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Orlando City Invitational Notes and Quotes

Published

7 years ago

February 21, 2019

With last night’s 6-2 preseason victory over the New England Revolution, Orlando City SC finally won its first trophy since joining MLS. Sure, it was just a preseason tournament trophy and doesn’t mean much in the overall scheme of things. But you can never build a culture of winning without actually…you know…winning, so it was a positive step in what has been (so far) a stunted development of OCSC as an MLS side.

“It’s fantastic. It’s really important for us,” Head Coach James O’Connor said of the tournament win. “We want to make sure that any competition that we have in our stadium that we win. So I’m really pleased that we were able to do that and do it in the manner that we did.”

The actual victory is, of course, less important than the squad’s preparation for the grueling 2019 MLS season that lies ahead. Things that seemed bleak after the limited information that escaped from Orlando’s 4-1 preseason loss to the Philadelphia Union suddenly appear much brighter after two open-to-the-public friendly victories over New York City FC and the Revs. The Lions played positive, attacking soccer, conceding very few chances over the course of the last 180 minutes with two entirely different lineups.

More importantly, both lineups displayed the identical tactics that O’Connor wants out of his club. The watch words O’Connor used were “movement” and “understanding of space.” Both Orlando City Invitational matches displayed a team that is not only grasping those concepts, but implementing them as well. Can the players do that when the intensity ratchets up in the regular season, the speed of the game increases, and opponents are actively game planning against them? That remains to be seen, and it will be the deciding factor on whether or not the Lions can finally get over the playoff line by season’s end.

What also remains to be seen is how well Dom Dwyer and Nani will integrate into O’Connor’s system this season, but if they do it at the level their teammates have shown over the last two matches, this could be a brighter 2019 than many of us envisioned just a couple of short weeks ago.

Because O’Connor and his players say some interesting things that don’t necessarily make the game recap, let’s dive further into what was said after last night’s game.

Youth is Served

Wednesday’s starting lineup included 17-year-old SIMA Gold player Hamady Diop at left back and the teenager did an excellent job of holding his own against a solid New England attacking front which included Cristian Penilla, Teal Bunbury, and Diego Fagundez. OCB defender Matheus Silva had a more inconsistent game — primarily with some errant outlet passes, though he did lose Bunbury on the first of the Revs’ two late goals.

Meanwhile, up top, rookie Santiago Patino (age 21), 20-year-old Young Designated Player Josué Colmán, and Homegrown striker Benji Michel (age 21) combined well with midfielder Cam Lindley (age 21) on Wednesday. Those four players, along with 25-year-old midfielder Cristian Higuita and veteran Uri Rosell ran riot on the Revs all night, playing with high energy, great spirit, and helped the team put a half dozen goals on the board, which might have been even more had Patino and Michel been a tad more clinical.

“I think they were excellent,” O’Connor said of the younger players in his lineup. “I thought they performed really, really well. When you look at the academy players, and not just the academy players — I think some of the senior players alongside them to help them and to manage them through the game — that’s really, really encouraging for us as a football club to see that kind of performance.”

In addition to the young players already listed above, 17-year-old OCB midfielder Jordan Bender made his second straight appearance and again looked calm on the ball, with 18-year-old OCB midfielder Ates Diouf and Senegalese Montverde Academy junior Moussa Sabaly also getting into the game late.

“I think for them it was a great experience to play in this stadium with those fans,” Rosell said after the match. “And sometimes if you don’t handle well yourself, you can lose it. So I was trying to tell them what they have to do — when they’re doing good things, just encourage them — and I think that was my role today.”

“I’m just coming out of college soccer now and playing pro,” Patino said. “Myself and all the rookies, we feel the difference, but we’ve just got to keep working every day and have the right attitude.”

O’Connor reiterated the club’s philosophy of being a place where the academy players — despite training and living a good distance from the team’s facilities while at Montverde Academy — feel they are part of Orlando City SC.

“We’re trying to be very intentional about making sure we are one club,” the gaffer said. “So, whatever level somebody is representing Orlando City at, they’re part of the family, and that’s something that we’re going to keep driving home. We want players in the academy. We want to know their names. We want to know all about them. We want them to feel a part of the football club.”

The Right Path

A common theme from both Saturday and Wednesday was players and O’Connor talking about the team being on the correct trajectory as the start of the season approaches. No one is satisfied with where the team currently is, but O’Connor said it is close to where it needs to be. The team is growing in chemistry, seems hungry, and the players from both starting lineups displayed the same tactics and understanding of the movement and space the coaching staff wants.

“I think we worked really hard all off-season,” Rosell said. “When you are in preseason and you feel that you are really tired, you feel pain everywhere and you just keep going. And you see that your teammates are doing the same and that means a lot, because you know that when hard times arrive — and they will — you know that they have our backs.”

“I think we’re looking sharp,” Patino said. “Every game that we’re getting positive results, it means that we’re getting there. We’ve been training hard and all of this is paying off. Every chance we got (Wednesday), we put it away, and that’s how we’re going to kill teams.”

Importance of Building Depth

The concept of team depth is something we seemingly discuss every year. Its absence was apparent in 2015 and 2016. Last year, the depth was stretched impossibly thin due to an extreme rash of injuries that hit particular position groups all at the same time — notably on the back line. Rosell pointed out that getting two good results with completely different squads in back-to-back games shows the team’s depth. And that’s without Dwyer, Nani, Carlos Ascues, or Kyle Smith being available.

“We played two games with almost two different teams and both won, so that means we have a lot of depth, which is good for a long run,” Rosell said. “I feel like now we can start building from here.”

Chemistry is Key

The fact that both lineups played nearly identically in terms of tactics shows a willingness across the board to buy in to O’Connor’s systems and the two wins reinforced that doing so can bring success. In the last two games, the various lines seemed to have an understanding not only of who was around them, but where they were likely to go next — something that the team notably lacked last season. Spending time together in close quarters at IMG Academy for two weeks helped the team build that chemistry.

“I think we have a lot of players that want to play and want to start the game. Everybody’s putting in their maximum effort and the coach is giving opportunity to everyone,” Patino said. “So everybody’s got to take advantage of it. I think everybody’s getting along really well and we’re understanding what James wants to play, so the chemistry is looking good.”

Unlikely Offense

While Saturday’s goals came from expected sources in Tesho Akindele and Chris Mueller, some of Wednesday’s offense came from less likely sources. Rosell scored a goal from the penalty spot, created an own goal with a great run and dangerous cross, and assisted on Patino’s strike. Dillon Powers, who played right back on Wednesday, also connected on a penalty.

Rosell was quick to downplay his offensive efforts as something he wants to show off more to fans in the future.

“I wish I could do that (show more offense) but to be fair with you my job is another one and I try to do it as best as I can and play for the team,” he said.

Higuita was also a key cog in building the attack, and he converted a sliding finish on a fantastic cross from Colmán for the Lions’ fifth goal on Wednesday.

Again, it’s just the preseason, and O’Connor himself was quick to downplay the team’s success in the last two games in his post-game comments to the media. Raising expectations is probably not in Orlando City fans’ best interests at this point. But there is a sense that these last two games have shown that the Lions could be in the early stages of an upward trajectory that could pay off down the road.

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

July 22, 2026

Michael Citro

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

Our most recent PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match.

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!

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

July 14, 2026

Michael Citro

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.

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

April 22, 2026

Michael Citro

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.