Orlando City

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

Published

4 years ago

September 6, 2020

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

Player	Votes
Pedro Gallese	3
Robin Jansson	4
Uri Rosell	24
Chris Mueller	12
Mauricio Pereyra	1
Benji Michel	6
Other	5

Related Topics:Player Grades SBN_migrated

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Orlando City

Orlando City’s 2024 Offensive Blueprint (So Far)

An evaluation of how Orlando City has been trying to score goals in 2024.

Published

12 hours ago

July 25, 2024

S. Andrew DeSalvo

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Jay-Z released one of my all-time favorite albums, The Blueprint, in 2001. With apologies to him, and his track on that album called “Girls, Girls, Girls,” what we as fans want are goals, goals, goals, and we want our team to score as many of them as possible. In this article I will explore Orlando City’s attacking style — some might say their attacking…blueprint — thus far this season and evaluate how the Lions have been trying create those goals we do adore.

All right, now that we have pushed the limit on puns and wordplay about that album, let’s look at some numbers related to Orlando City’s offense. First, let’s start with the direction of play, because Orlando City has a very clear plan of attack in 2024, and it involves the left side. According to the tracking from whoscored.com, Orlando City attacks down the left side on nearly half of its possessions.

No team in MLS favors one side of the field as frequently as Orlando City’s 45% on the left side, and it is interesting that it is so high down the left because Facundo Torres, generally regarded as the squad’s most creative and dangerous player, plays most frequently on the right side of the field. I think there are three primary reasons for the left side favoritism:

Iván Angulo is one of the fastest players in MLS and spends most of his time on the left side of the field, so the team tries to get him into space so he can use that speed to get the defense on its heels.
Orlando City has three left-footed players who love a cross so much I am surprised they play for Orlando City and not Vatican City. Rafael Santos averages 5.1 crosses per 90 mins (27th in MLS), Nico Lodeiro averages 5.6 (16th), and Martín Ojeda averages 9.61 (second). Ojeda has been playing more centrally recently, but he still drifts to the left frequently. Lodeiro does the same, and Santos nearly exclusively stays on the left side. All three of them are crossing machines.
Torres loves to cut back into the middle from his normal slot on the right side of the field, and so crossing it from left to right gives him space to operate, as the defense has to recover on a switch of field, and a scrambling defense against a talented attacking player is advantageous for Orlando City. Torres is fifth in MLS in receiving passes from 10+ yards away in the offensive area of the field, and his per-90-minute average for those receptions has increased from 2022 (8.4) to 2023 (9.8) to 2024 (11.4). Additionally, here is Facu’s shot chart for the year, courtesy of fotmob.com, and you can see that of his seven non-penalty-kick goals, all of them come from the right half of the field (his most recent goal against New England is highlighted with the red circle, because after a few minutes I gave up on trying to figure out how to show this without having one highlighted):

Expanding a little bit off of the direction of play, but returning to the second item in the list above, Orlando City leads all of MLS with an average of 21.32 crosses per 90 minutes. The other 28 MLS teams average 16.6 crosses per 90 minutes, so Orlando City is crossing the ball 28% more frequently than the average MLS team. The Lions have a physical presence in Duncan McGuire in the middle, so this makes sense to target him with crosses into the 18, and in fact the team is fourth in MLS this season with an average of 2.4 completed crosses into the penalty areas per 90 minutes.

It is not just Duncan though, of the 36 goals Orlando City players have scored this season (the other three are own goals), nine of them have come on a header and by eight different players. That 25% of goals scored on a header is the highest percentage for any Orlando City team in fbref.com’s tracking (goes back to 2018) and ranks the team only behind Austin FC’s 29% in MLS this season.

All crosses do not necessarily end in headers, but nearly all headers come from crosses, and the irony of the fact that Orlando City is scoring a high percentage of its goals from headers is that the Lions rank, to use a technical term, DFL in the league in percentage of aerial balls won (40.1%, and the next lowest is 45.4%). It’s kind of like the tagline to those Most Interesting Man in the World beer commercials from Dos Equis — the Lions don’t often win aerial balls, but when they do, they score goals.

Flipping from balls in the air to balls that are generally played on the ground, according to the data tracked by Opta on fbref.com, Orlando City is seventh in MLS in completed through balls per 90 minutes with an average of 1.5. The Lions have been in the top third of MLS in four of the last five seasons in this statistic, as this is clearly a staple of an Óscar Pareja-coached squad.

If you look at the individual MLS players who are leading the league in completing these dangerous balls, it is a veritable who’s who of creative players across the league. Say what you will about Luis Muriel, and I wrote a whole article about him a few weeks ago, but his passing ability is excellent, and it did not surprise me at all to see him high on this list and among the other well-known names. Here are the top 15, which also includes Lodeiro, among players who have played at least 500 minutes:

I touched on the left side focus earlier and how Angulo’s speed plays a large role in why the team plays more frequently down the left side, and that comes into play here as well with Orlando City’s predilection for playing through balls. It is also now time for Dagur Dan Thórhallsson to enter the chat, because he is just as much of a through ball target as Ruan was for several years in making speed runs up the right side of the field, and he ranks 24th among defenders in goal-creating actions per 90 minutes (0.24). Coincidentally, he also ranks 24th in shot-creating actions per 90 minutes (2.0). McGuire is also a target for these through balls as he makes excellent shallow runs behind defenders to then run onto balls played in front of him, and Ramiro Enrique is also pacey enough to do the same.

The completed crosses and through balls, as well as the fact that Orlando City is in the top 10 in total completed passes per 90 minutes, contribute to the team leading MLS with 10.1 completed passes into the penalty area per 90 minutes. The rest of MLS averages only 8.4, so Orlando City’s offensive tactics puts the team 20% higher than the rest of the league in terms of its frequency of completing passes to teammates inside the box.

Now, what teams want are goals, not completed passes into the penalty area, but you can see what the Lions are trying to do offensively by looking what these numbers reveal about how they are directing their attacking play.

Orlando City has a burner on the left (Angulo) and also several left-footed players who have the ability to whip in a dangerous cross (Ojeda, Lodeiro, Santos), so the focus is more on going down the left than the middle or the right. The Lions do have a fullback (Thórhallsson) with pace on the right too, so he is a target when they go right, and as a former midfielder, he has the ability to create offense coming forward, so he does with great frequency. The best finisher (Torres) is out on the right but loves to cut back to his left, and this year there is a higher focus on getting him the ball in space as opposed to having him leading the buildup.

Three players (Ojeda, Lodeiro, Muriel) are sharing the 10 role and releasing through balls to the outside and inside threats, and McGuire and Enrique are essentially serving as soccer versions of a basketball rim runner, attacking the goalmouth and trying to score in any way possible.

It all sounds great on paper, but for much of the season the offense was sputtering — so much so that Orlando City has scored more goals in the last seven games (20, 2.9 goals per game) than it did in its first 18 games (19, 1.1 goals per game). The first half of the season contained several issues that I believe contributed heavily to the low goal-scoring output, with several injuries, games missed for international duty, and competing in Concacaf Champions Cup at the same time as the start of the regular season, forcing squad rotation and players playing outside of their normal positions.

There was also just some poor play during those early months as well, some self-inflicted poor performances. I believe that Orlando City has found something though in the last few weeks, and while the Lions may not score 2.9 goals per game for the rest of the season, I think that what we have seen recently is a settled team of players who know their roles and understand the strategy, and who have the ability to execute that strategy.

Just 17 years after it was released, Jay-Z’s The Blueprint was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Let’s hope that 17 years from now, in 2041, we are all looking back fondly on what became an athletically significant 2024 season for Orlando City.

Orlando City

Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to start the Leagues Cup?

Published

16 hours ago

July 25, 2024

David Rohe

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Orlando City plays CF Montreal in its first 2024 Leagues Cup match Friday night at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions have been on a nice five-match undefeated streak during the regular season. Oscar Pareja loves tournament play and will certainly do everything he can to win this first match.

What does Orlando City need to do to defeat CF Montreal in the Don Garber Loves Money Cup…er, the Leagues Cup?

Stop the Canucks

Montreal has scored 34 goals in the regular season. However, only four of those goals came in the last five matches. Still, Orlando City seems to have trouble with this Montreal squad no matter where the match is played. As such, I want to see the defense that shut down D.C. United and Nashville SC, not the one that allowed multiple goals against the Chicago Fire.

That means Pareja needs to get the left back position sorted. I know he wants the Rafael Santos of 2023 to show up in 2024. So far, Santos has not found the good form from a year ago. Kyle Smith has been mostly good when he’s gotten time on the left, but he’s not the first choice.

There’s also the matter of David Brekalo. I think that Pareja kept rolling with Rodrigo Schlegel because the Lions went on a run as Brekalo was on international duty. Now, he can re-insert Brekalo in the starting spot since it won’t affect the MLS standings. Whether he does or not is the real question.

Smart Rotation

I mentioned the potential options on the back line, but there are other players who could use a rest, could recover from a knock, or need some additional playing time. Of course, Pareja tends to stick with what is working, so I’m not sure how much rotation we will see to start the match. He can, however, change up how he uses his substitutes.

If Pareja decides to sit Facundo Torres to allow him to be fully healthy, he still has Martin Ojeda playing well. Jeorgio Kocevski has been effective in his limited minutes, making him a good candidate to see some more time, even if he doesn’t start. Competitions like Leagues Cup can allow the team to heal up or rest up before the regular season starts back up.

Revive the Attack

Ramiro Enrique is on a scoring streak. I’m glad he is since Duncan McGuire is with the U.S. Olympic team, but Orlando City needs more. I think the Leagues Cup is a good opportunity to try anything and everything to get Luis Muriel better integrated into the Orlando City attack. He has the talent, but something hasn’t quite clicked yet.

This is also an opportunity for others to contribute some goals. It’s been a bit since Nico Lodeiro scored one. Ojeda could use a banger to get going again, and don’t forget Jack Lynn. Montreal has given up 49 goals in the regular season and has a -15 goal differential. The Lions need to take advantage of such a defense to spark some offensive production.

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

Lion Links

Lion Links: 7/25/24

Marta’s legacy, Orlando Pride get ready for Monterrey, U.S. men lose to France in Olympic soccer, and more.

Published

20 hours ago

July 25, 2024

Marcus Mitchell

Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’m settling back into the swing of things after a weekend trip to Maine that featured so many lobster rolls that I’m pretty sure my veins have more butter than blood in them at this point. All of the soccer going on takes some of the sting out of returning to work at least. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Marta’s Journey to Paris

Orlando Pride and Brazilian star Marta will begin her final international tournament today when Brazil takes on Nigeria this afternoon. Through interviews with the coaches, teammates, and opponents she’s had over the course of her career, ESPN detailed the impact she’s had on soccer. It’s a great feature that I strongly suggest you read in full, as it also touches on the instability of women’s soccer at the club level that she and many others had to battle against. From her teenage years in Brazil to becoming an outspoken ambassador for the sport, there are plenty of great vignettes into her life as a player included as well.

Orlando Pride Prepare for Monterrey

After losing a penalty shootout to the North Carolina Courage in their NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup opener, the Orlando Pride will aim to right the ship when they take on Monterrey on Saturday. It’s been over a month since the Pride have played at home, which should give the team a boost while notable players are at the Olympics. None of the Liga MX teams beat an NWSL team in the first round of matches, and Monterrey lost 3-1 to Racing Louisville. Pride Head Coach Seb Hines spoke on how he’s excited to see how the team matches up against a team from outside the NWSL, along with how it will be a good experience for the players.

Checking In With Dennis Chin

As part of the recurring series to put a spotlight on those who have played a part in Orlando City’s history, former Lion Dennis Chin spoke on his time in Orlando during the team’s USL days. It’s been 10 years since Chin played in Orlando, where he scored 32 goals across 103 appearances and won the 2012 USL Pro Golden Boot. His family came to Orlando from Jamaica when he was young, and playing for the club gave him a chance to represent the City Beautiful.

“I felt like an extension of what everyone wanted to be,” he explained. “I felt like I was representing not just myself, but the whole city, my family and everyone. To still have that connection and to still feel that love, it just means the world to me.”

Chin tried his hand at coaching after retirement but stated he didn’t enjoy it, instead choosing to start his own player agency. He’s made strides providing player representation since then, using the lessons he learned from his own career to support players.

U.S. Olympic Men’s Team Loses to France

The United States Men’s Olympic Soccer Team had a rough first game in Paris after losing 3-0 to France. After a scoreless first half, Alexandre Lacazette gave France the lead in the 61st minute and Michael Olise scored another soon after. Orlando City forward Duncan McGuire started up top for the U.S. and was subbed off in the 86th minute, right after Loic Bade scored France’s third goal. The next match for the U.S. will be on Saturday against a New Zealand side that won 2-1 against Guinea. The Yanks will need to be sharper in that match and the group stage finale against Guinea on Tuesday if they want to advance.

MLS All-Stars Fall to Liga MX All-Stars

It was a rough night for the MLS All-Stars, who lost 4-1 to the Liga MX All-Stars in Columbus. Monterrey striker German Berterame got the scoring started in the 16th minute, but Columbus Crew duo Diego Rossi and Cucho Hernandez linked up for an equalizer a minute later. The Liga MX All-Stars scored again before halftime and then put the game to bed with a pair of back-to-back goals in the second half. The MLS All-Stars had their chances to score but lacked a finishing touch and weren’t able to claw their way back into the match. Attention now turns to the Leagues Cup, which kicks off on Friday and will pit MLS and Liga MX teams against each other.

Free Kicks

Former Pride player Ali Riley won’t be taking the field for New Zealand during the Olympics due to a nerve injury. It’s unfortunate news and hopefully she has a smooth recovery from here on out.

French winger Delphine Cascarino will join the San Diego Wave after the Olympics, signing a contract through the 2026 season. The 27-year-old has been with Lyon since making her professional debut in 2015.
An assistant coach and analyst for Canada were both removed from the team and sent home after New Zealand reported Canada for disrupting its Olympic training with a drone. Head Coach Bev Priestman withdrew herself from coaching the match as well.
The Olympic match between Argentina and Morocco had to be suspended for two hours due to fans rushing the field to protest a goal deep in stoppage time. What would have been the equalizer from Argentina was disallowed for offside upon video review after the delay, and Morocco went on to win 2-1.
American striker Ricardo Pepi scored a hat trick in PSV Eindhoven’s friendly against FC Eindhoven.
Konrad de la Fuente is headed to Switzerland after being transferred from Marseille to FC Lausanne. The American has spent the past two seasons on loan, playing for Eibar in Spain’s second division last year.
The Belgian Pro League kicks off on Friday and there are some Americans to keep an eye out for, including Owen Otasowie, Mark McKenzie, and Westerlo duo Bryan Reynolds and Julian Placias.