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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Inter Miami FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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5 years ago

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MLS is back! And Orlando City is back to its winning ways! It was a sloppy game, as was expected in the first game back, but the Lions walked out of Disney with a 2-1 win. Nani provided an assist and goal, and Chris Mueller also found the back of the net.

Inter Miami struck first, immediately after halftime. Orlando was the better team in the first half but came out flat to start the second period. The Lions kept fighting until the very last second — into the 101st minute — and kicked off the MLS is Back Tournament with a win.

Here is how each Lion did individually:

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 5.5 — Gallese never really looked comfortable in net. He looked rusty. Still, he was not at fault for Miami’s goal, which was the only shot on target of the eight he faced. He made 27 passes and was involved in Orlando’s build-up some.

D, Joao Moutinho, 6.5 — Things were a little sloppy in the first game back. This was clearly evident in the 15th minute when he let a simple pass go right under his foot. He took a couple of big touches on occasion, and he wasn’t himself on the attacking end. He was fully deserving of his yellow card in the 38th minute. He completely missed the ball in a sliding challenge on Matías Pellegrini and took out Pellegrini’s legs. He could have done better on Miami’s goal, as he was beaten on the dribble, allowing his attacker to cut inside to start the final sequence. He was heavily involved in the attack and finished with 69 passes — the second most for Orlando — with a 76.8% success rate but was inaccurate with all three of his crosses. He had a game high 98 touches and tied Antonio Carlos for the team’s most aerials won (5) and most clearances (5). He finished with one tackle and a team-high four dribbles.  Given the circumstances, an overall solid game from the fullback.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — The Swede made a fantastic tackle on Pellegrini in the 12th minute. Pellegrini was in on goal if Jansson did not make the tackle, and he timed it perfectly. Juan Agudelo stripped the ball from him in the 20th minute. Luckily, Agudelo tried to chip Gallese from midfield and sliced it terribly. If he had made good contact, it could have been the opening goal of the match. Jansson made another vital tackle in stoppage time of the first half. He finished with two tackles and four clearances and was Orlando’s best center back. However, he should have done better on Miami’s goal and put up more effort to stop the assist.

D, Antonio Carlos, 5.5 — His first tackle came in the 45th minute. It was not a great tackle, timed poorly, and not necessary. It allowed Miami to win a free kick just outside the box. At the start of the second half, he lost Agudelo in the box, and the forward buried it to open the scoring. Carlos should have done much better here, and while not entirely responsible, could have easily prevented the goal. He did not have any tackles, but he did finish with a team-high three interceptions and tied with Moutinho with a game high five clearances and five aerials won. He had one shot attempt and a 74.5% passing accuracy.

D, Ruan, 6 — The first time that Ruan got forward was in the 10th minute. He made a run down the wing and into the box and won a corner. That energy continued for most of the match, and Ruan was a constant threat down the side. He had an impressive 88.6% passing accuracy on 35 passes, including one key pass. Defensively, he finished with one tackle and two clearances.

MF, Uri Rosell, 7 — Rosell was very active defensively. He was constantly putting pressure on any Miami player that entered the center of the field. He did a lot of work off the ball to take away passing options and switched the field well, going 7/10 on long balls. He finished the match with three tackles, one clearance, and one interception. In attack, his 70 passes — with an 87.5% success rate — were more than anyone else’s, and almost doubled that of Miami’s top passer (Ben Sweat, 45). He put up a good argument for Man of the Match.

MF, Junior Urso, 5 —Rosell sat in the center of the field. This allowed Urso to venture forward when Orlando had the ball. Unfortunately, he did not do too much, and he was partly responsible for Miami’s opening goal, getting caught on the wrong side of Pellegrini. It was overall a quiet night from the midfielder. He had just 26 touches and 24 passes (87.5% accuracy) in 62 minutes, one tackle, and no interceptions, clearances, or blocks.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6 — Pereyra was the best player for Orlando in the first half, but he was not on the ball often enough. He made a key pass to Mueller in the 22nd minute that should have led to a goal and was the Lions’ most creative player. He was a little quieter in the second period but was still Orlando’s most creative option. After he was subbed out, the Lions struggled to get the ball forward at all. He had three key passes, one shot, and was 90% accurate on 38 passes. Defensively, he chipped in three tackles, tying Rosell for the team high.

F, Nani, 7 (MOTM) — The captain was pretty quiet in the first half. He stayed on the left wing and dropped a bit deeper when Orlando got the ball. He attempted to take players on a few times, but he did not have a significant impact. He was poor in the 36th minute when he sent in a cross for Dwyer that was way too long. Nani probably should have shot, but the cross was poor as well. The second half started the same way for Nani, but then he stepped up out of nowhere. He made a good run down the left side and put in a perfect low cross for Mueller to tie it in the 70th minute. Nani’s second big impact came seven minutes into stoppage time. The ball was sent into the box by Moutinho and bounced off a Miami defender. The Designated Player pounced on it and scored the game-winner. He was quiet all game and didn’t have as big of a consistent impact as one would expect of him. However, a goal and an assist in a 2-1 win will get you the Man of the Match. He made one clearance and had three key passes on a 76.7% passing night. His three shots tied Mueller for the team lead, with one on target.

F, Dom Dwyer, 3 — He should have scored the opening goal in the 22nd minute after Mueller’s attempt was saved. The rebound went right into the middle of the field, but Dwyer’s feet got caught under him, and he fell. He didn’t get many touches, in part due to a breakdown of play in the attacking third on a sloppy night, leaving the game in the 63rd minute with just 18 touches and just a 54.6% passing rate. He added a tackle and a clearance defensively. Dwyer finished the game with one shot, not on target, and was unable to have a real impact in the match.

F, Chris Mueller, 7 — Cash was one-on-one with Robles in the 22nd minute. Mueller made a good effort on the net, but Robles made a better save. Mueller had another chance in stoppage time in the first half, but he took too much time. Mueller ended up taking a shot that was blocked and won a corner. He kept the energy going and finally got on the end of a ball in the 70th minute. He slid and tapped in the game-tying goal. Mueller led the team in shots (4), shots on target (2), and passing accuracy (96.8%), adding one tackle and an aerial won.

Substitutes

MF, Sebas Mendez (63’), 5.5 — The midfielder was another player who had a quiet night for Orlando. He did not provide much of an energy burst off the bench and had minimal impact in Orlando’s attack. He was just 79% accurate on his 33 passes. He did help out defensively and made two tackles with one aerial won. He picked up a yellow card on his only foul of the match, setting up a Miami free kick opportunity.

F, Tesho Akindele (63’), 4.5 — His first real action came in the 76th minute. It was a great cross from Mueller, but Akindele couldn’t get good contact on his header. It was a good cross and he should have put it on target. After coming on in the 62nd minute, Akindele had only one shot (off target) and no key passes; however, he did play a big part on the winning goal. After receiving a pass from Nani at the top of the area, he sent it back out wide to Moutinho on the left, then turned and made a run to the front of goal, dragging two Miami defenders with him. That left space for Nani, who was unable to get onto the cross, but had plenty of time to gather up the deflection and score.

MF, Andres Perea (83’), 3 — He was on the field for almost 20 minutes, and he had no stats. Zero passes, shots, dribbles, tackles, interceptions, and clearances. Typically, stats like that would lead to a rating of “N/A.” Seeing as he was on the field for 17 minutes, he should have done more.

F, Benji Michel (83’), 6 — Michel provided a burst of energy on the right when since he came on the field. He put a good cross in to Nani, whose header back across the grain just missed. While he did not have any shots, he created a threat to Miami. He was the most threatening Orlando player since Mueller and Pereyra went off. He won two aerials and had one clearance.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel (97’), N/A — Schlegel came on for Nani deep into stoppage time, just after the goal, and did not have enough time to impact the match.

Be sure to vote for who you thought was the Man of the Match below.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Nani74
Chris Mueller42
Uri Rosell6
Mauricio Pereyra1
Other (comment below)1

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Opinion

Orlando City Has Been Better than Expected Halfway Through the Season

While there was plenty to worry about at the start of the season, Orlando has had a good first half of 2025.

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2 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

With 18 matches in the books, we’ve moved just past the halfway point of the 2025 Major League Soccer season, and based off my feelings before Orlando City played its opening game of the season, the Lions have performed above expectations so far. There were plenty of valid reasons to be concerned heading into the year. Orlando had sold its all-time leading goal scorer, and there were questions about whether he’d been adequately replaced. There were worries about depth at multiple positions, and the defense was coming off an uncharacteristically poor year. Here we are though, with the Lions sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference, just three points out of second place and seven points out of first. So how did we get to this point?

For one thing, Marco Pasalic has been much better than I (and I think a lot of other people) expected him to be. The Croatian has six goals and four assists across 18 matches, and is second on the team in both categories. He scored 10 goals in 49 appearances in the Croatian first division before coming to Orlando and was extremely one-footed, which was enough evidence to sow real doubt about whether he could adequately replace the impact of Facundo Torres.

So far, it’s mostly been so good. His direct style of play is a good complement to the styles of Martin Ojeda and Luis Muriel, and he’s largely hit the ground running in a league that can be difficult to adapt to. It hasn’t been perfect, as he’s still very one-footed, and can sometimes disappear if he’s stringently man marked, but on the whole there’s been much more good than bad.

Speaking of Ojeda and Muriel, they’ve also had strong years. Ojeda in particular has continued his great second half of the 2024 season and has nine goals and five assists in 18 games to show for it. He looks fast, confident, and decisive and is a far cry from the player who struggled frequently during his first year as a Lion. Muriel has cooled off a little after a scorching start to 2025, but he still has six goals and three assists in 18 matches. He looks vastly improved from last year, when he looked a little off the pace of play and quickly lost the starting striker role. He still has a tendency to not be as selfish as he needs to be in front of goal, but he’s been much better than 2024.

I mentioned depth being a big concern, and not just at one position. At the beginning of the season Orlando City was, and arguably still is, thin at striker, center back, defensive midfield, and fullback. Duncan McGuire was injured to start the year and is now injured again, leaving Orlando with two true strikers in Muriel and Ramiro Enrique. There was no true backup left back, only one reliable backup center back, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson starting at right back meant that defensive midfield depth consisted of rookie Joran Gerbet and the Swiss army knife that is Kyle Smith.

Things have mostly worked out though. David Brekalo has supplanted Rafael Santos, meaning the Brazilian is now a proven backup option at the position, and Smith has filled in there as well. That means that in games in which Rodrigo Schlegel or Robin Jansson are unavailable, Brekalo fills in at center back, Santos starts at left back, and Smith is the backup for both positions, so it isn’t a flawless system. Gerbet has been playing better and better and got some valuable minutes when Eduard Atuesta and Cesar Araujo were unavailable. His emergence has been a crucial piece of the puzzle this year. So too has the rise of Alex Freeman, as his locking down the right back role has allowed Thorhallsson to fill in at defensive midfield, attacking midfield, and right back. The situation isn’t perfect, as a couple untimely injuries to the wrong guys would leave the Lions looking pretty threadbare, but so far it’s just about worked.

Another big concern was the defense. The Lions conceded 50 goals in the regular season last year, which was tied for the second-most of any Eastern Conference playoff team and fourth-most of any playoff team. With no defensive signings and the aforementioned depth concerns, there were plenty of reasons to worry about Orlando’s ability to keep the ball out of the back of the net.

Things have looked much better in 2025, though. The 22 goals OCSC has conceded are the fifth-fewest in the league, and Pedro Gallese’s eight clean sheets are tied for most in the league. Aside from a few egregious defensive performances against the Philadelphia Union, Atlanta United, and the Chicago Fire, things have mostly been tidy at the back, and when they haven’t been, El Pulpo has been around to pick up the slack. Again, things haven’t been perfect, as there have been moments where individual and collective errors have hurt the team, but it’s been better.

I thought the Lions would struggle this year. Going into the start of the season, we were talking about a team that lost Torres, arguably didn’t do enough to strengthen the team across the board, was facing depth issues, and was dealing with a leaky defense — all while pretty much every other contender in the East got stronger on paper. Instead, OCSC tied a club-best unbeaten streak and is just three points out of second place.

That being said, the East is so tight that Orlando is only five points above the playoff line, and injuries to the wrong guys could easily topple the fragile ecosystem that is the depth chart, but so far things are going better than I thought they would be. There are still a lot of matches to play, but this isn’t a bad position to be in at the halfway mark.

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Lion Links: 6/20/25

Orlando Pride take on Racing Louisville FC tonight, Orlando Pride players called up by Zambia, USMNT beats Saudi Arabia, and more.

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2 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Happy Friday! June continues to fly by as we enjoy the buffet of soccer here in the U.S. this month. I’ll be spending most of the weekend working, but I am hoping to get some reading done after being gifted some books for my birthday. But enough about me, let’s jump right into today’s links!

Orlando Pride Face Racing Louisville Tonight

The Orlando Pride are on the road tonight for a match against Racing Louisville FC at 8 p.m. in the final game before a league break until August. Going into the break with four straight wins would be nice for the Pride, but they’ve struggled at Lynn Family Stadium over the years. Louisville enters this match following a 4-2 loss to the league-leading Kansas City Current and has scored eight goals over the past three games. Orlando’s defense has been phenomenal this year, conceding just eight goals this season and only one during this win streak. Midfielder Cori Dyke spoke on how the team is finding its groove and shutting out opponents.

Zambia Calls Up Orlando Pride Trio

Barbra Banda, Grace Chanda, and Prisca Chilufya were all called up for Zambia’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations roster ahead of this summer’s tournament. Banda has eight goals this season with the Pride and had four goals at last year’s Olympics, including a hat trick against Australia. The Copper Queens claimed third place in the 2022 edition of this tournament, and they’ll need to be at their best to win this summer against tough opponents like South Africa and Nigeria. Zambia’s tournament campaign will kick off on July 5 against the host nation, Morocco.

USMNT Beats Saudi Arabia to Qualify for Quarterfinals

The United States Men’s National Team won 1-0 against Saudi Arabia to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of this year’s Concacaf Gold Cup. After a scoreless first half, the Yanks broke through in the 63rd minute thanks to a free kick. Sebastian Berhalter served the ball on a silver platter to Chris Richards, who buried it for the crucial goal. The defense did well to secure its second shutout of the tournament, with Orlando City’s Alex Freeman starting at right back yet again. The USMNT will play Haiti on Sunday and should be able to win the group for a smoother path in the knockout stage.

FIFA Club World Cup Roundup

An MLS club finally won a game during this year’s FIFA Club World Cup, with Inter Miami beating Porto 2-1 in Atlanta. Lionel Messi scored the winner from a free kick to complete the comeback after conceding an early goal. The Seattle Sounders had a rougher day, falling 3-1 to Atletico Madrid, with Pablo Barrios scoring a brace. Former Lion Facundo Torres started for Palmeiras in the Brazilian club’s 2-0 win over Egypt’s Al Ahly.

Today’s action features more soccer at Inter&Co Stadium, with Benfica and Auckland City squaring off in the City Beautiful. Our Michael Citro will be on hand to report on it. Elsewhere in the U.S., Chelsea will take on Flamengo, LAFC will face ES Tunis, and Bayern Munich will play Boca Juniors.

Free Kicks

  • Canada Head Coach Jesse Marsch, who is already serving a suspension for misconduct during the Nations League, is under investigation by Concacaf for incidents during this Gold Cup. Reports detail that Marsch disregarded regulations and used offensive language toward match officials.
  • Kylian Mbappe was discharged from the hospital after suffering from a case of gastroenteritis. It’s unclear if or when he’ll play for Real Madrid during the Club World Cup.
  • Carlos Cuesta was hired as Parma’s next head coach after five years with Arsenal as an assistant coach. The 29-year-old becomes the second-youngest coach in Serie A history.
  • Manchester City was fined over $1 million by the English Premier League for repeated delays regarding kickoff times.

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

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Orlando City

In 2025, OCSC Stands for Orlando City Scorers Club

How Orlando City’s top offensive performers this season compare to the rest of MLS…and the Premier League.

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3 days ago

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June 19, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Last week, I wrote about the state of Orlando City at the halfway point of the season, focusing mostly on the team’s accomplishments on offense and defense through 17 games. For this week, let’s look at some of the top performing Lions, because it’s always fun to talk about offensive success. I do not apologize if you take offense to my desire to only focus on offense, because that would be defensive, and there is no place in this article for defense.

Many moons ago, back in January during the preseason, I wrote an article looking at the best offensive seasons in Orlando City’s MLS history. I used a derived metric called game score to rank the seasons, and I’ll quickly explain again how that is calculated:

Goals Scored + Expected Assists + 0.0113 (Progressive Carries + Progressive Passes)

I went into much more detail about why that is the calculation in the original article, but the quick and dirty version is that scoring goals, completing passes to players in dangerous scoring areas, and progressing the ball by dribbling and passing are core components of a strong offensive player. Think of the game score as an offensive value calculation, and think of it simply as a value for which more is better and the most is best.

Opta only tracked the last three contributing statistics (expected assists, progressive carries, and progressive passes) from 2018 onwards, and the chart below shows Orlando City’s 10 best MLS regular seasons since 2018. It also shows the season that currently ranks 11th — Martín Ojeda’s 2025 season, which, as a reminder, is only in game 18 of a 34-game regular season. This means, if you get the extrapolation machine out, Ojeda is on pace for a season-long game score of 26.5, which would rank as the highest full season game score in Orlando City history.

PlayerSeasonSeason Game ScoreRank in MLSMLS Best that Season
Nani201922.0850.7
Facundo Torres202320.91031.1
Facundo Torres202420.02132.6
Facundo Torres202217.42533.7
Duncan McGuire202316.32631.1
Nani202116.22626.6
Sacha Kljestan201815.64638.0
Chris Mueller2020*14.81121.8
Yoshimar Yotún201814.75338.0
Dom Dwyer201814.35838.0
Martín Ojeda2025**14.1416.8
  • * The 2020 season contained only 23 games due to COVID-19
  • ** Ojeda’s stats are through 18 matches; MLS teams have played between 16-19 matches

Ojeda’s 14.1 currently ranks only behind Sam Surridge of Nashville (15.7), Anders Dreyer of San Diego (16.6), and some player from Miami who clearly wants to play for Orlando since he has lion as part of his first name (Messi, 16.8). During Ojeda’s first two seasons, he only accumulated 12.1 and 12.5, respectively, so this is already by far his best season in purple and it is just barely halfway complete.

Ojeda is not the only Orlando City player who is on pace to jump into the club’s all-time top 10 by the end of the season, as teammates Luis Muriel (10.76, on pace for 20.3) and Marco Pašalić (10.46, on pace for 19.8) are both in the top 30 in MLS this season. Muriel is 24th, and Pašalić is 27th. Orlando City is the only team in the league with three players in the top 30, or really the top 27 (shout out to my son, for whom 27 is his favorite number).

One last point on Ojeda: if we were to extrapolate his performance through 18 games to 38 games, his season game score would bump up to 29.6. Why did I choose 38? Well, 38 happens to be the number of games played in the world’s most popular league, England’s Premier League. I am well aware that the Premier League is a different level of competition than MLS, but just for fun I ran the numbers on the 2024-2025 Premier League season, and a season-long game score of 29.6 would coincidentally also rank Ojeda fourth in England, right behind Cole Palmer (29.7) and in front of Alexander Isak (29.2). I do not think Ojeda would actually finish fourth if he was in the Premier League, but my point is more that the frequency of Ojeda’s contributions for Orlando City thus far this season have been similar to that of Palmer for Chelsea and Isak for Newcastle, which is pretty heady company.

Speaking of heady, we also need to talk about the player who is leading Orlando City in aerial duel wins, Alex Freeman. Heady, aerial duels…you got the segue, right? Don’t answer that.

Freeman has been on a rocket ship in the last year, going from Orlando City B starter to Orlando City starter to U.S. Men’s National Team starter, and he likely will also be the MLS All-Star Game starter, too. My mention of his leading the team in aerial duel wins, while noteworthy, was really just a convenient way to cut over to talking about him and his season-long game score of 8.1.

According to Opta’s positional tracking, only two MLS defenders have accumulated game scores of more than six thus far this season — Philadelphia’s Kai Wagner at 6.88 and Freeman’s 8.1. The extrapolation machine says 8.1 through 18 games puts Freeman on pace for a final score of 15.2, which would be the second best performance by an MLS defender since tracking began in 2018. Freeman is going to miss at least a few more games due to being with the U.S. team during the Gold Cup, so that 15.2 will likely not happen, but wow, what a great first half of a season for Orlando City’s right back.

Going back to the Premier League for comparative context…actually, please sit down and buckle up first. Are you good? Ok.

Going back to the Premier League for comparative context, there is none. Freeman’s performance blows away every defender’s from that league. It will likely surprise few that the defender with the best season game score in the Premier League this season was Trent Alexander-Arnold, who accumulated a score of 13.5 during Liverpool’s championship run. That 13.5 was 15% better than the defender who finished in second place, and yet, if we extrapolate Freeman to 38 games, he would be on pace for 17.0, which is 26% better than Alexander-Arnold. Mind the gap.

Once again, I do not mean to say that Freeman is as skilled or would contribute like Alexander-Arnold did in the Premier League. It is instead that Freeman’s contributions to Orlando City’s offense are unlike that from any defenders in the Premier League. Freeman’s performance thus far this season places him 43rd in the overall MLS rankings, first among defenders, and ahead of strikers such as Christian Benteke, Emmanuel Latte Lath, and Brandon Vazquez. He ranks fourth on Orlando City, and the Lions are not only the only club with three players in the top 30, but also the only club with four players in the top 45.

Two teams had four players in the top 45 during the 2024 MLS season, and one of them was the LA Galaxy, the eventual MLS Cup champions. I am not saying that Orlando City having four players in the top 45 this season means they will win MLS Cup, but I am not not saying it either. I am saying I would like it to happen though, and saying that loudly and clearly.

The game score metric is not the be-all, end-all of measuring offensive prowess, but I think it does a good job of creating a ranking system where the eye test matches the math. Most fans would point to Ojeda as the player who has driven Orlando City’s offense more than any other this season, and being that the team is on pace to have one of the best, if not the best, goal-scoring seasons in the club’s MLS history, it should track that Ojeda is also on pace to have one of the best, if not the best, individual offensive seasons in the club’s MLS history as well.

There are 16 more MLS games to go, and the great thing about sports is that in any game anything can happen, and that is why we love to watch. It is awesome that all three Designated Players and Freeman are off to great starts, but nothing is guaranteed for the back half of the season. That’s why they play the games, as the saying goes. For all we know, Ramiro Enrique could come on like gangbusters in the final games and rip off double-digit goals to end as the team’s leading scorer.

Ramiro, this is a bold strategy, and I am on board for it. The more goals the merrier. Feel free to bring us fans some goals for Christmas in July.

Orlando City does not have a game this weekend, with next match coming June 25 on the road in St. Louis. Winning that game would give the Lions their third winning streak of the season and would be something I would very much like, since I will be doling out the grades for that game. And since I have been writing about the offense this week, how about three goals and three points?

Vamos Orlando!

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