With 18 matches under its belt in Major League Soccer, Orlando City is just past the midway point of its season. Despite a horrific first few months, there’s been reason for optimism lately with improved play and some better results to go along with it. There’s still a lot of improvement that can be made, and with MLS play, Leagues Cup, and a U.S. Open Cup semifinal all on the table, there will be plenty of time to do so.

When it comes to key players for the rest of the season, there are a few usual suspects that spring to mind. Antoine Griezmann, Justin Ellis, Martin Ojeda (once he’s back from injury), Robin Jansson, and Maxime Crepeau are probably chief among those names. Rather than focus on them, I’d like to discuss a few less prominent names that could have large impacts on the remainder of the Lions’ season.

Bernardo Rhein

We start with a player who has emerged at a rapid pace in Orlando’s first four games back from the World Cup break. The 18-year-old Rhein has started two of them, and for my money he’ done enough to firmly displace Adrian Marin as the starting left back. He helped keep a clean sheet in his first start against Nashville, contributing a tackle, a clearance, an interception, and six recoveries while also providing a key pass. He then came on at halftime against the New York Red Bulls and had two interceptions, a tackle, and two key passes, while providing both an offensive and defensive upgrade over Marin after a rough outing for the Spaniard. Against Monterrey, his three completed dribbles were tied for the most in the match, and he also recorded three tackles, two interceptions, a clearance, and seven recoveries.

It hasn’t been flawless, as he can get caught out of position or have balls played over him at times, but by and large he’s looked like he’s belonged. That’s good too, because while Marin’s technical ability isn’t an issue, his physical traits are. He simply doesn’t look like he can move well enough or quickly enough to play fullback in MLS, and shy of him taking over for David Brekalo while the Slovenian reprises the left back role he’s so often held for this team, Marin should be backing up Rhein. The youngster has flashed good defending in 1-v-1 situations, and has shown himself to be capable of contributing at the other end of the field as well.

That offensive ability gives Orlando the option to overload either side of the field and provides some balance and variance in the attack that will make the Lions tougher to play against. Care will be needed to not have Rhein and Griffin Dorsey pushing forward at the same time, leaving the defense exposed, but the next player on the list can help mitigate the danger that would come from those situations.

Luis Otavio

Orlando City announced on Thursday night that Braian Ojeda has had surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his right foot. He’ll likely be on the shelf at least six to eight weeks, and the club says it expects him to be back in the fall. With Ojeda out, 19-year-old Luis Otavio likely has the inside track to his starting role in central midfield. He’s the one who took Ojeda’s place in the lineup against Monterrey, and he’s played more than Wilder Cartagena, with 13 appearances and 547 league minutes to five and 47 for the Peruvian.

After some shaky performances earlier in the year, Otavio was excellent in his two recent starts against Nashville and Monterrey — going the full 90 against the Mexican side. Against the ‘Yotes, he filled in admirably for the suspended Eduard Atuesta with three tackles, two clearances, two recoveries, and a key pass. Wednesday night saw him take over for the injured Ojeda and record three tackles, two interceptions, one clearance, and three recoveries.

So far, he hasn’t offered what Ojeda does going forward, but frankly he doesn’t really need to. With the way Ivan Angulo, Tyrese Spicer, Ellis, and Griezmann have been playing, there are plenty of creative forces on the field, and that’s without the injured Martin Ojeda. All Otavio needs to do is provide a physical and energetic presence in the middle of the field, and he’s capable of doing that. The youngster can cover a lot of ground, isn’t shy about putting in a tackle, and is generally good at doing the sort of unheralded dirty work that made Cesar Araujo so vital during his time as a Lion. It’s too soon to say for sure that Otavio will follow in the Uruguayan’s mold, but he should certainly get plenty of opportunities to do so given (Braian) Ojeda’s injury.

Daryl Dike

That brings me to Orlando’s most recent signing. Dike made his first appearance in his second stint as a Lion on Wednesday, and he showed some encouraging signs during his 20 minutes on the field. His hold-play was as good, his movement was clever, and he completed two of the three dribbles he attempted while generally being the fast and physical handful that he was before going across the pond. He’ll rue the cross that he fluffed his lines on, as a goal on his return would have been a dream, but he got himself into good areas and was extremely difficult for the Monterrey defenders to deal with.

There’s probably some rust that needs to be shaken off — a few of his runs could have been timed a little better, and while he only attempted four passes, completing just two of them leaves a little to be desired. He should get plenty of chances to build sharpness though, as the Lions have at least six more matches to play during the month of August, and he’s got a unique profile when compared to the rest of the attacking options on the team. While it’ll be tough to displace Ellis, given how he’s been playing, Dike offers an option as a target forward and could be lethal when receiving service from Orlando’s creative players.

Sean Rollins recently wrote about Orlando’s need for a dependable, goal-scoring center forward, and if Dike can rediscover the form he showed during his first stint in purple, then it could push the Lions in the right direction up the table. While the defense has been better after the World Cup break, its still shown itself to be vulnerable, and OCSC will likely find itself in need of regular goals if it wants to keep picking up results. Once Martin Ojeda returns, he and Griezmann should be able to help with that, but if Dike can share the load, then it’ll add another dimension to the team.

On the flip side, if those three guys don’t play well, then it could make life much more difficult for Orlando. If Rhein struggles, then either Marin will need to reprise his role, swap with Brekalo, or the Lions might move to a three man defense that would risk disrupting the fluid offensive style they’ve been using. Otavio not playing well would put a lot of pressure on Wilder Cartagena, Joran Gerbet, and Colin Guske — all of whom are either mostly or completely untested this year for various reasons. If Dike can’t get going again it might not be the end of the world since OCSC’s offense largely hasn’t been the problem this season, but it would deprive the Lions of a unique, difficult-to-handle option and lessen Orlando’s ability to effectively rotate.

Personally though, I think all three players will come good to some degree. Otavio and Rhein have done good things in their extended time on the field lately, and Dike looked promising on Wednesday and should get plenty of great service while also having familiar surroundings and a proven track record to hold him in good stead. Here’s hoping I’m right. Vamos Orlando!

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! I’m hesitant to get excited about back-to-back days of Orlando soccer considering how last weekend went, but we have the Orlando Pride in action tonight and Orlando City playing Saturday in a pair of home games. Keep every finger crossed, folks. But for now, let’s get to the links!

Braian Ojeda Undergoes Foot Surgery

Orlando City announced that midfielder Braian Ojeda underwent successful surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his right foot. It’s the same foot injury that Robin Jansson dealt with earlier this year and Ojeda is expected to return in the fall. The Lions traded for Ojeda in January and he has started in 21 games across all competitions this year, recording a goal and six assists. He also represented Paraguay at the World Cup this summer and played in the match against Germany in the round of 32.

Orlando Pride Host Racing Louisville Tonight

The Orlando Pride are coming off of a disastrous 5-0 defeat on the road against the North Carolina Courage and will look to bounce back tonight when they host Racing Louisville. Although Louisville has only won four games this season, two of those victories have come in their past three games and one was at the Pride’s expense. We’ll see if Orlando’s offense will be able to make some noise against a Louisville defense that has conceded a league-high 34 goals this season. Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines spoke on the need for a result tonight at home.

“When we come home and we play in front of our fans, we need to put a show on and we need to really bounce back from a disappointing result against North Carolina,” Hines said. “We let ourselves down, we let the fans down, and we need to respond in the best way and that’s by getting three points this Friday.”

NWSL Midseason Predictions

We’ve reached the second half of the NWSL season and it’s a nice time to take a look at the various award races across the league. While Barbra Banda being away at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has opened the door for other forwards to make up ground in the Golden Boot race, her absence has at least proven just how valuable she is to her team amid the Pride’s free fall without her. It doesn’t hurt her case for MVP, though she faces stiff competition from Temwa Chawinga, Trinity Rodman, and Mina Tanaka. The Pride likely don’t have any contenders for the other awards given how the season has gone, but anything can happen.

Keeping Up With the Americans Abroad

As we near the return of European soccer, there are plenty of Americans with new teams to keep an eye out for this year. ESPN graded some of the moves by Yanks this summer, with Max Arfsten and Sebastian Berhalter’s moves from MLS to Middlesbrough receiving decent marks. It’ll be interesting to see how Giovanni Reyna does now that he’s in Strasbourg, and we’ll see if goalkeeper Diego Kochen can make an impact with Lyngby Boldklub in Denmark. La Liga starts next weekend, which means we’ll be able to watch Alex Freeman with Villarreal after his strong World Cup performance.

Free Kicks

• The Pride fell three spots to 10th in All For XI’s NWSL power rankings after their lopsided loss on the road.
• You’ll need to get past the paywall for the full details, but Racing Louisville owner John Neace spoke on how the club is seeking investors and that alternatives like relocation may have to be considered if the current situation doesn’t change.
• Chicago Fire center back Mbekezeli Mbokazi is out for the rest of the season according to Head Coach Gregg Berhalter.
• Real Madrid signed 19-year-old forward Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig, inking him to a seven-year deal.
• UEFA has maintained its boycott of FIFA competitions over FIFA President Gianni’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup, stating that its conditions have not been met.
• Mo Salah officially signed a two-year contract with Turkish club Trabzonspor.

That’s all I have for you all this time. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!

Back in 2015, I worked for a company that assigned me to a project for a company in Trinidad & Tobago, and I spent about half a year traveling back and forth from Orlando to Port of Spain, the capital city. I loved everything about my time in Trinidad & Tobago, and while I promise this will move to soccer shortly and not become a travelogue or a food blog, I have to briefly mention my discovery there of a food called “doubles.”

Doubles are often eaten as a breakfast food but are delicious at any time of the day. Much like with cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, there is a language associated with ordering them. A doubles order usually consists of how many you want and how hot you would like them to be. I do not have a high tolerance for heat, so I often ordered mine with “no pepper,” (tell me you are an American without telling me you are an American), but Trinis generally go with at least slight pepper and often medium or heavy pepper.

All of that discussion of Trinidad & Tobago and pepper brings us to a man who comes from the twin islands and literally has spice in his last name — Tyrese Spicer.

Spicy T was the Man of the Match in our player grades from Orlando City’s most recent MLS game after contributing a goal and an assist. He scored his fourth goal of the MLS season, which ranks second on the team behind Martín Ojeda’s 11. Spicer scored that goal after coming off the bench to replace Tiago, and his bench goal was the seventh for the Lions this season, which ties them for the league lead in goals scored by substitutes:

*Excludes opposition own goals

All four of Spicer’s goals in MLS play have come as a substitute, and he is tied for the league lead with Cincinnati’s Tom Barlow in that category:

During the entire 2025 MLS season the league leaders in substitute goals scored only four goals off the bench, and Spicer has already reached that tally through Orlando City’s first 18 league games.

Extrapolating those 18 games to the full season would put Spicer on pace for 7.56 goals, and since he has scored all of his goals off the bench, the extrapolation for goals as a substitute would also be for that same amount, which would be the most in MLS since Dejan Joveljić scored eight goals as a substitute for the LA Galaxy in 2022.

A logical question would be: If Spicer is scoring all these goals in limited minutes as a substitute, should Orlando City just make him a starter?

On the surface, it seems like an obvious no.

Put aside the fact that leading scorer Martín Ojeda is out injured but will command a starting spot when he returns, likely at the same left wing position where Spicer usually plays, another fact is that since joining Orlando City in August of 2025, Spicer has played demonstrably better off the bench than as a starter across all competitions (data from Opta’s tracking on fbref.com):

In recent years, Orlando City has benefitted from “supersubs,” as Spicer’s four goals thus far in 2026 marks the fourth consecutive season in which a Lion has scored at least four goals in a season as a substitute. Duncan McGuire started the trend with five in 2023 and added four in 2024. Ramiro Enrique followed with four off the bench in 2025 (and likely would have scored more that had he not transferred in August; I really wish he had stayed. Sigh.), and now Spicer has four in 2026 with many games still to play. McGuire’s five in 2023 is the joint club record with Júlio Baptista, as The Beast lived up to that moniker when coming off the bench in 2016, but Spicer is hot on their heels.

Some players simply perform better off the bench, and Spicer, at least so far, seems to be in that Manu Ginóbili mold of a player with starter-level talent that is better at finishing games than starting them.

Orlando City General Manager and Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira noted this when the club acquired Spicer from Toronto, saying that the Trinidad & Tobago international player would “bring additional depth and energy” and that “his relentless work rate and ability to stretch the field will give us a much-needed boost and add another dimension to our attack moving forward.”

Spicer’s boosts off the bench have led to two game-winning goals this season, the fourth in the amazing 4-3 comeback victory over Inter Miami in May and the only goal in the 1-0 home victory over Nashville at the end of July.

August is a packed month for Orlando City, with at least eight games on the calendar and possibly nine, depending on how the Lions do in Leagues Cup. We’ll see throughout the rest of August (this article was written before the Leagues Cup game against CF Monterrey, which had Spicer in the starting lineup) if Martín Perelman is locked in to using Spicer as a supersub or gives him additional chances as a starter, as there will need to be some rotation with games every three to four days.

The numbers say that Perelman should keep looking for someone to hold down the left wing for the first portion of the game and bring in Spicer to close, but Orlando City’s poor play on the left side of the field in the first half helped dig a hole it could not climb out of against the Red Bulls, and this is a critical part of the season, so getting positive results is of paramount importance.

I’m looking forward to finding out if Perelman makes the call to go from no pepper to Spicy T as a frequent left wing starter, at least until Ojeda returns. The numbers are against it, as am I, but we shall see what Perelman orders.

Vamos Orlando!