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Orlando City vs. FC Cincinnati: Final Score 5-1 as Nani, Tesho Akindele Lead Lions’ Romp

The Lions fell behind in their first ever match against Cincinnati, but roared back for an easy win.

Published

6 years ago

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Orlando City fell behind in the first half but broke its losing streak in convincing fashion with a 5-1 destruction of FC Cincinnati (3-8-2, 11 points) in front of an announced crowd of 22,341 on a hot day at Orlando City Stadium. The Lions got braces from Nani and Tesho Akindele and a header from Dom Dwyer to run the MLS newcomers out of the City Beautiful.

It was only the third time all season that Orlando (4-6-3, 15 points) had scored more than one goal in a game and it was the team’s first victory by more than one goal in 2019. The win broke a three-game losing streak and a four-match winless skid. The 5-1 win was Orlando’s second-biggest MLS win only to a 6-1 home win over New England on Sept. 27, 2017 — a game in which the Revs were a man down for much of the night.

James O’Connor praised his team’s mentality after the match for coming back after conceding the first goal in the team’s third game in eight days.

“Obviously very pleased — not just with the result,” O’Connor said after the game. “I thought overall the mentality of the players was excellent. To play at three o’clock in Florida is a mental test.”

O’Connor rotated 10 of the 11 spots from Wednesday’s game, leaving only Lamine Sané in the starting XI from the midweek match in Seattle.

The game was mostly a plodding affair before Cincinnati opened the scoring in the 24th minute. Up to that point, neither team seemed particularly adept at getting into the opposing team’s penalty area, instead passing the ball around the perimeter and either turning it over or sending in a hopeful cross.

The only real chance of the game had come from a shot by Emmanuel Ledesma in the 21st minute that rattled off the crossbar.

That warning shot failed to wake up Orlando, which had started to concede more of the possession after dominating the ball early, and it proved costly moments later.

Darren Mattocks’ opener came out of nowhere. The Lions were in excellent shape defensively, but seemed mesmerized by the Cincinnati attacker, who faked one way, went the other and fired his shot into the back of the net with the two center backs right in front of him and several other players in the neighborhood just watching the play happen.

The goal was exactly what the game needed as the match sprung to life after Mattocks’ strike. Will Johnson nearly pulled back the goal after taking a pass from Chris Mueller in the 30th minute, but he saw his effort blocked. Cristian Higuita followed with a narrow miss two minutes later from the top of the area.

Akindele tied things up in the 37th minute. Johnson took a pass from Joao Moutinho and played in Akindele with a nice through ball, and the Canadian fired home to make it 1-1.

“I saw Will making a run though,” Akindele said. “They fired the ball into him. I kind of was asking for the flick and he played a really good pass kind of around the corner. I took a good first touch, I thought, and then just tried to put it on target…I think the play was really well done by our team.”

The game remained open the rest of the half. Nani’s cross in for Johnson in the 41st minute provided a good opportunity, but the ball was deflected out for a corner. Mueller fizzed a ball in for Akindele in the first minute of stoppage time that was just inches too far in front for a deflection. Johnson had a go from distance moments later, but he didn’t hit it with much power and it was right at Spencer Richey for an easy save.

The last good opportunity for Cincinnati came off a set piece that was headed across goal, where Mathieu Deplagne got a head on it and forced a last-second save from Brian Rowe.

Orlando then finished with a set piece from the left that Cincinnati deflected off the outside netting and the teams went to the break tied at 1-1.

Orlando City led in shots, 7-3 (2-2 on target), possession (61.9%-38.1%), and passing accuracy (90.1%-81.1%).

The Lions came out of the break like a different team. Mueller and Nani each forced diving saves from Richey in the first two minutes of the second half. Shortly after the latter, Sebas Mendez was called for a foul, and during that stoppage, referee Nima Saghafi indicated he was going to video review. Replays showed that Kendall Waston had grabbed Sané from underneath both arms and took him down in a wrestling move during an Orlando corner kick. Saghafi didn’t review the play long and returned to the field, indicating a penalty to Orlando for Waston’s WWE move.

Nani took the spot kick but didn’t hit it well. Richey saved it, but the rebound fell right back at the feet of the Portuguese star, who calmly slotted home to make it 2-1 in the 50th minute.

Nine minutes later, Nani extended the lead to 3-1. Ruan worked a quick give-and-go with Akindele and made a lightning-quick dash down the right channel and cut in toward goal before crossing. Nani was there to stab home the cross in the 59th minute, scoring the 200th goal in Orlando City’s MLS history.

Orlando continued to press forward in the attack. Mueller won a free kick to the left of the area but sailed his set piece delivery over the bar in the 62nd minute. Two minutes later, the Lions struck again. Orlando won a corner kick and Mueller served in a corner kick cross that fell in the box and bounced off Sané. Akindele took it out of the air with the first touch and slotted it into the net to make it 4-1. With four goals on the season, it is the Canadian’s highest goal total since he scored four in 2017 across 29 appearances. It was also his first brace since July 4 of last year, when he got both of his goals on the season in a 3-2 win over Atlanta United while playing with FC Dallas.

“I think we got a little bit unlucky in the past on some of the chances we missed and I think maybe we got a little bit lucky today on some of the ones we scored,” Akindele said. “It kind of balances out in the long run as long as you’re creating chances, which we’ve been doing all year.”

City got a bit sloppy after that and failed to track second-half sub Fanendo Adi on a set piece. He brought the ball down in the area but couldn’t make good contact, sending a weak dribbler toward Rowe.

Dwyer came on for Nani and started to get things moving back in the other direction. He fired high from distance in the 73rd minute, but his injection into the middle of the attack began causing issues for the Cincinnati defense as the visitors tried pushing numbers forward to get back into the match.

After Ruan won a corner in the 81st minute, Dwyer broke his scoreless streak with a well-placed header off Josué Colmán’s corner kick cross. It must have come as a relief to the veteran striker and it was touching the way his teammates celebrated after the goal.

As time wound down, the Lions got a bit more lackadaisical in their own half and that nearly resulted in a cosmetic goal for Cincinnati. Ledesma fired just inches wide of goal in the 91st minute in what would have been a bit of a letdown for the team as well as the crowd. Instead, the Lions saw out the four minutes of stoppage and got a much-deserved victory.

Orlando City finished with a 17-5 advantage in shots (9-3 on target), a 61.1%-38.9% edge in possession, more corners (11-4), and a better passing accuracy (88.9%-83.5%).

“There were a couple of things I thought we just needed to be a little bit sharper on and areas we that needed to try to play in,” O’Connor said of his halftime adjustments. “The quality of the players started to come through. Again, I think the players deserve enormous credit for the mentality and the way they went on performed second half. I thought they were excellent.”

Akindele underscored the importance of the victory after the match.

“It was really important, especially to do it at home. The fans…they deserved that,” Akindele said. “They come out all the time. They support us. They’re making noise. And I’m so glad we could give them that win and they could experience that with us.”

Orlando City is back in action Friday night when the LA Galaxy come to town for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

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Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. New England Revolution

Get to know this year’s New England Revolution team courtesy of someone who knows them best.

Published

18 hours ago

on

May 9, 2025

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City remembered how to score on Wednesday night, as the Lions put five goals past the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the U.S. Open Cup. OCSC will try to carry that sort of offensive performance over to league play Saturday, when the New England Revolution come to town.

A match against the Revs means I caught up with Jake Catanese, one of the writers over at The Blazing Musket. As always, he was extremely helpful in bringing us up to speed on what this year’s version of the Revolution looks like.

Talk me through the Revolution’s off-season transfer business. Who are some of the new names to know?

Jake Catanese: Okay, so some of the new faces are from the end of last year: winger Luca Langoni and midfielder Alhassan Yusuf were both acquired back in August. Yusuf is a Nigerian international and has cemented himself in the lineup as one of the holding midfielders, and Langoni had a great spell at the end of the last year but was dropped to make room for the Revs’ newfangled 5-3-2 wingback setup — more on that in a bit. Also, Tomas Chancalay isn’t a new face but is fresh off the season-ending injury list from an ACL injury last May and is working his way back up to full fitness, and both he and Langoni started the USOC win against Rhode Island (Wednesday) along with MLS veterans Maxi Urruti and Jackson Yueill, who were picked up this off-season.

The big off-season stuff happened up front, with the Revs making a record GAM trade with Miami for Leo Campana and making an interesting short-term loan for Ligue 1’s Ignatius Ganago out of Nantes. In the Revs’ 4-2-3-1 setup to start the year, it was Campana as a lone striker and Ganago in what I’ll call the “Gustavo Bou” winger/striker role, but both have moved up top with the formation change and it’s been fairly successful. Campana did miss a month with a hamstring injury, which did not help the Revs early on, but the strike partnership is starting to blossom with productivity.

The Revs have been the best defensive team in the entire league, with just seven goals conceded in 10 games. What’s been the secret sauce there?

JC: To finish the rest of the question above, the Revs absolutely hit a massive home run with two new center backs in the off-season. Malian international Mamadou Fofana (age 27) and Colombian Brayan Ceballos (age 23) entered the starting lineup together and basically have been there ever since, and they’ve been tremendous. Ceballos got a Team of the Week nod on debut in Week 1 against Nashville and has been a solid aerial presence, which is something the Revs have struggled with in recent years. Fofana is tremendous on the ball and he’s passing at a 90% clip with an over 50% clip on long balls, as well with several deeper, line-breaking passes that have opened up the defense.

League veteran Tanner Beason was added as the third center back to go with Homegrown Peyton Miller and Israeli youngster Ilay Feingold as the wingbacks/fullbacks, and the Revs have pulled off effectively changing over their entire back line in one off-season, which, given the success this group is having, is rather unheard of. Combine that with keeper Aljaz Ivacic having a top season and his back line blocking a lot of shots for him as well, the Revs have a foundation that looks set for many years to come unless some big transfer offers come in.

The opposite side of that coin is the fact that New England has scored the third-fewest goals in the league with nine in 10 games. The Revs have come on stronger in recent weeks though, with six tallies in their last five matches. What’s changed for the Revs that has allowed the goals to start going in a little easier?

JC: Let me explain…no, there is too much, let me sum up. The Revs in a 4-2-3-1 to start the year were horrific. Campana’s injury didn’t help, but they weren’t moving the ball effectively up field to the attacking group, and turnovers often caught the fullbacks too high as well — almost a carbon copy of 2024, when the Revs were second to last in the East and more or less were to start this year as well. The solution was to drop the struggling Langoni and add a third center back and put Ganago into a second striker role, which on paper I had a lot of doubts about. However, Carles Gil is still a magician and the Revs did solve a major problem with the formation switch.

Having the wingbacks allows one of them to get forward without exposing the defense, so New England is able to switch the point of attack easier and not compromise their center back duo, because Beason is there to help put out any fires. Now the Revs get their width and deep support from the wingback spot and are able to use Miller and Feingold more effectively and confidently going forward, because they have enough strength in the back of the formation. It also helps that the two wingbacks have been really good with high passing numbers despite not registering any official assists yet. Feingold essentially had the assist on the Revs’ opener in Toronto last weekend, but his very dangerous initial cross into the box was half-cleared only to have Gil volley it top bins from the top of the box. Feingold isn’t the pure speedster Miller is, but as a duo they complement each other very well and bring back a 1-v-1 element the Revs really haven’t had since Tajon Buchanan.

Now, do I still think that Caleb Porter’s possession system is too slow and hampers the offense? Yes. Do I think the Revs should counterattack a lot more than they do currently? Also yes. Their two goals against Toronto were very direct — a turnover sent out wide to Feingold set up Gil and then a semi-broken play leading to a long through ball to Campana. I think this is when the Revs are at their most dangerous, because they generally have opponents on their back foot and not in an established and/or set back line. But they are improving and against Toronto were generating better chances and doing so more frequently. And despite their win streak, big chances have been a rarity so far this year. If New England is able to consistently counter and create chances inside the box, the defense is going to carry them very far and you will see this team protecting a lot of leads.

Will any players be unavailable due to injury, suspension, etc.? What is your projected starting XI and score prediction?

JC: No suspensions to talk about, and most of the longterm injuries are off the board as well with Chancalay and Campana back in action. Andrew Farrell and Wyatt Omsberg were listed as questionable last week, but Farrell started in the midweek Open Cup game and Omsberg was on the bench and subbed on for the final 15 minutes. Youngster Malcolm Fry is likely the only person that will still be listed as out come gameday.

5-3-2: Aljaz Ivacic; Peyton Miller, Mamadou Fofana, Brayan Ceballos, Tanner Beason, Ilay Feingold; Alhassan Yusuf, Matt Polster, Carles Gil; Ignatius Ganago, Leonardo Campana.

Same lineup as last week in Toronto — the midfield triangle sees Carles Gil work his magic as the roaming No. 10, so you might see the wingbacks listed with the holding mids in a 3-4-1-2 looking thing. The running joke with the PawedCast demands I predict a 2-2 draw, but given the defensive stinginess of these two teams in the last month or so, I find it highly unlikely this game will have four goals in it…which is exactly why it will happen. We’ll add another to Carles’ tally and I think Mr. Ganago is due for another one. He’s been robbed a few too many times this year.

Thank you to Jake for the excellent primer on this year’s Revolution team. Vamos Orlando!



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Lion Links: 5/9/25

Orlando City’s next U.S. Open Cup match date revealed, MLS matches to watch, top soccer club valuations, and more.

Published

21 hours ago

on

May 9, 2025

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to Friday! I hope the week has treated you well as we get ready for a Mother’s Day weekend packed with soccer. Orlando City and the Orlando Pride are both in action at the same time on Saturday, so make sure to plan accordingly depending on how you want to enjoy the action. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Orlando City Will Face Nashville in USOC on May 21

Orlando City will officially host Nashville SC on May 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the U.S. Open Cup’s Round of 16. That match is sandwiched between a road game against Inter Miami on May 18 and a home game against the Portland Timbers May 24, so at least there won’t be much travel during that week during an already jam-packed month. The Lions reached this stage of the tournament after beating the Tampa Bay Rowdies 5-0 Wednesday, while Nashville won 1-0 against the Chattanooga Red Wolves on Tuesday.

What to Watch In MLS This Weekend

We’ll all be tuned in for Orlando City’s match on Saturday against the New England Revolution, but there’s plenty more MLS action to look forward to as well. Before Orlando’s match, Inter Miami will head to St. Paul to take on a Minnesota United team that leads the league with six clean sheets this season. Another notable match this weekend is a clash between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference standings when the Philadelphia Union host the Columbus Crew. That game has Daniel Gazdag written all over it. Sunday night’s match should be a doozy between two heavyweight Western Conference teams, as LAFC will hit the road to take on the league-leading Vancouver Whitecaps.

MLS Clubs Listed Among World’s Most Valuable

Sportico announced the valuations for the top 50 most valuable soccer clubs in the world, and a whopping 19 MLS teams made the list. The Lions aren’t included, but it’s still neat to see some clubs like Minnesota, Sporting Kansas City, and Charlotte FC listed. LAFC is the highest listed MLS side, coming in at 16th with a $1.28 billion valuation. Real Madrid tops the list at $6.53 billion, and six of the top 10 are from the English Premier League. While valuations aren’t exactly hard evidence of success or influence, I think this is a testament to the growth and parity of MLS through an international lens.

English Clubs Reach Europa League Final

This year’s Europa League final will feature a pair of EPL teams as Manchester United and Tottenham breezed through the semifinals. United overcame a shaky first half to beat Athletic Club 4-1 at Old Trafford, with Mason Mount scoring two of the team’s four goals in the second half. Tottenham avoided an upset in Norway by winning 2-0 against Bodo/Glimt. The final will take place on May 21 in Spain, and there’s both a trophy and Champions League qualification on the line. Both United and Tottenham struggled this season and are respectively 15th and 16th in the league standings, but winning the Europa League is all that matters now.

Free Kicks

  • American midfielder Johnny Cardoso played every minute of Real Betis’ 2-2 result against Fiorentina to advance to the Europa Conference League final, where the Spanish club will face Chelsea on May 28. Enjoy this goal from Antony to help his side prevail.
  • In honor of Mother’s Day, AC Milan players will wear their mothers’ last names on the back of their jerseys in today’s match against Bologna. I love this idea and hope more clubs follow suit moving forward.
  • An ownership group led by David Beckham and Gary Neville acquired Salford City of England’s League Two.
  • Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra’s MMA debut will have to wait, as the 43-year-old’s fight set for May 23 in Paris was postponed.
  • We’ll end our links with what looks to be some unexpected Orlando Pride representation in Vatican City!

That’s all I have for you this time around. Have a fantastic Friday and enjoy the holiday weekend!

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Orlando City vs New England: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to score some goals and secure a victory against New England?

Published

2 days ago

on

May 8, 2025

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City might have the scoring woes in MLS matches as of late, but the Lions broke out against the Tampa Bay Rowdies Wednesday night in the U.S. Open Cup match. Of course, the Rowdies are not a very good team this year and are not a top flight team, so take it all with a grain of salt. What does Orlando City need to do to earn all three points at home against the Revolution?

Stop Gil/Campana

New England has scored eight goals this season. Seven of those goals have come from Carles Gil (5) and Leonardo Campana (2). Gil has also contributed one of New England’s four assists on the season. The vast majority of the Revolution’s offense goes through these two players, meaning stopping the duo is priority number one.

I fully expect Oscar Pareja to field his first-team defense, including a back line of Alex Freeman, Rodrigo Schlegel, Robin Jansson, and David Brekalo. Orlando City will also need whoever is playing in the defensive midfield to be the first line of defense. Pedro Gallese cannot be expected to have eight saves every match. The defense needs to step up.

Streak vs. Streak

Orlando City is on an eight-match unbeaten streak. New England is on a four-match winning streak in league play and five in all competitions. One of these streaks will end Saturday night. The Revolution have scored six goals in the last four MLS matches with at least one goal in each match without conceding a goal during the streak. The Lions have only scored three goals in the last five MLS matches with all three coming in one match against Atlanta United. Orlando City has shut out five straight MLS opponents and six consecutive in all competitions.

Orlando City has given away too many points during the unbeaten run. The Lions have missed Eduard Atuesta’s ability to create opportunities for his teammates to score. I’m hoping he will be available, but if not, Pareja will need to figure a better adjustment than he has in previous matches.

No More Nil

Orlando City may be on an eight-match unbeaten streak, but the offense has been absent in four of those matches. In those 0-0 draws, Orlando City took 53 shots with only 12 on target (23% rate). Contrast that with the four matches in which they scored, when Orlando City took 68 shots with 25 on target (37% rate). The Lions will need as many chances as possible given New England has only allowed seven goals so far this season. This is a defensively solid team.

Marco Pasalic did not play in the Open Cup victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies, meaning he will be well rested and ready to start scoring goals again. He seemed to be dialing in during the Chicago match but he was taken off before he could convert. I want him to pick up where he left off, so he and many others can score goals against the Revolution. Hopefully, the goals scored against the Rowdies will kickstart the offense.

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

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