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Orlando City Must Be Prepared to Impress New Head Coach

Published

8 years ago

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It was just a week ago today that former Orlando City Head Coach Jason Kreis was handed his pink slip as the club’s brass made the decision to part ways with its second-ever MLS coach following a six-match losing streak in league play. Bobby Murphy has been given the nod to serve as interim head coach until a new appointment is made.

The move was a godsend to some, and baffled the rest of us. But that’s beside the point because #KreisOut is a reality and the current Lions roster should be busy preparing itself for what will come next: a new head coach to impress.

Speaking from my nonprofessional-yet-still-competitive playing experience (emphasis on nonprofessional), the introduction of a new man in charge can be an exciting proposition, or it could serve as an intimidating awakening. The players that are currently well-established and entrenched in their roles within the squad should be on high alert, and the rest of the squad should also be looking at this change as an opportunity to prove themselves once again and show that they belong on the pitch.

Essentially, the eventual lineup that’s installed by the new gaffer could feature names and faces that have faded into the background since the start of the 2018 campaign. Fringe starters, substitutions, and even those that haven’t been making match-day squads on a regular basis have all been handed a clean slate, and they’d be wise to take full advantage of having the opportunity to make a lasting first impression on Kreis’ eventual replacement.

Sure, some players will very likely remain entrenched in their current roles, and rightfully so (See: Dom Dwyer, Sacha Kljestan, Yoshimar Yotún, and Joe Bendik). On the other hand, the remainder of the squad could be shuffled significantly, especially considering the possibility and likelihood of new formations. It will be interesting to see how the current leaders within the squad, Kljestan, Jonathan Spector, and Will Johnson, will react to the change. I foresee Kljestan perhaps taking the captain’s armband from Spector and taking the change in stride as his thoughtful and easygoing personality will likely help the new coach install his desired style of play, while his extensive playing experience will allow him to serve as a guide to the rest of the squad. I think that Kljestan will be the key to a smooth transition.

Of course, who knows how this all goes down? Maybe the new coach wants a complete overhaul, or maybe the new coach only tinkers with what’s worked for the Lions this season. The supporters and players alike have no inkling of what sort of personality and coaching style will be headed their way.

What’s It Like?

Speaking from years of bygone experience in such situations, I’ll start with this: it’s quite stressful. I had three different coaches throughout my four years of varsity soccer in high school and it was, at times, a nightmare. Just as you’ve finally felt like you’ve proven your worth to your boss, your boss is gone. Just like that. And the feeling you’re left with is, quite frankly for me, a bit of anxiety.

“What’s next? I have to prove myself to a new guy? Sheesh, not again.”

For me, there were several things that I kept in mind as I prepared to play under a new coach.

  • Be Yourself: Don’t go overboard in your attempts to awe your new coach. Play your game, the one you’re familiar with. This gives the new coach an honest and true perspective of what you bring to the table, and where you might be able to fit into his current or future plans.
  • Play Selflessly: Showing your new coach that you’re a team player is essential to getting your blip on his radar and keeping it there. This one is dependent on position, as strikers may want to do just the opposite to strut their prowess in front of goal. You miss every shot you don’t take, folks.
  • Abide by Established Team Rules: The Lions’ Young Designated Player, Josué Colmán, can attest to this one, as he was left out of the match-day squad that went on to record its sixth straight victory (now a club record) against Real Salt Lake, 3-1, on Sunday, May 6. He was left out of Kreis’ 18 on the day due to breaking a locker room rule. That’s an avoidable no-no, Josué… especially when the supporters want to see more of you.

  • Take Training Seriously: This one is obvious, but it’s still important to note that training should be conducted in a professional manner. The occasional joke or gag here or there is absolutely okay ( and even encouraged) when increasing the team’s overall morale, but nobody wants to play with the NBA’s Dwight Howard right now for a reason: He doesn’t take his training (or games for that matter) seriously. He actually just laughs at everything. No, seriously, everything. Foul on Howard? He’s chuckling. Allen Iverson, on the other hand, was a different story:

Please don’t be like The Answer (I still love you though, A.I.).

  • Be Open to Change: This is the big one, one that doesn’t just apply to a new soccer coach, but to life in general. Be prepared to be tested in a new position, maybe even one that you’ve never played before and feel uncomfortable in. The first time a new coach asked me how I felt about being deployed at left back, I was terrified. That coach knew exactly what he was doing, and my pace won the battle on that particular flank for the evening, which aided our team’s effort in taking all three points (I naturally play on the wing or up top). Now, I love the left back position, and I never would have known unless I was open to giving it a go. Players like Victor “PC” Giro, Mohamed El-Munir, and Chris Mueller are all quite versatile, and I wouldn’t be in the least surprised to see a new coach come in and completely shake things up in a funky way. Could El-Munir play striker? Probably not, but maybe the new coach prefers him on the wing rather than at left back.
  • Respect the Coach’s Decisions: He may be new, but he’s your boss. If you find yourself on the outside looking in, show class, be respectful, and be damned sure you’re 100% ready to enter the fray and make a positive impact if/when you’re called upon. Be humbled by being deemed “not good enough,” and use that as motivation to force your way into the fold.

For now, the supporters and players alike have to sit idly by and wait for the club’s brass and CEO Alex Leitão to make an appointment, an arduous process that could possibly, though not ideally, take days to weeks. Leitão himself said that the decision was made at this juncture intentionally, with the Lions away from MLS play so he and his management team had the time to perform their due diligence.

“As much as we understand that fans are very anxious, that we are very anxious and to give the fans as name as fast as possible, it’s very, very important to us to do it right,” Leitão said in a phone interview. “We’re not rushing. We’re not going to take too much time with process. I believe we’ll be able to announce a name next week. It’s great to know this club is a desirable club. We have interest from hundreds of people. They believe in the players we have. They believe in the fan base.”

Only time will tell what the future holds for Orlando City and the 2018 campaign. Check back in with The Mane Land for impending updates on the search and eventual appointment, and check out an in-depth analysis from our very own “Bearded Guy” as he weighs the pros and cons of the potential appointment of former Brazil National Team head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

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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

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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!

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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.

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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.

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