Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Minnesota United: Player Grades and Man of the Match
So close, and yet so far. If not for a wonky deflection from a long throw-in and an unfortunate (but correct) offside call, Orlando very well could have snuck out of Minnesota with three points in the bag.
Instead a point will have to do, and while I certainly would have taken a draw before the game if it had been offered to me (Minnesota has only lost once at home all year), the fact that Toronto, Montreal and New England all could only manage draws definitely made it feel like a missed opportunity. Anyway, on to my grades.
Starters
GK, Brian Rowe, 7.5 (MotM) — When it came to shot stopping, Rowe had about the best night he could have had. He saved five of the six shots he faced, and probably had no right to make two of them, parrying a close-range Darwin Quintero shot out of the danger area and getting a strong right glove to another close shot in the second half from Robin Lod. He was absolutely helpless on the goal, and while his distribution wasn’t the best on the night, without the two excellent saves he made Orlando wouldn’t have even sniffed the point it eventually brought home from Minnesota.
D, Kamal Miller, 6 — It was a solid if unspectacular night from Miller at left back. He grew into the game as the first half went on, even after getting nutmegged by Ethan Finlay. He played a particularly smart pass in the 34th minute to release Benji Michel down the wing, but lost his man at the back post just before halftime and was lucky that the Lions didn’t concede because of it. He’s done well deputizing out wide, but the team has missed the width that Joao Moutinho is usually capable of providing.
D, Robin Jansson, 7 — Jansson was his usual composed and steady self in the center of defense. In the opening minutes of the match he did exceptionally well to pull back and hold the defensive line, catching his man offside in the process. He also made a number of clearances on balls played into the box and was very unlucky to have the goal come as a result of a deflection off his body.
D, Lamine Sané, 7 — Sané too provided exactly what we’ve come to expect from him this year — a solid and steady presence at the center back position. He passed the ball particularly well with an 88% connection rate on his passes, won two aerial duels, and, like his partner Jansson, he cleared the ball on a number of occasions. He even had a successful dribble to top off his well-rounded night.
D, Kyle Smith, 5.5 — Perhaps I’m nitpicking but for me Smith didn’t have the best night. The thing is, he played pretty well defensively, making a pair of tackles and blocking several would-be balls into the box. The problem for me came on the offensive side of the ball. He generally did a good job of getting forward but there were a couple occasions where his final ball into the box was lacking and sloppy passes led to the dissolution of at least two Orlando City attacks/spells of possession in the offensive half. I thought he improved after halftime and maybe his grade being low is simply because of how dangerous Ruan typically is on the right side of defense.
MF, Will Johnson, 6.5 — It was a fairly quiet night for Johnson. He made several good tackles on the edge of the box and passed at a great 89% rate, while doing a good job of clogging things up in the middle of the field. He began to tire in the second half though, which is rather understandable considering he spent his time on the field running as hard as he always does. His influence waned with his legs though, and James O’Connor was probably smart not to keep him on the field for the full 90.
MF, Nani, 6.5 — To be honest, this is a grade that I struggled with. For a lot of the first half Nani was marked quite tightly and it showed. He only had a 73% passing rate and was dispossessed on three occasions, and while he won a duel in the air he didn’t look as sharp as many of us are accustomed to seeing. With that being said he was much better in the second half after moving to his more comfortable wing position. He was also clever to get his body in front of Ike Opara to win the penalty kick and was equally calm when it came to slotting it away in the bottom corner. Hopefully the introduction of Mauricio Pereyra will mean the burden of creative duties is lessened.
MF, Sebas Mendez, 7 — Mendez was his typical self in defensive midfield. He did an excellent job of breaking up Minnesota attacks, recording four tackles in the process. He also had a passing accuracy of 93% and even managed to win an aerial duel — no mean feat when you’re listed at 5-foot-7. In general it was a good night for him, despite some loose passes in his own end, and, while he didn’t necessarily do anything spectacular, when you play the position he does, the less your name is called the better.
F, Benji Michel, 7 —I quite like what I’ve seen out of Michel for most of his time on the field this year and tonight was no different. He was lively and eager to run at defenders every chance he got, with three successful dribbles to show for it. On one of those dribbles he probably should have passed the ball wide to Robinho rather than having a shot at goal, but that sort of decision making should come as he matures. It was by no means a perfect game but he looked the most dangerous of the starting front three.
F, Dom Dwyer, 6 — It wasn’t the best night for Dom. While he won four aerial duels, much of what he was asked to do involved going up against center backs with a height advantage to try and win balls lofted out from the back. Still, he found himself in good positions on several occasions but was unable to get off a shot on the night. His passing accuracy of 60% also left quite a bit to be desired, and while he fought hard, it wasn’t a surprise to see his name come up on the substitutes board when it did.
F, Robinho, 6.5 — Perhaps y’all will disagree but I thought Robinho played rather well for the half that he was on the field. He completed two dribbles, made two tackles, passed at an 84% clip, and did exceptionally well to intercept a ball in the 37th minute, run at the defense and play a dangerous ball into the area. However, the Lions were in need of a formation change after halftime and him coming off for Mauricio Pereyra meant that Nani was able to play out wide where he’s more comfortable. It hurt my heart to see him being consoled on the sideline and he clearly still wanted to be out on the field trying to bring home three points.
Substitutes
MF, Mauricio Pereyra (46’), 6.5 — Pereyra came on for his Orlando City debut after halftime, replacing Robinho and slotting into the midfield. While he didn’t do anything especially spectacular, he did vital work pressing the ball and marking well through the center of the field. In addition he made a great tackle on the edge of the Loons’ box to keep the ball with Orlando, and completed a nifty little dribble out wide in the 88th minute to keep possession near midfield. He worked a nice give-and-go with Tesho Akindele deep in stoppage time that initially won a penalty until video review showed the Canadian was just offside.
F, Tesho Akindele (63’), 6.5 — Tesho had a much easier time of it when it came to hold-up play simply because he’s a bigger guy than Dwyer is, and he provided a better outlet that was sorely needed as the game wore on. He also showed absolutely fantastic awareness to play a first-time ball for Nani at midfield that sent him in behind the Minnesota defense and eventually resulted in him winning the penalty. He was disgustingly unlucky to be offside in the 94th minute, which negated a handball in the Loons’ box. He had a positive impact on the game overall though, and looks more and more like an extremely astute purchase.
MF, Carlos Ascues (78’), 6 — Ascues came on for Will Johnson to provide fresh legs in the middle of the field and help shut up shop for the remainder of the game. For the most part he did just that, clearing the ball several times and hassling Minnesota as the Loons tried to start attacks through the middle of the field. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get up high enough to prevent Ike Opara from flicking on the long throw on which Orlando conceded. Still, it was a solid cameo from the Peruvian.
That’s how I saw things from the match. Please let us know your vote for the Man of the Match in the poll below.
Polling Closed
| Player | Votes |
| Nani | 3 |
| Brian Rowe | 90 |
| Lamine Sane | 2 |
| Robin Jansson | 6 |
| Sebas Mendez | 1 |
| Someone else | 1 |
Orlando City
Orlando City Announces Signing of Iago on MLS U22 Initiative Deal
The Brazilian youth international joins the Lions through the 2028-2029 season.
Orlando City announced today the long-reported signing of Brazilian defender Iago Teodoro, colloquially known simply as Iago, from Brazilian top flight club CR Flamengo. The Lions signed Iago through the 2028-2029 season on an MLS U22 Initiative contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the club, although unconfirmed online reports have stated the Lions will only get 50% of a sell-on in the transaction.
“Iago is a talented young defender with experience at one of the best youth and professional clubs in the world,” Orlando City General Manager and Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira said in a club press release. “He has shown a strong competitive mentality (and) leadership qualities beyond his years that took him to lead Brazil’s U-20 squad as a captain in the latest FIFA U-20 World Cup. Iago also has an ability to contribute on both sides of the ball. We believe his profile fits well within our long‑term vision, and we’re excited to bring him here (to) Orlando.”
The 20-year-old Brazilian youth international from Volta Redonda, Brazil came up through Flamengo’s academy, debuting for the club’s U-20 team in July 2022 and making his first-team debut in January of 2024. Iago has accumulated a combined 68 appearances and has logged more than 5,000 minutes across Flamengo’s senior and U-20 teams across all competitions. He’s scored 14 goals for his club, helping Flamengo win the 2021 U-17 Brazilian Championship, the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 U-20 Intercontinental Cups, the 2022 and 2024 Brazilian Cups, the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 Campeao Carioca, and the 2025 Serie A title.
On the international stage, Iago has 13 caps with Brazil’s U-20 team, scoring three goals and captaining the team in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
If you like buying kits with unique numbers, Iago will wear No. 57 on his jersey.
What It Means for Orlando City
The Lions have filled all three MLS U22 Initiative slots and will likely have to press the young center back into service quickly with Robin Jansson out with an injury and the club short of experienced depth in the interior back line. Iago is young, has good size, and is athletic. He fits the club’s profile and is the type of player who could yield a big profit in a future sale, even if Orlando City gets only half the fee.
The defender will have a little bit of preseason to learn Oscar Pareja’s system and get to know his teammates, but getting this signing across the finish line earlier would have obviously been more optimal. Iago seems to have a better nose for the net than just about any previous Orlando City center back in the MLS era, but only time will tell if those skills will translate to Major League Soccer.
The back line depth is still sketchy and lacks experience with Jansson out. David Brekalo has to be a locked-in starter at this point, with Iago his probable partner to start the season. Nolan Miller, Wilder Cartagena, and Adrian Marin would serve as the depth until the captain returns, with the Lions perhaps employing a three-man back line and wingbacks at times. The Lions will need Iago and Miller to grow up in a hurry, or things could get dicey quickly if Brekalo picks up a knock or a suspension early in the season.
Orlando City
Orlando City’s Roster Short On Tenure, Long On Ambition
The 2026 roster is not yet finalized, but for the first time in years it will primarily be made up of players who only recently joined the club.
If you are like me and are a fan of both soccer and basketball, you likely have been overwhelmed during the last few days by transfer news in global soccer and trades in the NBA as teams shape their rosters for the stretch runs of their seasons (most soccer leagues around the world, the NBA) or the season about to start (MLS, a handful of other spring-to-fall leagues). The news around Orlando City has mostly been limited to rumors about possible defensive reinforcements in recent weeks, and while our Ben Miller became an overnight expert in Polish soccer X (the service that was formerly, and more successfully, known as Twitter), it turned out to be for naught, as the attempted acquisition of Dušan Stojinović fell through due to a failed medical.
The rumors persist about the coming acquisition of Brazilian central defender Iago (Shakespeare lovers surely agree that if he signs it is a good thing there is no longer a Rod(e)rigo on the roster), but as of this writing, the only official recent acquisition came when the Lions signed 2026 MLS SuperDraft draft pick Nolan Miller on Wednesday.
MLS roster construction is complicated, and if you are struggling with sleep I recommend you read through the rules and regulations from the league’s website (that link takes you to the 2025 rules, as they have yet to update them for 2026, which is good news because that means some new sleep-inducing material will be published soon). To simplify, however, teams generally have 20 players on their senior roster and then a supplemental roster of up to 11 players who are also available for selection on game days.
With more than two weeks until the season opener, the roster remains in flux, but we can assume that by the season opener the club will probably have signed a few more players in order to make use of most of those available roster spots. Unless they go out and bring a former OCSC player back to Orlando, the Lions will be acquiring a player who will be new to the club, and that, plus all of the turnover from the 2025 team, made me wonder about the average tenure of this year’s team, in comparison to other Orlando City clubs from the past.
The 2026 roster is not finalized yet, but in honor of the hopefully soon-to-be-announced acquisition, we can channel Othello’s Iago and manipulate the data a little bit to fill out the 2026 Orlando City roster like so:
- Goalkeeper: Maxime Crépeau, Javier Otero.
- Defender: David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Adrián Marín, Nolan Miller, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi.
- Central Midfielder: Eduard Atuesta, Wilder Cartagena, Joran Gerbet, Colin Guske, Braian Ojeda, Luis Otávio.
- Attacker: Iván Angulo, Gustavo Caraballo, Justin Ellis, Duncan McGuire, Martín Ojeda, Marco Pašalić, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer, Tiago, Yutaro Tsukada.
- Roster Spots That Will Be Filled: Designated Player (attacker), Defender (likely Iago), Defender (outside back), Additional Player, Additional Player.
I held the line at 29 players, though I will not be surprised if the club maxes out the full 30. It is also possible that some of the young players like Caraballo, Ellis, Guske, Miller, Otávio, Reid-Brown, Sarajian, and even Tsukada play very few or even zero minutes this year at the senior level. It is always exciting to think about the potential of young players, especially those who came up through the academy or were signed via the MLS U22 Initiative, but Óscar Pareja plays every game to win, and over the years he has shown a preference for going with veterans as opposed to young players.
Pareja is not completely opposed to youth, however, and with a roster this full of young players he may not have a choice but to give a serious chunk of minutes to players in their teens or early 20s this season. According to fbref.com, last season’s team had a weighted average age of 27.4 years old during MLS play (10th oldest among all teams), but unless the next few acquisitions are veterans in the twilights of their careers (I am looking at you, Antoine Griezmann), that average age is likely going to drop in 2026.
If we take that theoretical roster that I outlined earlier, and instead of using their actual ages use the number of years that each player has been with the club (assigning a value of one for all of the players who have never played for the senior team), we get the distribution below:
- Goalkeeper: Maxime Crépeau (1), Javier Otero (3).
- Defender: David Brekalo (3), Robin Jansson (8, most in the MLS era), Adrián Marín (2), Nolan Miller (1), Tahir Reid-Brown (1), Zakaria Taifi (2).
- Central Midfielder: Eduard Atuesta (2), Wilder Cartagena (4), Joran Gerbet (2), Colin Guske (2), Braian “Defensive” Ojeda (1), Luis Otávio (1).
- Attacker: Iván Angulo (5), Gustavo Caraballo (2), Justin Ellis (2), Duncan McGuire (4), Martín “Offensive” Ojeda (4), Marco Pašalić (2), Harvey Sarajian (1), Tyrese Spicer (2), Tiago (1), Yutaro Tsukada (2).
- Roster Spots That Will Be Filled: Designated Player (attacker) (1), Defender (likely Iago) (1), Defender (outside back) (1), Additional Player (1), Additional Player (1).
Before anyone yells at me, Cartagena and Tsukada both have actually been with the club for one more season than I represented above, but I am counting soccer-playing seasons, and they both missed all of 2025 due to injury. The math is not as elegant as it was to Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, but the chart below, which shows the counts by player tenure for every season going back to the team’s inaugural MLS season, will either look beautiful or hideous to you, depending on your artistic perspective. I think it looks fantastic.
The first few years are clear outliers, with every player being new to the club in 2015 (some players had been with the club in the USL era, but my definition of tenure was playing in a game for Orlando City’s MLS team) and no players being able to get to a “longer” tenure until at least 2019. That said, the 2026 team looks like it will be heavily populated by players in their first two seasons with Orlando City (the purple and gold bars in the chart), with that combined number likely being the most since the 2020 team.
Until the roster is finalized and the games begin my 2026 forecast is just that — an estimate of who will play in at least one game for the Lions this season. Just because the team will most likely be full of newer players, it does not mean that they cannot be successful. Inter Miami won the league title last season with 19 players in their first two seasons with the club and only four who had been there for more than three seasons.
The sports world writ large is moving to shorter contracts, with teams changing a lot from year to year, and after two years of relative stability, it looks like this Orlando City season will follow the same pattern and we will see the debuts of more players than in recent years — and also see more appearances by recent acquisitions (i.e. last season or this season) than in a long time.
Hopefully, some more new acquisitions will be announced soon, helping fill out the roster and answer some of the depth chart questions that we frequently talk about in our internal The Mane Land Slack channel (if you are reading this article, you are clearly incredibly intelligent and a passionate fan, so why not come join us and add your opinion to the mix?).
All those new acquisitions would come in as brand new Lions, bringing down that average tenure, but in the end what really matters is not whether a player has been with the club for three years but whether in a game they can help bring the club three points. The crowds at Inter&Co Stadium will be ready to roar for any Lions who can deliver, and I am looking forward to the next announcement from Ricardo Moreira on who will be taking their talents to Church Street and taking Orlando City back to the playoffs.
The club’s lofty goals remain the same, even if many of the players scoring the goals may be playing for the team for the first time.
Vamos Orlando!
Opinion
Likes and Dislikes From the Fourth Week of Orlando City Preseason
Let’s talk through some of the good and bad from the fourth week of Orlando’s preseason preparations.
The fourth week of Orlando City’s preseason preparations is (almost) in the books. The Lions will be kicking off the 2026 MLS season against the New York Red Bulls in a little over two weeks’ time, which seems impossibly near at hand. Let’s take a look at some of the good and some of the bad from the week that was.
Likes
Nolan Miller Earns a Contract
OCSC announced on Wednesday that it signed 2026 MLS SuperDraft selection Nolan Miller to a deal through the 2026 season with several additional option years tacked on. The center back was the ninth overall pick in the draft, and it’s good to see another high selection earning a contract after Harvey Sarajian was the first from the current draft class to do so back in January. Part of the motivation behind the move may be due to Orlando’s center back situation that we’ll touch on later, but either way, the youngster has his foot in the door and will have a chance to get on the field, contribute, and potentially extend his stay in the City Beautiful.
Iago Reportedly on Track
It’s been a trying week for Orlando City fans (more on that below), but another piece of news to be happy about came on Wednesday, when Oscar Pareja noted during his media availability that the team is continuing to work towards finalizing the signing of center back Iago from Flamengo.
This is one that’s been rumored for awhile, and devoted social media users may have even seen specific numbers thrown around, like a transfer fee of $1.5 million and Flamengo retaining a sell-on clause of 50%. Whether those are accurate or not, only time will tell, but for now it’s good to hear that talks are ongoing. While it would be nice for the process to go a little quicker, signing players from Brazilian teams seems to be a bit tricky at times, so it isn’t necessarily surprising that this deal is taking its sweet time. Hopefully negotiations wrap up quickly and Iago can join the Lions sooner rather than later though, because as we’re about to discuss, the team is almost certainly going to need him.
Dislikes
Robin Jansson’s Injury
Robin Jansson had surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his right foot. While no specific recovery timeline was announced and it’s difficult to estimate one since we don’t know when exactly the surgery happened, this is not great news so close to the start of the season. David Brekalo is currently the only experienced center back available to take the field, and we’re 15 days away from the first game of the season. A lot can change in that amount of time, but it’s a nervy place to be regardless. I also don’t love the fact that the injury is a Jones fracture. The fifth metatarsal, where the break occurred, is an area of the body that’s notorious for not getting great blood flow when compared to other bones, and Jones fractures have a reputation of being tricky injuries to heal. The captain is in good hands with the club’s staff and the good folks at Orlando Health, but I would caution restraint when it comes to expecting him to make a speedy return to the field.
A Signing Falls Through
The news of Jansson’s injury might have been slightly easier to bear if not for this piece of news that Tom Bogert broke on Monday.
The wording that the deal fell apart after a failed medical implies that all of the particulars were sorted between the clubs and the player, and that it was the very last hurdle that proved its undoing. That’s brutal enough on the face of things, as it deprived Orlando of a starting-caliber center back who is only 25 and would presumably have time to grow and improve at the club for a number of years. When Jansson’s injury is taken into account, it hurts even worse. As I said earlier, a lot can happen in two weeks, but due to unfortunate and uncontrollable circumstances the Lions’ center back corps is looking positively threadbare at the time of this writing.
While it’s very easy to get lost in the negatives, this week wasn’t all bad. Losing one potential center back and then a nailed-on starter and club captain in the space of two days hurts, there’s no getting around it. But on the bright side, a young player will get a chance to prove himself, an MLS U22 Initiative signing will reportedly be on the way sooner or later, and there’s still some time for additional reinforcements to arrive before the season opener arrives. Keep your heads up, take things one day at a time, and pray for good things from the soccer gods. Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City Announces Signing of Iago on MLS U22 Initiative Deal
Orlando City’s Roster Short On Tenure, Long On Ambition
Likes and Dislikes From the Fourth Week of Orlando City Preseason
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