 5: Stefano Pinho was unmarked in the 6-yard box on the first goal. The second goal hit Saunders in his arms and he should have saved it. The third goal he was slow coming over on, but he never had a chance at saving it anyway as Pinho was again unmarked in the 6-yard box. Saunders had no help from his defense, and while he did not have an amazing game by any means — there were also a few poor distributions — he did what he had to do. The second goal he arguably should have kept out, but the end result is well off Saunders’ shoulders. 

D, PC, 5.5: PC had the most passes out of anyone on the field, and the second-most touches. Combined with his 87% passing accuracy, he was one of the better players for the Lions. He also created the most chances for Orlando City, including providing the cross for the first shot of the game for the home side, which did not occur until the final 10 minutes of the first half. 

D, Léo Pereira, 3.5: Pereira had the worst match of all the defenders, and that is saying something in a terribly disappointing 3-1 loss at home. His distribution started out poor, although he did improve as the game went on. Defensively he was slow getting up and left Miami attackers onside on multiple attempts. The final Miami goal was most likely his fault, too, as Pinho ran right past him to find the back of the net. 

D, Jonathan Spector, 4.5: Earning the captain’s band tonight, Spector tried to control the team and be that leader on the field. However, his defense failed to step up and let Miami play with the ball. Players were left unmarked, and there were holes in the defense all night. Spector’s man was the goal scorer on the second goal of the game, albeit on a perfect cross into the box. On the third goal of the game, Pinho was completely unmarked with both Spector and Pereira watching him ease the ball into the back of the net.  

D, Rafael Ramos, 4: Ramos’ biggest moment of the game came on Miami’s first goal of the match. Michael Lahoud had the ball down the Lions’ left-hand side looking to put a cross into the box. Ramos was completely focused on him and missed Pinho running straight by him. Ramos also had many turnovers in the game, and was caught up the field a few times. 

MF, Pierre Da Silva, 4.5: Da Silva played one minute for Orlando City coming into this game, but after playing well for OCB had earned himself a start for Jason Kreis. He only lasted 45 minutes, and in that time it was evident that he just is not ready for first-team action quite yet. He had just 76% accuracy on his 21 passes, which was the least among all Lions besides Hadji Barry, and was slow to the ball on countless occasions. He also was out of position multiple times and through balls were played to where he should have been, resulting in turnovers. 

MF, Servando Carrasco, 5: On the offensive side of the ball, Carrasco was quiet, and did not have much of an effect. He stayed back most of the time and could have ventured forward a little more, particularly at the end of the match. However, he was one of the better defenders on for Orlando City and was not afraid to get stuck in on challenges. 

MF, Antonio Nocerino, 5.5: Nocerino controlled the game for the Lions to start. His 90% passing accuracy was one of the best in the game, and he had the most energy for the majority of the time. 

MF, Luis Gil, 5: Gil had the worst passing accuracy for the Lions (74%), and second-worst of any player in the match, and offensively he was bad. He did manage two shots, and his one shot on target — or half of Orlando City’s shots on target — was a long-range one that went right into the stomach of Daniel Vega. Defensively he was much better though, and forced some turnovers for the opposition. On a night where the entire team played absolutely awful soccer, Gil had moments to forget and moments of success, which is better than many of his teammates can say. 

F, Hadji Barry, 5.5: Barry did not have much of an impact in this game, but much of it was not his fault. The rest of the team could not connect any passes in the final third, resulting in just 11 first-half touches and nine in the second half. His one real chance of the game came in the 62nd minute, but he could not get on the end of the ball. He was very quiet throughout, and a little slow to some balls, but, there were some positive signs from the young forward. 

F, Giles Barnes, 6 (MOTM): Orlando City’s only goal scorer was the best player on the field for the Lions. In the second half, all the Orlando City players’ heads were down, they were standing still, and the body language showed that they had given up. All but Barnes, that is. He kept going right up until the final minute and was rewarded with a goal for his efforts. His two shots on goal could have been better but, just as with Barry, the midfield failed to get the ball to him. 

Substitutes

D, Tommy Redding (46’), 5.5 : Redding came in for Da Silva at halftime, and played on the right side of a three-man defense. While he has no experience playing with three defenders with Orlando City, he does for the USMNT youth teams. Considering his team was down two goals when he came on, and they were pushing up and in a new system, Redding did not do poorly. He had some crucial interceptions that led to Orlando City counter attacks. 

M, Kaká (63’), 4.5 : Kaká did what only he could do when he came in — brought the crowd to its feet when the home team is down three goals. Every time he was on the ball, The Wall got louder and tried to help bring the Lions some energy. It did not happen, though, and Kaká was underwhelming at best. He attempted to force the ball into the box over and over, and Miami’s defense had no trouble with defending him. He had two shots, but both were long-range and blocked. He mostly stayed on the left side of the field, and did not create the impact that the game needed. 

F, Carlos Rivas (69’), 5 : Well, he played a perfect ball in off a corner that led to Barnes’ goal. For that his rating goes up, but other than that Rivas did not have any impact. He may have been standing around more than he was running, and it looked like he had given up on the game by the time he entered. He did not have a single shot, and as a forward that is not OK. He also had no forward passes in the final third, and just three successful passes in the final third. 

That’s the way I saw the individual performances. Let us know what you thought in the comments section and vote in our poll.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Antonio Nocerino15
PC3
Giles Barnes26
Tommy Redding6
Other21

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Orlando City

How Orlando City’s Offense Stacks Up Against What Atlanta Does Defensively

How Orlando City has performed against teams playing with three or four defenders, and how that may influence the playoff game against Atlanta United.

Published

18 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The most famous quote about real estate is that “there are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” Soccer coaches also like to think in threes, especially when it comes to points, but for a soccer coach, the three things that matter might be the rhyming triplet “formation, formation, formation,” as that is where they will have the biggest influence on every game that their team plays.

Throughout his tenure as head coach, Óscar Pareja has preferred to use a 4-2-3-1 as his formation (fbref.com’s lineup data shows that the Lions primarily played a 4-2-3-1 in 65% of their MLS matches this season, and 79% of their MLS matches during the last three seasons). The Lions have lined up in a 4-2-3-1 during each of their last 14 games, and my confidence level is strong to quite strong (can you believe Meet the Parents came out 24 years ago?) that they will do so once again on Sunday when they host Atlanta United.

Atlanta United also prefers to deploy a 4-2-3-1, but was less consistent than Orlando City this season during MLS play, as evidenced by the chart below that shows how Atlanta lined up this season:

The purpose of this image is a table to show how Atlanta United lined up in 2024 (mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but also in one of six other formations).

I am relying on the coders at Opta for their evaluation of the formation, as I do not watch a lot of Atlanta United matches (sounds terrible), but though Atlanta primarily played with four defenders in more than two-thirds of its matches, during the last two matches it played a 3-5-2, the only two matches all season in which interim coach Rob Valentino rolled out that formation. I suspect that the formation change was related partially to playing Inter Miami and trying to defend the Herons’ dynamic offense and partially due to an injury suffered by defender Brooks Lennon in the first game of that series. So, while Atlanta primarily played four in the back for most of the season, there is a good chance it will roll with what worked against Florida’s second-best MLS team when it plays Florida’s best MLS team this weekend.

Now, if you want to read more about Atlanta, then you can read our match preview, which will drop Sunday morning, but I want to look at how Orlando did against teams that play similar styles. Looking only at MLS games, the table below shows how Orlando City performed against different back line structures this season (the left side is how the Lions’ opponents lined up, the right side is how Orlando City performed against opponents in those formations):

Table embedded as an image showing Orlando City doing best in goal differential in 12 games against three-man back lines, second best against four-man back lines, and having played once against a five-man back line (a 1-1 draw).

Orlando City earned slightly more points per game — the stat that matters most — against teams that played four in the back, but the Lions had a better average goal differential when teams played three in the back. Atlanta will likely deploy one of those two formations. In both games against Orlando City this season, Sunday’s visitors went with a 4-2-3-1, but as mentioned earlier, they used three in the back in each of their last two matches, so it really could be either.

Soccer is not like baseball, where players primarily stay in the same spot throughout the game, so some of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, as players are not always rigidly in the same position throughout a match. A team may also primarily play with four in the back but switch to three when chasing a game, or five when trying to protect against a late goal.

That said, using the data around Orlando City’s opponents’ general formations, here are the attacking groups who played the most frequently against four defenders during the 24 MLS games where Opta coded the opponents as using a defensive group of four:

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy four defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus eight goal differential for the season.

It is a little ominous that the main starting group, shown in row one, has played 666 MLS minutes against back lines of four this season, but do I like that green goal differential of +8 in those minutes, which is a strong +1.08 per 90 minutes. I like that goal differential more than I like all the things that Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin like on their song that is creatively named “I Like It.” Coincidentally, when people ask me what I think about that song, I say, “I like it.” I am very creative.

If we look at the lineups that Orlando City has used against back lines of three defenders then there are some pretty major differences in personnel groupings, but it must be noted that more than half of the games against teams playing three in the back came early in the season, when Ramiro Enrique was unavailable to play. Enrique, my presumed starter at striker, has played fewer than three games’ worth of minutes (265 total) against back lines of three this season, and only 28 minutes with the main starting group, which ranks 13th among all the attacking lineups for minutes played against three defenders. That group scored one goal in their 28 minutes together though, for a robust 3.21 goals-scored-per-90-minutes average.

While the team as a whole has been successful against three-man back lines, I do not expect any of the lineups shown in the table below to play more than a few minutes together this weekend, though the first row and the last row are strong groups and had a lot of success.

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy three defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus three goal differential for the season.

I am sure that all week long the Orlando City coaching staff has been going back and forth on whether it is more likely that Atlanta reverts to its most commonly used four in the back, or if the Five Stripes try for three wins in a row with three in the back. I would prefer that Atlanta plays with zero defenders and goalkeeper Brad Guzan wears a blindfold, but I think that is unlikely to be the case.

Even though Atlanta defeated Orlando City both times while in a 4-2-3-1, based on available personnel and recent results, I believe that the team will come out in a 3-5-2 in Inter&Co Stadium in the conference semifinal. Good things come in threes, and Orlando City’s best offensive production this season has been against three defenders, so I am going to be hoping that this continues, and in the third game against Atlanta the Lions grab the three points. Three’s company!

Well, it is a playoff game, so there are no actual points at stake, but you know what I meant.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final?

Published

20 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City continues its playoff journey against Atlanta United Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions are coming off an emotional penalty shootout win over Charlotte FC in their best-of-three, first-round series. Likewise, Atlanta United stunned everyone by taking out Inter Miami to advance in its own best-of-three matchup. Now, the rivals meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

What does Orlando City need to do to get past Atlanta United to advance to the Easter Conference final?

Beat Guzan

Brad Guzan made 16 saves over Atlanta’s three matches against Inter Miami, including seven in the 3-2 win on the road in Game 3. The 40-year-old former USMNT keeper is in excellent form and is a big reason why the Five Stripes are facing Orlando City. Converting chances against Guzan will be crucial to earning a result. There have been times this season when the Lions have struggled to convert their chances. Despite that, the team has done enough offensively to get to this point. Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire, Ramiro Enrique, and others have contributed and will need to do so this weekend.

Cartagena is Essential

Orlando City lost twice to Atlanta United during the regular season. What is interesting, and perhaps relevant, is that Wilder Cartagena was out for both of those matches. Cartagena was shown a straight red in the match against Minnesota United prior to the first match against Atlanta way back in March. He was shown a yellow card in the match against FC Cincinnati and then served a yellow card accumulation suspension for the final match of the season against Atlanta. Fortunately for Orlando City, Cartagena will be available for the match this weekend. I’ve mentioned before the importance of Cartagena to Orlando City’s success. When he and Cesar Araujo are on the field together, the defense is simply better. Cartagena is frankly one of the better defensive midfielders in MLS. Atlanta scored five goals in the series against Miami, and Orlando will need to keep the visitors from having that kind of offensive success.

Overcome the Past

That darn international break in the middle of the playoffs is something I don’t love. More precisely, I don’t like it because Orlando City often struggles after a break. It would have been nice if Orlando City could have ridden the momentum from the penalty kick victory into the Atlanta match, but that’s not to be. Now is the time for Orlando City to break some bad habits, including turning around its historical lack of success against Atlanta, and tendency to struggle in the first match after a break. Oscar Pareja needs to have the players in the right frame of mind, and the players need to execute the plan. A full house of supporters can also make a difference. Given it’s a Sunday afternoon match, there’s no reason not to pack the house.

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

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 11/21/24

Marta’s chance to shine in NWSL Championship, NWSL and MLS award winners announced, 2025 SheBelieves Cup details, and more.

Published

24 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’ve been spending most of this week plotting out some holiday shopping to make things a little less stressful for myself over the next few weeks. A big weekend filled with Orlando soccer awaits us, so make sure to get any errands or obligations out of the way sooner rather than later. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s NWSL Championship between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, including Marta’s opportunity to put an exclamation point on what has been an excellent season for the Pride. Orlando has been enjoying the fruits of its labor this season after a rebuild over the past few years that’s included plenty of change in the City Beautiful. Marta has been a constant, however, enduring some difficult seasons since joining the Pride and adapting her game She’s scored in both of the Pride’s playoff games so far and has a chance to author a storybook ending on Saturday.

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was named 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, beating out the Pride’s Anna Moorhouse and Utah Royals FC’s Mandy Haught for the honor. It was Berger’s first year in the NWSL and she’s the first European player to win the award. She only conceded 16 goals across her 22 matches for Gotham this season and was a key reason behind her team’s success. I’m not too surprised that Moorhouse did not win, considering how solid the Pride’s defense was as a whole, but this won’t take anything away from a record-breaking season for her.

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

Columbus Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy was voted 2024 MLS Coach of the Year after a historic season in which the Crew set club records in both points and goals. The Crew also won the Leagues Cup this summer and their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign included advancing past Tigres and Monterrey en route to the final. This is Nancy’s first time being named Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the award every year since 2021. The Frenchman received 40.02% of the vote, winning the award over Inter Miami’s Gerardo Martino and Colorado Rapids Head Coach Chris Armas.

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

The 10th annual SheBelieves Cup will take place next year and the tournament will return to its usual format where each of the four teams plays each other once. The United States Women’s National Team will host Japan, Colombia, and Australia in February in what should be an exciting tournament. The U.S. will take on Colombia on Feb. 20 in Houston before facing Australia in Arizona on Feb. 23 and finishing the tournament on Feb. 26 against Japan at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. These games will also be the first domestic games of 2025 for the USWNT as it prepares to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

FC Dallas announced that Eric Quill will become the team’s next head coach. Quill joins Dallas after a great year with New Mexico United that included trips to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and USL Championship Western Conference semifinals. It’s also a reunion of sorts for Quill, as he previously coached North Texas SC and was named USL League One Coach of the Year with the club in 2019. Dallas missed out on the playoffs this season, with Peter Luccin coaching the team on an interim basis after the firing of Nico Estevez in June.

Free Kicks

  • District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser challenged Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to a bet involving this weekend’s NWSL Championship, with embarrassing lightshows on the line.

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

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