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MLS All-Stars vs. Atletico Madrid: Final Score 3-0 as the Spanish Giants Beat the MLS Side

Published

7 years ago

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A sellout crowd of 25,527 at Exploria Stadium braved a stormy night and suffered through a half-hour delay to see Atletico Madrid best the MLS All-Stars 3-0 in the 2019 MLS All-Star Game. The Spanish giants looked the better side all night but the score remained tight until late in the match, which was the only contest all week to feature an Orlando City representative (Nani) and not win.

Marcos Llorente, Joao Felix, and Diego Costa scored the goals for Atleti, who looked every bit the part of La Liga title contenders in the victory.

“It’s more an occasion for the whole league,” said MLS All-Star and Orlando City Head Coach James O’Connor after the match. “I think it gives a great representation of the league. It’s a chance for some of the young players to test themselves against some of the best players in the world. And I think equally we have some of the best players in the world.”

O’Connor’s troops lined up in a 4-1-4-1, including Nani, as follows:

The game took a while to get going, with both teams playing in about 30 yards of the pitch from midfield to about halfway between the midfield line and the top of the All-Stars’ defensive penalty area.

The first look came eight minutes in when Angel Correa shot wide for Atleti on a good opportunity in the box. Four minutes later, Correa got the game’s first shot on target, putting a weak effort in on Brad Guzan.

Atletico Madrid continued to get the better chances with a 15th-minute sequence that saw a shot by Correa that was blocked by Walker Zimmerman and a good diving stop by Guzan on the rebound opportunity.

The MLS All-Stars began to get a better hold on the game after a shot by Rodrigo Riquelme went well over the bar in the 17th minute. Zlatan Ibrahimovic found Carlos Vela in the area and the LAFC star danced around defenders on the left but couldn’t find a path through to either shoot or pass in minute 24.

The best chance of the half for the All-Stars came in the 26th minute. Nani laid off for Alejandro Pozuelo, and the Toronto star laid off for Wayne Rooney, who sent a screamer that was just over the bar. The MLS side felt the ball was tipped but referee Drew Fisher gave a goal kick.

At the half-hour mark, Zlatan and Guzan checked out and were replaced by Josef Martinez and Andre Blake, respectively. Without the big Swede up top, Atletico Madrid started to turn possession back around in its favor.

Llorente sent a ball over the bar in the 36th minute and Hector Herrera headed too high a minute later as Atleti probed for the opener. The goal finally came in minute 43. Riquelme unlocked the defense with a gorgeous one-touch through ball for a perfect run from Llorente, who beat Blake to make it 1-0.

That was it for the opening half and the visitors took their 1-0 advantage into the locker room. Atleti dominated the stats, out-shooting the All-Stars 12-1 (3-0 on target), although the All-Stars held 52% of the possession and held a slight edge in passing accuracy (86%-85%).

Nani had the second-most touches of any non-defender for the All-Stars in the half (34), but only passed at a 65% clip. He did have a few brilliant individual moments but couldn’t turn them into anything. This might have been the best one.

O’Connor made wholesale changes at halftime and that nearly paid off with an equalizer early in the second half. Just two minutes after the break, Diego Rossi whistled a shot just wide of the near post from in close. Nicolas Lodeiro fizzed a cross through the box a minute later, but no All-Star could get onto it. Pity Martinez whiffed on a volley attempt moments after that, as the All-Stars pushed to level the game.

The best opportunity of the match for the MLS side came in the 55th minute when a fantastic ball from Mark-Anthony Kaye released Lodeiro in alone on Antonio Adán, but the Atletico keeper made the save.

After those early warning signs, Diego Simeone made several changes, putting his typical starters on the pitch, including Costa, Felix, and goalkeeper Jan Oblak, and it served to turn the tide back in the Spanish side’s favor.

“I actually thought the second half the fellas did a really good job of pressing, counter-pressing, staying in their half,” O’Connor said.

It took only two minutes before Felix made his presence felt, forcing a good diving save by Andre Blake.

In the 78th minute Pity Martinez blew the first of a couple of good opportunities on the night. Jonathan dos Santos stepped into a passing lane, bombed forward, and found Martinez who missed the target.

A minute later his Atlanta teammate Ezequiel Barco saw his free kick from just outside the area saved by Oblak, who pushed the ball past a lurking Lodeiro. Bastian Schweinsteiger followed a minute later with a free kick from a bit further out that skipped wide of the far post.

Atletico Madrid put the game away in the 85th minute on a stunner by Felix, who took a pass from Saúl and blasted a rocket off the hand of Nick Rimando and in to make it 2-0.

The visitors tacked on a goal late in stoppage time, with Costa blazing down the field ahead of everyone, latching onto a beautiful pass from Felix, and beating Rimando to make it 3-0.

Atletico finished with a 19-10 advantage in shots (8-2 on target), while the MLS All-Stars led in possession (59%) and passing accuracy (87%-82%).

“There were some exemplary pieces and passages of play from both teams,” O’Connor said. “I thought it was a very entertaining game. For all of the players I think it’s just pleased that everyone’s managed to get through with no injuries.”

“It was tough because Atletico put on some young players who like to run everywhere,” Nani joked after the game. “They wanted to show everything to their coach. But at the end you can enjoy the game and see some good football from both teams from MLS — because we had one team in the first half and another in the second half.”

One player who got a rude welcome from Orlando fans was Guzan, who took it in stride as part of the growing rivalry between the Lions and Atlanta United, but overall he had a good stay in the City Beautiful.

“It’s been good to be here with this locker room and this group of guys,” he said. “It’s been great to get to know these guys off the field, to see what they’re like. Ultimately to finish with a game against a quality opponent like Atletico Madrid, it’s been good. The boos and the jeers are to be expected, a bit tongue-in-cheek. It’s all part of it and all in good fun.”

O’Connor can now concentrate on what he called two massive games on Saturday as Orlando City hosts FC Dallas, and next Tuesday, when Atlanta visits for the U.S. Open Cup semifinal.

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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

on

July 22, 2026

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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

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!

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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

on

July 14, 2026

By

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.

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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

on

April 22, 2026

By

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.

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