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Orlando City

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

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6 years ago

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Hoo boy. As far as games go, the one I just watched Orlando City SC play was…rough, to say the least. The Lions dropped their eighth straight game and did so by an ugly scoreline. It was not a good performance overall by the team, and the players rated individually as follows:

Starters

GK Joe Bendik, 5 — It was a rough night for every player on the field and sadly Bendik was no exception. Out of six Atlanta shots on target Joe managed two saves and while his defenders didn’t do him any favors on the first goal, and Barco was helped by a lucky bounce on the third, he’ll surely want the second and fourth goals back. On the first he almost certainly should have been quicker off his line, and on the fourth he was beaten through his legs at his near post.

D, Jonathan Spector, 4.5 — Perhaps he wasn’t helped by two small deflections on the first Atlanta goal, but the captain allowed Josef Martinez in behind him for the easiest goal of the Atlanta striker’s life. He was then caught out of position and subsequently failed to slow down or foul Miguel Almiron on the fourth Atlanta goal. Not his best game.

D, Lamine Sané, 5 — He had some good moments when bringing the ball out of defense, but the defender, although perhaps thrown off by a deflection off Amro Tarek, failed to clear the cross that eventually found Martinez. He was also slow coming out to challenge Miguel Almiron, which allowed the striker to get off the shot that eventually led to the third goal.

D, Amro Tarek, 6 — Tarek had a reasonably good game considering the eventual scoreline. He does lose points for failing to clear the cross on the first goal, and probably should have closed down Almiron faster for his second goal. Like Sané though, he did good work in the attack, often popping up alongside Mohamed El-Munir on the left flank, as well as narrowly heading wide and being denied on the goal line by Mikey Ambrose.

WB, Mohamed El-Munir, 6 — He was caught very much out of position on the pass that led to Almiron’s first goal, and then didn’t take the best line to track back and try to stop the goal. Aside from that though, he generally defended well and found himself up the field on numerous occasions, and had some joy in 1-v-1 situations, with five successful dribbles. Other than that though, he wan’t able to make his presence felt further.

MF, Will Johnson, 4.5 — Johnson was his usual hard-working self but failed to capitalize on Orlando’s best chance of the game, spooning a shot wide of the open net after Oriol Rosell forced a save from Brad Guzan. He made some good tackles, but an early yellow card saw him subbed off for Richie Laryea with Bobby Murphy trying to change the game.

MF, Oriol Rosell, 6 — Rosell looked fairly composed in midfield, passing the ball well, making a few good tackles, and winning all three of his aerial duels. However, he and Johnson found themselves unable to contain the dynamic trio of Ezequiel Barco, Hector Villalba, and Almiron. His shot from range forced Guzan to give up the rebound that Johnson was unable to put away, but too often Atlanta’s players had too much time on the ball in midfield.

WB, Scott Sutter, 5 — He might have done more to try to stop Martinez during the break for Atlanta’s second goal but it was a difficult scenario to get right. Sutter’s rating is rather a result of failing to make much an impact in the final third. As accurate as Sutter’s crossing normally is, it was a skill that was not on display often enough during the game. Especially considering he was deployed on the wing, his lack of contribution to the offensive effort was disappointing.

MF/F Sacha Kljestan, 5 — Deployed in the hole behind Chris Mueller and Dom Dwyer, Kljestan found it difficult to make his influence felt on the game. It was always going to be a difficult task given the opposition was of Atlanta’s caliber, but Kljestan’s passing lacked crispness and at times his legs seemed heavy. Granted, he and other members of the squad have played a lot of minutes recently, but it has to be better from a player who was one of the league’s best last year.

F, Chris Mueller, 6 (MotM) — Mueller was the best source of Orlando energy on the field. As fans have become accustomed to seeing, he ran all night long. While his passing wasn’t as sharp as it could have been, he made up for it by completing several dribbles, winning the corner and the resulting header that led to Tarek’s goal line chance. His stats don’t necessarily jump off the page but he certainly gave his all and gets the MotM nod for just how damn hard he worked.

F, Dom Dwyer, 4.5 — It’s never good when your best striker doesn’t take a single shot all night, and that was exactly the case with Dom. While it wasn’t all his fault, as the service wasn’t exactly pouring in from all directions, it’s still an ugly stat, and his passing wasn’t accurate enough to make up for it. He did what he could, but it was a night to forget for him.

Substitutes

MF, Richie Laryea, (63’), 4 — Brought on for Will Johnson with Orlando down three goals, Richie passed well enough and managed a shot, but didn’t do the best job of containing Mikey Ambrose before the ex-Orlando player fed Almiron to score his third goal. Ultimately he was unable to provide the necessary spark off the bench.

MF, Stefano Pinho, (68’) 4.5 — Pinho replaced Lamine Sané as Orlando looked to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at their opponents. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work, with Pinho only able to fire wide during stoppage time after Mueller did well to find him. The Brazilian worked hard enough, but wasn’t able to produce an end product.

D, RJ Allen, (68’) 4.5 – Allen replaced Scott Sutter, who is still working his way back to full fitness following a spell on the sidelines with injury. Allen didn’t make any horrific errors, but also didn’t do anything of particular note. A quiet night for him on a difficult night for the team.

Rough grades for a rough performance. Vote in the poll and let us know who you think was the best on a bad night.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Amro Tarek52
Chris Mueller36
Oriol Rosell5
Mohamed El-Munir3
Other (Let us know who in the comments)14

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Orlando City

How Orlando City’s Offense Stacks Up Against What Atlanta Does Defensively

How Orlando City has performed against teams playing with three or four defenders, and how that may influence the playoff game against Atlanta United.

Published

15 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The most famous quote about real estate is that “there are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” Soccer coaches also like to think in threes, especially when it comes to points, but for a soccer coach, the three things that matter might be the rhyming triplet “formation, formation, formation,” as that is where they will have the biggest influence on every game that their team plays.

Throughout his tenure as head coach, Óscar Pareja has preferred to use a 4-2-3-1 as his formation (fbref.com’s lineup data shows that the Lions primarily played a 4-2-3-1 in 65% of their MLS matches this season, and 79% of their MLS matches during the last three seasons). The Lions have lined up in a 4-2-3-1 during each of their last 14 games, and my confidence level is strong to quite strong (can you believe Meet the Parents came out 24 years ago?) that they will do so once again on Sunday when they host Atlanta United.

Atlanta United also prefers to deploy a 4-2-3-1, but was less consistent than Orlando City this season during MLS play, as evidenced by the chart below that shows how Atlanta lined up this season:

The purpose of this image is a table to show how Atlanta United lined up in 2024 (mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but also in one of six other formations).

I am relying on the coders at Opta for their evaluation of the formation, as I do not watch a lot of Atlanta United matches (sounds terrible), but though Atlanta primarily played with four defenders in more than two-thirds of its matches, during the last two matches it played a 3-5-2, the only two matches all season in which interim coach Rob Valentino rolled out that formation. I suspect that the formation change was related partially to playing Inter Miami and trying to defend the Herons’ dynamic offense and partially due to an injury suffered by defender Brooks Lennon in the first game of that series. So, while Atlanta primarily played four in the back for most of the season, there is a good chance it will roll with what worked against Florida’s second-best MLS team when it plays Florida’s best MLS team this weekend.

Now, if you want to read more about Atlanta, then you can read our match preview, which will drop Sunday morning, but I want to look at how Orlando did against teams that play similar styles. Looking only at MLS games, the table below shows how Orlando City performed against different back line structures this season (the left side is how the Lions’ opponents lined up, the right side is how Orlando City performed against opponents in those formations):

Table embedded as an image showing Orlando City doing best in goal differential in 12 games against three-man back lines, second best against four-man back lines, and having played once against a five-man back line (a 1-1 draw).

Orlando City earned slightly more points per game — the stat that matters most — against teams that played four in the back, but the Lions had a better average goal differential when teams played three in the back. Atlanta will likely deploy one of those two formations. In both games against Orlando City this season, Sunday’s visitors went with a 4-2-3-1, but as mentioned earlier, they used three in the back in each of their last two matches, so it really could be either.

Soccer is not like baseball, where players primarily stay in the same spot throughout the game, so some of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, as players are not always rigidly in the same position throughout a match. A team may also primarily play with four in the back but switch to three when chasing a game, or five when trying to protect against a late goal.

That said, using the data around Orlando City’s opponents’ general formations, here are the attacking groups who played the most frequently against four defenders during the 24 MLS games where Opta coded the opponents as using a defensive group of four:

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy four defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus eight goal differential for the season.

It is a little ominous that the main starting group, shown in row one, has played 666 MLS minutes against back lines of four this season, but do I like that green goal differential of +8 in those minutes, which is a strong +1.08 per 90 minutes. I like that goal differential more than I like all the things that Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin like on their song that is creatively named “I Like It.” Coincidentally, when people ask me what I think about that song, I say, “I like it.” I am very creative.

If we look at the lineups that Orlando City has used against back lines of three defenders then there are some pretty major differences in personnel groupings, but it must be noted that more than half of the games against teams playing three in the back came early in the season, when Ramiro Enrique was unavailable to play. Enrique, my presumed starter at striker, has played fewer than three games’ worth of minutes (265 total) against back lines of three this season, and only 28 minutes with the main starting group, which ranks 13th among all the attacking lineups for minutes played against three defenders. That group scored one goal in their 28 minutes together though, for a robust 3.21 goals-scored-per-90-minutes average.

While the team as a whole has been successful against three-man back lines, I do not expect any of the lineups shown in the table below to play more than a few minutes together this weekend, though the first row and the last row are strong groups and had a lot of success.

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy three defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus three goal differential for the season.

I am sure that all week long the Orlando City coaching staff has been going back and forth on whether it is more likely that Atlanta reverts to its most commonly used four in the back, or if the Five Stripes try for three wins in a row with three in the back. I would prefer that Atlanta plays with zero defenders and goalkeeper Brad Guzan wears a blindfold, but I think that is unlikely to be the case.

Even though Atlanta defeated Orlando City both times while in a 4-2-3-1, based on available personnel and recent results, I believe that the team will come out in a 3-5-2 in Inter&Co Stadium in the conference semifinal. Good things come in threes, and Orlando City’s best offensive production this season has been against three defenders, so I am going to be hoping that this continues, and in the third game against Atlanta the Lions grab the three points. Three’s company!

Well, it is a playoff game, so there are no actual points at stake, but you know what I meant.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final?

Published

17 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City continues its playoff journey against Atlanta United Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions are coming off an emotional penalty shootout win over Charlotte FC in their best-of-three, first-round series. Likewise, Atlanta United stunned everyone by taking out Inter Miami to advance in its own best-of-three matchup. Now, the rivals meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

What does Orlando City need to do to get past Atlanta United to advance to the Easter Conference final?

Beat Guzan

Brad Guzan made 16 saves over Atlanta’s three matches against Inter Miami, including seven in the 3-2 win on the road in Game 3. The 40-year-old former USMNT keeper is in excellent form and is a big reason why the Five Stripes are facing Orlando City. Converting chances against Guzan will be crucial to earning a result. There have been times this season when the Lions have struggled to convert their chances. Despite that, the team has done enough offensively to get to this point. Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire, Ramiro Enrique, and others have contributed and will need to do so this weekend.

Cartagena is Essential

Orlando City lost twice to Atlanta United during the regular season. What is interesting, and perhaps relevant, is that Wilder Cartagena was out for both of those matches. Cartagena was shown a straight red in the match against Minnesota United prior to the first match against Atlanta way back in March. He was shown a yellow card in the match against FC Cincinnati and then served a yellow card accumulation suspension for the final match of the season against Atlanta. Fortunately for Orlando City, Cartagena will be available for the match this weekend. I’ve mentioned before the importance of Cartagena to Orlando City’s success. When he and Cesar Araujo are on the field together, the defense is simply better. Cartagena is frankly one of the better defensive midfielders in MLS. Atlanta scored five goals in the series against Miami, and Orlando will need to keep the visitors from having that kind of offensive success.

Overcome the Past

That darn international break in the middle of the playoffs is something I don’t love. More precisely, I don’t like it because Orlando City often struggles after a break. It would have been nice if Orlando City could have ridden the momentum from the penalty kick victory into the Atlanta match, but that’s not to be. Now is the time for Orlando City to break some bad habits, including turning around its historical lack of success against Atlanta, and tendency to struggle in the first match after a break. Oscar Pareja needs to have the players in the right frame of mind, and the players need to execute the plan. A full house of supporters can also make a difference. Given it’s a Sunday afternoon match, there’s no reason not to pack the house.

That is what I will be looking for Sunday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 11/21/24

Marta’s chance to shine in NWSL Championship, NWSL and MLS award winners announced, 2025 SheBelieves Cup details, and more.

Published

20 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’ve been spending most of this week plotting out some holiday shopping to make things a little less stressful for myself over the next few weeks. A big weekend filled with Orlando soccer awaits us, so make sure to get any errands or obligations out of the way sooner rather than later. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s NWSL Championship between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, including Marta’s opportunity to put an exclamation point on what has been an excellent season for the Pride. Orlando has been enjoying the fruits of its labor this season after a rebuild over the past few years that’s included plenty of change in the City Beautiful. Marta has been a constant, however, enduring some difficult seasons since joining the Pride and adapting her game She’s scored in both of the Pride’s playoff games so far and has a chance to author a storybook ending on Saturday.

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was named 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, beating out the Pride’s Anna Moorhouse and Utah Royals FC’s Mandy Haught for the honor. It was Berger’s first year in the NWSL and she’s the first European player to win the award. She only conceded 16 goals across her 22 matches for Gotham this season and was a key reason behind her team’s success. I’m not too surprised that Moorhouse did not win, considering how solid the Pride’s defense was as a whole, but this won’t take anything away from a record-breaking season for her.

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

Columbus Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy was voted 2024 MLS Coach of the Year after a historic season in which the Crew set club records in both points and goals. The Crew also won the Leagues Cup this summer and their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign included advancing past Tigres and Monterrey en route to the final. This is Nancy’s first time being named Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the award every year since 2021. The Frenchman received 40.02% of the vote, winning the award over Inter Miami’s Gerardo Martino and Colorado Rapids Head Coach Chris Armas.

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

The 10th annual SheBelieves Cup will take place next year and the tournament will return to its usual format where each of the four teams plays each other once. The United States Women’s National Team will host Japan, Colombia, and Australia in February in what should be an exciting tournament. The U.S. will take on Colombia on Feb. 20 in Houston before facing Australia in Arizona on Feb. 23 and finishing the tournament on Feb. 26 against Japan at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. These games will also be the first domestic games of 2025 for the USWNT as it prepares to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

FC Dallas announced that Eric Quill will become the team’s next head coach. Quill joins Dallas after a great year with New Mexico United that included trips to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and USL Championship Western Conference semifinals. It’s also a reunion of sorts for Quill, as he previously coached North Texas SC and was named USL League One Coach of the Year with the club in 2019. Dallas missed out on the playoffs this season, with Peter Luccin coaching the team on an interim basis after the firing of Nico Estevez in June.

Free Kicks

  • District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser challenged Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to a bet involving this weekend’s NWSL Championship, with embarrassing lightshows on the line.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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