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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Columbus Crew: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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6 years ago

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It was bound to be a storyline for the ages. Player is traded to Orlando City, things go south after a time, player is traded back to original team, he returns to Orlando to thunderous boos, and then something happens. Well, per a couches decision, that didn’t happen, but what did happen was Orlando snapped a winless streak at about the last, and best possible time.

All things considered, how did the Lions rate in tonight’s 2-1 defeat of Columbus Crew at home in the last of the home matches at Orlando City Stadium?

Starters

GK, Adam Grinwis, 6.5 — The young keep played well, and by played well I mean kept Orlando City in this match. He leapt off his line when it was needed. His distribution was solid, his decisions to come off the line were good. For my vantage point in the stadium, there was not much he could have done on the free kick as it was struck about perfectly. His three saves were absolutely solid, and he he worked well with the back line to limit everything the road team threw at them.

D, Scott Sutter, 7 — Again, another solid outing for Mr. Consistent. He had an 86% passing accuracy and three solid shots (though none officially on goal), including one that rattled off the frame in the 90th minute. Sutter has been one of the bastions of light all season when he’s been healthy. His play was not perfect, but he certainly left nothing on the pitch.

D, Shane O’Neill, 6.5 — Another of the silent warriors, Shane held his own, and helped the back line limit the visitors to only eight shots. If you were not watching, Shane was that back-line figure who snuck up deep into the offensive half during the second half, including some cheeky footwork to get forward. His 89% passer rating from the defensive third was a bonus as well. He had a vital blocked shot in the 27th minute after a giveaway by Mohamed El-Munir, plus a tackle and two interceptions. However, he also conceded the foul that led to the Crew’s free kick goal.

D, Lamine Sané, 7 — The club started in a bit of a 3-5-1, that morphed throughout the game, with Sané at the center of that back line. All things considered, the defensive effort was solid, with Sané anchoring a line that was hell bent on giving the home crowd an effort to be proud of. He had an 88% passer rating and a team high five clearances, and it certainly looked as though he was the target of numerous corners, but at the end of the match, what matters most is the fact that he helped to anchor a back line that held the visiting team to half the number of the shots that City had.

D, Mohamed El-Munir, 7 — I was really glad to see El-Mo in the starting XI with certain other starters tonight. I make no secret of the fact that he is who I want on the left side, either as the left back or left winger, as he is the strongest player to hold that position to date (fight me). He isn’t perfect, but a 90% passer rating, and the hustle on defense means everything, and that everything is something that El-Mo has given since joining the Lions. He did pass up some offensive opportunities, particularly in the 50th minute, and had that previously mentioned giveaway in the 27th, but he also tracked back well and had one tackle, three interceptions, and two clearances. He took four shots (one on frame) and created one chance.

MF, Carlos Ascues, 7 — Definitely making his case for acquisition of the year, Ascues was a terror in the defensive end. He was all over the pitch, sometimes getting forward, and played somewhere between his starting DM roll and what morphed into being a back/center back, and he certainly owned it. A 92% passer rating as a defender who pushed as far forward as he did throughout the match doesn’t hurt. He created one scoring chance, finishing with two tackles, an interception, two clearances, and a blocked shot.

MF, Oriol Rosell, 6 — Uri started in a midfield full of defensive mids and had a solid match overall. He mustered an 88% passer rating, and solid numbers on both the defensive and offensive side of the match (one aerial won, one tackle won, one key dispossession, and two shots — though neither on goal). There were a couple scary moments, and he did fail to jump as part of the wall when he could have been the man to block Federico Higuain’s shot attempt on the free kick. But, all-in-all, it was a solid performance from the man asked to anchor the central defensive area of the pitch.

MF, Will Johnson, 7 — He got called out, sort of, by a fellow writer this weekend, but Will could possibly be one of the most consistent players for City all season. Sure, keep bringing up that D.C. United match all you want, but let’s see how you handle that situation after 90 plus minutes running — a man down during some of it. His 77% passer rating may not be the best, but his three aerials won, as not one of the tallest Lions, certainly helps to make up for it. Both of his shots were on target and forced good saves from Zack Steffen and he created a scoring chance. Defensively, he had a tackle, an interception, and a clearance. Also, it was another match where he left everything on the pitch.

MF, Sacha Kljestan. 6 — Thank you, Sacha, for burying that penalty kick in the back of the net, because without that I might be roasting you right now. One thing I certainly do not want to see out of any player in the number 10 spot is a 79% passer rating, nor do I want to tell you how many times I found myself screaming from the seats to get Sacha to run, but it was numerous, and far too numerous for a player in the position he was slated to play. He finished with two tackles and a clearance on the defensive end, created three scoring chances, had a potential goal blocked by a defender and scored the game-winner.

MF, Yoshimar Yotun, 8 (MotM) — Yoshi is what Yoshi does. I do not know any other way of expressing what this man has brought to the starting XI. Starting on the left side of the attacking midfield and generally playing wherever he wanted, Yotún was the Lions’ Juggernaut on the pitch. He led the team in touches (93), had a 92% passer rating and filled the stat sheet on both the offensive and defensive end. He created six scoring chances for Orlando City, fired two shots (both on goal), switched the field with pinpoint accuracy (13/17 on long balls), and had one tackle and one clearance. It was a breath of fresh air to have the Peruvian back from international play and suspension. It seemed as though almost everything he touched was golden, and the players around him sensed the Midas touch and adapted to it.

Also, that penalty kick was nasty. N. A. S. T. Y. Nasty, to the point I received messages from friends around the U.S. and internationally, asking if what they saw on the replay was real, because that chip was just filthy.

F, Dom Dwyer, 6 — Although the grade may be harsh, I have to look at things honestly, and of all the starters tonight, Dom may be the one I have the most criticism of. The criticism may not be simply because he played to a lower level than his teammates, but because he is still on an island, playing a role he should not be playing, and because of this may be trying too hard. Center backs in MLS know how to mark Dom, and the PRO refs are also watching. Although much of his game went 50/50, it almost seems as though people are watching, and expecting certain behaviors. He took a few hard fouls early and allowed it to get the best of him by taking a silly yellow by throwing a shoulder at Jonathan Mensah. Dwyer failed to get a shot attempt away, created no scoring chances, and passed at only a 70% rate.

Substitutes

D, Amro Tarek (58’), 7 — Substituting in for Ascues (quad tightness) left some mighty big shoes to fill, but Amro did exactly what was needed, and filled those shoes well. He held a 91% passer rating with two crucial tackles, and two clearances. On the heels of international duty, Amro certainly seemed to want to make a statement to the home crowd, and did in my opinion.

MF, Chris Mueller (72’), 6 — Maybe not the best overall night for Cash, but certainly an evening where the hard work paid off. He was dispossessed four times, only held an 82% passer rating, and tried like hell to make a difference every second he was on the pitch. Kids, when your little league coach gives you the hustle speech, this game is why. Mueller may not have had his best night, but he hustled every second he was on the pitch, and it eventually paid off in the dying seconds when he was double teamed and taken down in the box by Wil Trapp. Absolute hustle got City that PK, make no mistake.

That is how I saw the final home match from my soon to be vacant seats. Myself and some friends will be moving a bit closer to the pitch next season, to try to get a better vantage point for grades and predictions. I am curious to know how you, the reader, graded everyone and who you picked as Man of the Match. Vote in the poll below and let me know in the comments where you agree, or disagree, with everything above.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Scott Sutter7
Carlos Ascues0
Yoshimar Yotun68
Lamine Sané3
Mohamed El-Munir0
Other6

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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

13 hours ago

on

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

15 hours ago

on

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

18 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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