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Orlando City vs. Real Salt Lake: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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7 years ago

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Will Johnson’s goal was enough to give the Lions a 1-0 win in Utah. It was not the best performance by Orlando City, but a win is a win. Orlando City was unable to get much going offensively, and Cyle Larin was unable to create a big impact in his return. The lone goal came from a bouncing ball, off a set piece, that Johnson was able to finish against his old team.

So, let’s dive right into the grades:

Starters

GK, Joe Bendik, 6.5 — Bendik was back to his typical self tonight, making saves that Orlando City fans have become accustomed to seeing. However, everything wasn’t perfect for the ‘keeper and he had way too many turnovers, just look at the chart below. Still, his two saves and two crosses held solidified the win for Orlando City. Plus, he kept the shutout, and for that his grade goes up. His highlight of the match came in the 64th minute. RSL nearly went up as Luis Silva broke through the Lions’ defense and was in on goal. Bendik was quick off his line, and gave Silva no chance at finding the back of the net. 

D, Donny Toia, 6 — Offensively Toia was poor, however defensively he did well. He led the team in clearances and interceptions, but his passing accuracy was about 56%. He did not even attempt a pass in the final third and he mostly had giveaways on the touch line. He was beaten a few times by Brooks Lennon, but was either able to recover or had help behind him. 

D, Jonathan Spector, 7 — Spector was the leader tonight, and kept the defense compact and organized. Although close a few times, the high line never broke and RSL was unable to get in behind the defenders. The one time that it did happen, Bendik scooped up the ball with ease. Almost all of Spector’s defensive stops were outside the box, and he made the stops that were needed. He was caught ball watching early on in the game, but was able to recover. He struggled in possession a few times which led to seven turnovers in the defensive third. 

D, Jose Aja, 7 (MotM) — Aja needed a great performance to claim the spot as his own, in place of Tommy Redding, and, while it was not great, he was the best defender on the field tonight. He finished with eight clearances, four recoveries, and one tackle, a block, and a recovery. He had just four misplaced passes, all of which were long balls forward. He did give up two fouls, one of which resulted in a yellow card. Aja was also part of a defensive unit that held RSL to only two shots on target, but more impressive might be the home side’s six offside calls. Aja and Spector combined to keep the unit from breaking, where previously this year the opposition broke through Orlando’s high line way too often. On the goal, Aja got robbed of his first MLS goal, as his header hit the crossbar. 

D, Scott Sutter, 6 — All-in-all Sutter had a good game, although he has had better outings in purple before. RSL wanted to get Joao Plata the ball down the left side, and Plata continually beat Sutter, as the Swiss-Englishman lacked the speed of the Ecuadoran, most notably on the play below. Like Spector, he was caught ball watching early on but he got better and better as the game went on. 

MF, Kaká, 4.5 — It was not a performance for the Brazilian to remember, as he walked directly to the locker room after being subbed off, ignoring Jason Kreis. He hardly provided any attacking support, failed to register a single shot, and added many turnovers as well. His yellow card that he picked up in the 68th minute came off of his own turnover and was just lazy defending. 

MF, Cristian Higuita, 5 — An awful decision by Higuita in the 76th minute led to an RSL free kick 20 yards out and should have resulted in a yellow card as well.  Luckily for him he did not get a yellow, though, as 11 minutes later he whacked an RSL defender in the face while dribbling and earned himself a card. He was part of a midfield that struggled to possess the ball and led to RSL having 60% possession. In the 21st minute, Higuita and Kaká both failed to gain possession and the play nearly led to an RSL goal. However, for all the bad, Higuita made a handful defensive stops and broke up the home side’s attack. 

MF, Antonio Nocerino, 6 — Noce had a quiet evening, with no glaring mistakes but also nothing too noteworthy. Late in the first half the Italian took a knock that he got up limping from. He continued on for the remainder of the first half, but did not come back out to start the second 45. The club stated that he is not injured though. While in the game, he did what he was supposed to do. He only had five misplaced passes, as he sat below the midfield and tried to direct traffic. He did give up a free kick about 30 yards out in the 35th minute, but altogether a solid outing for Nocerino. 

MF, Will Johnson, 6.5 — Johnson scored the lone goal in the match, simply by being in the right place at the right time and jumping on the rebound. For the rest of the game he was a little bit of everywhere, although not making too much noise for himself. This is not strictly his fault, as it is most likely coming from Kreis, but he needs to put a cross in the box on the corners and stop with the short passes. They lead to way too many turnovers and counter attacks going the other way. 

F, Giles Barnes, 6 — Barnes was another player who had an average game, but did what he needed to do. He got up and down the right wing all game, and in the 35th minute made room for himself and got a rare shot on target for Orlando. His passing accuracy was nothing to be proud of, but he brought energy for the Lions while also helping out on the defensive end. 

F, Cyle Larin, 6 — In his first game back, Larin played with energy that the Lions were missing for the past three games. Up top he did not have many opportunities, but he attempted to make something out of nothing multiple times. He spent a large amount of time away from the goal and in the open space instead, even taking players on one-on-one near midfield. He finished with just two shots, none on target, but the service in to him was poor, and he did not spend much time in front of the net. For his first game back, it was a good performance, although nothing special from the Canadian. 

Substitutes

MF, Servando Carrasco (46’), 6.5 — When Noce went out at halftime the team did not miss a beat with Carrasco in. In fact, the defense got better in the second half. Carrasco had a quiet game, but, as the defensive midfielder, quiet is typically not a bad thing. He connected on eight of his 10 passes, and broke up any attack that tried to go by him.

MF, Luis Gil (72’), 6 — With just under 20 minutes to play, by the time Gil entered the game Orlando City was in defensive mode. The team picked up a little when he came in, and he helped to secure the shutout. He won a header in the box over Kyle Beckerman at the back post in the 84th minute that could have threatened Bendik’s goal. He had one clearance and one recovery, to go along with his five-for-six passing.

MF, Richie Laryea (88’), N/A — He did not have enough time to earn a grade, but in his few minutes he once again brought immediate energy to the Lions. Three minutes into his game, he juked out a defender, got into the box, and nearly opened his account and beat Nick Rimando, but the veteran ‘keeper parried it out for a corner.

Those were the grades, as I saw them. Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments and vote on the Man of the Match below.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Joe Bendik33
Jonathan Spector25
Jose Aja31
Will Johnson20
Other3
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2024 Orlando City Season in Review: Wilder Cartagena

The midfielder helped Orlando City own the center of the field throughout the majority of the 2024 season.

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4 hours ago

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December 22, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City initially acquired midfielder Wilder Cartagena on loan through the 2022 MLS season. After a successful end of the year, the club exercised the option to extend the loan through the 2023 season. He became a key player in the starting lineup for the Lions that season, resulting in the club signing him to a permanent deal through the 2025 season on Dec. 14, 2024. The Peruvian midfielder built a powerhouse partnership with fellow midfielder César Araújo, forming what may have been the best central midfield duo in all of MLS during the 2024 season.

Let’s take a look back at Cartagena’s season with Orlando City.

Statistical Breakdown

Cartagena participated in all four of the competitions Orlando City played in during 2024, playing primarily in his normal central defensive midfielder role but also filling in as center back for around seven games worth of minutes (631). Despite playing in a brand new position for approximately 20% of his total minutes, Cartagena ended up leading the team in plus-minus for the season, finishing +22 across all competitions, meaning the Lions were much better with him on the pitch than they were when he wasn’t.

In MLS regular-season play, the Peruvian international appeared in 27 matches, starting 25 and playing 2,192 minutes. He only recorded one goal contribution on the season, an assist, though he took 24 shots, putting eight on target. He completed 89% of his passes with 16 key passes, one successful cross, and 25 completed long balls. On the defensive side, he recorded 76 tackles, 20 interceptions, 42 clearances, and nine blocks. He committed a team-leading 48 fouls, suffered 28 fouls, and received seven yellow cards and one red card, which he picked up after the conclusion of the game against Minnesota United. Coincidentally, his red card suspension and his one-game ban for yellow card accumulation each resulted in him missing a regular-season game against Atlanta United — both were Orlando losses.

During the MLS playoffs, Cartagena started all five matches, playing 431 minutes with no goals or assists. He took two shots, placing one on target, and he completed 87.2% of his passes with a single key pass. Defensively, he recorded nine tackles, four interceptions, 11 clearances, and one block. He drew eight fouls and committed nine, and he was booked twice, with both being yellow cards.

Cartagena played in all four Concacaf Champions Cup matches, starting every game and playing 315 minutes. He did not take any shots, so he did not score any goals, and he didn’t contribute any assists either. He completed 86.6% of his passes, including four key passes. Defensively, he tallied eight tackles, five interceptions, four clearances, and one block, and he committed three fouls, while suffering five. He was booked twice, earning two yellow cards.

During Leagues Cup play, Cartagena started all three games, playing the full 270 minutes with zero goal contributions. He took three shots, placing one on target, and completed 92.1% of his passes, but with zero key passes. He added three tackles, three interceptions, four clearances, and one block on defense, and he committed three fouls and drew one. Unlike in the other three competitions, in Leagues Cup play he did not receive any cards.

Best Game

While Cartagena only had one goal contribution for the season, the positions he played do not lend themselves to being able to use the commonly cited stats like goals and assists to evaluate which game was the finest. That said, I think the one game in which Cartagena had an assist was his finest performance, but the assist was only the cherry on top of an outstanding game all over the field by the Peruvian midfielder, as his performance helped lead the Lions to a dominant 5-0 victory over D.C. United on March 9.

Cartagena completed 77 of his 81 passes (95.1%), and while any game with that many completed passes and that high of a completion percentage would be excellent, it was the types of passes that he completed that really set this game ahead of all of his other performances. He completed 22 of those 77 passes into the attacking third of the field, meaning they were attacking balls forward towards goal that went from the middle or defensive third into the attacking third. If 22 sounds like a lot, well, that’s because it is. There were only seven instances during MLS play in 2024 of a player completing 22 or more passes into the attacking third in a single game.

If that was not enough, Cartagena also went 11 of 12 (91.7%) on long passes (passes of at least 30 yards) on the night, one of only 24 instances during MLS play in 2024 of a midfielder completing at least 11 long passes and being successful on more than 90% of his long pass attempts.

On top of both of those stats, Cartagena also got on the score sheet for the only time all season, playing a beautiful cross from the right flank onto the head of a charging Robin Jannson, who smashed in his header and gave the Lions a 2-0 lead.

Cartagena went the full 90 in this match, contributing not only offensively but also defensively, with three tackles, four recoveries, and one clearance, and his dominance in the center of the field helped the Lions keep a clean sheet.

2024 Final Grade

The Mane Land awarded Cartagena a composite rating of 7.5 out of 10 for the 2024 season, the same as the 7.5 we gave him last season. I mentioned earlier that the team was +22 while Cartagena was on the field, and that +22 equaled a +0.62 goals per 90-minute average over his total minutes played, meaning that when Cartagena played, the Lions were nearly two-thirds of a goal better than their opponents. On the flip side, when Cartagena was off the field, the Lions were -5 for the season, which equaled a -0.48 goals per 90-minute average. The net of those two per 90-minute averages is +1.10, meaning that Orlando City was more than one goal better than its opponents when Cartagena was on the field as compared to when he was off, showing just how valuable he was to the team during the 2024 season.

2025 Outlook

I expect 2025 to look very similar to 2024 for Cartagena, as both he and his midfield partner Araujo are set to return and are completely comfortable in Head Coach Óscar Pareja’s system. The Lions also parted ways with Felipe, Jeorgio Kocevski, and Heine Gikling Bruseth, meaning that Nico Lodeiro is the only player on the roster with significant experience in the role where Cartagena usually plays, and Lodeiro is more of a supersub than a starter at this point in his career and a much more offensive minded No. 8 option than a defensive, double-pivot type. Kyle Smith and Dagur Dan Thórhallsson both have the skillset to potentially get some minutes there, and Orlando City used its first-round draft pick in the MLS SuperDraft to select midfielder Joran Gerbet from Clemson, but it should be Cartagena’s job to lose during the 2025 season, and I expect to see him on the field for the vast majority of Orlando City’s minutes.

Previous Season in Review Articles (Date Posted)

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Top 10 Moments of 2024: Orlando City Surges to Top Four Spot in Eastern Conference

Languishing near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Lions made a massive push from June 19 onward to finish fourth in the Eastern Conference.

Published

6 hours ago

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December 22, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

As we count down to the new year of 2025 — which will be Orlando City’s 11th in MLS, the Orlando Pride’s ninth in the NWSL, and OCB’s third in MLS NEXT Pro — and say goodbye to 2024, it’s time to look back at the club’s 10 best moments of the year as selected by The Mane Land staff via vote.

The Lions were floundering. A team that finished strong in 2023 and ended up second in the Supporters’ Shield race had bolstered the attack in the off-season by signing a Designated Player forward out of Italy’s Serie A and figured to pick up where it left off. It didn’t.

Orlando City struggled out of the gate to connect in the final third, to find a cohesive starting XI that worked well together, and to find the form with which it ended the 2023 campaign. Although the Lions swept Canadian Premier League side Cavalry FC in the first round of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup at the onset of the season, they once again played a scoreless draw on opening day of league play, got blown out at Inter Miami, gave up a 95th-minute goal to lose at home to Minnesota, and then got knocked out of Champions Cup by Tigres before falling at Atlanta.

The team’s 0-3-1 start to the regular season was followed by two wins and two draws, pulling Orlando to 2-3-3, but that surge proved to be fool’s gold. That run preceded a late-game collapse at home against Toronto that turned a 1-0 87th-minute lead into a 2-1 loss. That loss, to a Toronto team that finished 11-19-4, turned into a home losing streak after FC Cincinnati departed Inter&Co Stadium with a 1-0 win on May 4.

A 2-0-1 surge followed, but it could only bring the Lions to 4-5-4 on the season. But again, Orlando City fans had to take the bad with the good, as the club went 0-3-1 in its next four. Two late goals by LAFC and a missed Facundo Torres penalty — the first such miss in his entire soccer careeer — produced a 3-1 home loss that left the club at just 4-8-5 at the season’s midway point. Some fans were calling for Oscar Pareja’s job; no one was happy with new Designated Player Luis Muriel’s play; and the players seemed frustrated, disjointed, and at odds with each other on the pitch.

Things looked bleak for extending the club’s four-year postseason streak to five. It seemed as if there was no way to break out of the funk the Lions were in.

But then it happened.

The team’s fortunes didn’t turn around all at once, and the turning point sure didn’t seem like one at the time. Orlando City went to Charlotte on June 19, found itself up a man, and still had to scrape by with just a 2-2 draw. Down a man, Brandt Bronico put Charlotte FC up 2-1 with 13 minutes remaining, and things looked worse than ever for the Lions, who were on the verge of falling to 4-9-5 and threatening to contend for the wooden spoon. But Torres struck in the 81st minute to bring City level on a corner kick. Was this the goal that ultimately saved Orlando City’s 2024 season?

Once tied, Orlando pushed furiously for a winner but to no avail. The single point the Lions brought home from North Carolina didn’t feel good at the time, but it was a start — the first pebble in what ultimately turned into an avalanche. A win and a loss in the next two matches didn’t seem particularly noteworthy either, but the team was starting to put things together.

After beating Chicago 4-2 on June 22 at home, the Lions nearly mounted a comeback after a disastrous first half in a 4-2 loss at New York City FC on June 28 — a game in which Orlando lost backup goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar for the rest of the season. The Lions then won four straight matches and went 4-0-1 in their final five games prior to the Leagues Cup break, entering the MLS pause at .500 with a 9-9-7 record. It had taken the team half the season to recover from the poor start, but the Lions were back in the fight.

A win and two draws in Leagues Cup, despite some international absences, kept the Lions’ momentum going. Although a flat performance in a loss at Sporting Kansas City in the MLS restart weekend didn’t help matters, it was followed by three more consecutive wins — all via shutout, with Orlando outscoring its opponents 8-0 — and six victories in seven matches. The lone loss in that seven-game stretch was a 4-3 defeat at Columbus in which a valiant comeback effort fell just short.

After that 6-1-0 run, Orlando entered Decision Day with a 15-11-7 record and a top-four spot that wasn’t spoiled by a loss in the regular-season finale to Atlanta.

The Lions’ 11-4-2 finish over the final 17 matches of the 2024 season not only pushed the team into the postseason, it also put Orlando City in position to take advantage when Miami, Columbus, and Cincinnati all faltered in the first round of the playoffs.

Because the Lions were the highest remaining seed in the postseason, once Orlando City won its best-of-three, first-round series against Charlotte, it had home field priority for the remainder of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Lions hosted Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinal and knocked their rivals out of the postseason in a tight defensive battle in which the Five Stripes hardly troubled goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. Orlando advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the first time, hosting the New York Red Bulls.

Although Orlando faltered in that conference final, which is not the result we (or the Lions) wanted, City put itself in the best possible position to reach the MLS Cup final by finding the right blend of chemistry, form, and grit in the season’s second half.

The Lions came closer to MLS Cup in 2024 than ever before, thanks to the team’s second-half surge. As such, that surge is a worthy inclusion in the list of the club’s top moments of the year, and a great way to kick off our annual series of the club’s most memorable accomplishments and events.

Come back through New Year’s Eve as we count down the remainder of Orlando City’s top 10 moments of 2024.

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Opinion

Three Orlando City Games to Watch in 2025

Here are three intriguing matches in the 2025 Orlando City season.

Published

1 day ago

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December 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Major League Soccer provided a last-minute stocking stuffer for North American soccer fans when it dropped the 2025 season schedule six days before Christmas. It feels like the Orlando City season just wrapped (as is often the case when a team makes a deep run in the playoffs), and yet now we can spend the next few “winter” weeks meticulously breaking down the matchups as training camp is just around the corner. My fellow staff writers at The Mane Land can attest that I have a horrible case of scoreboard-watching from Matchweek 1 of the regular season on, and that obsession starts now with my top three games to watch in 2025.

Friday, July 25 — at Columbus Crew

As the final match of three games in 10 days and the last match of July, the first meeting against perennial the Eastern Conference powerhouse Columbus Crew should serve as a great measuring stick for fans and pundits to assess where the Orlando City season stands heading into the final third of the season. Traditionally speaking, over the last few years, late July into early August is the time frame when Head Coach Oscar Pareja’s teams have caught fire.

If that historical trend holds, then I expect Orlando City to hit Columbus in strong form, once again looking to secure a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference. While it is hard to predict what rosters will look like by then, as there have been reports and rumors of both stars and Head Coach Wilfried Nancy’s possible departure circulating. However, it is difficult to imagine Columbus slipping much, as the club has established a winning culture and has a knack for finding and signing outstanding players like Lucas Zelarayan and Cucho Hernandez. A matchup between the Crew and Lions at that point of the season could serve as a marquee event for MLS in 2025.

Saturday, Feb. 22 — vs. Philadelphia Union

There are two things I know to be true when it comes to Orlando City soccer. First, Orlando City has kicked off every MLS regular season in front of its home fans — a unique trend that I was excited to see continue in 2025. The second thing that I know is that Orlando City is unbeaten in season openers (3-0-7). In 2025, Orlando City welcomes the Philadelphia Union to Inter&Co Stadium and the unbeaten record will be on the line once again. The Union will be the seventh different opening day opponent for the Lions in 11 seasons.

What makes this matchup particularly interesting is that this will be the first time in Orlando City history that they will face the Union without now-former head coach Jim Curtin. One of the longest-tenured head coaches in MLS at the time, Curtin parted ways with the Union at the end of the 2024 season. Often I find myself in the “managers don’t make a large difference” camp when it comes to the outcome of matches, but to look back at what Curtin did with Philadelphia, its academy, and modest roster spending can only be viewed as wildly successful. Orlando will try to start its season off on the right foot, while a new Union manager will be looking to start his tenure in Philly with a road victory. Something will have to give, and I am going to put my money on Orlando winning the day.

Saturday, April 12 — vs. New York Red Bulls

While the first opportunity to exact revenge over the club that eliminated the Lions from the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs will happen roughly a month earlier on the road, the true opportunity to stick it to the Red Bulls in front of a home crowd has to be my most anticipated match of 2025. A lot has been said about rivalries in MLS. Some seem manufactured, and some come down to genuine hatred, but I firmly believe that for the time being our squad’s biggest rival is the one that ended Orlando City’s season one game short of the championship match.

It seems a little strange to me that the Lions will wrap up their season series with the Red Bulls just eight games into the year (so much for spacing out some matchups), but Orlando City will look to pounce on the Red Bulls early on and would likely love nothing more than to take all six points from the team that ended its MLS Cup hopes before the calendar even hits Memorial Day.

Those are the top three matches I have circled on my calendar. Let us know in the comments below which matches you’re most excited about and which matches you think will carry the most significance in 2025. As always, vamos Orlando!

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