Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Columbus Crew: Player Grades and Man of the Match
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
| Player | Votes |
| Scott Sutter | 7 |
| Carlos Ascues | 0 |
| Yoshimar Yotun | 68 |
| Lamine Sané | 3 |
| Mohamed El-Munir | 0 |
| Other | 6 |
Orlando City
Orlando City Relies on Starters More Than Any Other MLS Team
An analysis of Óscar Pareja’s early lineup choices and substitution patterns and how that compares to the 2024 season.
Legendary swordsman Inigo Montoya, a man who is not lefthanded, once opened a conversation by asking the Dread Pirate Roberts if, by any chance, he had six fingers on his right hand. Nobody will need to prepare to die by the end of this column, but I will ask a similar question: I don’t mean to pry, but did you by any chance happen to realize that we are already more than one-sixth of the way through the MLS regular season? Six fingers, one-sixth of the season…close enough. Let’s go.
Time flies when you are having fun, and somehow Orlando City has already played 540 minutes of MLS soccer this season. I consider 500 minutes played to be a cutoff amount when looking at player and lineup performance, and with the conclusion of the most recent game in Los Angeles, the team has now surpassed that 500-minute threshold.
In looking at the opening 540 minutes, I was surprised to see how much continuity I found in the minutes played, considering how many injuries the Lions have had to work around during these first six games. In just the first six games, Orlando City has already had full games missed due to injury by César Araujo (1), David Brekalo (2), Robin Jansson (2), Duncan McGuire (3) and Nico Rodriguez (5). Brekalo and Pedro Gallese both missed a game for international duty as well. McGuire was not expected back during the first set of games, but all of those other players, with the possible exception of Rodriguez, were expected to contribute during the early part of the season.
These absences led to games where the substitutes list was full of players who will play big minutes for Orlando City B this year, but not players who Óscar Pareja was likely to turn to off the bench unless the game was out of hand or he was absolutely desperate. According to Opta’s tracking through the opening six games, Orlando City ranks last in MLS in the average minutes played by its substitutes, as the average amount of time per appearance for the players off the bench for the Lions is only 12 minutes. For context, 16 teams have an average amount of time per substitute appearance of 20 minutes or greater, and Inter Miami and Toronto are tied with a league-leading 27 minutes per substitute appearance.
The interesting thing about those two teams, Miami and Toronto, is that Miami leads the league in points per match with 2.6 and Toronto is second from the bottom with a scant 0.33 points per match. I think a lot of this data will even out over time, as right now there are several teams, including Miami, that are playing in multiple competitions and trying to keep players fresh for all of their matches.
When it comes to Orlando City, however, that is not the case, and thus far there has just been the standard one game per week on six consecutive Saturdays. The players are rested for each game. The issue has just been that Pareja has not had the depth and variety of players he thought he would have to bring off the bench to protect a lead or chase a deficit.
We often joke in articles or on The Mane Land PawedCast about how “Óscar gonna Óscar,” and once he finds a lineup he likes, he sticks with it. Even with all the injuries he has somehow managed to do this again this season, as you can see from the chart below. I started tracking lineup data last season, and even though the 2025 season is only six games old and there have been so many absences from key players this season, it was striking to see that the 11-man lineup that has played the most minutes together this season already outranks all but two lineups from the entire 2024 MLS season (including the five playoff games!):
Now, it is a little unfair to the one 2025 lineup on the above chart that it has such a negative goal differential per 90 minutes, because if it is only the 10 field players, with goalkeeper excluded, then that lineup has played 215 minutes together and has a +0.84 goal differential per 90 minutes. That group is +4 with Javier Otero in net in 74 minutes together, and removing the goalkeepers from the calculation turns that negative goal differential into a positive.
What that also tells us, however, is that when it comes to the 10 field players, Pareja has played the same unit in the field for 40% (215/540) of the team’s minutes already. Granted it is early in the season, but after six MLS games last season, the lineup that had played together the most had played a grand total of 74 minutes together (14% of all minutes). The top five most used lineups in last season’s opening six MLS games combined to play 302 minutes, or 56% of all minutes, and in 2025 it is 402 minutes, or 80%. My math, and everyone else’s math, says that is a much higher percentage and indicates that the team is focused on continuity early.
That continuity thus far this season has paid dividends, with the Lions earning 10 points from the first six games, twice as nice as last season’s five points after the first six games. Last year, the team was balancing midweek Concacaf Champions Cup games in addition to injuries and an international break during the opening weeks of the MLS season, so there were some good reasons for the lineup rotation and the slow start. This year’s squad will have to navigate two upcoming cup tournaments in the coming months, and so we likely will see a lot of new lineup configurations or more rotation once the U.S. Open Cup starts in May and then again when Leagues Cup starts in July.
Thus far though, Pareja has been able to stick with his starters deep into matches, and has only given playing time to 20 players, which is tied for third fewest across all of MLS. Fan bases often clamor for the coach to “play the kids,” but while Pareja has had young and inexperienced players on the senior roster for every game, he really has only given significant minutes to Alex Freeman from the group of players that could be referred to as “the kids.” Gustavo Caraballo has played nine minutes, which is incredible for a 16-year-old (15-year-old Cavan Sullivan of Philadelphia is the only player younger than Caraballo to have played this season, and he has also played only nine minutes), and new signing Nico Rodriguez (20 years old) has played 11 minutes, but the next three youngest players to play are all at least 22 and were with the senior club last season (Otero and Ramiro Enrique) or came to the club after four seasons of college soccer (23-year-old, but nearly 24-year-old, Joran Gerbet).
The team’s record thus far shows that Pareja has been right to limit the minutes to the small group of players he trusts, and with one game per week for the next six weeks it will be interesting to see if the early trend of starters playing long minutes and only a few players getting all the minutes off the bench continues. The next match is on the road against Philadelphia, which so rudely came into Orlando and defeated the Lions 4-2 in the season opener, and my expectation is that while we likely will not see any players make their season debut in this game, I do think we will see a different starting lineup than the season opener and probably a different one than the game last weekend against the Galaxy.
No matter who the Lions go with, I am sure they will want to avenge the season-opening loss and bring three points back home to Orlando.
As we wish.
Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City
Orlando City at Philadelphia Union: Three Keys to Victory
What do the Lions need to do to earn all three points on the road against Philly?
Orlando City is on the road yet again, this time heading to Pennsylvania to take on the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park Saturday night. The Lions will look to get a second road win in a row after the smash-and-grab victory against the LA Galaxy. Things don’t get any easier with the Union sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference, but a win would catapult Orlando City above Philadelphia in the standings. Here’s what Orlando City needs to do to earn all three points against the Philadelphia Union.
Tie up Tai
Tai Baribo leads the way-too-early-to-call Golden Boot race with six goals in five matches. The Union striker has taken 13 shots, putting eight on target and the aforementioned six in the back of the net. He scored a brace in the season opener against Orlando to bag a third of those goals. It’s a pretty easy call to say stopping the league leader in goals is an important part of shutting down the Philadelphia attack.
It will be up to Cesar Araujo and whichever center back pairing we get to shut Baribo down. Of course, he’s not the only one the Lions need to worry about since the Union also have striker Mikael Uhre, and midfielders Daniel Gazdag and Jovan Lukic providing goals and assists. The point is that Philadelphia is second only to the Lions in offensive production with 13 goals compared to Orlando City’s 15 goals.
Formation Change
In the last match against the LA Galaxy, the Lions struggled to get things going with Luis Muriel up top, Ojeda at the No. 10 spot and Ivan Angulo on the left. Once Duncan McGuire came on, Muriel shifted back, Ojeda went wide, and Angulo subbed off. That really opened up the attack and allowed the Lions to get the two goals needed to secure the victory.
Perhaps Oscar Pareja could start things off like that against Philadelphia. Angulo hasn’t been great the last few matches, and perhaps some time on the bench will get his head straight. McGuire is still early in his return from injury, but Ramiro Enrique can start up top with Big Dunc coming in later as he has the last few matches. I think making this change could help Orlando City get an early goal on the road.
Vengeance is Thine
When the two teams met on opening day, the Union dropped four goals on Orlando City in Inter&Co Stadium. You would think it a completely dominating performance, but the Lions actually had more shots, more shots on target, and more possession than the Union. Philadelphia simply put each of its four shots on target past Pedro Gallese. That type of luck is unlikely to happen again.
Since that time, the Orlando City defense has stiffened — at least a little bit — and the team has been more difficult to break down. I’m not saying the defense is as stalwart as last season, but it has improved. Orlando City needs to use that four-goal drubbing at the hands of the Union to galvanize the defense to enact revenge with a multi-goal victory of its own.
That is what I will be looking for Saturday night. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links
Lion Links: 4/3/25
Martin Ojeda in the MLS MVP mix early, Orlando Pride players won’t play for Zambia this window, Tierna Davidson out for the NWSL season, and more.
How’s it going, Mane Landers? I hope this week has been going well for you as we gear up for a busy Saturday filled to the brim with soccer to enjoy. Despite my blender’s protests, I’ve finally figured out how to make frozen coconut mojitos and plan on having those get me through the rest of the week. Before we dive into today’s links, let’s all wish a happy 28th birthday to Orlando City legend Rodrigo Schlegel!
Martin Ojeda’s MVP Credentials
Orlando City’s Martin Ojeda placed second in Sacha Kljestan’s MLS MVP power rankings this week. With four goals and three assists so far this season, Ojeda leads the league in goal contributions and is a major reason why the Lions have scored a league-high 15 goals. It’s great to see the 26-year-old take the reins of the offense after Facundo Torres’ departure. Inter Miami’s Luis Suarez tops Kljestan’s rankings, despite only having a goal in five games this season. Tai Baribo, Evander, and Lionel Messi round out the top five in what could be an interesting MVP race this year.
Pride Players Won’t Join Zambia For International Duty
Zambia will be without four NWSL players when it takes part in the Yongchuan International Tournament in China this month. Along with Bay FC forward Rachael Kundananji, Orlando Pride trio Barbra Banda, Grace Chanda, and Prisca Chilufya were withdrawn from international duty, with the Football Association of Zambia stating it was due to additional travel measures by the current U.S. administration. FAZ General Secretary Reuben Kamanga expects the quartet to be available for future matches and both Banda and Kundananji played in friendlies in Zambia in February. Restrictions like this may limit the appeal of the NWSL to foreign players in the future.
Fan Banned For Hateful Language Towards Banda
NJ/NY Gotham FC announced that the fan who directed hateful language towards Banda has been banned following an investigation that included interviewing witnesses and reviewing security footage. The incident took place at the Pride’s match against Gotham on March 23 at Sports Illustrated Stadium. The fan was found to be in violation of the NWSL Code of Conduct and their season ticket was revoked as well. Gotham also encouraged fans to report inappropriate behavior through the team’s encrypted text message service to inform the stadium’s incident management team.
USWNT Defender Tierna Davidson Out for the NWSL Season
American center back Tierna Davidson will miss the remainder of the 2025 NWSL season after tearing the ACL in her left knee in the club’s draw against the Houston Dash. It’s tough news for her, Gotham, and the United States Women’s National Team, as she captains the NWSL club and featured heavily in the Olympics last year. Davidson sustained an ACL injury in her right knee back in 2022, which contributed to her missing out on the 2023 World Cup. Gisele Thompson replaced Davidson for the USWNT’s upcoming friendlies with Brazil, and Pride defender Emily Sams will likely receive more playing time as the team prepares for the 2027 World Cup.
Free Kicks
- Orlando City received $100,000 in General Allocation Money in exchange for former academy goalkeeper Zack Campagnolo’s Homegrown Player rights. The Lions will receive another $100,000 in GAM if conditions are met, and they retain a sell-on percentage if Campagnolo is transferred.
- San Diego FC added Milan Iloski on loan from FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark through July of this year. Iloski is a San Diego native and won the USL Golden Boot for Orange County SC in 2022.
- New England Revolution midfielder Carles Gil won MLS Goal of the Matchday for his free kick against the New York Red Bulls.
- El Farolito SC, which is named after a burrito chain and bar local to San Francisco, has reached the third round of the U.S. Open Cup for the second straight year. The National Premier Soccer League side took down Monterey Bay FC to reach this point of the tournament.
- Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 to book its ticket to the Copa del Rey final, where it will face rival Real Madrid on April 26.
That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a terrific Thursday and rest of your week!
Orlando City Relies on Starters More Than Any Other MLS Team
Orlando City at Philadelphia Union: Three Keys to Victory
Lion Links: 4/3/25
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