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Putting Orlando City’s U.S. Open Cup Run in Perspective

Published

7 years ago

August 7, 2019

I’m not here to sugar coat Orlando City’s loss to Atlanta United last night in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal. It was a disappointing performance from the team and just a little sharper play could have produced a truly magical result. The players know this and they were “gutted” after last night’s game in Head Coach James O’Connor’s words.

Losing in the final or the final four just seems to hurt more than it does in Round 4 or 5. Coming close to the pinnacle makes it a bit more agonizing, but in the end, only one team’s fans will be happy at the end of the tournament. The best the rest can hope for is satisfaction.

Even though last night’s result was disappointing, it’s important to keep Orlando City’s run in the 2019 U.S. Open Cup in its proper perspective. I’m not talking about simply looking at the bright side or making any excuses for the team’s performance. I just want to discuss the overall picture in the wake of the team’s departure from the competition.

Overachievers?

The Eastern Conference’s ninth-place team, Orlando City was one of the last four MLS clubs standing overall, and one of the last two from the conference. Before the season, if most fans knew the Lions would reach the semifinals of the competition, they probably would have been excited at that prospect and eager to see it play out. In hindsight, we’re left wanting more, because that’s simply how sports fans are wired. It’s easy to forget that it’s Orlando’s deepest run yet in the competition and something that (hopefully) the club can build on.

The U.S. Open Cup was always going to be an uphill battle for Orlando. After an expected win at Memphis, the Lions ousted two teams above them in the conference standings to reach the semifinals. The Lions beat a hot New England team — providing the only blemish on the Revolution’s record since May until the Revs recently lost to LAFC. Orlando then took out New York City FC in one of the most memorable matches in the club’s history.

The “Running of the Wall” is a moment that will never be forgotten and is sure to end up high on our list of top moments of 2019. No one can take away those moments. They’re special and, even if it’s difficult to do so this soon after elimination, those moments should be savored.

In the end, Orlando doesn’t have as talented a roster as Atlanta and, having never beaten that club, last night was always going to be difficult. It would have been a tremendous upset to have won that match, but alas, here we are. Oftentimes talent prevails.

USOC Provides Roster Analysis

We learned a lot about the team during the 2019 Cup run. Orlando has as deep of a holding midfield as just about anyone. It didn’t matter if it was Will Johnson and Sebas Mendez out there or Uri Rosell and Dillon Powers. All the team’s defensive mids played well. The Lions have some promising young players, including Benji Michel, who provided a moment of magic in the 96^th minute against the Revolution.

Weaknesses of the team were exposed, however. With the fixtures coming fast and furious, some of the rotation didn’t work. O’Connor clearly went for the win against Dallas on Saturday and then again played Lamine Sané and Robin Jansson on Tuesday night. It showed a lack of faith in using other players in central defense, which isn’t surprising, given that Shane O’Neill and Alex De John have been in concussion protocol and Carlos Ascues played the full 97 minutes Saturday in the midfield. Rookie Kamal Miller could have played, but O’Connor stuck with his first-choice guys, believing they would be fully recovered.

This is in contrast to Atlanta, which is much deeper on the back line. Leandro Gonzalez Pirez didn’t play Saturday against the LA Galaxy while Michael Parkhurst sat the bench both Saturday and Tuesday for Atlanta. For Orlando to get to where Atlanta is, the quality of the central defense depth must be upgraded. If O’Connor and Luiz Muzzi believe that De John, Miller, and O’Neill can provide that, then those players must be called into action when fresh troops are needed — and they must deliver.

At fullback, it may be telling that neither Kyle Smith nor Danilo Acosta dressed for last night’s match. Both were fresh. Both are U.S. players. While both have been serviceable, this is an area the club may want to improve.

With Santiago Patino away on international duty, there weren’t many options for rotation up top. Nani should have been fresh and he honestly played better than many fans on social media have given him credit for — a team-high four chances created (two of which should have ultimately been assists on goals that were not scored), a team-high 77 touches, a shot attempt, seven defensive recoveries. The 75% passing rate wasn’t as good as you’d expect, but I credit Atlanta’s smothering defense for at least 10% of the unsuccessful part of that equation.

Dom Dwyer is rightfully being criticized for missing the target in the 19^th minute, although that miss was, in my mind, no worse than Sacha Kljestan’s in the second half. This came just moments after a very nice finish on an offside play, so it was extremely disappointing. If only those finishes were reversed, we could have had a different outcome. Dwyer hasn’t played much in recent weeks and after going 72 minutes on Saturday night, I expected him to start on the bench and come on as a sub later. Instead, it was Chris Mueller starting on the bench after he struggled in his 54 minutes against Dallas.

Tesho Akindele might tell you he felt good entering last night but his play seemed to indicate fatigue, nerves, or both. His touch was poor, he often made the wrong decisions, and he lost a lot more 1-v-1 battles than we’ve seen throughout the season. Even his shots didn’t seem to have the usual threat in them.

We’ve known since the preseason that the team needs more attacking depth. Entering the year with only two rookies behind Dwyer and Akindele (Mueller, for all he does well, is not an MLS caliber striker, though he’s fine as a winger or other adjacent roles) was never a great position in which to be. A deeper well at forward would have done wonders for the fixture schedule this week. Perhaps Michel and Santiago will provide that in the future or someone new could be brought in.

The goalkeeper position is solid, if unspectacular. Both Brian Rowe and Adam Grinwis have acquitted themselves well in 2019. While they may lack the big name of a Brad Guzan, the club is fine at the position.

Progress Has Been Made

Finally, the deep run in the U.S. Open Cup shows the transformation of Orlando City’s culture and mentality. O’Connor has made the Lions a difficult out. Teams that used to show up and push Orlando around the field — Dallas and Atlanta are two examples of this — are now finding it much tougher to get results against City. Not everything is fixed, obviously, but this is a mentally tough team. Many teams would have folded after giving up that 96th-minute goal to New York City FC. Previous incarnations of OCSC might have conceded two or three more goals in extra time of that match. This year’s Lions fought back.

Kljestan was extremely critical of Orlando City’s culture at the end of 2018. After last night’s match, he talked about how the team was not quite there yet but it’s getting closer to where it needs to be. He’s right. You can’t watch the 2019 Lions and see “same old, same old.” The effort level could often be questioned last season. I defy anyone to go back and watch the away match at Chicago last September and tell me they’ve seen a performance like that from the Lions this season.

The first step in becoming a winning team is to become a team that’s difficult to beat. That’s half the battle. The other half is shoring up roster weaknesses and building confidence in the group — the swagger that successful teams have that make them expect victory every time out rather than battle hard and hope for it on a night-to-night basis. Orlando has become much more difficult to beat. A simple comparison of the team’s 2018 and 2019 scorelines illustrates that quite clearly. But the next step must be taken. It’s possible that this year’s Cup run can be a springboard to that, but we’ll have to find out about that in the weeks to come.

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.