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

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Orlando City won its first game of the 2021 MLS season after a dominant 3-0 win over FC Cincinnati. Tesho Akindele scored within the first minute of the game and Nani doubled the Lions’ lead with perhaps his best goal yet for Orlando. Junior Urso scored in the second half to put the game on ice as the Lions secured their second clean sheet at home.

Let’s look at how each individual Lion performed in this game and who earned the title of Man of the Match.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6 — El Pulpo didn’t have much to do in this one as Cincy’s best chances of the night were either blocked shots, missed headers from open looks on set pieces, or called offside. He didn’t record a save, but he did get his fingertips on an attempted chipped shot that was waved off for offside. Gallese was as comfortable as ever with the ball, with 27 touches and completing 18 of his 22 passes in his second clean sheet in three outings this year.

D, Ruan, 6 — The right back actually led the team with four key passes and all three of his crosses were accurate. He was much better creating chances in this game compared to last week, but there is still some improvement needed in that part of his game as he had an opportunity in the 72nd minute with other Lions in the box but couldn’t make anything of it. Still, Ruan’s work on offense with Chris Mueller is like clockwork at this point and he did well forcing defenders to deal with him. He had 51 touches, two interceptions, a tackle, one shot (on target) and completed 31 of his 39 passes for a 79% passing rate.

D, Antonio Carlos, 6.5 — Carlos was as solid as always, limiting Cincinnati’s opportunities throughout the match. His biggest moment came in the 46th minute when Cincy was on the counter. Carlos got in good position to cut off Ronald Matarrita’s passing lanes and then deflected the ensuing shot that would’ve given Gallese trouble. The center back had two interceptions, a clearance, and got his head on a corner kick but sent the shot high. The Brazilian also did well building play out of the back, with 64 touches and he attempted 57 passes at a 91% success rate.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — The Argentine center back continues to impress as a starter, making smart and strong tackles to end Cincy’s counter attempts. Schlegel used his head almost as much as his feet, leading the team with two aerial duel wins and recording a shot with a header directed right at Cincinnati goalkeeper Przymeslaw Tyton. Although he had no tackles, he had an interception, blocked a shot, and led the team with four clearances. He made 41 passes with a great 95% completion rate and had 49 touches in another solid start while Robin Jansson recovers.

D, Kyle Smith, 6.5 — Still filling in at left back for the recovering João Moutinho, Smith had a decent outing. Defensively, he did well snuffing out Cincy’s chances, logging two tackles, an interception, and two clearances. However, there were a few mistakes as well as he turned the ball over in dangerous positions on occasion. On offense, Smith’s chemistry with Nani led to good chances for the Lions and Smith seems to be getting more and more comfortable crashing the box. Playing all 90 minutes, he finished with 69 touches and 48 total passes, both of which were third best on the team. Of those 48 passes, 42 found found their target for a decent 88% passing rate and one was a key pass. He attempted two crosses, completing one.

MF, Junior Urso, 7 — Although he missed an early header, Urso ended up scoring Orlando’s third and final goal of the match due to his penchant for being in the right place at the right time. In the 80th minute, the Bear got on the end of the ball right in front of goal to send it into the bottom left corner for his fourth goal as a Lion. Urso benefitted greatly from Cincinnati practically surrendering the midfield and he had a decent 88% passing rate from 34 passes. Defensively, he led the team with three interceptions and had two tackles. He had two shots, 45 touches, and committed a team-high three fouls within the first 10 minutes of the game.

MF, Sebas Mendez, 7 — Orlando City’s engine was at full steam in this match, leading the team in touches (85), passes (71), and tackles (three). He also had two dribbles in the match, tying Nani for most on the team, and his passing rate was a superb 94% as Mendez was given free reign in the midfield. He also had two interceptions, two clearances, and a yellow card after a miscued tackle. Mendez also had some work on offense, finishing with two shots from distance, a key pass, and an unsuccessful cross.

MF, Chris Mueller, 6.5 — Mueller notched his second assist of the season, finding Nani before the captain’s golazo. He was certainly hunting for his first goal of 2021, although three of his four shots were off target. His best chance to score came at the start of the second half when Nani found him open in the box, but his shot was deflected by a sliding Matarrita. While he didn’t score, Mueller’s assist was one of three key passes and he was successful on three of his five crosses. He also had a 90% passing rate from 21 total passes. Mueller had 37 touches in the match and a yellow card for a professional foul to make sure Cincinnati couldn’t capitalize on a counter.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6 — It took some time for Pereyra to get going in his return to play after serving a two-game suspension. He had a chance to score in the 32nd minute after Nani snuck a pass to him in the box, but was tackled before he could shoot and stayed down after being stepped on. It ended up not being much to worry about and he carried on, creating more opportunities as the night went on. In the second half, his passes were lethal and reminiscent of those from last year as he found Lions in open space with pinpoint accuracy. Subbed off in the 59th minute, Pereyra finished his first match of the year with a 78% passing rate from 41 total passes, three of which were key passes. He had a corner kick and a cross seconds after it and both were successful although Orlando didn’t score. His one shot was sent into the stands and he had 52 touches.

F, Tesho Akindele, 6.5 — In his 100th MLS start, Akindele found the back of the net just 33 seconds into the match. The Canadian pressured Cincy defender Nick Haggland into an errant pass and then pounced on the loose ball in the box, slotting it home in the bottom right corner for his first goal of the season. After his goal, there was clear hunger and energy to Akindele as he hounded defenders and took chances. He used his large frame to win the ball often and then create opportunities for others with a notable two key passes. He had 24 touches, was accurate on nine of his 12 total passes, and had four shots, his goal being the only one on target.

F, Nani, 7.5 (MotM) — Just a week after his backheel goal, Nani scored another beauty for Orlando’s second goal of the game. At the top of the box, Nani spun and then cut back to send a defender sliding the wrong way for space to shoot. His strike was sublime, the ball sailing past Tyton for Nani’s second this year. The captain was a force all night long, nearly getting another with a header that beat Tyton but hit the woodwork. Nani led the team with six shots, two on target, and had two key passes. He was successful on three of his five crosses and finished with a 76% passing rate on 46 total passes after playing all 90 minutes. For the second consecutive match, Nani is our Man of the Match as Orlando was most dangerous when the ball was at the captain’s feet, which was often considering his 71 touches only trailed Mendez.

Substitutes

MF, Andres Perea (59’), 6.5 — The 20-year-old came on for Pereyra and helped keep Orlando’s offense running smoothly. Although Benji Michel will get credit for the assist on the score sheet for Urso’s goal, Perea’s headed pass in the box was excellent to give Michel a clear chance to score. He was composed and unselfish, with a chance to score his first goal as a Lion but opting to pass in that moment. All in all, it was a nice outing for Perea with 17 passes at a 94% rate and 21 touches.

F, Benji Michel (70’), 6 — Michel got his third assist as a Lion in bizarre fashion as his attempt to score wound up with the ball at Urso’s feet and then in the net. Regardless, he deserves some credit for being in position and drawing Tyton’s attention to give Urso a clear look. He only had nine touches in the game and completed all five of his passes.

D, João Moutinho (84’), N/A — In his first appearance since August, Moutinho was welcomed back with applause. He had nine touches and all nine of his passes were accurate. Hopefully we will see more of him soon.

MF, Joey DeZart (84’), N/A — DeZart only had two touches and completed both of his passes after coming on for Urso. His shift wasn’t long enough to warrant a grade in this one.

MF, Silvester van der Water (84’), N/A — Coming on late with Orlando up 3-0, van der Water played as if the score was reversed. He sprinted after the ball when tracking back on defense to make life even more difficult for a tired Cincinnati side that just wanted to go home. Van der Water completed one of his two passes and had a shot that went just wide.


That’s how I saw the individual performances of the Lions in their first victory of the 2021 season. Let us know what you thought and make sure to vote for who you think deserves the title of Man of the Match.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Nani52
Sebas Mendez5
Tesho Akindele4
Junior Urso3
Rodrigo Schlegel1
Other (write in comments)1

Opinion

Orlando City Has Been Better than Expected Halfway Through the Season

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

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/20/25

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

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

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

Orlando Pride Face Racing Louisville Tonight

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

Zambia Calls Up Orlando Pride Trio

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

USMNT Beats Saudi Arabia to Qualify for Quarterfinals

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

FIFA Club World Cup Roundup

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

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

Free Kicks

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

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

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Orlando City

In 2025, OCSC Stands for Orlando City Scorers Club

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

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

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

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

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

  • * The 2020 season contained only 23 games due to COVID-19
  • ** Ojeda’s stats are through 18 matches; MLS teams have played between 16-19 matches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vamos Orlando!

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