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Orlando City’s Play (Finally) Demands Respect

Published

6 years ago

August 1, 2020

It’s safe to say that Orlando City fans were split between those who were more optimistic than everyone else about the Lions’ chances in the MLS is Back Tournament and those who were less optimistic than everyone else about the Lions’ chances in the MLS is Back Tournament. After all, we’ve all been hurt before.

We were optimistic entering the league under Adrian Heath. Most of us felt an MLS Cup-winning coach like Jason Kreis could help the team take a step forward. Many believed James O’Connor was the best young coach available and the team could grow along with him in the game. Well, none of that actually worked out.

Oscar Pareja’s hiring gave Orlando City fans hope but it was a guarded hope. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me four times, well…[/drinks bleach]. Some moves were made in the off-season which were generally met with nods of approval but only the addition of Peruvian international goalkeeper Pedro Gallese seemed like a “big” move.

So it’s understandable that Orlando entered MLS is Back as an underdog. We didn’t know what to expect exactly, but when Group A still had six teams in it and Orlando had matches against two expansion clubs, there was optimism that a trip to the knockout rounds was possible, if not precisely a given. Then a couple of teams pulled out due to coronavirus infections, MLS shuffled the groups, and the Lions’ road got tougher.

An emotional win over new “rival” Inter Miami CF brought more optimism. Then Gallese put his full range of skills on display against New York City FC, and suddenly the Lions were through the group stage after only two matches. Next came a draw against a good Philadelphia side in which Orlando spent stretches looking very much like the better side and City had captured Group A.

“The game rewarded them because they were the best team on the field.” – Oscar Pareja on his Lions vs. LAFC

But people around the league weren’t buying any stock in Orlando City, and why would they? The Lions had proven nothing. And a slim 1-0 win over Montreal in the Round of 16 did nothing to change that perception. Pundits spoke of Orlando as a team that was starting to improve, and rightfully pointing at Pareja for the club looking competent at last, but the team was still not seen as a “good” team.

NBC Sports’ preview of the quarterfinals ran with the headline, “LAFC favorites to reach MLS is Back semis; who joins them?” While the piece itself called the match “intriguing,” it did not make it seem like anything other than a formality before LAFC moved on to the semis. Meanwhile, ESPN wants to know if Orlando City is for real.

“Probably that’s a good tool to use, [but] our players don’t need it,” Pareja said when asked if he motivates his players by playing the underdog card. “They know where they’re going and I’m very sure that they know who they are and that’s what is important. What others think about them is irrelevant at this moment because we are in our building mode and that’s what I feel. They’re just going and moving forward. Obviously in soccer there’s many people who want to say things and if we’re not the favorites to win, well then we accept that. It’s normal, but we will continue to improve and one day we will be.”

But those who watched Friday night’s match saw something beyond intriguing. Orlando was the better side for just about the entire game — particularly in the first half. The exception to that came after LAFC had scored and Orlando was forced to chase the game. But don’t take my word for it. That’s exactly what Pareja said and both Nani and Joao Moutinho echoed that in Friday’s press conference.

“The game rewarded them because they were the best team on the field,” he said.

The Lions built a 7-0 advantage in shots in the opening 45 minutes against the most explosive offense in MLS, and didn’t bunker to do it. In fact, they played toe-to-toe with the MLS heavyweights. The second half started similarly and, in fact, it seemed Orlando would finally take its deserved lead in the 57th minute on a penalty won by speedy fullback Ruan and taken by team captain Nani — a guy who had previously scored on a must-make penalty in a Champions League final.

The captain left his penalty where LAFC goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer could reach it and, shortly after that, Sebas Mendez made the defensive third turnover that the Lions had done so well to avoid all night, handing LAFC a 1-0 lead on a transition goal by Bradley Wright-Phillips on his team’s first shot. Trailing, Orlando was forced to open up a bit and that led to LAFC getting more opportunities.

“We are trying to make a statement here. We are trying to show the other teams that we are coming out here to play and to impose our game on them.” – Joao Moutinho

That’s when Gallese again showed why he was a worthy off-season acquisition, turning Diego Rossi — MLS is Back’s leading scorer — aside multiple times to keep the deficit at just one. The Lions began to run out of gas — and healthy starters, with Robin Jansson joining Chris Mueller on the bench — as time wound down. But the hallmark of this team since joining MLS is late-game heroics. Sometimes for, but just as often against. The 2020 version, under Pareja, looked for the former and found it.

Ruan sent a deadly cross in for Santiago Patino, forcing Tristan Blackmon to make an emergency sliding challenge. He kept the ball from Patino’s foot in front of goal, but conceded a corner. Nani delivered a perfect back-post ball and Moutinho beat Jordan Harvey to it, heading home against his old team and sending the game to a penalty shootout.

“We want to be the protagonists, it doesn’t matter who we are up against,” Moutinho said. “We knew that they had a great team. They have very good forwards and midfielders but we also knew that we had great energy, starting with our front line pressing them from the get-go. We are trying to make a statement here. We are trying to show the other teams that we are coming out here to play and to impose our game on them.”

While that might have been heartbreaking for LAFC supporters, it was the least the Lions deserved for the performance. Sure, they needed to be sharper in front of goal, but they did so many things well that to not at least have a chance to move on would have been an unjust ending.

Pareja has a word for his players when they take the field — the one Moutinho used in the above quote: “protagonist,” meaning the main character of the story. You hear it repeatedly in every press conference from both Papi and his players. He wants his team to be the game’s protagonists. To achieve this, he asks his players to express themselves with intensity and focus. You don’t get much more focused than a perfect five-for-five performance in a nervy penalty shootout with the semifinals on the line. In fact, three of Orlando’s five shooters were defenders. All of them picked their spot well and hit their penalty with authority.

“We kept fighting. Our team was amazing,” Nani said. “Every player who was on the field. It was fantastic — the determination, the quality of football we put on the field, the courage, the desire to win. I think we deserved at the end (that) we scored a goal because of everything we put on the field and obviously on the penalty kicks we put more concentration, we put more determination, and the best team won the game.”

When Nani connected with the final kick of the match, everyone talked about Orlando “stunning” LAFC and the word “upset” found its way into every match recap and nearly every headline. And when you look at the talent across the board and the recent history of the two sides, it was exactly that. But if you watched the match, it wasn’t an upset at all. Orlando went out onto the field and earned that appearance in the semifinals.

“Give respect to (our) football.” – Nani

LAFC can point to having shorter rest — a legit gripe, perhaps — but the Lions were the ones who appeared more out of gas in the 80th minute. Gallese was forced to make vital saves in the 81st and 88th minutes and LAFC looked more likely to score a second and kill the game than Orlando did to go on and tie it up at that point. But the Lions reached down into their reserves and mounted one more attack, with perhaps the last of Ruan’s energy to get forward. Orlando executed, and here we are.

“I would like to say, pay attention to our team with good eyes — good eyes — and give respect to the football,” Nani said after the match. “Because we’ve been working hard and we’re going to continue to work hard just to play our football and try to improve. We are a team who are improving our football, but to respect our football is very important.”

He’s not wrong. Pareja has this team playing well-organized soccer and the Lions — to a man — believe they belong on the field with anyone. You could see it in Kyle Smith’s perfect penalty. In Patino’s diagonal run to try to get onto Ruan’s cross. In Nani’s excellent cross for the tying assist and steely nerves to bury the decisive penalty.

These are the new Lions. They may not win this tournament. But if this year’s Orlando City finally makes the MLS Cup playoffs (if there’s a continuation to the regular season), it should surprise absolutely no one at this point. Orlando has earned that much with its 3-0-2 July.

“They were patient in the difficult moments and I want to highlight that,” Pareja said about Friday’s performance. “That’s the heart of the team and the club. We want to share that with our fans and the people who are just starting to believe and the people who have believed in us all the time. We’re ready to move forward.”

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

July 22, 2026

Michael Citro

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

Our most recent PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match.

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!

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

July 14, 2026

Michael Citro

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.

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

April 22, 2026

Michael Citro

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.