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Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: Player Grades & Man of the Match

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3 years ago

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Winning is fun! It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest win (torrential rain will do that to a soccer game), but Orlando City grabbed a much-needed 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire courtesy of a second-half Benji Michel goal. Let’s have a look at how I rated each player in the win.

Starters

GK, Mason Stajduhar, 8 (MotM) — The Homegrown goalkeeper takes the honors for this one as he earned his first MLS shutout with a great performance. Our own Sean Rollins mentioned that Mason looks to have much better command of his box than he did during his first few games with Orlando City, and I think that was on display Saturday night. Aside from one occasion where Joao Moutinho headed a ball away that Stajduhar was coming to claim, he was on the same page with his defenders for the duration of the match. He did a good job of judging when he needed to come and claim a ball, and then followed through well on making contact or catching each one of them. He also made two excellent saves, with one in second half stoppage time that preserved all three points for the Lions. Overall, a much deserved Man of the Match.

D, Joao Moutinho, 7 — Joao didn’t have as much influence on the offensive end as he sometimes does, and his shot that went wide of the post in the second half when he was in an advanced position was disappointing, considering that the Lions had numbers forward. With that being said, it’s been good to have him back in the lineup, and while his crossing wasn’t as much of a weapon in this game as it can be, he still put a few very dangerous balls into the box. He was also rock solid defensively and was particularly good at helping provide an outlet when Chicago pressed high. Statistically, he passed at an 89% rate, completed one dribble and won an aerial duel.

D, Robin Jansson, 7 — This was another in a long line of good showings for the Swede. He totalled three interceptions, two clearances and a block while being the physical presence in defense that we’ve come to expect of him. I can’t help but feel that a goal is coming for Jansson sooner rather than later, and he wasn’t far away with a fierce left-footed drive from outside the box in the second half that didn’t quite start dipping in time to sneak under the bar. His other numbers going forward included a 95% passing rate with a key pass thrown in for good measure.

D, Antonio Carlos, 7.5 — Like his partner in central defense Jansson, Carlos continues to barely put a foot wrong defensively. He had another great game vs. Chicago with three tackles, two interceptions, a whopping eight clearances and an equally impressive five blocks. One sliding interception/clearance in his own box with the second half winding down was particularly eye-catching but he continues to be a pillar of defensive solidity even when he isn’t making the flashy play. To cap things off he passed the ball at a respectable enough 85% rate. All-Star snub, thy name is Antonio.

D, Ruan, 7 — The thing that impressed me most about Ruan in this game was his crossing. His delivery from wide areas isn’t always the best, and if he can become more consistent in that area then look the hell out. Against Chicago he did just that, with one of his two crosses finding the head of Chris Mueller with the other being met by Benji Michel. Like Moutinho, he didn’t have quite as much of an offensive impact as he sometimes does, although again, like Moutinho he was very good defensively. His numbers of one tackle, five interceptions and three clearances back that up.

MF, Junior Urso, 7 — The Bear did a bit of everything in this game. Defensively he had three tackles, two interceptions and two clearances while putting in his typical shift of hard running and gritty play in the middle of the field. Offensively he had two key passes, a dribble, and a shot. The shot he maybe should have done better with, as it was a header from pretty close range that he could only direct right at Bobby Shuttleworth. It ended up being one of Orlando’s better chances on the night, but with all of the other contributions he made, it’s hard to hold it against him too much.

MF, Joey DeZart, 6.5 — This was definitely a better outing for DeZart than his midweek performance against Nashville. It may be that the 90 minutes he played on Wednesday helped him get up to the speed of the game and get his feet under him, because he did well in his defensive midfield role. The 23-year-old recorded two tackles and an interception while passing the ball at an 85% clip. He didn’t really impact the game offensively, but honestly that’s not exactly what he’s on the field to do and he did well to open up the defense a few times. This was a solid performance from DeZart, and hopefully its one that he can build on.

MF, Silvester van der Water, 7.5 — Van der Water carried the most threat for Orlando on the night and very nearly was involved in two goals. He was desperately unlucky to have his left-footed shot crash off the inside of the far post and stay out, but that chance was a definite sign that he was up for this one. Scarcely a minute later he chased a ball down the right hand side and put a cross into a fantastic area, but neither Tesho Akindele or Benji Michel could convert the chance. His influence waned a little after that, although to be fair it would have been quite a task of maintaining that degree of threat for the remainder of his time on the field. Still, he had three shots, two key passes, two successful dribbles, two interceptions and a tackle. Another impressive game from the Dutchman.

MF, Benji Michel, 7 — Benji made up for failing to take the aforementioned first half chances in the best way possible, by putting away the next chance the fell his way. It wasn’t as easy as it might have looked either, and he did very well to take his time, pick his head up, and absolutely smash his shot low and into the corner where Shuttleworth couldn’t reach it. He also completed a dribble that was a pretty fantastic sequence where he picked up the ball on the left side of midfield, brought the ball past a couple defenders and out to the right side of the field, picked his head up and played a great diagonal ball over the top to Junior Urso. It was good to see him get back among the goals after having some difficulty in front of net in recent games.

F, Nani, 6.5 — The captain’s night was cut short by some muscle tightness that he’s been dealing with lately and all-in-all that was probably a smart move with the MLS All-Star Game right around the corner, followed by a match against Inter Miami just two days later. In his 29 minutes on the field Nani completed two dribbles and passed at a 83% clip, but rather understandably, wasn’t able to make a particularly big impact on the game. However, he showed well enough in the short time he was on the field, and personally I’m hoping that he isn’t given too much to do out at the All-Star festivities.

F, Tesho Akindele, 7.5 — Tesho had himself a damn good game in this one. For one thing, he created the turnover that led to Benji’s goal and also got his career high fifth assist on it. Besides that though, he had two shots, two key passes, two dribbles, was fouled three times, made one tackle and had four clearances. Outside of the numbers though, his hold-up play was excellent and if anyone claims otherwise I’ll happily take you to task on that point. He did a great job of not only winning the balls that were sent up to him, but also finding his teammates once he had done so and bringing them into the game. He also made smart runs and all-around worked hard for the whole game. If not for Mason’s heroics as the game wound down, he would have been my choice for MotM.

Substitutes

MF, Chris Mueller (29’), 6.5 — Cash was brought into the game for Nani and had a bit of a tough task since he didn’t look to get much, if any warmup time. He didn’t play his best game in purple, but by no means was he bad either. He had one shot, one key pass and was fouled once, but didn’t have a ton of impact in the game. He maybe should have done better with his header in the first half, although to be fair to him he had to generate most of the power himself and the ball was slightly behind him. Still, he filled in well enough after being brought on cold, and was effective at holding the ball in the corner and helping the Lions chip away at the clock some.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel (79’), N/A — The man with the golden hands was brought on for goal-scorer Benji Michel to help shore things up defensively. He did just that with a blocked shot. An odd statistical quirk is that he apparently did not attempt a pass during the 17 minutes that he was on the field, which seems super weird, but there you go.

D, Emmanuel Mas (85’), N/A — Like Schlegel, Mas was subbed on for van der Water to help lock down the game defensively. He contributed one tackle to the cause and passed the ball at a 75% rate. He’s sneakily a pretty crafty fullback, and I’ve enjoyed watching him play so far.

MF, Raul Aguilera Jr. (85’), N/A — An MLS debut for the Homegrown Player! Aguilera came on for DeZart to help get the game over the finish line and succeeded with two clearances and some hard running in midfield. He didn’t have a ton of time to show what he can do, so he’ll be one to keep an eye out for going forward.

That’s how I saw the grades during this one. Feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments and don’t forget to vote for who you think should have been the Man of the Match.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Mason Stajduhar75
Antonio Carlos12
Benji Michel4
Tesho Akindele4
Other (shout them out in the comments)2

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Orlando City

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

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

Published

12 hours ago

on

November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

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

Published

14 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

Beat Guzan

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

Cartagena is Essential

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

Overcome the Past

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

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

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 11/21/24

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

Published

18 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

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

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

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

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

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

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

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

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

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

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

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

Free Kicks

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

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

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