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The Great Pretenders: Orlando City Squandered Its Fantastic Start to 2017

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The promise of the best start in club history evaporated into a slow, painful death march, as Orlando City came into 2017 like proverbial lions and went out like lambs — ones that were repeatedly led to the slaughter.

Jason Kreis led his team to a 6-1 start to the season, including a 1-0 home win to christen Orlando City Stadium with a win over fellow 2015 expansion side New York City FC back on March 5. The Lions followed with a 2-1 home win over the Philadelphia Union, showing great resolve to bounce back after the Union had equalized. While the team wasn’t playing the most scintillating soccer, the Lions were showing grit and spirit — something that disappeared later in the season and was rarely seen after the calendar flipped to May.

The first bump in the road of 2017 came in a 2-0 loss at Columbus on April Fool’s Day in Scott Sutter’s first match — 19 minutes of action in all — with Orlando City. An early defensive lapse allowed Justin Meram to score the first of his two goals that day and Orlando was unable to come back, suffering the first loss of the year.

But then the Lions bounced back, winning their next four games. And not all of those were at home. City began their season-best run by dumping the New York Red Bulls, 1-0, on a Servando Carrasco header on April 9. Then came the dramatic 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy on Cyle Larin’s late winner, as the big Canadian discarded Jermaine Jones in the first minute of stoppage and blasted home Will Johnson’s cross.

The wins over the Galaxy and Union both showed an Orlando City squad that would not fold when the pressure was on. But it turned out later to be nothing but fool’s (purple and) gold.

The first road win was next, showing Orlando City could get it done away from the club’s new soccer palace. The Lions used a Larin brace to dispatch New York City at Yankee Stadium, 2-1. The final game of the run was a 2-0 home win over the Colorado Rapids, with the Lions wearing down the visitors and getting goals from Carlos Rivas and Kaká — the former being one of the best strikes of the year.

We didn’t know it at the time, but that win over the Rapids would be the last one until the last day of May. Orlando City stood atop the table as April ended, with a 6-1 record, having outscored opponents, 10-4 and kept three clean sheets over the first two months.

The turning point came in the first game of May. It didn’t even seem like a warning sign of things to come at the time. The Lions went to BMO Field on May 3 and lost 2-1 to Toronto FC, but Orlando played great soccer for much of the game and Larin uncharacteristically missed two sitters that could have extended City’s winning streak to five games. From there, the Lions traveled directly to Houston and got waxed by the Dynamo, 4-0, in what was the true first warning bell of the year. Kreis rotated his squad and the team’s young center backs and tired fullbacks were overrun by Alberth Elis, Mauro Manotas, and Romell Quioto.

Orlando’s first consecutive losses of 2017 became a six-game winless skid, which included the first dropped points at home — a 2-2 draw vs. Sporting Kansas City on May 13 — a heartbreaking late 1-1 draw at San Jose on May 18, and back-to-back embarrassing losses. The first of those was the club’s initial loss at Orlando City Stadium in a 3-0 New York City FC romp at the purple palace. The second was a 1-0 shutout loss at a dreadful Minnesota United squad playing without Kevin Molino.

The promise of that 6-1 start was proving to be an illusion, but there was still plenty of time to get back to grinding out results, playing solid defense, and showing that iron will to overcome adversity.

D.C. United provided an oasis in the desert of poor results. Orlando City captured a home win over the Black & Red, 2-0 on May 31 to avoid a winless month. But even that game was harder than it should have been, including a gift goal that Bill Hamid gave Giles Barnes.

June was a chance to turn the page and right the ship and it didn’t quite come off, even though it nearly did. The first three matches in June were draws, but two of those were of the “good” variety and one was not only “bad,” but also extremely fortunate.

A nine-man Lions squad withstood a bad early red card and the high flying (at the time) Chicago Fire for a 0-0 home draw on June 4. That heroic defensive effort couldn’t be replicated, however, as a horror show of a game by Jose Aja led to a 3-3 home draw vs. the Montreal Impact on June 17. Matias Perez Garcia’s goal probably shouldn’t have counted, as it appeared the ball went over the end line before being crossed into the box for him, and Jonathan Spector’s header late in overtime rescued the lone point.

MPG’s first goal as a Lion turned out to be his last as the Argentine couldn’t come to terms with Orlando City on a new deal, was waived on June 28, and left for his home country.

The run of Orlando City draws reached three games when Scott Sutter’s stunner in stoppage gave the Lions a 1-1 tie at Seattle — the club’s first ever point against the Sounders. But the team stayed on the road for the second time on consecutive road games, as it did on the Toronto-Houston trip, and the result was the same in the second match. The Chicago Fire smashed the Lions, 4-0, showing the team that staying in hotels was not conducive to success. Two early David Accam goals got things rolling for the hosts and Orlando never found a way into the game.

As it did in May, Orlando City avoided a winless month in the final match of the month, with a surprising 1-0 win at Real Salt Lake. Johnson sunk his old team as Jason Kreis was victorious in his return to Rio Tinto, where he’d had so much success throughout the years.

Little did we know, that would be Orlando City’s last win for quite some time. July was nearly a carbon copy of the previous two months. Orlando lost its first two games of the Gold Cup-shortened month and took a lead into stoppage time in the last match of the month before Hector Villalba’s 92nd-minute dagger earned Atlanta United a 1-1 draw at Bobby Dodd Stadium on July 29. That was part of an overall run of eight Orlando City matches without a win, as the club also went winless in August, capping the string of futility with another embarrassing 4-0 loss at the New England Revolution on Sept. 2.

The Lions won two of their final seven games of the year (2-3-2), but the damage had been done and we rarely saw more than an occasional glimpse of the grit, resolve, and spirit the team had over the first seven matches. At year’s end, Orlando City had turned a 6-1-0 start into a complete free fall of 4-14-9 over the final 27 games, including three months without a win (July, August, and October) and two months with just a single victory in both May and June — both in the final game of the month.

What happened? The team started off so promisingly that a playoff appearance seemed all but certain if Orlando could just be average the rest of the way. It couldn’t.

Even if Orlando City was a bad team, a 4-14-9 run seems inconceivable for a squad that managed to beat New York City FC twice — including once on the road — in the first seven outings. Isolated good outings after May 1 weren’t rewarded with three points — the loss at Toronto comes to mind. The 0-0 draw against Chicago with just nine men was a throwback to the resolve and determination the team showed early on. Where was that late in the first two meetings against Atlanta when Villalba was breaking hearts?

It’s hard to say how things spiraled so completely out of control. A more congested schedule — particularly in May — more road games, inconsistency at the center back position opposite Spector, and Larin’s mid-season scoring slump all contributed, to be sure.

Still, this team stopped playing like a team at some point, and that was all the difference to me. It’s likely the team was never as good as its record in March and April indicated, and yet could it possibly be as bad as the 4-14-9 nosedive suggests? If so, the 2017 Lions who began the year so brightly truly were the great pretenders.

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Lion Links: 4/28/25

Lions defeat Atlanta United, Pride bounce back against Angel City FC, OCB falls to New York Red Bulls II, and more.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Hello, Mane Landers! I hope all is well with you down in Florida. I will cover high school volleyball and soccer later this week. Let’s wish a happy birthday to Orlando City B forward Thalles, who turns 20 today. Our beloved Lions finally won a match this month, the Pride bounced back with a win, and OCB lost over the weekend. We’ve got plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links.

Lions Defeat Atlanta United at Home

Orlando City snapped its three-game winless streak and extended its unbeaten streak to seven games, beating rival Atlanta United 3-0 Saturday at Inter&Co Stadium. Luis Muriel, Alex Freeman, and Marco Pasalic scored for the Lions. With Pasalic’s goal and assist in Saturday’s match against Atlanta, he added his name to the club record books by becoming the fourth player in club history to have seven goal contributions in his first 10 matches.

Orlando set a club record early in the match for the most consecutive shutout minutes. By the end of the match, Orlando had not conceded a goal in 436 minutes. The Lions’ last goal conceded was to Christian Ramirez in the 14th minute against the LA Galaxy last month. Orlando City will be on the road Saturday to take on the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field.

Pride Rally to Defeat Angel City FC at Home

The Orlando Pride completed the comeback, overcoming a 2-0 deficit late in the second half and defeating Angel City FC 3-2 Friday at Inter&Co Stadium. In the final 20 minutes, Marta and Barbra Banda scored to tie the match after Orlando trailed 2-0. Orlando also got an own goal in stoppage time from Angel City FC defender M.A. Vignola and escaped with a win at home. The Pride bounced back after a defeat to the Washington Spirit the previous week. With the Kansas City Current losing to the North Carolina Courage over the weekend, the Pride are tied with the Current atop the NWSL table. After the match, Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines shared his thoughts on his team’s resiliency to overturn a 2-0 deficit and fight back for the win at home.

The Pride will travel to the Pacific Northwest to face the Portland Thorns in their next match Saturday at Providence Park.

Orlando City B Falls at Home to New York Red Bulls II

Orlando City B started slowly and dug too deep a hole to climb out of on Sunday night in a 4-2 loss to New York Red Bulls II at Osceola County Stadium. The Young Lions trailed 2-0 early in the first half. Jhon Solis pulled one back for OCB before Red Bulls II added another goal to make it 3-1 just before halftime. In the second half, Justin Ellis scored to pull the Young Lions within one again before Ibrahim Kasule converted a penalty kick goal in stoppage time to seal the win against OCB. New York Red Bulls II moves to second in the Eastern Conference with 13 points, while Orlando City B has lost back-to-back matches and is in fifth with 11 points. OCB will be on the road Friday to take on Chicago Fire II at SeatGeek Stadium.

NWSL Announces Plans to Launch a Second Division Women’s League

The National Women’s Soccer League has submitted an application to the U.S. Soccer Federation to launch a second-division soccer league in 2026, the league announced on Friday. The plan for this new league is to focus on furthering player development and building a pipeline between the NWSL and the second division league, similar to Major League Soccer and MLS NEXT Pro. Eight clubs are reportedly set for the league’s inaugural season, including the Orlando Pride. Joining Orlando in committing to the league are Bay FC, the Kansas City Current, the North Carolina Courage, NJ/NY Gotham FC, Racing Louisville, the Seattle Reign, and the Washington Spirit. The Division 2 clubs would play in the same stadiums as their parent clubs. The season format would be a round robin, featuring 14 matches, home and away, and will include playoffs with two semifinals and a championship match.

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That will do it for me today, Mane Landers. Enjoy your Monday, and I’ll see you next time.

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Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s 3-0 win over Atlanta United?

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Orlando City poured it on in the second half to defeat Eastern Conference rival Atlanta United 3-0 at Inter&Co Stadium Saturday night. After not scoring in three straight matches, it was very satisfying to have the team dominate Atlanta on both sides of the ball. This was an important win with the club heading back out on the road next week.

Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated individually in the victory over rival Atlanta United.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6.5 — Gallese did not have much to do in this match, thanks to the defense. While Atlanta took 12 shots, none were on target. El Pulpo made the right decisions on when to come out of goal to gather the ball before the offense could pounce. He had an 83.1% passing rate on his 16 attempts while completing three of his six long-ball attempts. This result makes it four straight clean sheets for Gallese.

D, David Brekalo, 6.5  With the suspension of Rafael Santos, Head Coach Oscar Pareja moved Brekalo back out to left back. Brekalo touched the ball 87 times and completed 90.9% of his 66 passes including one of his three long-ball attempts, and one key pass. Defensively, he recorded one tackle, recorded a team-high six clearances, and suffered one foul. Like many on the team, he was active in pressing the attack but making certain that the defense recovered to keep a numerical advantage over Atlanta’s attack.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — Orlando City’s captain led the defense to another clean sheet. He was his usual solid self, making important defensive plays, like a great tackle in the 33rd minute to stop a potential Atlanta breakaway. He logged a team-high 94 touches, completed 91.7% of his 84 passes, and completed two of his eight long-ball attempts. Defensively, he made four clearances and blocked two shots. He even made one of his patented long runs up through the defense, where no one seems to want to stop him.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — Rodrigo Schlegel returned to the starting lineup from his red card suspension. Despite earning a yellow card late in stoppage time, it was a solid outing from the center back. He logged 82 touches and completed 97.4% of his 77 passes and one of his three long-ball attempts. Defensively, Schlegel recorded four clearances and committed one foul. It was good to have him back next to Jansson, and even better that he kept his head to assist in another clean sheet.

D, Alex Freeman, 7 — Freeman played well against Atlanta. The highlight was his perfectly placed goal in the 51st minute. He took a through ball from Pasalic on the right side of the six-yard box, put the ball on his right foot, and fired it across the goal into the bottom left corner. He touched the ball 55 times, completed 83.8% of his 37 passes, and had one successful cross. Defensively, the young Lion contributed one tackle and three clearances. Offensively, Freeman took two shots, with one (his goal) on target.

MF, Kyle Smith, 6 — Smith moved from the back line to the midfield with Cesar Araujo still out due to personal reasons. El Soldado had a few errant passes but nothing that ultimately harmed Orlando City. He did a workman’s job in one of the many positions he was asked to play. Smith touched the ball 50 times and completed 85.4% of his 41 passes, including one of his two long-ball attempts. Offensively, Smith took two shots with one on target, and suffered one foul. Defensively, he made one tackle, contributed one clearance, and suffered two fouls.

MF, Eduard Atuesta, 7 — Atuesta returned to his starting role and quietly had an excellent match. He did exactly what the team needed of him by connecting the defense to the offense and contributing on both sides of the ball. Atuesta logged 85 touches and completed 87.1% of his 70 passes, including three key passes. He logged one shot, which was just off target, and drew a team-high four fouls. Defensively, he logged an interception, three clearances, and a blocked shot. He was active and was able to go the full match.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 6 — Angulo wasted too many offensive chances but still helped the team in other ways. He managed two shots, with one on target. It was a one-on-one with Brad Guzan, but he wasn’t able to put it past him. Angulo did well tracking back on defense, contributing two interceptions and generally getting in the way of Atlanta. He touched the ball 36 times and completed 83.3% of his 24 passes, including two key passes and one of his three long-ball attempts. He made way for Nico Rodriguez in the 86th minute.

MF, Luis Muriel, 7 — Muriel dropped into the attacking midfield in the spot usually occupied by Martin Ojeda. Muriel does well when playing a little deeper, and it ultimately paid off when he won a penalty in the 37th minute. He then confidently put the ball in the back of the net, sending Guzan the wrong way for Orlando City’s first goal in 312 minutes. Muriel logged 50 touches, completing 71% of his 31 passes, including one key pass. He took four shots with two on target. Defensively, he logged one interception and committed one foul. After Duncan McGuire was subbed off, he moved back up into the striker position.

MF, Marco Pasalic, 7.5 (MotM) — Pasalic, at times early in the match, was trying to force some passes into some tight spots. You could see the idea, but the execution wasn’t there. Fortunately, like many of his teammates, he turned it on later in the match. His first goal contribution was the assist on Freeman’s goal. It was one of those passes he tried earlier, but this time he found his target. Pasalic put the icing on the cake for Orlando City with his 67th-minute goal. It was an absolute stunner that froze Guzan in place and rocketed into the bottom right corner of the goal. He touched the ball 43 times and completed 84.9% of his 33 passes, including two key passes. Defensively, Pasalic contributed one clearance and one tackle. Offensively, he took two shots with one on target (his goal). Two goal contributions earn him our Man of the Match. He also set up Atuesta for a golden chance but the midfielder missed just wide of the right post on what could have been Pasalic’s second assist of the match.

F, Duncan McGuire, 6 — McGuire made his first start of the season, taking over for Muriel at the striker position. He was active early, making good runs, getting back on defense, and stretching the defense. McGuire managed one shot on the night in the 46th minute, but unfortunately he couldn’t take the shot quickly enough and it was blocked. It was a good run-out for the striker, who touched the ball 25 times and completed 70.6% of his 17 passes, including one key pass. Defensively, he contributed one clearance and drew two fouls. Duncan looked to be dealing with some tightness or cramping in his legs prior to coming off for Martin Ojeda in the 60th minute.

Substitutes

MF, Martin Ojeda (60′), 6 — Ojeda came on for McGuire, who is still working his way back into full fitness. He moved into his normal role, pushing Muriel into the striker position. The match was well in hand by the time he came on, but he did record 21 touches and completed 86.7% of his 15 passes, including two successful crosses and two key passes. He attempted one shot, but it was not on target.

MF, Nico Rodriguez (75′), N/A — Rodriguez made his second appearance of the season, coming on for Angulo. He showed plenty of energy, especially in defending, as Atlanta pushed late trying to make something work. He recorded 12 touches and completed 87.5% of his eight passes. On offense, he took one shot that was badly off target, suffered one foul, and won an aerial ball.

MF, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson (86′), N/A — Thorhallsson was one of three late subs brought on to see out the victory. He only managed three touches, completed his only pass, and contributed one blocked shot.

MF, Colin Guske (86′), N/A — Guske saw his first minutes since his one-minute debut against the Philadelphia Union. He had four touches, completed both of his passes, and drew two fouls.

MF, Gustavo Caraballo (86′), N/A— Like the other late subs, Caraballo only managed five touches, but he completed his only pass — a key pass — and suffered one foul. He also added a blocked shot on defense.


That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s excellent 3-0 victory. Let us know how you saw the game in the comments below, and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match.

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Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Five Takeaways

Here’s what we learned from Orlando City’s 3-0 home victory over Atlanta United.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Ah winning, it is so much better than tying. After three straight ties, Orlando City returned to their winning ways on Saturday, dominating Atlanta United and reminding the Five Stripes that Orlando is the soccer capital of the south. No, Miami, you cannot join the adults’ table and conversation yet. The Lions dominated play for most of Saturday’s match, and once they scored that first goal, they never looked back, adding two more goals and taking home all three points. Here are my five takeaways from the match.

The Shutout Streak is Over!

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, but in this case Orlando City earned its luck as Luis Muriel was making a driving run in the box and was preparing to shoot when Bartosz Slisz tripped him, earning Orlando City a penalty. Initially there was no call, but after video review, Orlando City was awarded a penalty and Muriel sent Brad Guzan the other way and the Lions were on the board for the first time since their trip to Los Angeles. Orlando City dominated the opening segment of the game and could easily have already scored at least one goal prior to the penalty, and as the clock ticked closer to halftime, that uneasy feeling of “not again” was starting to creep in. But then, Muriel created an opportunity and converted the ensuing penalty kick, and everyone breathed a big sigh of relief with a side of purple smoke.

The Shutout Streak Continues!

On the other side of the ball, the defensive back line continued its run of recent form by preventing Atlanta from even getting one shot on target, forcing the visitors to take half of their shots from more than 20 yards away from the goal. Pedro Gallese was barely troubled throughout the game, and the back line of David Brekalo, Rodrigo Schlegel, Robin Jansson, and Alex Freeman all went the full 90 and yet only made a combined two tackles, showing just how little of an attack Atlanta was able to mount against the Orlando City defense. The Lions bossed the game all over the field, from the press by their attacking group through owning the midfield and the defense snuffing out the few threatening attacks Atlanta put together, and it was a full team effort to earn a fourth straight shutout.

Another New Midfield Combination

The injury bug bit the Orlando City defensive midfield once again, as after three straight starts Joran Gerbet was unable to go against Atlanta. With César Araújo still to return from injury, and away on Saturday for the birth of his daughter, that meant that Óscar Pareja turned to Kyle Smith to start the game as one half of the defensive midfield. Thankfully, Eduard Atuesta was finally cleared to return, and the Atuesta-Smith pairing became the fourth pair to start in the first 10 games of the season. I thought Atuesta was brilliant in this game, as his incisive passing and playmaking skills were on full display throughout. He did fail to convert on a wonderful chance to score off of a Marco Pašalić pass, but aside from that, he was outstanding on both offense and defense and breathed life into an Orlando City team that had sorely missed him.

For his part, Smith played much more of the defensive role between the two holding midfielders, and he was solid in the middle of the field, partnering with Jansson and Schlegel to wall off Atlanta from being able to attack through the middle. Time will tell if we see yet another new combination next week, but in this week’s game, Atuesta and Smith made it look like they had been playing next to each other for months, not days.

The Formation Was Fluid

As fans of Orlando City, we know that Pareja loves his 4-2-3-1 formation and has used that nearly exclusively during his tenure in Orlando. In this context, I found it interesting that multiple sites listed the Lions as having played a 3-4-2-1 in the match against Atlanta, but this makes sense with how far Freeman pushes up the field on the right hand side and how Brekalo, Jansson, and Schlegel hang back and hold down the defense while their young teammate joins the attack. Additionally, Orlando City makes a point to not lock its players into specific positions, but rather let the front group rotate as needed defensively, leading to times in the second half when it appeared like any one of Martin Ojeda, Muriel, and Nico Rodríguez were playing as a striker, with the others filling in behind. There were also times in the first half when it looked like Duncan McGuire and Muriel were both playing up top, and then others when it seemed like McGuire was the lone striker with Muriel dropped well behind him. These multiple looks caused some confusion among the Atlanta defense and also slowed down the Atlanta attack as well, as they saw players in different locations than they expected. The Lions have a lot of players who have “utility” skillsets, and they took advantage of those in this match.

Duncan Is Now Fully Open For Business

McGuire made his first start of the year on Saturday, and while he did not score a goal, it was good to see that he is now healthy enough to go 60 minutes in a match. Big Dunc was involved in a few chances, taking one shot and making one key pass in addition to drawing two fouls, but the big takeaway here is that he is now one more option that Pareja has available to him to start or bring off the bench. In this match, they decided to bring in Ojeda off the bench and give him a bit of a rest, but as the season starts to move from one game per week to many weeks having both a weekend and weekday game, it will be critical that the Lions can rotate the squad and keep all the key players fresh. McGuire looked like he still had something left in the tank when he subbed out, so I think it is safe to say he is back to full fitness.


Those are my takeaways from an enjoyable beatdown of one of Orlando City’s biggest rivals and a game that was much less stressful than the Pride’s come-from-behind victory on the same field the night before. The Lions will look to build off this victory when they travel to Chicago next weekend, though waiting for them will be an angry Fire team that was just embarrassed 7-2 by Nashville. There is no reason why Orlando City cannot also score seven, but we will settle for at least one more than Chicago scores.

Let us know your thoughts about the Atlanta match in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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