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Philadelphia Union vs. Orlando City: Five Takeaways

Published

7 years ago

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In a case of so near, yet so far from three points on the road, Orlando City once again snatched a draw from the jaws victory on the road in a hauntingly similar result to the Week 2 stalemate in Chicago for more reasons than one.

What seems like a solid point away at the Eastern Conference leaders, a team that four days ago turned up to Orlando’s house and competently put the Lions away, is tinged with disappointment, given the late nature of the Union’s equalizer.

However, given the context of the midweek result, yesterday’s postponement, the impending U.S. Open Cup fixture, and the team James O’Connor chose to put out, I’ve decided to try and remain positive for the most part, considering it’s more than I expected the Lions to come away with — not least given the fast start the Union made with a fourth-minute opener. It would’ve been easy for heads to drop and the game plan to go out of the window but City stuck with it and battled back.

Better Finishers than Starters (Usually)

Marco Fabián’s fourth-minute header was the eighth goal Orlando City has conceded in the opening 15 minutes of games this season — roughly 30% of all goals allowed. Meanwhile, the Lions have only scored once in that window in 2019 — Chris Mueller’s opener in the home loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday. It’s a concerning stat that extends to being outscored 13–3 in the opening half hour of games. Now, switch that to the second half and Orlando City actually has a positive goal difference, outscoring its opponents 18–11 and scoring a hefty 52% of its goals in the final half hour of games.

I don’t know whether that speaks to systematic game-planning or just collective concentration levels but a faster start would logically be beneficial to a team that has conceded first in 12 of 19, averaging 0.58 points per game when doing so but average 2.00 points per game when scoring first.

Orlando has been better this season in killing off matches, but the Union showed quality in being able to flip the script and score the late equalizer like Chicago did early in the year.

Dwyer’s Fifth Goal Puts Four in the Club

Dom Dwyer’s goal Sunday brought his total to five for the season. That means he now joins Chris Mueller, Tesho Akindele, and Nani as Orlando City players with at least five goals in MLS so far this season. Why is that significant, you ask? At the start of the season, one of my predictions was that Orlando City would have three players with 10+ goals for the first time, despite having only seen two Lions hit double figures in the same season once in MLS.

With 19 games played, we’re a little over halfway and not exactly on schedule for that prediction to come true, but it’s promising to see that already at this stage in the season, four Orlando players have five goals. Only two managed that many over the course of the entire 2018 season (Dwyer and Sacha Kljestan) and you have to go back to 2016 to find as many as four bag at least five goals in MLS.

Santi Opens His Account

Huge congratulations are in order for 2019 MLS SuperDraft signing Santiago Patiño, who opened his professional scoring account Sunday. The rookie came on late for Dwyer just as Nani was lining up a corner kick, and he made his impact with his very first touch. Mueller’s point-blank free header was well saved by Andre Blake, who reached back against his momentum to make the stop, but the Jamaican international couldn’t keep from spilling it. The ball barely had time to hit the field before Patino knocked it in on a classic poacher’s goal.

Kacper Przybyłko is a Pain

With a brace on Wednesday and a late game-tying goal on Sunday, Kacper Przybyłko has emerged as the latest pain in Orlando City’s collective neck, joining other such pests as Ignacio Piatti, Kei Kamara, Maxi Moralez, and others. The Polish international had an outstanding series against Orlando and it’s clear that the Lions struggled to keep him properly marked. His movement and accuracy were on full display on the tying goal in the 90th minute.

O’Connor’s Approach to Rotation Almost Worked

The trip to Philadelphia saw James O’Connor make nine changes to his starting lineup — the third most this year behind the 11 made during the trip out West to Seattle and the subsequent 10 changes on the return to Orlando for the 5–1 thumping of FC Cincinnati in the following game. This is an extremely busy four week stretch for the team and O’Connor is making a concerted effort to not run his first choice team into the ground.

Deciding to field a second-string team and trust his depth to try and grind out a result, it’s the exact same game plan deployed earlier in the season away at Real Salt Lake: hang in the game and bring your game changers on in the second half. Sunday it worked to near perfection, with a goal and an assist credited to substitutes. Nani, who was already top five in MLS in goals and assists per 90 before registering another assist at Philadelphia, entered on the 60-minute mark while game-winner Santiago Patiño entered in the 81st minute. The only downside was the defensive side of the ball as the team was caught out both super early and super late on in the game.

It’s a strategy not to everyone’s taste, as there are some who just want to see the strongest lineup play from the off and go flat out for the full 90 every game but that’s a checkers mentality in a game of chess. O’Connor is clearly of the mindset that a short-sighted view like that would be to the long-term detriment of the team and he trusts his depth to implement his strategy — something he was keen to emphasize when he was rebuilding the roster in the off-season. That isn’t to say he doesn’t want to win every game, but it does change the way you go about it and Sunday was minutes away from being proof of concept.

Although Sunday was an extreme example given the short schedule, in the grander scheme O’Connor has averaged 3.57 changes per lineup and has only ever gone unchanged in consecutive games twice in his 36 league games in charge.

Did you spot anything else? Let us know your own takeaways from Orlando’s longer-than-expected trip to Philadelphia in the comments section below!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Diego FC: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions welcome San Diego FC to Orlando for the first meeting ever between the two clubs.

Published

9 hours ago

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September 5, 2026

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Image of Joran Gerbet playing against Minnesota United.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match preview and live thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (7-11-4, 25 points) and San Diego FC (8-8-6, 30 points) at Inter.co Stadium in Orlando (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). It’s the first-ever meeting between these two teams from different conferences

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

As mentioned above, tonight’s meeting between the Lions and San Diego is the first in the series history, so there is no history. The Lions are 2-2-1 against Western Conference teams this season, which means little to nothing in this particular match, and San Diego is going to be Orlando City’s final opponent from the opposite conference in MLS regular-season play this season.

Overview

The Lions are coming off a wild 3-3 road draw at Minnesota United a week ago, in which Daryl Dike and Antoine Griezmann scored on either side of halftime on Orlando’s first two shot attempts to put their team up 2-0 in the 64th minute. Minnesota stormed back with three goals off defensive errors in a four-minute span to take a late 3-2 lead. Just when the Loons appeared to be headed for all three points, Tyrese Spicer scored in stoppage time, forcing Minnesota to split the points. Orlando has a modest 1-0-1 unbeaten streak entering tonight, and the Lions are 5-4-2 at home in 2026.

San Diego is coming off a 3-1 home win over the LA Galaxy despite having Jeppe Tverskov sent off. Tonight’s visitors have won two straight games, but both were at home. They lost their last home game 3-1 at Portland on Aug. 19 and are 2-5-3 away from home this season.

The key for Orlando City tonight will be to mark Anders Dreyer, which is far easier said than done, as he has emerged as one of the league’s best playmakers. His eight goals and 11 assists give him 19 total goal contributions to lead his team. Marcus Ingvartsen is Dreyer’s favorite teammate to combine with, as the Danish forward has converted 11 times, leading San Diego in goals, and has added five assists. However, Ingvartsen is listed as out with a lower body injury. Midfielder Onni Valakari has chipped in four goals and seven assists.

“We respect San Diego, but as well we prepare our game,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said ahead of the match. “We know how strong we are, especially at home, so now we go.”

Orlando City will be without Braian Ojeda (foot) and Adrian Marin (thigh), while Bernardo Rhein (thigh), has been upgraded to questionable. San Diego will be without the aforementioned Ingvartsen (lower body) and Tverskov (suspension).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Bernardo Rhein, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Joran Gerbet, Eduard Atuesta, Justin Ellis.

Forwards: Antoine Griezmann, Daryl Dike.

Bench: Javier Otero, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Tiago, Marco Pasalic, Martin Ojeda, Tyrese Spicer.

San Diego FC (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: C.J. dos Santos.

Defenders: Kieran Sargeant, Ian Murphy, Manu Duah, Oscar Verhoeven.

Midfielders: Gabriel Pirani, Anibal Godoy, Alejandro Alvarado.

Forwards: Elias Achouri, Onni Valakari, Anders Dreyer.

Bench: Duran Ferree, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Christopher McVey, Bryan Zamble, David Vazquez, Ian Pilcher, Alex Mighten, Bryce Duke, Amahl Pellegrino.

Referees:

REF: Joe Dickerson.
AR1: Corey Parker.
AR2: Justin Howard.
4TH: Rodrigo Albuquerque.
VAR: Daniel Radford.
AVAR: Jeff Muschik.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Inter.co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Streaming: 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!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Diego FC: Three Keys to Victory

Here’s what Orlando needs to do in order to return to winning ways against San Diego.

Published

1 day ago

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September 4, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

After the disappointment of two dropped points against Minnesota on Saturday, Orlando City is back home with an opportunity to get things back on track. The Lions need to keep picking up points if they want to keep pace in an increasingly crowded Eastern Conference, and Saturday’s game is a good chance to start September off on the right note. San Diego FC stands in the way of that good start, and what follows are three things that I believe Orlando needs to do in order to emerge victorious from this game.

Stay Strong on the Left

The left side of the defense has been a question mark for the Lions for much of the year. Adrian Marin, Bernardo Rhein, and Zakaria Taifi have all spent time at left back lately and have done so with varying degrees of success. Regardless of who suits up there on Saturday, that area of the field will be under scrutiny once again, since they’ll be tasked with stopping San Diego right winger Anders Dreyer. He has eight goals and 11 assists in 21 appearances this year, has played 60 key passes during that time, and is generally the lynchpin through which the San Diego offense operates. He hasn’t quite been on the same pace that saw him bag 19 goals and 19 assists in the regular season last year, but with four goal contributions in his last three MLS appearances, he’s extremely capable of wreaking havoc from the wing. A lot of the goals OCSC has conceded lately have come down the left side of the defense, and if that area of the field can’t be taken care of better, the Lions will likely be in for a difficult night.

Do Damage in Transition

Orlando’s current style of positionless, fluid, attacking soccer is at its best when it comes up against teams that want to come out and play. It struggles mightily against defensive bunkers but shines when the Lions can get out and run, target open spaces, and combine with teammates in unexpected areas. Fortunately for OCSC (in theory), San Diego is a team that likes to have the ball, as it has the highest average possession in the league. That means the Lions will have opportunities to force turnovers and break the other way at pace. In order to make that happen though, OCSC will need to be both disciplined and effective when it comes to applying its press. Then, if/when the Lions win the ball, correct decision-making and clinical execution in the final third will be key to avoid letting any chances slip through their fingers (paws?).

Clean Up the Self-Inflicted Errors

Orlando has dealt with more than its fair share of general defensive struggles this year, but avoidable errors have been a particular problem in recent weeks. Whether it’s been an ill-advised challenge, passing to the opposition in the defensive third, or leaving men unmarked in the box, unnecessary mistakes have cost OCSC points time and again. Against lesser opposition it hasn’t always mattered, as the Lions were able to rescue three points against Real Salt Lake, but if Orlando wants to make a playoff push, it needs to make a habit of playing cleaner games, plain and simple. San Diego is a good team with dangerous offensive players, and Saturday’s visitors will very likely take advantage of any opportunities that the Lions gift-wrap for them. Keeping things mistake-free will go a long way.

We’ve got ample proof this season that nothing is guaranteed, but if the Lions can lock down the left side of the defense, make hay in transition moments, and limit unforced errors, then they should be in a good position to take all three points from Saturday’s game. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 9/4/26

Martin Ojeda details his recovery from injury, Anna Moorhouse loaned to Manchester City, Orlando City’s U.S. Open Cup journey, and more.

Published

2 days ago

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September 4, 2026

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Image of Martin Ojeda celebrating a goal against New England.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Three straight days of Orlando soccer starts tonight with Orlando City B’s road match against Inter Miami II at 7 p.m. Hopefully, Orlando’s teams do well over the next few days as crunch time is upon us when it comes to making the playoffs, especially for MLS NEXT Pro. For now though, let’s jump right into today’s links from around the soccer world!

Orlando City Prepares for San Diego FC

Orlando City will take on San Diego FC on Saturday in the first-ever game between the two clubs, and one of the storylines to keep an eye on is how much Martin Ojeda plays as he works his way back from injury. The Designated Player came off the bench late in Orlando’s 3-3 draw against Minnesota United in his first appearance since May 23. Not often injured, Ojeda spoke on how being off the field for over a month has shifted his perspective while training to return.

“You learn to value the moment much more. You learn to value every training session because, when you’re training on your own and you’re not available to your teammates, you feel uncomfortable,” Ojeda said. “You value being healthy more. It’s like everything in life. When you feel good, you live life almost on autopilot, so to speak. You go to work, you go home, you come back, you sleep. However, when you or someone close to you goes through an illness or something like that, you value the moment much more and become more conscious of what you’re experiencing.”

Pride Loan Anna Moorhouse to Manchester City

The Orlando Pride loaned goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse to Manchester City through January of 2027. Moorhouse joined the Pride prior to the 2022 season and helped the club win both the NWSL Championship and Shield in 2024. However, she has struggled this year alongside the rest of the Pride’s defense. Moorhouse hasn’t played in the past two games for the Pride, with Cosette Morche starting in her place. Her current contract with the Pride lasts through the 2027 NWSL season, so we’ll have to wait and see what her future with the club is when the loan ends.

Orlando City’s U.S. Open Cup Journey

Between the World Cup, regular season, and Leagues Cup this summer, it can be easy to forget that Orlando City is still in contention to win this year’s U.S. Open Cup. The Lions are in the semifinals of the tournament after crushing Atlanta United 4-1 in the quarterfinals back on May 19. The Lions won much tighter affairs prior to that win, with Javier Otero coming up with seven saves in a 1-0 win over FC Naples and Zakaria Taifi scoring in stoppage time to beat the New England Revolution 4-3 in the following match. Orlando will be on the road for its semifinal match against the Columbus Crew on Sept. 16, but the offense has received a boost due to the arrivals of Antoine Griezmann and Daryl Dike this summer.

MLS Transfer News Roundup

MLS signings continue to pour in as teams look to improve their squads for the rest of this season and beyond. The Colorado Rapids signed Ghanaian winger Ibrahim Sadiq from AZ Alkmaar, where he recorded 18 goals and seven assists in 85 appearances across three seasons with the Dutch club. San Diego also added an attacker by signing forward Cedric Bakambu, who joins as a free agent after playing at Real Betis. As for other notable moves from across the league, Real Salt Lake signed winger Dusan Zagar as an MLS U22 Initiative player, forward Lyle Foster joined the Houston Dynamo on loan, and the Columbus Crew continued to improve on offense by signing Moroccan winger Anass Zaroury on loan from Panathinaikos.

Free Kicks

  • Former Orlando Pride player Christina Burkenroad is retiring from professional soccer and Monterrey will have Saturday’s game against Toluca be a send-off match for her.

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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