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

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4 years ago

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Orlando City is unbeaten in four straight, although you might not know that if you judged the team solely by fan reaction on social media after last night’s 1-1 home draw vs. Atlanta United. Hyperbolic statements about the team playing its worst game under Oscar Pareja are neither accurate, nor fair. The fact is that the Lions created sufficient chances to easily blow Atlanta United off the field but simply struggled to convert them, and still would have won if not for a careless and unnecessary turnover in the 92nd minute. Missed chances happen to every team in soccer. Yes, even Bayern Munich (once in a while).

Playing five matches in 15 days, there’s going to be a lack of sharpness somewhere and so it was with the final ball on Saturday night, even though chance creation wasn’t an issue. On the other end, Orlando didn’t give Atlanta United many opportunities in the penalty area, but the Five Stripes were able to finish one of them and that was enough to get a wildly undeserved result.

Let’s get to the individual performances.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7 — El Pulpo could do nothing about Adam Jahn’s powerful header into the bottom corner from close range. It was textbook. It was hit squarely, accurately, with power, and he bounced it right in front of the goal line to add to the difficulty. Gallese made five saves and none of them looked particularly difficult because his positioning was good. He did make one unconventional save on a shot from distance through traffic that he didn’t appear to see until the last second, but he had a strong hand and managed to knock the rebound out of a dangerous area. He did well to get his hand to a high cross to throw off the back-side attacker on a set piece in the 22nd minute. His passing accuracy of 58.8% suffered from Atlanta forcing him to go long more often than usual.

D, Kamal Miller, 5 — Up until the 92nd minute, the Canadian had a solid, if unspectacular match. He was able to get forward into the attack more often than he did on Wednesday, but still finished without a single cross and was only 1/4 on long balls. His passing accuracy of 76% wasn’t great and that included a pass right to Emerson Hyndman in the second minute of stoppage time that started the sequence for the tying goal. It’s unclear why Miller went up the middle in that situation with his teammates pointing him left, toward the sideline. Miller was also on the wrong side of the end of that play, failing to deal with Jahn. He was aware of Jahn and ran with him, but he didn’t pressure him before the jump to disrupt the timing or even jump himself. Yes, he was culpable in two ways on the tying goal but the draw isn’t solely on Miller, who contributed a tackle, three interceptions, a clearance, and a team-high six aerials won.

D, Robin Jansson, 7 — With a 92% passing rate, 6/7 long ball accuracy, six clearances, four interceptions, and a tackle, the beefy Swede was his usual self. He did combine with Antonio Carlos to get beat by Jahn in the 81st minute for a good scoring chance as the Atlanta striker split the Orlando center backs and was first to the ball, but Gallese was in position to save it.

D, Antonio Carlos, 6 — The defender passed at just an 80.7% rate, which is a bit below his usual standard, but he did win three aerials and contributed a tackle, two interceptions, and four clearances. He allowed himself to get pulled out of position just after halftime, leading to a scoring chance for Cubo Torres when his teammates failed to cover him positionally, and he have done better with a free header on a set piece in the 40th minute, but he pushed the shot wide.

D, Ruan, 6 — One thing Ruan continues to show is that for all the speed and quick movement he provides, he’s a terrible shooter and too many of his crosses don’t reach the target. If he can improve either of those, he’ll be a phenomenal right back. His 87.5% passing wasn’t bad last night, nor was his long ball accuracy (3/4), but he managed to connect on only one of four crosses and he missed the target badly from a good position in the 95th minute with the game on his foot. His two tackles and three interceptions were helpful, and he did well to clean up messes defensively all night, until the 92nd minute, when he allowed Jake Mulraney too much time and space to send in a cross on the tying goal. He turned down an opportunity to take on a defender on the sideline that could have set up a potential 2-v-1 break to seal the game late, instead opting to shield the ball so it could slowly roll out for a throw-in. That was an ultra-conservative move in a relatively low-risk and supremely high-reward situation and fatigue may have played a role in that decision.

MF, Uri Rosell, 7.5 (MotM) — I don’t know how Uri does it, but for the fifth time in 15 days, the Spaniard put in a phenomenal blue collar shift. He led all Lions with eight tackles to go along with three interceptions, a clearance, and a blocked shot. He was a 90% passer who completed nine of his 10 long balls. He helped steer Atlanta’s attack to the wide areas and kept the Five Stripes from posing any danger up the middle. I’m breaking my three-way tie in final scoring and giving my Man of the Match to a guy who simply doesn’t get enough credit for Orlando City’s success this season.

MF, Sebas Mendez, 5 — Mendez had a bit of a rough night in terms of providing his usual quality. He flubbed his lines badly on his first two shots — wasting a good cross in space in the fourth minute by popping up his shot badly and scuffing his second opportunity around the half-hour mark. He would have scored on his third shot if not for a great save by Brad Guzan in the 34th minute. He committed five fouls — picking up a yellow for persistent infringement — and some of those were simply unnecessary, like the one that set up a dangerous Atlanta free kick in just the eighth minute. But he also did a lot well, passing at a 97% rate and getting into those three good scoring positions in the first place, recording two tackles, an interception and a key pass, and earning two free kicks.

MF, Chris Mueller, 7.5 — Cash was a threat throughout the first half, more with his passing than his shooting. Although his second half wasn’t as good, that’s true of the entire team. His passing was good (93.1%) and he created two scoring chances, but it seemed like more than that. His outside-in cross for a Benji Michel scoring chance was sublime and deserved to be an assist. He scuffed his shot a bit in the 17th minute but still forced a save by Guzan. He fired two shots (one on target), completed three dribbles, and drew four free kicks — one of which should have been allowed to play on when Daryl Dike was entering the box in full control of the ball. He made one interception and one tackle, and worked with Dike and Michel to force several bad balls from Guzan.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 7 — It was a deceptively quiet night for the Uruguayan. He made a lot of small plays all night that combined together to form a good overall performance. He made four tackles and two interceptions to win the ball back, created two good scoring chances, and finished with 80% passing (5/6 on long balls, 1/2 on crosses). But he also made a lot of intricate little plays to retain possession when put into a bad spot by his teammates, with some nifty little outside-in flicks between two onrushing defenders to keep the play alive. It’s fun watching Pereyra play the game.

MF, Benji Michel, 7.5 — My triumvirate of 7.5 scores finishes with Michel. Although rewarded by our readers for scoring a goal Wednesday night in an otherwise objectively poor overall performance, it’s only fair to call out how good he was last night despite not really knowing much about the goal he scored in first-half stoppage time until the ball was right on top of him. That’s not to say that he simply “got hit with the ball,” which is perhaps how I described it last night, because I’ve had time to watch the play several more times and it’s clear he directed it intentionally and well played for doing so, even though it might have gone in off him anyway. Good reflexes there by Michel. He was also an 85% passer, created three scoring chances, and made a clearance on the defensive end. The only blemish on his night was getting only one of his four shot attempts on frame, because he was set up nicely multiple times. One of those hit the crossbar and I’m not convinced he wasn’t fouled while he was shooting. There were a couple he should have done better with and a couple opportunities where no shot came because he showed a bit too much of the ball or was closed down from behind. He had three unstable touches, which is six fewer than Wednesday, so that’s an improvement. His overall touch was better, but he was still dispossessed three times, so he must improve shielding the ball from defenders.

F, Daryl Dike, 6 — The big man didn’t get either of his shots on target but one still went in because he smashed it right at Michel. His movement was good and he occupied defenders well. But the night was marred by five unstable touches to lead all Lions and he was dispossessed twice and his 56.4% passing, albeit only on 11 attempts. He chipped in one tackle and helped pressure Guzan into mistakes all night.

Substitutes

MF, Andres Perea (57’), 5 — Perea came on for Dike, pushing Michel up into the striker role. He finished with a tackle and a blocked shot but completed just four of his six passes (66.7%). The youngster had a moment or two of hesitation, which broke down some promising attacks, as Pereyra sent one through ball to where he should have gone but he didn’t read the play correctly and stopped at the top of the area.

F, Tesho Akindele (72’), 4.5 — He wasn’t on the pitch that long, but Akindele contributed no shot attempts or key passes and had three unstable touches, completing just three of his five passes and managing only 10 total touches. I think he was on the field long enough to contribute more than that.

MF, Nani (72’), 6.5 — The captain managed 15 touches in the same amount of time on the pitch as Akindele and he also created a scoring chance and hit the post on a gorgeous free kick that was inches from putting the game away in the 80th minute. His pass to Ruan in the 95th minute should have turned into an assist but the right back missed the target. His passing rate wasn’t great (72.7%) but he was able to keep the ball out of harm’s way even when he didn’t connect and a couple of those were on some of his younger teammates for not going where he expected them to be. He contributed an interception as well.

MF, Junior Urso (72’), 6 — The Bear did his thing, with 85.7% passing and two tackles in his time on the pitch. He had one shot on target but had to go up high for a bouncing ball and he didn’t get all of it, allowing the defense time to swoop in and clear it off the line before it could go in after Nani’s free kick hit the woodwork.

D, Kyle Smith (84’), N/A — Kyle came on as the team shifted to five at the back but wasn’t on the field long enough to truly grade. He had only four touches but all four ended up as passes and all of them were complete. The switch to five at the back was actually working quite well in helping the Lions see out the final moments until Miller made his wayward pass.

That’s how I saw the individual performances in a draw that felt more like a loss to fans and the players alike. Vote for your Man of the Match in the poll below and let us know where your opinion differs.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Pedro Gallese3
Robin Jansson4
Uri Rosell24
Chris Mueller12
Mauricio Pereyra1
Benji Michel6
Other5

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2024 Orlando City Season in Review: Wilder Cartagena

The midfielder helped Orlando City own the center of the field throughout the majority of the 2024 season.

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16 hours ago

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December 22, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City initially acquired midfielder Wilder Cartagena on loan through the 2022 MLS season. After a successful end of the year, the club exercised the option to extend the loan through the 2023 season. He became a key player in the starting lineup for the Lions that season, resulting in the club signing him to a permanent deal through the 2025 season on Dec. 14, 2024. The Peruvian midfielder built a powerhouse partnership with fellow midfielder César Araújo, forming what may have been the best central midfield duo in all of MLS during the 2024 season.

Let’s take a look back at Cartagena’s season with Orlando City.

Statistical Breakdown

Cartagena participated in all four of the competitions Orlando City played in during 2024, playing primarily in his normal central defensive midfielder role but also filling in as center back for around seven games worth of minutes (631). Despite playing in a brand new position for approximately 20% of his total minutes, Cartagena ended up leading the team in plus-minus for the season, finishing +22 across all competitions, meaning the Lions were much better with him on the pitch than they were when he wasn’t.

In MLS regular-season play, the Peruvian international appeared in 27 matches, starting 25 and playing 2,192 minutes. He only recorded one goal contribution on the season, an assist, though he took 24 shots, putting eight on target. He completed 89% of his passes with 16 key passes, one successful cross, and 25 completed long balls. On the defensive side, he recorded 76 tackles, 20 interceptions, 42 clearances, and nine blocks. He committed a team-leading 48 fouls, suffered 28 fouls, and received seven yellow cards and one red card, which he picked up after the conclusion of the game against Minnesota United. Coincidentally, his red card suspension and his one-game ban for yellow card accumulation each resulted in him missing a regular-season game against Atlanta United — both were Orlando losses.

During the MLS playoffs, Cartagena started all five matches, playing 431 minutes with no goals or assists. He took two shots, placing one on target, and he completed 87.2% of his passes with a single key pass. Defensively, he recorded nine tackles, four interceptions, 11 clearances, and one block. He drew eight fouls and committed nine, and he was booked twice, with both being yellow cards.

Cartagena played in all four Concacaf Champions Cup matches, starting every game and playing 315 minutes. He did not take any shots, so he did not score any goals, and he didn’t contribute any assists either. He completed 86.6% of his passes, including four key passes. Defensively, he tallied eight tackles, five interceptions, four clearances, and one block, and he committed three fouls, while suffering five. He was booked twice, earning two yellow cards.

During Leagues Cup play, Cartagena started all three games, playing the full 270 minutes with zero goal contributions. He took three shots, placing one on target, and completed 92.1% of his passes, but with zero key passes. He added three tackles, three interceptions, four clearances, and one block on defense, and he committed three fouls and drew one. Unlike in the other three competitions, in Leagues Cup play he did not receive any cards.

Best Game

While Cartagena only had one goal contribution for the season, the positions he played do not lend themselves to being able to use the commonly cited stats like goals and assists to evaluate which game was the finest. That said, I think the one game in which Cartagena had an assist was his finest performance, but the assist was only the cherry on top of an outstanding game all over the field by the Peruvian midfielder, as his performance helped lead the Lions to a dominant 5-0 victory over D.C. United on March 9.

Cartagena completed 77 of his 81 passes (95.1%), and while any game with that many completed passes and that high of a completion percentage would be excellent, it was the types of passes that he completed that really set this game ahead of all of his other performances. He completed 22 of those 77 passes into the attacking third of the field, meaning they were attacking balls forward towards goal that went from the middle or defensive third into the attacking third. If 22 sounds like a lot, well, that’s because it is. There were only seven instances during MLS play in 2024 of a player completing 22 or more passes into the attacking third in a single game.

If that was not enough, Cartagena also went 11 of 12 (91.7%) on long passes (passes of at least 30 yards) on the night, one of only 24 instances during MLS play in 2024 of a midfielder completing at least 11 long passes and being successful on more than 90% of his long pass attempts.

On top of both of those stats, Cartagena also got on the score sheet for the only time all season, playing a beautiful cross from the right flank onto the head of a charging Robin Jannson, who smashed in his header and gave the Lions a 2-0 lead.

Cartagena went the full 90 in this match, contributing not only offensively but also defensively, with three tackles, four recoveries, and one clearance, and his dominance in the center of the field helped the Lions keep a clean sheet.

2024 Final Grade

The Mane Land awarded Cartagena a composite rating of 7.5 out of 10 for the 2024 season, the same as the 7.5 we gave him last season. I mentioned earlier that the team was +22 while Cartagena was on the field, and that +22 equaled a +0.62 goals per 90-minute average over his total minutes played, meaning that when Cartagena played, the Lions were nearly two-thirds of a goal better than their opponents. On the flip side, when Cartagena was off the field, the Lions were -5 for the season, which equaled a -0.48 goals per 90-minute average. The net of those two per 90-minute averages is +1.10, meaning that Orlando City was more than one goal better than its opponents when Cartagena was on the field as compared to when he was off, showing just how valuable he was to the team during the 2024 season.

2025 Outlook

I expect 2025 to look very similar to 2024 for Cartagena, as both he and his midfield partner Araujo are set to return and are completely comfortable in Head Coach Óscar Pareja’s system. The Lions also parted ways with Felipe, Jeorgio Kocevski, and Heine Gikling Bruseth, meaning that Nico Lodeiro is the only player on the roster with significant experience in the role where Cartagena usually plays, and Lodeiro is more of a supersub than a starter at this point in his career and a much more offensive minded No. 8 option than a defensive, double-pivot type. Kyle Smith and Dagur Dan Thórhallsson both have the skillset to potentially get some minutes there, and Orlando City used its first-round draft pick in the MLS SuperDraft to select midfielder Joran Gerbet from Clemson, but it should be Cartagena’s job to lose during the 2025 season, and I expect to see him on the field for the vast majority of Orlando City’s minutes.

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Top 10 Moments of 2024: Orlando City Surges to Top Four Spot in Eastern Conference

Languishing near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Lions made a massive push from June 19 onward to finish fourth in the Eastern Conference.

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18 hours ago

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December 22, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

As we count down to the new year of 2025 — which will be Orlando City’s 11th in MLS, the Orlando Pride’s ninth in the NWSL, and OCB’s third in MLS NEXT Pro — and say goodbye to 2024, it’s time to look back at the club’s 10 best moments of the year as selected by The Mane Land staff via vote.

The Lions were floundering. A team that finished strong in 2023 and ended up second in the Supporters’ Shield race had bolstered the attack in the off-season by signing a Designated Player forward out of Italy’s Serie A and figured to pick up where it left off. It didn’t.

Orlando City struggled out of the gate to connect in the final third, to find a cohesive starting XI that worked well together, and to find the form with which it ended the 2023 campaign. Although the Lions swept Canadian Premier League side Cavalry FC in the first round of the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup at the onset of the season, they once again played a scoreless draw on opening day of league play, got blown out at Inter Miami, gave up a 95th-minute goal to lose at home to Minnesota, and then got knocked out of Champions Cup by Tigres before falling at Atlanta.

The team’s 0-3-1 start to the regular season was followed by two wins and two draws, pulling Orlando to 2-3-3, but that surge proved to be fool’s gold. That run preceded a late-game collapse at home against Toronto that turned a 1-0 87th-minute lead into a 2-1 loss. That loss, to a Toronto team that finished 11-19-4, turned into a home losing streak after FC Cincinnati departed Inter&Co Stadium with a 1-0 win on May 4.

A 2-0-1 surge followed, but it could only bring the Lions to 4-5-4 on the season. But again, Orlando City fans had to take the bad with the good, as the club went 0-3-1 in its next four. Two late goals by LAFC and a missed Facundo Torres penalty — the first such miss in his entire soccer careeer — produced a 3-1 home loss that left the club at just 4-8-5 at the season’s midway point. Some fans were calling for Oscar Pareja’s job; no one was happy with new Designated Player Luis Muriel’s play; and the players seemed frustrated, disjointed, and at odds with each other on the pitch.

Things looked bleak for extending the club’s four-year postseason streak to five. It seemed as if there was no way to break out of the funk the Lions were in.

But then it happened.

The team’s fortunes didn’t turn around all at once, and the turning point sure didn’t seem like one at the time. Orlando City went to Charlotte on June 19, found itself up a man, and still had to scrape by with just a 2-2 draw. Down a man, Brandt Bronico put Charlotte FC up 2-1 with 13 minutes remaining, and things looked worse than ever for the Lions, who were on the verge of falling to 4-9-5 and threatening to contend for the wooden spoon. But Torres struck in the 81st minute to bring City level on a corner kick. Was this the goal that ultimately saved Orlando City’s 2024 season?

Once tied, Orlando pushed furiously for a winner but to no avail. The single point the Lions brought home from North Carolina didn’t feel good at the time, but it was a start — the first pebble in what ultimately turned into an avalanche. A win and a loss in the next two matches didn’t seem particularly noteworthy either, but the team was starting to put things together.

After beating Chicago 4-2 on June 22 at home, the Lions nearly mounted a comeback after a disastrous first half in a 4-2 loss at New York City FC on June 28 — a game in which Orlando lost backup goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar for the rest of the season. The Lions then won four straight matches and went 4-0-1 in their final five games prior to the Leagues Cup break, entering the MLS pause at .500 with a 9-9-7 record. It had taken the team half the season to recover from the poor start, but the Lions were back in the fight.

A win and two draws in Leagues Cup, despite some international absences, kept the Lions’ momentum going. Although a flat performance in a loss at Sporting Kansas City in the MLS restart weekend didn’t help matters, it was followed by three more consecutive wins — all via shutout, with Orlando outscoring its opponents 8-0 — and six victories in seven matches. The lone loss in that seven-game stretch was a 4-3 defeat at Columbus in which a valiant comeback effort fell just short.

After that 6-1-0 run, Orlando entered Decision Day with a 15-11-7 record and a top-four spot that wasn’t spoiled by a loss in the regular-season finale to Atlanta.

The Lions’ 11-4-2 finish over the final 17 matches of the 2024 season not only pushed the team into the postseason, it also put Orlando City in position to take advantage when Miami, Columbus, and Cincinnati all faltered in the first round of the playoffs.

Because the Lions were the highest remaining seed in the postseason, once Orlando City won its best-of-three, first-round series against Charlotte, it had home field priority for the remainder of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Lions hosted Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinal and knocked their rivals out of the postseason in a tight defensive battle in which the Five Stripes hardly troubled goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. Orlando advanced to the Eastern Conference final for the first time, hosting the New York Red Bulls.

Although Orlando faltered in that conference final, which is not the result we (or the Lions) wanted, City put itself in the best possible position to reach the MLS Cup final by finding the right blend of chemistry, form, and grit in the season’s second half.

The Lions came closer to MLS Cup in 2024 than ever before, thanks to the team’s second-half surge. As such, that surge is a worthy inclusion in the list of the club’s top moments of the year, and a great way to kick off our annual series of the club’s most memorable accomplishments and events.

Come back through New Year’s Eve as we count down the remainder of Orlando City’s top 10 moments of 2024.

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Opinion

Three Orlando City Games to Watch in 2025

Here are three intriguing matches in the 2025 Orlando City season.

Published

2 days ago

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December 21, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Major League Soccer provided a last-minute stocking stuffer for North American soccer fans when it dropped the 2025 season schedule six days before Christmas. It feels like the Orlando City season just wrapped (as is often the case when a team makes a deep run in the playoffs), and yet now we can spend the next few “winter” weeks meticulously breaking down the matchups as training camp is just around the corner. My fellow staff writers at The Mane Land can attest that I have a horrible case of scoreboard-watching from Matchweek 1 of the regular season on, and that obsession starts now with my top three games to watch in 2025.

Friday, July 25 — at Columbus Crew

As the final match of three games in 10 days and the last match of July, the first meeting against perennial the Eastern Conference powerhouse Columbus Crew should serve as a great measuring stick for fans and pundits to assess where the Orlando City season stands heading into the final third of the season. Traditionally speaking, over the last few years, late July into early August is the time frame when Head Coach Oscar Pareja’s teams have caught fire.

If that historical trend holds, then I expect Orlando City to hit Columbus in strong form, once again looking to secure a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference. While it is hard to predict what rosters will look like by then, as there have been reports and rumors of both stars and Head Coach Wilfried Nancy’s possible departure circulating. However, it is difficult to imagine Columbus slipping much, as the club has established a winning culture and has a knack for finding and signing outstanding players like Lucas Zelarayan and Cucho Hernandez. A matchup between the Crew and Lions at that point of the season could serve as a marquee event for MLS in 2025.

Saturday, Feb. 22 — vs. Philadelphia Union

There are two things I know to be true when it comes to Orlando City soccer. First, Orlando City has kicked off every MLS regular season in front of its home fans — a unique trend that I was excited to see continue in 2025. The second thing that I know is that Orlando City is unbeaten in season openers (3-0-7). In 2025, Orlando City welcomes the Philadelphia Union to Inter&Co Stadium and the unbeaten record will be on the line once again. The Union will be the seventh different opening day opponent for the Lions in 11 seasons.

What makes this matchup particularly interesting is that this will be the first time in Orlando City history that they will face the Union without now-former head coach Jim Curtin. One of the longest-tenured head coaches in MLS at the time, Curtin parted ways with the Union at the end of the 2024 season. Often I find myself in the “managers don’t make a large difference” camp when it comes to the outcome of matches, but to look back at what Curtin did with Philadelphia, its academy, and modest roster spending can only be viewed as wildly successful. Orlando will try to start its season off on the right foot, while a new Union manager will be looking to start his tenure in Philly with a road victory. Something will have to give, and I am going to put my money on Orlando winning the day.

Saturday, April 12 — vs. New York Red Bulls

While the first opportunity to exact revenge over the club that eliminated the Lions from the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs will happen roughly a month earlier on the road, the true opportunity to stick it to the Red Bulls in front of a home crowd has to be my most anticipated match of 2025. A lot has been said about rivalries in MLS. Some seem manufactured, and some come down to genuine hatred, but I firmly believe that for the time being our squad’s biggest rival is the one that ended Orlando City’s season one game short of the championship match.

It seems a little strange to me that the Lions will wrap up their season series with the Red Bulls just eight games into the year (so much for spacing out some matchups), but Orlando City will look to pounce on the Red Bulls early on and would likely love nothing more than to take all six points from the team that ended its MLS Cup hopes before the calendar even hits Memorial Day.

Those are the top three matches I have circled on my calendar. Let us know in the comments below which matches you’re most excited about and which matches you think will carry the most significance in 2025. As always, vamos Orlando!

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