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Orlando City vs. Vancouver Whitecaps: Final Score 1-0 as the Lions Net Late Goal to Win

Orlando has two straight wins at home and its first ever win against Vancouver on a late goal by Nani.

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6 years ago

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Nani got a late game winner — deflecting Sacha Kljestan’s shot past Zac MacMath — to lead Orlando City to a 1-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps in front of 22,468 at Orlando City Stadium. Nani’s goal in the 88th minute broke up a hard-fought struggle as the Whitecaps sat in deep after playing a game Wednesday and traveling across the continent.

Orlando (3-3-2, 11 points) got its first ever win over the Whitecaps (1-5-2, 5 points) in five tries (1-3-1) and second shutout win of the season. The Lions are also unbeaten (3-0-0) in the special Parley kits to celebrate Earth Day after previous wins over New York City FC and San Jose.

“Really pleased to get the three points,” said Head Coach James O’Connor after the match. “I thought Vancouver made it obviously very difficult for us. I think at times we showed some decent passages but I think we can play a little bit cleaner, a little bit crisper. It’s a massive win for us.”

“Great team effort defensively,” said OCSC goalkeeper Brian Rowe. “I think it’s something to build on and a great result.”

O’Connor changed up the lineup from last week’s squad at RSL. He went with a four-man back line of (L-R) Joao Moutinho, Robin Jansson, Lamine Sané, and Ruan. The midfield was defense heavy with Uri Rosell flanked by Sebas Mendez left and Will Johnson right. Nani and Dom Dwyer started up top with Chris Mueller.

Vancouver lined up with a five-man back line and sat deep, forcing Orlando to break through several lines and the Lions struggled to do that. Nani managed to get a free kick from distance on goal early on and Mendez fired wide of MacMath’s goal in the seventh minute.

After Vancouver won a couple of corners off the counterattack, Nani redirected a Moutinho cross toward goal in the 20th minute but again the shot was at MacMath. The Lions got the ball into the area in the 23rd minute but both Dwyer and Johnson had shots blocked.

The game went through a spell where Orlando lacked movement and Nani had trouble breaking down Hwang In-Beom, losing the ball on a couple tries to get past the Vancouver midfielder. Moutinho teed up a shot in the 31st minute but got it nowhere close to the goal frame.

The Lions dodged a bullet a minute later when Ruan made a great play to dispossess Yordy Reyna to prevent him from getting in alone on goal on the break. The Whitecaps got their only shot of the half on target in the 35th minute. Ali Adnan lined up a free kick from about 35 yards away, straight out in front of goal. His shot forced a diving save from Rowe. Derek Cornelius got a head to the ensuing corner but he sent the shot wide.

In the 43rd, the Lions nearly broke through off a corner kick. A header by Cornelius — who was defending Mueller — was sent toward his own goal but cleared off the line by Scott Sutter. Then a shot from distance by Rosell was blocked at the top of the area. A minute later, Sané headed just over the bar off Nani’s corner kick cross.

Moutinho got the last good chance of the half as Mueller sent him down the left but MacMath fought off the shot and Johnson’s header was nowhere close on the ensuing corner.

Orlando City held the advantage in shots (10-3), shots on target (2-1), passing accuracy (84%-78%), and possession (56%-44%). However, the first half went just as Vancouver hoped, with the Lions unable to break down the defense and a few counter opportunities available for the Caps. The 0-0 score was much more favorable to the visitors than Orlando City after the first 45 minutes.

The second half started much like the first, with Orlando struggling to break down the Vancouver lines of defense. The Lions were able to get some crosses in but could do little with them against three center backs defending Dwyer, who finished the match without a shot attempt.

Orlando did manage to get in a counter of its own in the 55th minute, with Nani getting his shot blocked at the end of the attack off a nice pass from Mueller. A minute later, Mueller himself was nearly played in but the ball was just a touch too far in front and MacMath scrambled off his line to get to it first.

At times, the Whitecaps came up a little higher on the pitch and pressed a little near midfield but it was much the same game as the opening 45 minutes.

Vancouver looked to find the breakthrough in the 56th minute when Reyna sent a cross through the area but it was way too far in front of Fredy Montero.

In the 60th minute, Nani fizzed a ball through the six that MacMath deflected out for a corner, and moments later the Vancouver goalkeeper just beat Dwyer to a 50/50 aerial ball. Mueller had a shot slightly deflected that sailed inches over the bar in the 70th minute as it started to look like the game could finish 0-0.

But things nearly went horribly wrong in the 72nd minute as In-Beom got in as the trailing runner on a Vancouver attack and sent his sliding shot over Rowe’s goal on the visitors’ best chance of the game.

Second-half sub Tesho Akindele fired a header just over the bar in the 75th minute after coming on for Dwyer. Kljestan came on for Johnson just a minute later as O’Connor continued to search for a way to unlock the Whitecaps.

Reyna got a half chance in the 85th with a weak shot to the back post that Rowe smothered. The Vancouver forward then fired over the bar two minutes later.

Orlando finally got its goal in the 88th. Ruan took the ball down the right channel and cut it back to the top of the area. Kljestan ran onto it and fired hard but the ball hit Nani and deflected into the net to make it 1-0. Nani now leads the Lions with four goals this season and has a three-game goal-scoring streak going. The Portuguese star also has four assists to go with those four goals in eight games played.

“I secretly just wanted the assist,” Kljestan joked after the game. The assist was his 91st in MLS, tying Cobi Jones for eighth in MLS history in 57 fewer matches.

“Watching from the bench I thought we were playing a little bit too slow with the ball,” he said. “We needed a little bit more action in the box and then fortunately the goal came that way. I think it was a cut-back cross from Ruan and I think we had three guys in the box and so it created a little bit of confusion in front of their back line and fortunately the ball ended up in the back of the net.”

After more than seven minutes of stoppage time, the whistle blew and Orlando City had its second consecutive home victory. The Lions out-shot Vancouver 16-6 (4-2 on target), held more possession (61%-39%) and out-passed the Caps (86%-77%) in a deserved victory that almost didn’t come.

“Today was a difficult game,” Kljestan said. “I think if somebody didn’t watch the game but maybe just looked at the schedule and saw Vancouver played on Wednesday and then flew across the country, you would say Orlando should win easily. But that’s not the case in MLS. They came here and they set up very defensively, tactically. They played behind the ball a lot and tried to hit us on the counter, and they defended very well, so it was hard for us to carve out chances.”

O’Connor said his players deserved enormous credit for going on and winning the game, avoiding the frustration of not being able to break down the bunkering Caps.

“It became pretty apparent that they wanted to sit very deep and make it very, very hard for us and deny space. It’s trying to be patient, it’s trying to make good decisions when we have the ball, and manage the transition moments.”

“In the end to get a 1-0 win, at the end of the year, we’ll look back and think that this was an important game for us to win,” said Kljestan. “To now get our second win in a row in our stadium is big for us, so we’ve got to keep that going.”

Next up for Lions is a trip to Yankee Stadium for the first repeat opponent of 2019. Orlando City will square off against the Pigeons at 1 p.m. ET.

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Orlando City

Orlando City Striker Duncan McGuire Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

It’s the other shoulder this time, but Big Dunc is on the shelf for awhile again after undergoing surgery.

Published

2 days ago

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June 6, 2025

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Orlando City announced today that Duncan McGuire has undergone arthroscopic surgery to repair the labrum in his left shoulder. The surgery was performed by Orlando City Chief Medical Officer Dr. Craig Mintzer of the Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute performed the surgery. Mintzer previously repaired the labrum and rotator cuff in McGuire’s right shoulder back in December for an injury he sustained in Orlando City’s playoff match against Charlotte FC Nov. 9 when he was pulled down by Djibril Diani.

The club’s press release said the 24-year-old striker’s return to play is expected “later this year.” The recovery given for his right shoulder surgery in late 2024 was listed as four to five months, but McGuire was able to come back and play much earlier than expected, appearing for the first time in 2025 in Orlando’s March 15 against the New York Red Bulls — at least a month before the earliest initial projection — however, this time there was no mention of damage to the rotator cuff.

Regardless, the Lions will be without the big target striker for a considerable amount of time.

McGuire had appeared in 12 matches during the regular season in 2025, starting three and scoring one goal and adding an assist. His goal came recently, serving as the game winner in Orlando’s 1-0 home victory over the Portland Timbers on May 24. He was recently listed as questionable on the club’s availability report ahead of the team’s most recent match against the Chicago Fire.

Orlando City drafted McGuire in the first round (No. 6 overall) in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft. After a breakout rookie campaign, in which the Omaha, NE native scored 14 goals, he was courted by several teams in Europe, signing with Blackburn Rovers, only to see the transfer rejected by the English Football League due to an administrative error by the EFL Championship club. After returning to Orlando, McGuire signed a new deal on Aug. 22 to remain a Lion. The new contract runs through 2027 with a club option for 2028. McGuire scored 10 goals and added three assists in 2024. For his Orlando City career, McGuire has appeared in 88 games (46 starts) across all competitions, scoring a total of 28 goals to go along with seven assists.

What It Means for Orlando City

McGuire appeared to be just finding his form, so this injury is unfortunate. The club didn’t put a timeline on McGuire’s recovery this time, but shaving a little off his 2024 recovery estimate, it’s likely that he’ll be out until at least some time in September.

Oscar Pareja has been favoring a 4-4-2 with Luis Muriel and Martin Ojeda up top in recent weeks, with Ramiro Enrique — who is also finding his form — typically spelling one of them when needed. Not having McGuire will affect Pareja’s late-game substitution pattern when Orlando is trailing, as he likes to put Enrique and McGuire both on the field when chasing the game. It also takes the team’s best target striker option out of the lineup when dealing with back lines with lots of height.

McGuire brings size and strength and an ability to occupy center backs that others on the roster can’t replicate. There are times when Enrique’s game is better suited to the opponent, but without McGuire there will be no ability to pivot. With Jack Lynn’s off-season retirement, that leaves the striker pickings mighty slim on the Orlando City bench. That might change Ricardo Moreira’s approach to the MLS Secondary Transfer Window.

Losing a scorer of McGuire’s caliber is always difficult, but this season it could be the difference between finishing high in the table and simply getting into the postseason in a strong Eastern Conference field.

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Opinion

Orlando City Must Learn from May’s Mistakes

The Lions can learn some valuable lessons from the three losses they suffered in May.

Published

2 days ago

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June 6, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Orlando City hadn’t quite achieved juggernaut status as the Major League Soccer season turned from April to May, but a 12-match unbeaten run in the league is nothing to sniff at, despite there being a healthy number of draws interspersed with the victories. Things turned sour as May drew to a close though, as the Lions lost three of their final four matches of the month and entered a two-week break with a whimper rather than a roar.

Losing is never fun, but in this case those three defeats don’t need to be entirely negative experiences, and there are plenty of lessons to be learned from those three bitter losses that will hold Orlando in good stead if it can implement the proper solutions.

More Squad Rotation

One of the biggest factors in Orlando’s rough finish to May was a lack of squad rotation. Oscar Pareja has always been a coach that likes to find his first-choice XI and stick to it almost religiously. He doesn’t normally tweak his lineups or tactics according to whatever opponent is on the slate, and very much values consistency. In periods of fixture congestion, that tendency can be to Orlando’s detriment, and that was very much the case against both Nashville SC and the Chicago Fire.

After beating Inter Miami 3-0 in an emotional rivalry match on May 18, Pareja made just one change for a U.S. Open Cup match against Nashville SC three days later. Ramiro Enrique slotted in for Luis Muriel up top, but every single other starter from the Miami game also got the nod midweek. With Nashville deploying a heavily rotated lineup mostly filled with backups, the gamble was a simple one: hope that OCSC’s A-team can open up a big first-half lead against Nashville’s B-squad before bringing mass changes in the second half to get guys some rest. Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, but the strategy backfired badly as the Lions lost 3-2. Orlando started well with Marco Pasalic’s 17th-minute strike, but the team faded badly afterwards and gave up a couple of very uncharacteristic goals to lose the game. Lapses in concentration and tired defending cost OCSC the game, and that isn’t something we can normally say about this team.

Then, after losing to Atlanta United 3-2 on May 28 due in no small part to Cesar Araujo’s red card, Pareja made two changes for a match against the Chicago Fire on May 31, with Muriel coming in for Enrique, and the other change being a forced one, as Eduard Atuesta replaced the suspended Araujo. Those starters looked noticeably gassed during the resulting 3-1 loss, and the fatigue manifested itself by players missing chances that would normally be converted or in sloppy, mistake-ridden defending.

May was a packed month with a whopping nine matches in 31 days, and most months won’t be that busy. August is set to be the busiest remaining period of the year with six games in 31 days, although that number could rise higher if the Lions make a run in Leagues Cup. The bottom line is that guys are going to need more rest as the season goes on. If the coaching staff doesn’t trust some of the guys currently available as backups, then they need to dip into the transfer market in one way or another and get some players that they do trust, because if the starting XI gets run ragged during busy periods it’s going to cost Orlando, plain and simple.

Cool Heads Usually Prevail

Orlando City has received three red cards on the season, which is tied for the second-most in the league. Unsurprisingly, the Lions are winless in games in which they’ve had a man sent off, with draws against the New York Red Bulls and CF Montreal and a loss to Atlanta United. The results against the Red Bulls and Atlanta were particularly difficult to swallow, as before going down to 10 men, Orlando had looked on track to get three points in each game.

Araujo’s red card against Atlanta was especially frustrating, as he allowed Mateusz Klich to get under his skin, grabbed him by the throat, and reduced his team to 10 men when OCSC was nursing a 2-1 lead on the road. It was completely unnecessary and was also the sort of thing that Orlando had looked to put in the rearview mirror after keeping its collective composure and not picking up any bookings in the 3-0 road win against Miami, while the Herons picked up four and looked noticeably rattled in the process.

It should go without saying, but the Lions can’t afford to get key players sent off. Six extra points could make a big difference in the standings at the end of the year, and that number could rise even higher if OCSC can’t put its disciplinary issues to rest once and for all.

Focus for the Full 90

There were moments in each of Orlando’s three May losses that the team committed bad defensive lapses or mistakes. Whether it was not playing to the whistle on Nashville’s third goal, Atuesta’s bad turnover against Atlanta, or the Lions collectively allowing Chicago to stroll through midfield to score a third goal, there were plenty of examples of bad breakdowns that were largely absent during the team’s unbeaten run. Can some of that be attributed to tired minds and tired legs? Maybe so — it’s a lot harder to play crisp and focused when the minutes have piled up. Regardless, its something that can’t continue to happen going forward. It’s possible that having more rotation in the squad will help that a lot, but it’s also on the players on the field to stay as mentally sharp as they can when they’re out on the pitch.

Clearly, a recurring theme here is that fresh legs and balanced squad rotation are top of my list of things I want to see change. I’m all for riding the hot hands, but tired legs make for tired minds, and tired minds make mistakes and are easier to rile up. Whether reinforcements come from the bench or an outside source, using more bodies will go a long way towards solving some of the issues that we saw in May’s three losses. All we can do now is wait and see what happens once the team returns from its break. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/6/25

Alex Freeman called up for Concacaf Gold Cup, Orlando Pride get ready for the Houston Dash, Orlando City B plays tonight, and more.

Published

2 days ago

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June 6, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Happy Friday! I’ll be spending this weekend celebrating my birthday by beating my friends at mini golf with no mercy but still hope to catch some soccer over the next few days. I’ve also been on a bit of a movie kick and plan on catching Wes Anderson’s new flick at some point soon. But for now, let’s dive into today’s links!

Alex Freeman Called Up For Gold Cup

Orlando City defender Alex Freeman was officially called up by the United States Men’s National Team for the Concacaf Gold Cup this summer. He’s the only Lion who will be at the tournament and is one of seven uncapped USMNT players on the roster. The 20-year-old could receive more playing time than expected, as right back Sergino Dest is not on the roster so that he can recover over the summer. Left back John Tolkin was added to replace Dest, so Freeman has a real shot at making a claim for the position this month. The U.S. will take on Turkey Saturday in the first of two friendlies before its first Gold Cup match against Trinidad & Tobago on June 15.

Orlando Pride Prepares to Host the Houston Dash

With the international break for women’s soccer over, the Orlando Pride return to action Saturday with a home game against the Houston Dash. It should be a great opportunity for the Pride to ease back into the swing of things against a Dash team that’s only scored 10 goals this season. Pride midfielder Ally Lemos spoke on the benefit of being able to rest heading into this match while maintaining a winning mindset from a 3-1 victory on May 23.

Anna Moorhouse Called Up For 2025 Euros

Orlando Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse was named to England’s final roster for the 2025 UEFA European Women’s Championship. She’s one of three goalkeepers on the squad following Mary Earp’s surprise retirement from international soccer, and she will likely compete with fellow uncapped player Khiara Keating for the backup position behind Hannah Hampton. Moorhouse has started in every game for the Pride this season and was an NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year finalist for her record-breaking season last year. England’s Euro run will begin July 5 against France before other group matches against the Netherlands and Wales.

Orlando City B Takes On Huntsville City FC

The Young Lions are riding high after a 2-1 win over Chattanooga FC and will take that momentum into tonight’s road match against Huntsville City FC. Midfielder Noah Levis scored his first career goal in that home win, with Justin Hylton providing the assist in his OCB debut. Orlando’s offense has been hot and cold this season but has a variety of attacking talent that can create chances in different ways. The Young Lions have only won once on the road, but a win tonight would lift them to third in the Eastern Conference.

Free Kicks

  • FIFA Club World Cup action is coming to the City Beautiful this month and Orlando City legend Kaká spoke on how it’s nice for Orlando to host games.
  • San Diego Wave Head Coach Jonas Eidevall was named NWSL Coach of the Month. The Wave were undefeated in May, winning three of their four matches to climb to second in the league standings.
  • The NWSL will allow intraleague loans for all teams, with the players needing to consent to the move in order for it to happen. Denver and Boston’s expansion teams will have access to potentially over $1 million in Allocation Money starting on July 1 to build their rosters before the 2026 season.
  • Atletico Madrid is reportedly close to signing American midfielder Johnny Cardoso from Real Betis.
  • South Korea, Uzbekistan, and Jordan all qualified for the 2026 World Cup, while China was eliminated from contention. Australia beat Japan 1-0 and will qualify so long as it doesn’t lose heavily to Saudi Arabia on June 10.
  • Spain beat France 5-4 in a wild game to reach the UEFA Nations League final against Portugal on Sunday. Lamine Yamal continues to take the world by storm, but a late rally by France nearly completed a comeback.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!

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