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Orlando City vs. LAFC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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4 years ago

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It was a match that Orlando City wasn’t supposed to win, and it didn’t. However, the club did advance past LAFC on penalty kicks 1-1 (5-4) into the semifinals of the MLS is Back Tournament. LAFC is a powerhouse club in MLS, and after defeating the Seattle Sounders in the Round of 16, most expected last year’s Supporters Shield winners to keep rolling on. Óscar Pareja and Orlando City didn’t get that message.

The Lions held LAFC to eight shots (none in the first half), five shots on target, and only one goal. Orlando City pressed LAFC, and never backed down. The Lions were able to break LAFC’s lines time and again to keep LAFC from getting into its usual rhythm. Even though it seemed to be for naught when LAFC went up a goal, the Cardiac Cats reeled them back in and ultimately advanced on kicks.

Let’s look at how Orlando City’s players did individually in what might be the club’s biggest “win” in the MLS era.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7.5 — El Pulpo made four saves. His positioning was good, even on LAFC’s goal where he didn’t really have a chance. Bradley Wright-Phillips slipped in between defenders as he has done so many times in the past. His distribution was good, and he directed his back line effectively. While he wasn’t challenged as much as one might have expected, he did just enough to help Orlando City, making three big stops on Diego Rossi and a late one to deny Jordan Harvey. If not for El Pulpo, the Lions wouldn’t have had a chance to hang around and tie things up late. 

D, João Moutinho, 7.5 (MotM) — The young defender made the most out of his appearance against his former club. Moutinho was integral on both ends of the pitch. While he did commit two fouls, neither resulted in a goal for the opposition. He had three tackles, two clearances, and two blocked shots on defense. João attempted 43 passes and had a 75.6% passing rate. Most importantly, he scored the header to draw Orlando City even in the 90th minute off Nani’s corner kick. He also put in his shot during the penalty kicks to help the Lions advance past his former club. 

D, Antonio Carlos, 7 — Carlos put in a solid effort, though he was one of the players that wasn’t able to stop Bradley Wright-Phillips. He made six interceptions, two clearances, and committed one foul. Carlos attempted 42 passes and had a 71.4% passing rate. He put in a dangerous header off of a corner in the 27th minute, but it was pushed over the crossbar. It was another solid outing from the young center back, as he continues to prove he deserves to start. He also made his shot during the penalty shootout. 

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — Jansson is leading the defense of Orlando City as well as anyone in recent memory. He had four interceptions, four clearances, and committed no fouls. Jansson attempted 20 passes at a 70% passing rate. He seemed to get caught in no man’s land on the LAFC goal, but Wright-Phillips was behind him and he was playing what was in front of him. In the 78th minute, he went up for a header and was injured on the way down. Jansson seemed to get a knock to his stomach, and also a cramp in his leg. He came off in the 80th minute. It’s important to keep in mind that Jansson and the defense held LAFC to eight shots, and five on target. 

D, Ruan, 7 — Ruan created his usual havoc for the opposition as he ranged up and down the right side. On defense he had three tackles, two clearances, and two fouls. Ruan attempted 43 passes and had a 73.2% passing rate. He did earn a yellow card in the ninth minute, but it didn’t affect his play. He also suffered three fouls including the penalty in the 55th minute to give Orlando an opportunity to go ahead. 

MF, Sebas Mendez, 5.5 — Mendez started in place of Junior Urso, and despite a few slip-ups it was a pretty good game for the midfielder. He had made three tackles, two interceptions, and committed three fouls. He attempted 43 passes and had a 93% passing rate. Mendez had one shot blocked in the 29th minute, as he waited too long to get it off and was closed down. He committed a foul in the 40th minute to set up an LAFC free kick, and, most importantly, he gave the ball away in the 60th minute in Orlando’s half. That giveaway resulted in LAFC’s goal. 

MF, Oriol Rosell, 6 — Uri put in his usual solid shift. On defense he had one tackle, and committed two fouls. Offensively he had one shot in the 53rd from top of the box, but the ball sailed over the crossbar. Rosell came off in the 71st minute after another workmanlike effort. 

MF, Chris Mueller, 5.5 — Cash never had much of a chance to really get going, as he was fouled early on, and obviously injured his shoulder. Despite that, he stayed on to finish the half, before subbing out. He suffered a total of three fouls, and made one interception. He also won a corner kick. Mueller attempted 12 passes with a 66.7% passing rate. 

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6 — Pereyra was once again a key player in the Lions’ offense. He took most of the corners, attempted one shot, with two tackles, and committed two fouls. He attempted 46 passes with a 78.3% passing rate. In the 48th minute he earned a yellow card for an unintentional studs up challenge. He also committed an unintentional handball in LAFC’s area that stopped an Orlando City build up. Pereyra buried his attempt during the penalty kicks as Orlando’s first shooter, setting the tone.

MF, Nani, 6.5 — The captain put in a good shift, taking seven shots, with three on target, and suffered one offside call. He made one interception, once clearance, and committed two fouls. Nani attempted 45 passes with a 71.1% passing rate, and seven crosses. His shot in the 38th minute was on target but easily saved. His second biggest moment of the match was missing the penalty kick in the 57th minute. He almost forced an own goal from his cross in the 64th, and just missed to the right on a shot outside the 18 in the 73rd. As usual, he left the best for last, assisting on the equalizer and putting in the deciding penalty kick to put Orlando City through to the next round. 

F, Tesho Akindele, 5 — Tesho had a quiet night for Orlando City. He suffered one foul, made one tackle, and made one interception. He attempted 12 passes with a 66.7% passing rate, and was caught offside once. 

Substitutes

F, Benji Michel (46’), 5 — Benji came in earlier than expected due to Mueller’s injury. Defensively he made one tackle, had four interceptions, one clearance, and committed one foul. Michel attempted 12 passes with a 66.7% passing rate. He also took one shot, which sailed high and wide in stoppage time. 

F, Daryl Dike (71’), 4 — Dike made his second appearance for the Lions, coming on for Tesho. You can see the potential, but he needs more time to put it together. He missed a header in the 87th minute, and completed two passes. 

MF, Andrés Perea (71’), 5 — Perea came on for Rosell, and did well to help Orlando City press for the equalizer. He made one tackle, and attempted 11 passes with a 90.9% passing rate. He also earned a yellow card in the 86th minute. 

D, Kyle Smith (80’), 6 — Typically coming in so late in a match wouldn’t be enough time to earn a grade, but Smith made two key plays. In the 82nd minute he made a save with his head to keep the ball out of the net after Gallese’s double save. He also made his shot attempt during the penalty kicks.

F, Santiago Patiño (89’), N/A — Patiño completed two passes in very limited time.

I wasn’t kidding when I said this might be the biggest moment for Orlando City in the MLS era. I know we had the Running of the Wall, but all eyes were on this match because it was against LAFC. Very few had Orlando City advancing, including myself on The ManeLand PawedCast. I’ve never been happier to be wrong about a prediction, and I’ve had plenty of opportunities to be wrong. 

While many thought the Lions would be home by now, Orlando City fans have the luxury of enjoying the remaining quarterfinal games and waiting to see who their team will play — San Jose or Minnesota.

This is how I saw the game. How do you feel about the individual performances? Tell us by commenting and voting on the Man of the Match below.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Nani114
Robin Jansson5
João Moutinho101
Sebas Mendez46
Other2

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Orlando City

How Orlando City’s Offense Stacks Up Against What Atlanta Does Defensively

How Orlando City has performed against teams playing with three or four defenders, and how that may influence the playoff game against Atlanta United.

Published

18 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The most famous quote about real estate is that “there are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” Soccer coaches also like to think in threes, especially when it comes to points, but for a soccer coach, the three things that matter might be the rhyming triplet “formation, formation, formation,” as that is where they will have the biggest influence on every game that their team plays.

Throughout his tenure as head coach, Óscar Pareja has preferred to use a 4-2-3-1 as his formation (fbref.com’s lineup data shows that the Lions primarily played a 4-2-3-1 in 65% of their MLS matches this season, and 79% of their MLS matches during the last three seasons). The Lions have lined up in a 4-2-3-1 during each of their last 14 games, and my confidence level is strong to quite strong (can you believe Meet the Parents came out 24 years ago?) that they will do so once again on Sunday when they host Atlanta United.

Atlanta United also prefers to deploy a 4-2-3-1, but was less consistent than Orlando City this season during MLS play, as evidenced by the chart below that shows how Atlanta lined up this season:

The purpose of this image is a table to show how Atlanta United lined up in 2024 (mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but also in one of six other formations).

I am relying on the coders at Opta for their evaluation of the formation, as I do not watch a lot of Atlanta United matches (sounds terrible), but though Atlanta primarily played with four defenders in more than two-thirds of its matches, during the last two matches it played a 3-5-2, the only two matches all season in which interim coach Rob Valentino rolled out that formation. I suspect that the formation change was related partially to playing Inter Miami and trying to defend the Herons’ dynamic offense and partially due to an injury suffered by defender Brooks Lennon in the first game of that series. So, while Atlanta primarily played four in the back for most of the season, there is a good chance it will roll with what worked against Florida’s second-best MLS team when it plays Florida’s best MLS team this weekend.

Now, if you want to read more about Atlanta, then you can read our match preview, which will drop Sunday morning, but I want to look at how Orlando did against teams that play similar styles. Looking only at MLS games, the table below shows how Orlando City performed against different back line structures this season (the left side is how the Lions’ opponents lined up, the right side is how Orlando City performed against opponents in those formations):

Table embedded as an image showing Orlando City doing best in goal differential in 12 games against three-man back lines, second best against four-man back lines, and having played once against a five-man back line (a 1-1 draw).

Orlando City earned slightly more points per game — the stat that matters most — against teams that played four in the back, but the Lions had a better average goal differential when teams played three in the back. Atlanta will likely deploy one of those two formations. In both games against Orlando City this season, Sunday’s visitors went with a 4-2-3-1, but as mentioned earlier, they used three in the back in each of their last two matches, so it really could be either.

Soccer is not like baseball, where players primarily stay in the same spot throughout the game, so some of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, as players are not always rigidly in the same position throughout a match. A team may also primarily play with four in the back but switch to three when chasing a game, or five when trying to protect against a late goal.

That said, using the data around Orlando City’s opponents’ general formations, here are the attacking groups who played the most frequently against four defenders during the 24 MLS games where Opta coded the opponents as using a defensive group of four:

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy four defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus eight goal differential for the season.

It is a little ominous that the main starting group, shown in row one, has played 666 MLS minutes against back lines of four this season, but do I like that green goal differential of +8 in those minutes, which is a strong +1.08 per 90 minutes. I like that goal differential more than I like all the things that Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin like on their song that is creatively named “I Like It.” Coincidentally, when people ask me what I think about that song, I say, “I like it.” I am very creative.

If we look at the lineups that Orlando City has used against back lines of three defenders then there are some pretty major differences in personnel groupings, but it must be noted that more than half of the games against teams playing three in the back came early in the season, when Ramiro Enrique was unavailable to play. Enrique, my presumed starter at striker, has played fewer than three games’ worth of minutes (265 total) against back lines of three this season, and only 28 minutes with the main starting group, which ranks 13th among all the attacking lineups for minutes played against three defenders. That group scored one goal in their 28 minutes together though, for a robust 3.21 goals-scored-per-90-minutes average.

While the team as a whole has been successful against three-man back lines, I do not expect any of the lineups shown in the table below to play more than a few minutes together this weekend, though the first row and the last row are strong groups and had a lot of success.

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy three defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus three goal differential for the season.

I am sure that all week long the Orlando City coaching staff has been going back and forth on whether it is more likely that Atlanta reverts to its most commonly used four in the back, or if the Five Stripes try for three wins in a row with three in the back. I would prefer that Atlanta plays with zero defenders and goalkeeper Brad Guzan wears a blindfold, but I think that is unlikely to be the case.

Even though Atlanta defeated Orlando City both times while in a 4-2-3-1, based on available personnel and recent results, I believe that the team will come out in a 3-5-2 in Inter&Co Stadium in the conference semifinal. Good things come in threes, and Orlando City’s best offensive production this season has been against three defenders, so I am going to be hoping that this continues, and in the third game against Atlanta the Lions grab the three points. Three’s company!

Well, it is a playoff game, so there are no actual points at stake, but you know what I meant.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final?

Published

20 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City continues its playoff journey against Atlanta United Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions are coming off an emotional penalty shootout win over Charlotte FC in their best-of-three, first-round series. Likewise, Atlanta United stunned everyone by taking out Inter Miami to advance in its own best-of-three matchup. Now, the rivals meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

What does Orlando City need to do to get past Atlanta United to advance to the Easter Conference final?

Beat Guzan

Brad Guzan made 16 saves over Atlanta’s three matches against Inter Miami, including seven in the 3-2 win on the road in Game 3. The 40-year-old former USMNT keeper is in excellent form and is a big reason why the Five Stripes are facing Orlando City. Converting chances against Guzan will be crucial to earning a result. There have been times this season when the Lions have struggled to convert their chances. Despite that, the team has done enough offensively to get to this point. Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire, Ramiro Enrique, and others have contributed and will need to do so this weekend.

Cartagena is Essential

Orlando City lost twice to Atlanta United during the regular season. What is interesting, and perhaps relevant, is that Wilder Cartagena was out for both of those matches. Cartagena was shown a straight red in the match against Minnesota United prior to the first match against Atlanta way back in March. He was shown a yellow card in the match against FC Cincinnati and then served a yellow card accumulation suspension for the final match of the season against Atlanta. Fortunately for Orlando City, Cartagena will be available for the match this weekend. I’ve mentioned before the importance of Cartagena to Orlando City’s success. When he and Cesar Araujo are on the field together, the defense is simply better. Cartagena is frankly one of the better defensive midfielders in MLS. Atlanta scored five goals in the series against Miami, and Orlando will need to keep the visitors from having that kind of offensive success.

Overcome the Past

That darn international break in the middle of the playoffs is something I don’t love. More precisely, I don’t like it because Orlando City often struggles after a break. It would have been nice if Orlando City could have ridden the momentum from the penalty kick victory into the Atlanta match, but that’s not to be. Now is the time for Orlando City to break some bad habits, including turning around its historical lack of success against Atlanta, and tendency to struggle in the first match after a break. Oscar Pareja needs to have the players in the right frame of mind, and the players need to execute the plan. A full house of supporters can also make a difference. Given it’s a Sunday afternoon match, there’s no reason not to pack the house.

That is what I will be looking for Sunday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 11/21/24

Marta’s chance to shine in NWSL Championship, NWSL and MLS award winners announced, 2025 SheBelieves Cup details, and more.

Published

23 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’ve been spending most of this week plotting out some holiday shopping to make things a little less stressful for myself over the next few weeks. A big weekend filled with Orlando soccer awaits us, so make sure to get any errands or obligations out of the way sooner rather than later. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s NWSL Championship between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, including Marta’s opportunity to put an exclamation point on what has been an excellent season for the Pride. Orlando has been enjoying the fruits of its labor this season after a rebuild over the past few years that’s included plenty of change in the City Beautiful. Marta has been a constant, however, enduring some difficult seasons since joining the Pride and adapting her game She’s scored in both of the Pride’s playoff games so far and has a chance to author a storybook ending on Saturday.

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was named 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, beating out the Pride’s Anna Moorhouse and Utah Royals FC’s Mandy Haught for the honor. It was Berger’s first year in the NWSL and she’s the first European player to win the award. She only conceded 16 goals across her 22 matches for Gotham this season and was a key reason behind her team’s success. I’m not too surprised that Moorhouse did not win, considering how solid the Pride’s defense was as a whole, but this won’t take anything away from a record-breaking season for her.

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

Columbus Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy was voted 2024 MLS Coach of the Year after a historic season in which the Crew set club records in both points and goals. The Crew also won the Leagues Cup this summer and their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign included advancing past Tigres and Monterrey en route to the final. This is Nancy’s first time being named Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the award every year since 2021. The Frenchman received 40.02% of the vote, winning the award over Inter Miami’s Gerardo Martino and Colorado Rapids Head Coach Chris Armas.

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

The 10th annual SheBelieves Cup will take place next year and the tournament will return to its usual format where each of the four teams plays each other once. The United States Women’s National Team will host Japan, Colombia, and Australia in February in what should be an exciting tournament. The U.S. will take on Colombia on Feb. 20 in Houston before facing Australia in Arizona on Feb. 23 and finishing the tournament on Feb. 26 against Japan at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. These games will also be the first domestic games of 2025 for the USWNT as it prepares to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

FC Dallas announced that Eric Quill will become the team’s next head coach. Quill joins Dallas after a great year with New Mexico United that included trips to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and USL Championship Western Conference semifinals. It’s also a reunion of sorts for Quill, as he previously coached North Texas SC and was named USL League One Coach of the Year with the club in 2019. Dallas missed out on the playoffs this season, with Peter Luccin coaching the team on an interim basis after the firing of Nico Estevez in June.

Free Kicks

  • District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser challenged Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to a bet involving this weekend’s NWSL Championship, with embarrassing lightshows on the line.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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