Uncategorized

A Statistical Analysis of Orlando City’s Attacking Issues

Published

8 years ago

June 11, 2018

I know many of us are frustrated after Orlando City’s fifth straight defeat after a six-win run of form. The highs and lows of a season can be similar to a game of poker where you’ve doubled up, then immediately fallen down to the short stack in the next hand. It causes you to lose focus, react off of emotion, and is generally not a healthy response.

There are a lot of circumstances involved that I could argue why the Lions are in a good spot considering everything. However, I’m not blind that City has some serious attacking issues. We all know when Dom Dwyer hasn’t been on the pitch the team has had trouble finding ways to score. Dwyer has seven goals in eight appearances and that only leaves 17 goals for the other players on the team over 14 matches. When you look deeper into those numbers, you see that only four goals came in the six matches in which Dwyer didn’t play — one each against D.C., Minnesota, Toronto, and Chicago.

Out of all MLS teams, Orlando currently sits 10th in total goals scored, fifth in the East. That’s not bad for the sixth-place team in the East. But anyone that has given City the eye-test over the season would say that isn’t good enough. By diving into the statistics and comparing them to the style of play, there are some clear reasons why Orlando City’s attack has been stumbling despite what often appears as a threatening attack.

The Attack is Unbalanced

One of the ways you can tell if a team is having issues is where the attack is starting from. Is it primarily one-sided? Is it only using one wing specifically? If a team doesn't have balance, maximize its best players, or is not playing to the strengths of the formation, issues will arise.

Right now Orlando City is attacking at this rate:

43% left side.
25% middle.
32% right side.

There are two points that stand out to me immediately. The first is the balance left-to-right. Some of this has to do with the injury to Scott Sutter. One aspect of the 4-2-3-1 is that the wing backs have plenty of space to get into the attack. Without a true right back, City has been forced to sit deeper on the right side. Whereas on the left side, Mohamed El-Munir has arguably been one of the Lions’ best attacking players. A simultaneously good and bad statement.

This could also point to the trust the team has in Chris Mueller. While impressive in his rookie season, it would appear the outlets are going more towards Justin Meram — who’s usually there — and the left side.

I think it’s a bit of a combination that Mueller hasn't had the same support as Meram from his defenders and is therefore often disconnected more to the play or is forced to play by himself on an island.

The second point is the lack in which the attack is up the middle. A 4-2-3-1 should be dominating the middle. Especially considering one of your best players and, more importantly, best play-makers in Sacha Kljestan sits right in the middle, there should be more attack coming from the middle than currently. Kljestan needs to get on the ball more and facilitate the attack. Too often we’re seeing negative passes from his position and it’s showing in the balance of the attack.

The lack of middle play is also pointing to a major issue that the defensive midfielders aren't getting high enough. If the defensive midfield was getting into the attack more, as it should be, then that percentage would be 3-4% higher where I would rather see it. The fact we’ve yet to see the best balance of the defensive midfield with Yoshí Yotún and Uri Rosell together is part of the problem. And I would expect it to be better once Yotún gets back from World Cup duty.

Cristian Higuita and Rosell are a bad pairing together, as neither gets as involved or high up into the attack on a consistent basis. This often leaves a gaping hole in the middle third (something I’ll bring up later). Regardless, Higuita’s skill set doesn't lend him to be a consistent attacking cog and is better served alongside Yotún as well.

Middle Third and Attacking Third Percentages Show Problems

Orlando City ranks dead last in Action Zone percentage in the middle third, meaning that when the Lions have the ball, they control it the least in the middle third. This is as counter-intuitive to the 4-2-3-1 as you can get. The formation is dependent on the triangle in the middle of the pitch where the defensive midfielders and the the No. 10 role should be controlling the field in what is normally a mismatch of midfield numbers against a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.

The above issues of the defensive midfielders points to why this percentage is very low. If the gap between Kljestan and the defensive midfielders is too large, you’re not going to be controlling the ball in the middle and it’s going to snowball into a host of other issues.

On the flip side, Orlando is fourth in action in the opposing third. That wouldn’t be a problem if it was scoring. The problem is the urgency. If a team is controlling a healthy amount of possession in the attacking third, you would believe this is leading to goals. However, without urgency, it’s not going to.

City needs to be more aggressive in the attacking third because that is what leads to what most see on the field right now: City looking for the perfect pass, often allowing the defense to get back into the play and choke any space that the team should have to score goals.

The Counter Attack is Non-Existent

So now you look at the fact Orlando isn’t controlling the ball in the middle third well enough. Combine that with dominating its play percentage in the attacking third and what becomes the issue? The obvious answer is urgency. That lack of urgency is more importantly killing the counter attack.

Again, pointing to the formation, it should be absorbing the attack and then getting out quickly through the middle to the wings to open up the game in the counter attack. The problem is Orlando only has one goal on the counter. Is only having one goal the issue? Not necessarily. I think it just points to the issue that City is slow in the attack and lacks urgency consistently. If that urgency was prevalent, I think you see a lot more goals on the counter.

Shots on Goal Are Too Low

If you haven't figured it out yet, each problem leads to another. Often, these issues are inter-connected. One causing the other in both directions then leading to even more issues. A core issue of urgency or confidence can create a variety of issues.

I’ve mentioned urgency already, but when you look at the possession in the attacking third, it shows other issues in the attack: a lack of confidence or —what would be much worse — lack of soccer intelligence.

The Lions’ shots per game currently rank 10th in the league. Compare that to their fourth in the league in percentage and something doesn't net out. What’s the problem? A lot of the time it is doing too much with the ball. Passing too much vs. looking to create opportunities, not getting the ball into the area enough, not taking chances.

You have to take chances in soccer. Taking chances creates opportunities when the defense misplays the ball in the area or even the chance of an own goal. City is nearly two shots less per game than the high end. You can’t score if you’re not shooting. The Lions need to find their confidence, stop looking for the perfect pass, and give themselves more opportunities.

Inefficiency with the Ball is Troublesome

Anyone that watched Saturday night saw the Lions get in trouble the most when the attack stalled due to loss of possession.

When it comes to turning the ball over, City is the fifth-worst team in MLS, losing on average 15.6 touches per game. This isn’t being dispossessed, this is simply poor touches leading to something negative. That means almost 16 times a match, someone on the field is handing it to the other team or stifling the attack because the focus or technical ability isn't there.

How often have we been frustrated watching a City midfielder kill an attack by a poor touch? Or give up a counter because a defensive midfielder can’t control the ball?

This then parlays into losing the ball when it’s at a players feet. If players are losing possession just by bad touches, add pressure into the equation and it won’t be getting any better. City is the sixth-worst team in the league at being dispossessed — losing the ball without a dribble. That means City players are holding the ball too much and not moving the ball as needed. It can also point to an issue of spacing and runs off the ball that is causing the player on the ball to have insufficient options.

You’re not going to win many games — or have an effective attack — without keeping a hold of the ball. But let’s say you took a look at those stats and saw a team like the Red Bulls alongside City on both those lists. A team that is sixth in goals scored. This points to the aggressiveness of the attack. If you’re passive and losing the ball you're going to score less goals. If you’re being aggressive and losing the ball, that aggressiveness should pay off in the end.

Stats can only tell so much. I’m sure there are other ways to dive into these stats, compare them to the best in the league, and come out with positives. One of my favorite shows was Numbers Never Lie on ESPN. You can make numbers tell a lot of stories.

What I think is important is that a lot of these tell us what we may already know. Orlando City needs to play with more aggressiveness and urgency. The middle of the team needs to be more involved in the attack and City must certainly take care of the ball, especially if it’s going to play at its current pace.

Many of these issues can be fixed with certain players coming back into the fold. Regardless, Kreis and the team need to identify these issues and solve them if they hope to continue to stay in the playoff picture.

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

2 weeks ago

July 22, 2026

Michael Citro

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

Our most recent PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match.

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!

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

3 weeks ago

July 14, 2026

Michael Citro

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.

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

April 22, 2026

Michael Citro

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.