Connect with us

Uncategorized

Five Knee-jerk Reactions to Orlando City’s Knee-jerk Reaction

Published

8 years ago

on

So, the #KreisOut crowd got what it wanted and it could turn out to be the Best. Thing. EVAR! Or we could see another rebuild, leaving the Lions at home during playoff time for the next year or two. Only time will tell.

As a former public relations practitioner in professional sports (about 10 combined years in minor league hockey and the NHL), I enjoy the new terminology used today, such as “lower body injury,” and yes, “mutually agreed to part ways.” It’s possible that Jason Kreis came to management and said “Hey, I really don’t want to coach this team anymore, can we just end this?” But the likelihood is that Kreis was fired after the team’s sixth consecutive MLS loss. So, the coach that gave the club its longest ever MLS win streak — and wasn’t rewarded for it — was most likely punished for the club’s longest ever MLS losing streak.

It’s hard to imagine this happening had the team gone W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L, but whatever. It’s done and we thank Jason for his contributions to building this roster from what it was and for the good moments — the aforementioned win streak, some incredible Cardiac Cats moments, the 6-1 beatdown of New England last season, and so on. Every coach and every player is part of the team’s history and Kreis’ panel in the team’s quilt is fully stitched.

Here are five off-the-cuff reactions I had to the news. Let me stress this again…these are not fully formed thoughts…just the first things that popped into my head and I’m sure after further reflection there will be some drift from what is below.

Orlando City Leadership is Fickle

The leadership of Orlando City has shown it has zero patience. Adrian Heath was named the club’s first MLS coach and he and management ostensibly had a three-year plan to make the club a playoff team with a chance to compete deep into the postseason. Heath was given a year and a half of that three years and was let go on the heels of a six-game MLS unbeaten streak that ended with a lopsided loss in Dallas on July 4, 2016. Sure, there was also a 2-1 loss to Fort Lauderdale in the U.S. Open Cup in there, but anyone who watched that game saw a dominating performance by Orlando that night. Cupsets are a thing, and it happened to the Lions that night on PC’s stunner at the death of extra time, after the Lions had out-shot the Strikers by 20 (!) after halftime and spent nearly the whole game in the attacking half. I think Hadji Barry hit every part of the goal frame in that second half. Oh, and Heath’s firing came during the transfer window, when players who may be on the move would probably like to know who they’re playing for.

Kreis was let go with his team still in playoff position — a spot he helped lead the team to by way of that six-game winning streak. The winning streak came with most of the roster fully fit and in form. He and his staff aren’t completely blameless, of course, but the losing streak certainly did not feature an optimal lineup for most of it. Much of it was played on the road with no Dom Dwyer, no Yoshimar Yotún, and the following back lines:

  • Mohamed El-Munir, Amro Tarek, Lamine Sané, Will Johnson vs. Atlanta.
  • Mohamed El-Munir, Amro Tarek, Lamine Sané, Will Johnson at Toronto.
  • Mohamed El-Munir, Tony Rocha, Chris Schuler, RJ Allen vs. Chicago.
  • Donny Toia, Tony Rocha, RJ Allen, Will Johnson at New York City FC.
  • Mohamed El-Munir, Amro Tarek, Chris Schuler, Will Johnson at Vancouver.
  • Tony Rocha, Amro Tarek, Jonathan Spector, RJ Allen at Montreal.

I mean, giving the mostly returned roster a game or two doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.

There Was No Plan in Place

Kreis’ departure is followed by Bobby Murphy’s second stint as the Lions’ interim coach. Orlando City announced that Murphy will serve as coach “ while the club conducts a comprehensive search for a new head coach.”

This is a different tactic than New York City FC used. Sure, the situations are different, but as soon as there were suitors for Patrick Vieira’s services, the Pigeons were proactive, worked quickly, and when Vieira left, the club reported that it would be announcing a new coach in the coming days.

Orlando went another way. Saying you’re going to conduct a comprehensive search indicates that nothing is imminent, so it’s essentially admitting to not having things narrowed down. Last time out, Kreis was hired after three matches had been played under Murphy and his first match on the sideline came after a fourth match under Murphy (who went 0-1-3 in those four). Admittedly, it was pretty quick last time, all things considered, but those conversations were likely starting to take place before Heath’s 3-0-3 run, after the team’s 2-3-5 start. It will be interesting to see how long this one takes.

The Timing is Terrible

In addition to the aforementioned return of several key players either just coming back or who soon will be, there is this: In a few weeks’ time, there will be a series of coaching maneuvers, as the group stage of the World Cup comes to an end. This will have a trickle-down effect and will likely affect the availability of various potential replacements. I’m not saying that some national team manager currently in the World Cup would be Kreis’ ultimate replacement — but it can’t be ruled out, either. But some of those coaches will likely take other jobs after the World Cup and that would free up other coaches who could be interested in MLS positions. A wait until early July may have produced better available candidates.

There are two league matches left for Orlando City in June and one U.S. Open Cup game. Those two weeks, plus perhaps the July 7 match at LAFC may have bought just enough time to either have a top candidate in place more or less immediately, or, perhaps, given the team time to regain its cohesion and eliminate the need to find a replacement.

Is Orlando City an Undesirable Job?

MLS is this nation’s top flight and those jobs will always be attractive. However, some coaches — let’s say someone like Caleb Porter — might have other options and may be patient enough not to jump at the chance to come to Orlando. This is especially true after the way the club has fired its last two managers. The message sent by both firings is clear. You’ve got from about a year to a year and a half, and then we’re done waiting and we won’t tolerate losing streaks, even if your team is in playoff position. This might seem a desirable trait from the front office but in sports it’s not all that realistic.

Every season has ebbs and flows. Atlanta recently went through a spell of one win out of four and, as much as I hate to say it, that’s the best team in MLS this season.

Will a Rebuild Be Necessary?

I’ll finish with what my first thought actually was at hearing the news. Orlando City has an enticing roster. However, it also has a number of key (and expensive) pieces who may not fit in some other coaches’ systems. Sacha Kljestan is 32 and will turn 33 before the end of the season. He was just jettisoned this past off-season by a team that likes to play a high-energy pressing game. Justin Meram is 29 and has not looked comfortable in a 4-4-2. For that matter, a 4-4-2 hasn’t been the best shape for Dwyer. Similarly, Yotún has been pretty good no matter the shape or style, but he’s shown to be an especially dangerous piece as a defensive midfielder in the 4-2-3-1.

So, enticing roster or not, the next coach may not find some of these pieces to his liking. That would necessitate a rebuild. Those realistically take at least two transfer windows and this club has shown it lacks the patience for such things.

All of these thoughts are more or less stream of consciousness. I’m sure I’ll process this more in the coming days.

This will no doubt surprise some readers here — though it probably shouldn’t — but just because I have not been aboard the #KreisOut bandwagon, it doesn’t mean I agreed with every decision or supported the coach unconditionally. My stance has remained consistent with regard to Kreis’ employment in 2018 and I’ve been saying it since the 0-2-1 start: let’s get to the All-Star break and see where Orlando City is. If Kreis isn’t getting it done by then, it’s fair to make a move.

As a writer covering the team, I was never fond of his habit of not answering questions about individual players (which was fine if they played well, but seemed taboo when they didn’t) and I especially hated the opaque injury reports we got this season.

I would have preferred a move to a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 last season, as the personnel didn’t seem to fit the 4-4-2. But I also had my doubts about the personnel in 2017 anyway, it just seemed more likely to have success in other shapes. I also thought when Dom went down this year that a return to the 4-4-2 was warranted because it was the entire reason Uri Rosell was brought in and no one player seemed capable of replacing Dwyer (and that proved to be true).

I wasn’t always crazy about his lineup choices, and was surprised to see Meram in the starting XI at Montreal given his Vancouver game performance, though I’ve generally been more forgiving of Meram’s ups and downs this season than many fans because…well, look at that ball he played in for Rocha on Wednesday that Dom should have finished. He can do that at any moment, kind of like when Kaká was having one of his stinkers.

However, I do have a great deal of respect for Kreis. He has always treated me well and has answered every question I’ve posed to him with what I believe to be the utmost candor and honesty. He’s intelligent. He loves the game. These are all fine traits. They are not, however, sufficient reasons to keep him if he didn’t fulfill what management expected of him. He may have ultimately done that by the end of this season and he may not have, but, again, we move on.

So, the Jason Kreis era is over and I am neither happy nor sad about it, but I’ll always wonder what would have happened three weeks down the road with perhaps a healthy Spector-Sané partnership, Scott Sutter at right back, and Dom having worked his way back into his pre-injury form.

My hope is that the club offered Kreis up as a sacrificial lamb to PRO in order to get some relief, but…yeah, probably not. (Insert smiley face emoticon here because it’s a joke, people.)

Feel free to blast away or let me know what you’re thinking tonight.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

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

on

July 22, 2026

By

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

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!

Continue Reading

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

on

July 14, 2026

By

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.

Continue Reading

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

on

April 22, 2026

By

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.

Continue Reading

Trending