Orlando City
Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Final Score 4-1 as Lions Blasted Again in Massachusetts
Five years into MLS, the Lions remain winless at Gillette Stadium.
Facing an important match in the playoff race, Orlando City didn’t show much fight in a 4-1 loss at Gillette Stadium in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Revs are now unbeaten in 11 games (7-0-4), as New England (9-8-6, 33 points) handed Orlando City (7-11-5, 26 points) its worst loss of the season.
The Lions still haven’t won at Gillette Stadium (0-4-1) since joining Major League Soccer and Orlando has now lost two straight games after a modest unbeaten streak.
City conceded within the first two and a half minutes in both halves — by Gustavo Bou in the first half and Cristian Penilla in the second — to squarely push New England into the driver’s seat. Carles Gil added a penalty kick goal and Diego Fagundez tacked on a rocket from distance when no one closed him down later in the game. Tesho Akindele pulled one back but it was far too little and far too late to be of any use.
Per Orlando City communications, Chris Mueller stayed in Orlando due to an illness and Will Johnson did not travel as a precaution after a heavy workload and is expected back next week. Sacha Kljestan and Dillon Powers were inserted in their spots in the lineup while Dom Dwyer returned to the 18 after serving his red card suspension. With Mueller unavailable, it was a bit surprising Dwyer sat the bench and it was clearly not the right move in the end, as Orlando bogged down repeatedly in the final third with most of the players looking for the next pass instead of making runs or finding pockets of space.
New England needed only three minutes to get on the board before Orlando even possessed the ball. Bou passed off then took a return ball from Edgar Castillo as no one tracked him into City’s penalty area and he beat Brian Rowe just 2:37 after kickoff.
The Lions finally got possession of the ball in the fifth minute and were the better team for much of the remainder of the half, but were wasteful in front of net and susceptible on the counter at times.
Orlando’s first good opportunity came in the 10th minute when Uri Rosell sent Nani down the left with a great ball. The captain slid a ball across for Akindele, who made an absolute mess of what should have been the tying goal. Two minutes later, it was Ruan giving Akindele a sitter but again the Canadian couldn’t get his footing right and the chance was completely wasted.
New England came right back the other way and nearly made Orlando pay for those missed chances, as Bou got another good opportunity to score but this time he missed the net with only Rowe to beat.
Powers smashed a shot from outside the area in the 24th that took a touch and sailed a bit high.
The teams then started trading chances. Four minutes later, Nani cut inside from the left and sent a curler headed for the inside of the back post but Matt Turner made the save.
Moments later, Bou attempted a shot from above the area at the other end but Powers blocked it. Kljestan got onto a Nani pass at the top of the area in the 38th minute but didn’t get a lot on the shot and Turner was able to save it.
Bou fired another effort over the net in the 45th minute and then Kljestan wasted an opportunity in stoppage time as he got the ball caught up in his feet trying to find either a shot or a pass in the penalty area. The Revs took their 1-0 advantage into the break.
New England led across the board statistically after the opening 45 minutes, out-shooting the Lions 9-5, although Orlando got more on target (3-1), leading in possession (51%-49%), and passing more accurately (82%-81%). But just like the second half against New York on Sunday, the Lions were not sharp in front of goal, particularly Akindele.
Things got worse for Orlando at halftime as Moutinho couldn’t continue and rookie center back Kamal Miller came on at left back, with Kyle Smith still available on the bench.
New England found Miller’s side quickly and put the game away early in the second half. Brandon Bye beat Sebas Mendez to the end line and crossed through the area for Penilla to sweep home in the 47th minute as Ruan was caught napping.
Rowe prevented a quick third goal by denying Teal Bunbury in the 52nd minute as he was left alone in the area.
Three minutes later, Ruan fired wide of goal from the right.
Things got worse in the 57th minute when Bou smashed a shot from a yard away from Mendez that hit the inside of his elbow. After video review a penalty was awarded and Gil converted to make it 3-0.
Rosell was caught by a Bye horror tackle in the 67th minute but instead of being down a man, New England got away with just a yellow. The play was reviewed and judged not to be a clear and obvious error, but Rosell’s leg would disagree. He went off two minutes later for Dwyer.
The striker made a difference in the attack almost immediately. He fired a shot that was deflected wide in the 72nd minute and provided a missing spark to the Orlando offense in the final third. Unfortunately the score got worse anyway.
Mendez opted not to close down Fagundez at the top of the area and the Revs’ second-leading all-time scorer blasted a laser that will be an MLS Goal of the Week contender, making it 4-0 in the 75th minute.
Akindele finally got the goal that had been eluding him all night in the 77th minute, smashing a cross from Dwyer into the roof of the net to make it 4-1 and at least avoid the shutout. Nani picked up the hockey assist on the play with his great vision to find a lane to get the ball to Dwyer.
Dwyer nearly pulled back a second in the 80th off a cross from Ruan but Antonio Delamea made a vital challenge at the last second to keep Dwyer from getting a clean shot off.
That was about the last good opportunity of the match. Gil missed a shot wide for New England and Orlando had several shots blocked at the other end, with Robinho firing a weak shot in on goal as well.
Shots finished nearly even, with New England holding a 20-17 advantage, but the Lions got more on target (8-6). Orlando ended up with 58% of the possession and the better passing accuracy (85%-81%).
In the end, Orlando simply wasn’t good enough at either end. Akindele had good enough chances to give the Lions a first-half lead and the defensive lapses early in both halves were crucial mistakes. In between, Orlando held its own on the road against one of the league’s hottest teams, but that will be of little comfort after absorbing the team’s worst loss of the year.
Additionally, O’Connor will have to wonder if he should have started Dwyer or brought him on earlier, and it made little sense to bring Robinho on in the 87th minute with too little time for him to make any impact in a game that was already out of hand.
The Lions will be off for the All-Star break except for Nani, who will participate in both the match and the skills challenge. Mueller will presumably be OK to participate in the skills challenge as well. Orlando will try to halt its two-game losing streak next Saturday night at home against FC Dallas but maybe it’s time to put all the emphasis on the U.S. Open Cup after falling seven points adrift of New England.
Lion Links
Lion Links: 11/6/26
Orlando City’s Decision Day, Orlando Pride’s roster needs, USMNT news, and more.
Good morning, Mane Landers. It’s Friday and I feel fine. Probably because I’m off today and actually have an entire weekend off work, which is really rare for me. I’ll be riding in a Gravel bike race and seeing Hamilton all in the same day. What a long, strange trip it will be. Sadly, I won’t be able to make the match on Saturday due to these events, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go to the stadium. I’ll feel better knowing you’re there. Now, let’s get to the links.
Orlando City’s Day of Decision
Orlando City hosts the New England Revolution on Decision Day at Inter.co Stadium. The Lions have a chance to move back up to seventh in the Eastern Conference and out of the play-in match if they defeat the Revolution and get a little help from the teams above them in the standings. To be fair, it’s pretty astounding that Orlando City even made the playoffs, given how the season started, but adding Antoine Griezmann will do wonders for a struggling club. Here are the scenarios for all the Eastern Conference teams.
Ellis Climbs the Ranks
Justin Ellis is one of the young players making a name for himself on the USMNT. His stock has risen due to his performances for both club and country. While Ellis is poised to get more playing time, other older players may see less of the field as these younger players see more minutes. In fact, Ricardo Pepi was not called up for the roster, although it is in part to recover fully from a knock.
Orlando Pride Needs Abound
With the off-season kicking off for the Orlando Pride, there are plenty of questions to address if the club is to get back to 2024 levels. Obviously, Barbra Banda is the foundation, though Haley McCutcheon is also a player that can be foundational. In fact, McCutcheon is now the youngest player to reach 15,000 regular-season minutes in NWSL history. The Orlando Pride defensive midfielder is 30 years old.
Of course, we’ll be waiting for a coaching decision before most of these needs can be addressed.
Women’s Soccer Roundup
ACL injuries are too common in women’s soccer and the FA and WSL have launched a research project into why they happen and how to reduce them. Sadly, female players are two to six times more likely to suffer the injury than male players. Elsewhere, FIFA is in talks about restricting Olympic squads to U-23 players. Finally, as the NWSL playoffs approach, we take a look at how the teams that made it stack up.
Free Kicks
- Portugal legend Cristiano Ronaldo is retiring from international football. He is doing the honorable thing by returning the number seven for the next generation.
- Angel City FC has signed 17-year-old U.S. U-17 Youth National Team star forward Maddie DiMaria through 2030. DiMaria is the type of young talent that the Orlando Pride should be trying to find.
- Kohzo Tashima intends to run for FIFA president, challenging Gianni Infantino for the position.
- Concacaf is revamping the Gold Cup. The big change is that the group stage will now feature two eight-team groups instead of four groups of four.
That will do it for today. Check back as we get your ready for Orlando City’s match this weekend. Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City
Orlando City Is Streaking Into The Postseason…Sort Of
The longest active playoff streak in MLS belongs to Orlando City; the least stressful path there most certainly does not.
Thanks to a big win over the weekend, Orlando City has qualified for the 2026 playoffs, marking the seventh consecutive season that the club will play in the MLS postseason. Of course, that big weekend win did not come from the Lions; rather, it was a win by Nashville, a team that is excellent at both offense and defense (wow, what a concept), that guaranteed Orlando City a spot in the playoffs. In the end, it does not matter how it happened, just that it happened, and so we can once again break out The Whispers’ “And the Beat Goes On,” as we will no longer need to whisper — careless, in the wind, to horses, or otherwise, about the chances of all three Orlando teams missing the playoffs.
While the Pride and Orlando City B are both already into their off-seasons, Orlando City is guaranteed to have at least two more games, with the regular-season finale on Decision Day Saturday and then at least one playoff game after that, depending on how the final seedings shake out. The Lions could finish as high as seventh or as low as ninth, and they do not control their own destiny for their seeding.
If Cincinnati loses, Columbus draws or loses, and Orlando City wins, the Lions jump to seventh and would play Inter Miami or New England in a three-game series. In any other scenario Orlando City will be in the play-in game, and could host or play on the road against Cincinnati or Columbus in a single-elimination game.
We will know the Eastern Conference playoff bracket and schedule in the early evening on Saturday and where Orlando City will be when it starts its playoff journey for the seventh consecutive season. That streak is the longest active streak in MLS, as the Lions have qualified for the playoffs in every season since 2020, or, as our The Mane Land PawedCast hosts Michael Citro and Dave Rohe noted on this week’s episode, in every season when Óscar Pareja began the season as the head coach.
*Three Western Conference playoff spots are still up for grabs, so the teams with asterisks could all add one to their tally or drop to/remain at zero depending on the results on Decision Day
The seven-year streak for the Lions not only leads MLS, but is one of the best across all of the major men’s sports in the U.S. Only eight of the 153 other teams in the five leagues listed below have a playoff streak at least as long as Orlando City’s, though while the Lions lead MLS, they do not hold the belt in the state of Florida, as the Tampa Bay Lightning are one season away from making the playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons.
| League | Teams in League | Streaks ≥ OCSC | Longest Active Streak |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 30 | 1 | 14 (Dodgers) |
| MLS | 30 | 0 | 7 (Orlando City) |
| NBA | 30 | 2 | 12 (Celtics) |
| NFL | 32 | 1 | 7 (Bills) |
| NHL | 32 | 4 | 9 (Avalanche & Lightning) |
| 154 | 8 | 14 (Dodgers) |
The last time the Lions did not make the playoffs was back in 2019, the year that both Nani and Robin Jansson arrived in Orlando. That team finished 11th in the Eastern Conference, though it had a goal differential of -8, which was only half as bad as the 2026 team’s current goal differential of -16. Back then, we thought allowing 1.53 goals per game seemed like a lot. If the 2026 team could have managed to allow only that same amount per game, the current goal differential would be +11, which would be in the top quarter of the league. Ah, wishful thinking.
Instead, as Orlando City fans are well aware, this year’s team has allowed 78 goals in 33 regular-season games (2.37 per game) and will almost certainly go into the playoffs having allowed the most goals of any playoff team in league history. This chart below includes every team since the Lions joined MLS, and there is a clear and unsurprising trend as it relates to allowing goals and earning points:
For the math nerds (my hand is firmly raised), the correlation is -0.69. Math majors would say that means goals allowed per match explains roughly half (r² ≈ 0.48) of the variation in points per match. Normal people would say teams that concede more goals tend to earn fewer points. Especially when they concede goals LATE IN THE GAME, WHEN THEY ARE WINNING, TURNING WINS INTO DRAWS!
I am sorry for the all caps, but that was cathartic. I do not feel even slightly better about the recently dropped points to Toronto, New York City FC, and Chicago, but at least I yelled angrily at my computer screen about it.
The 2026 Lions are a clear outlier on the chart above, as despite a brutal start to the season (seven losses in the first 10 games) and a profligate defense (third-worst goals-against average in league history and second-worst since they joined the league), they still have out-performed 41% of teams since 2015 in points earned per match. That is mostly because this year’s offense is in the 89th percentile in goals scored per match (1.88) since 2015 and with one goal scored will tie last year’s Lions for the most goals scored in club history, and with two or more scored will set a new club record.
If they can score six (stay with me, both Cincinnati and LAFC scored six on the Lions this season, so this is not completely unreasonable) on Saturday, they will get to an even 2.00 goals scored per game, something that has happened only 30 times in league history.
Whether the Lions win, lose, draw, get shut out, or score six (please, let them score six, if only to see Antoine Griezmann break out some kind of improvised six-shooter goal celebration), the playoff streak will extend through this season and be active when the 2027 sprint season starts in February. Finishing in the play-in game two years in a row would be disappointing, not to mention stressful, but championship runs can only happen after a team earns an invitation to the dance.
Where, hopefully for the Lions, the playoff beat will go on, everlasting.
Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City
Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Three Keys to Victory
What do the Lions need to do to earn all three points at home against New England?
Decision Day is almost here, and even though Orlando City is already in the playoffs, where the club finishes is still up for grabs. The Lions are currently sitting in ninth place but could climb back out of the play-in match with a win over New England and some help from the teams above them. With that in mind, what must the Lions do to get a victory over New England on Saturday?
Oodles of Offense
Orlando City has scored 62 goals this season, thanks to a good cadre of attackers, including Martin Ojeda, Antoine Griezmann, Justin Ellis, Marco Pasalic, and even Ivan Angulo. When the offense is in sync there are few defenses that can stop the Lions. That is especially true at Inter.co Stadium.
Scoring multiple goals won’t be easy against New England, as the Revs have only allowed 46 goals so far this season. A big reason for that is USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner is minding the net for New England. Orlando City’s attack needs to be clinical in finishing to get the ball past Turner. The Lions will need to score multiple goals, given Orlando City’s defensive woes. Speaking of…
Seal Off Gil
If you’re not familiar with New England’s Carles Gil, welcome to Major League Soccer. He has been a royal pain in Orlando City’s collective rear for years. Keeping him from scoring a goal or providing an assist is always a challenge. So far this season, Gil has scored 13 goals and provided 13 assists in 33 matches. Granted, those are not Griezmann-level per-match numbers but they are still good.
The problem with stopping Gil is that it will fall to Orlando City’s broken back line to do it. The Lions have allowed 78 goals so far this season. It’s historically bad and will likely get worse on Saturday. Orlando City will almost certainly start Zakaria Taifi, David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena (Iago is suspended), and Vinicius Nogueira. You may have noticed that those players on the back line have not exactly been a brick wall. If they can at least slow down Gil, there will be a better chance at victory.
Home Field Advantage
Orlando City has a chance at winning this match because it is taking place at home. The Lions have been much better in Orlando than on the road. I know that’s generally true for most clubs, but for Orlando City it’s not even close, given the Lions have a home record of 9-4-3 and an away record of 3-10-4. It’s the final regular-season match, and if the supporters show up and show out, the noise can be a big advantage for Orlando City. If the players can jump out to a quick start and the supporters keep the momentum going, the Lions have a chance to get all three points. If not, the play-in match looms. I’d much rather that Orlando City skips all of that.
That is what I will be looking for on Saturday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links: 11/6/26
Orlando City Is Streaking Into The Postseason…Sort Of
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