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Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Final Score 2-1 as Lions Suffer First Loss of 2021

Orlando City nearly pulled off a late comeback but simply didn’t play well enough.

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4 years ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

Second-half sub Silvester van der Water both gave Orlando City late life and also squandered a chance to draw the Lions level in a 2-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. Van der Water scored in the 84th minute to give Lions’ fans hope, but it’s the hope that kills you, as he also missed a sitter in the 88th, skying it over the bar. That would have erased Orlando’s (3-1-3, 12 points) worst performance in 2021 after Caden Clark and Cristian Casseres Jr. gave New York (3-4-0, 9 points) a 2-0 lead in the game’s first hour.

Orlando City fell to 5-7-2 in the all-time series and 2-5-1 on the road while suffering its first loss of the 2021 season.

“Two different halves for us,” Orlando Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “The first one we didn’t feel comfortable with the way we shaped the team and I think the players felt that. They didn’t look organized and New York took the initiative. I think in that part we take the responsibility because the heart of the players was always on the field, especially in the second half when they tried to push in different ways just to have that goal that can level the game.”

Pareja’s lineup included Pedro Gallese in his usual spot in goal. He handed a first career start (and appearance) for Michael Halliday at right back on a defense that included Kyle Smith, Robin Jansson, and Antonio Carlos. Rodrigo Schlegel got his first day off of the 2021 season and wasn’t even in the game day team. (He had to fly home to attend to a personal matter per a team spokesman.) Junior Urso and Sebas Mendez patrolled the central midfield behind attackers Andres Perea, Mauricio Pereyra, and Chris Mueller, with Tesho Akindele up top again.

The first half was all New York. The Lions created their own issues with the Red Bulls’ press by being too slow to react, too deliberate with the ball, and too predictable with their movement, allowing the counterpress to be effective. Still, that didn’t add up to a lot of chances for the hosts, despite their pressure.

The Red Bulls generated an early set piece when Halliday coughed up the ball in his defensive third and Pereyra exacerbated the situation by committing a foul. Halliday blocked Daniel Royer’s delivery.

A second key set piece nearly created the opening goal moments later. Gallese came way out of his box after a turnover and was second to the ball, committing a foul while trying to knock the ball out of play. The ensuing set piece found the head of Sean Nealis, whose header was met by a great reaction save from El Pulpo in the seventh minute.

Mendez turned the ball over far too often in the opening 45 minutes, and one of those giveaways led to a counter that ended with a weak Frankie Amaya shot that gave Gallese no trouble in the 16th minute. Six minutes later, a good ball from New York’s right side skipped dangerously through the box as both Royer and Patryk Klimala just missed getting the final touch on the ball.

The Lions got their first shot of the game in the 24th minute when Orlando won a corner. Pereyra’s cross found Urso but the Bear nodded wide of goal.

City started getting more comfortable on the ball around that time but struggled to create anything, with movement being too deliberate and easy for New York defenders to read and react to. Heavy touches allowed the Red Bulls to close things down and poorly weighted passes resulted in too many attacks breaking down.

Orlando’s best attack of the half happened in the 32nd with more direct play, as Akindele worked a give-and-go with Urso. Tesho made a good run in behind to win the race to the ball but couldn’t get much on his shot, which he had to take with his left foot, making an easy save for Carlos Coronel.

Three minutes later, Orlando was breaking forward with promise but conceded instead of scoring. A good movement up the right side broke down with a touch that Perea was just a half step slow to reach in time. New York quickly countered and a cross cycled from left to right to Klimala. The forward beat Smith to get a cross in behind the back line for Clark to tap home for a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute.

Orlando withstood a late corner kick despite another turnover trying to break out in transition when Akindele and Pereyra got in each other’s way and the halftime whistle finally came.

New York out-shot the Lions 5-2 in the opening period, with a 3-1 edge in shots on goal. The Red Bulls also led in corners (2-1), while Orlando held more possession (58.7%-41.3%) — doing little with it — and passed more accurately (82.4%-73.6%) due to mostly playing it across the back, looking for a way through.

Benji Michel came on for Pereyra to start the second half. Pareja said after the match that his No. 10 had been battling some tightness this week and he felt he didn’t want to push the Uruguayan too deeply into the match. Michel’s speed did help create some opportunities in the second half.

But Pareja also said he thought his midfield could control the match in the first half and it simply didn’t work out that way, so he wanted to take a player out of the midfield and add another player who could get up the wing. Michel had a few chances to do that and the Homegrown’s touch was just a bit off at times, though he turned in an industrious shift.

The opening minutes saw the Red Bulls push for a second goal and hit a couple of opportunities just wide. Orlando looked for transition opportunities but failed to be able to provide quality passes to spring them or guys weren’t on the same page in terms of providing the ball that runners were looking for.

The Red Bulls doubled their lead after a foolish foul by Mendez in one of his last actions in an unusually poor performance by his standards. Casseres Jr. sent the direct free kick into the upper left corner out of Gallese’s reach to make it 2-0 in the 60th minute.

Pareja sent van der Water and Joao Moutinho on for Mendez and Halliday moments later with a lot of offensive work to do. That nearly became a moot point when second-half sub Fabio pushed a header just wide of Gallese’s post in the 64th minute on a shot that would have killed off the game.

A microcosm of the match for Orlando was Moutinho’s excellent cross in the 69th minute, which found the head of Smith. Unfortunately, the fullback nodded his shot off the back of teammate van der Water in the 69th minute. Moments later, van der Water did well to spring Mueller in the attack but his first touch was poor, which allowed New York to regroup and block the ensuing shot attempt.

New York again could have killed off the game as Orlando was sloppy with the ball. Urso’s turnover led to a chip attempt by Dru Yearwood that flashed wide of the near post in the 76th and Fabio forced a good save from Gallese a minute later.

The Lions got on the board in the 84th. Smith sent in a good cross to Akindele and the Canadian laid off smartly for van der Water. The Dutchman did well to fake his way past one defender and sent a shot through Coronel’s legs for his first MLS goal.

“I feel happy with the goal, but I got another chance, and I missed that chance, and then directly the feeling is a little bit not so good,” said van der Water, who brought a connectivity into the match that had been lacking. He and Akindele especially had good chemistry in the attack.

“The assist I got today, the ball came in and I think usually I would have just tried to like awkwardly hit it on goal, and the goalie probably would have easily saved it,” Akindele said. “And instead I gave it to Silvester. He still did a crazy amount of work to score, but I think…just to see what’s the right decision, is someone in a better place than me? And that’s what Oscar’s kind of hammered me on a litle bit.”

Four minutes later, van der Water should have equalized. Michel did well to win the ball on the left before sending it to Akindele in the middle. Again the forward found the winger on his right. Running onto the ball and hitting it with his strong left foot, van der Water somehow got under it and sent the ball high over the net in the 88th minute.

“I think I got my body a little bit far away, more backwards,” van der Water said of the missed chance. “Most times you shoot the ball a little bit over. I think that was the reason and the next time I will score a goal.”

That was Orlando’s best opportunity for an equalizer, and it was a golden one. There were no moments of note in the final two minutes of normal time and five minutes of stoppage that honestly should have been extended due to time wasting and an injury, but the final whistle blew to seal the Lions’ fate.

New York had more shots (14-6), shots on target (7-2), and corners (3-2), but Orlando had more possession (57.5%-42.5%) and more accurate passing (80.2%-70.1%) over 90 minutes.

“Much, much better second half when we started just having better connections and we looked more like us,” Pareja said. “They showed their heart and probably could (have) deserved more at the end, but New York did a good job in the game and I think it’s fair.”

“I just felt like we had more numbers forward maybe in the second half,” Akindele said. “The first half I thought we did a great job of kind of moving the ball around the back, but I don’t think we created enough dangerous chances, and we didn’t hold the ball enough in their half.”

Orlando City is now on an extended break until Saturday, June 19, when the Lions will “travel” to take on Toronto FC at 7:30 p.m.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. LA Galaxy: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions head to the West Coast for their third away match in four games, taking on the Galaxy in Los Angeles.

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6 hours ago

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March 29, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (2-2-1, 7 points) and the LA Galaxy (0-3-2, 2 points). This is the only scheduled meeting between the two clubs from opposite conferences this season.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

The Lions are 4-3-0 against LA in MLS play, but have only met twice since 2019. Orlando is 1-2-0 on the road against the Galaxy, although the Lions won in their last trip to Carson, CA back in March of 2022 (more on that below).

The teams last met on April 29, 2023 at Exploria Stadium, with Orlando City winning 2-0 on goals by Ercan Kara and Facundo Torres. Current Orlando starting right back Alex Freeman made his MLS debut in that match.

Orlando City and LA last met at Dignity Health Sports Park on March 19, 2022 and the Lions won their first match ever in the state of California, 1-0. Torres scored his first career MLS goal on a header off a beautiful Kara cross for the game’s only goal. Pedro Gallese set a new club record with his 14th clean sheet across all competitions.

The Galaxy came to Exploria Stadium and got a smash-and-grab 1-0 win on May 24, 2019. Jonathan dos Santos provided the game’s only goal in the opening 20 minutes, with the Lions out-shooting the Galaxy 19-4 (7-1 on target).

Before 2019, the home team had won all four prior meetings. In Orlando’s visit to LA in 2018, the Lions fell 4-3 after blowing the lead three times. It was a case of too much Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who figured in every goal, notching his first MLS hat trick and adding an assist. Cristian Higuita and Dom Dwyer scored for Orlando and Sacha Kljestan forced an own goal by Michael Ciani with a pass intended for Yoshimar Yotún.

Back in 2017, the Lions prevailed 2-1 in Orlando. Will Johnson and Cyle Larin provided the offense to offset a goal by Romain Alessandrini.

The Galaxy captured the lone 2016 contest, 4-2. Giovani Dos Santos scored twice as LA put together four straight goals to erase a 1-0 deficit provided by Kevin Molino. Alan Gordon and Robbie Keane scored the other two Galaxy goals. Brek Shea tacked on a cosmetic goal late for Orlando.

The Lions won 4-0 at home in 2015 in the first meeting against the then-defending champions. It was Orlando City’s first-ever home win in MLS. Eric Avila, Larin, Kaká and Darwin Ceren found the net for the Lions and Tally Hall got a shutout in his first Orlando City appearance.

Overview

Orlando City continues to score goals, but the defense played arguably its best 90-minute stretch of the season a week ago in the Lions’ 4-1 destruction of D.C. United. All three Designated Players — Luis Muriel, Martin Ojeda, and Marco Pasalic (I’m just going to start calling them the M&Ms to save time) — scored in that game, marking the first such occasion that has happened in club history. Freeman provided the other goal that night. The Lions entered the weekend leading MLS in goals (13) and assists (15).

Unfortunately, while the offense has been hot, the defense has decidedly been…not. The stoppage-time goal United tacked on to spoil the shutout a week ago was the 11th Orlando has conceded in 2025 through five matches, which is one shy of Toronto’s league-worst 12. The Lions will be looking for their first road win of the year after going 0-1-1 against the two New York teams in consecutive weeks prior to the D.C. match.

The defending champion Galaxy have struggled out of the gate, whether due to players missing, featuring in Concacaf Champions Cup, or both reasons. LA has conceded 10 goals in five matches and has scored just four times this season. So, only two teams have conceded more goals than the Galaxy, while just three clubs have scored fewer goals than LA. The Galaxy are yet to win or even draw at home (0-2-0) in 2025, however, the defending champs have scored three of their four goals in the last two matches, while earning their first two points of the season in those games, so that may be a sign of things starting to turn around for Greg Vanney’s side.

Striker Christian Ramirez has half of LA’s four goals and has found the net in each of the last two matches, so he’ll be a threat for tonight’s hosts. Orlando has struggled to contain Ramirez in the past. Gabriel Pec is another threat. Though he’s scored just once this season, Pec is averaging five shots per match, so he’s getting opportunities. He has tallied 13 shots in his last three games, along with his goal and an assist.

The Galaxy will get offensive chances. LA leads the league in passes completed, averaging more than 500 per game. Compared to Orlando’s 373 per match, that’s a lot. LA will have the ball, because the Galaxy are also second in MLS in passing accuracy (88.9%). Orlando will look to attack in transition. Although the Lions don’t string together nearly as many passes, they are second in the league in shot attempts (82) and third in shots on target (31), while leading MLS in key passes (68).

“The positive part of our last game is not just winning the game but scoring the goals. It gives us the opportunity now to raise our confidence and go to Los Angeles, a place that we don’t frequently go to, and play against a team who did a great job last year,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “Now we’re competing in a very good, demanding match, and we will be ready for it. We are trying to get the details on the game and try to get a good performance and a good result for us too.”

Orlando City will be without Wilder Cartagena (Achilles), Yutaro Tsukada (knee), Nico Rodriguez (thigh), and Favian Loyola (thigh). The Galaxy’s game notes indicate no LA players are suspended or on international duty, but the club does not list injuries there, and as of this writing, the MLS availability report for the weekend had not yet published. Galaxy players who missed the team’s last match include Mauricio Cuevas (hamstring), Joseph Paintsil (quad), Riqui Puig (knee), and Lucas Sanabria (collar bone). Marco Reus (knee) and John Nelson (thigh) were listed as questionable at Minnesota but neither dressed.

Match Content

Projected Lineups:

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Alex Freeman.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Eduard Atuesta.

Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, Marco Pasalic.

Forward: Luis Muriel.

LA Galaxy (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: John McCarthy.

Defenders: Julian Aude, Maya Yoshida, Zanka, Miki Yamane.

Midfielders: Elijah Wynder, Edwin Cerrillo, Tucker Lepley.

Forwards:  Diego Fagundez, Christian Ramirez, Gabriel Pec.

Referees

REF: Jon Freemon.
AR1: Stefan Tanaka-Freundt.
AR2: Kevin Lock.
4TH: Gerald Flores.
VAR: Michael Radchuk.
AVAR: Fabio Tovar.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30p.m.

Venue: Dignity Health Sports Park — Carson, CA.

TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at our Bluesky Social account (@themaneland.bsky.social), as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Enjoy the match! Go City!

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Orlando City

Orlando City Showed Defensive Improvement Against D.C. United

The Lions looked much better defensively last game, but now they have to prove that they can build on that performance.

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1 day ago

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March 28, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

As the 2025 Major League Soccer season has gotten underway, one of the bigger topics surrounding Orlando City has been the team’s struggles on the defensive side of the ball. Andrew DeSalvo called on the team to get its defensive game up to scratch last week, and with good reason. The Lions have conceded 11 goals in five games, a mark that is good for second-worst in the league and is only eclipsed by Toronto FC’s 12. Given how Oscar Pareja’s Orlando sides have typically been built on the backs of a strong defensive foundation, its been a startling departure, particularly when paired with an offense whose output would usually be enough to get results as long as the defense isn’t leaking like a sieve.

Fortunately, OCSC had a much-improved defensive showing in Saturday’s 4-1 victory over D.C. United. Despite a consolation goal in stoppage time preventing the Lions from keeping a first clean sheet of the season, it was the team’s first time holding an opponent under two goals in 2025. A low bar to clear maybe, but that’s where we are right now.

Including the goal, D.C. took 14 shots and put five on target, with eight shots coming from inside the box. Those eight shots resulted in one goal, one attempt missed, three shots blocked, and two shots saved. The Lions managed to block nearly half of the shots taken within their own box without Javier Otero needing to be called into action. He took care of another two, and the Lions got lucky with one wayward shot before their luck ran out on the goal. All things considered, that’s not bad, and Orlando’s five blocks on the night tied for second-most this season, with the high water mark of six set against the Philadelphia Union in the opening game. Blocks aren’t a tell-all defensive statistic. For example, OCSC only had one in the 4-2 win over Toronto FC — probably due to TFC only managing nine shots on the night. Still, it’s nice to see bodies getting in the way to disrupt potentially dangerous opportunities.

D.C. ended the night with 1.60 expected goals (xG), and while that stat isn’t perfect, it’s good to see that D.C. didn’t vastly underperform the statistic, which would mean they should have scored more and simply didn’t take good chances. Of the visitors’ 1.60 xG, 45% came from Lukas McNaughton’s goal, with another 29% coming from Dominique Badji’s 68th-minute attempt that Otero saved. The next highest attempts were 17% from a Derek Dodson attempt in stoppage time, which was blocked, and 16% from a Christian Benteke header in the 54th, which was saved by Otero. Essentially, Orlando mostly did a good job in preventing D.C. from getting off dangerous attempts, and the opposition’s only big chance of the night came on McNaughton’s goal.

This also all came with Orlando City having slightly less of the ball than D.C., with 48% possession to the opponent’s 52%. The imbalance isn’t huge, but it’s a good sign that Orlando was largely able to limit dangerous chances even while spending periods of time without the ball and while being peppered with a whopping 10 corner kicks.

It wasn’t a perfect performance, as evidenced by the late goal, but frankly I’d have been surprised to see a sudden leap in defensive play given the struggles of the first four games. The D.C. win showed a lot of good things though, and gave the Lions a performance that they can build off of. Next up is an LA Galaxy team that has struggled for goals with only four in five games, but LA has attackers like Christian Ramirez and Gabriel Pec that are capable of doing plenty of damage on the offensive end. It’ll be a good test of whether the defensive unit is on the right trajectory, and hopefully it’s one that the defense can pass with flying colors. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 3/28/25

Orlando Pride prepare for the San Diego Wave, NWSL weekend matches, USMNT roster predictions, and more.

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1 day ago

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March 28, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

We made it to Friday! Celebrate however you see fit, whether that’s an indulgent breakfast or just your favorite cup of coffee. This week has flown by a bit for me and I’m looking forward to a weekend filled with soccer. I’ll be spending the next few days working, reading a new book or two, and working out the kinks of making a frozen coconut mojito. My blender hates me. Let’s get to today’s links!

Orlando Pride Prepare for the San Diego Wave

The Orlando Pride will look to extend their 2025 win streak to three games — and their overall win streak to seven — on Saturday when they host the San Diego Wave at noon. Orlando has looked the part of a defending champion so far, leading the league with eight goals without conceding a single one in two games. The Pride will take on a revamped San Diego team that is unbeaten under Head Coach Jonas Eidevall. Pride Head Coach Seb Hines spoke about how Orlando will need to set the tone early on at home against the Wave and keep up the momentum.

NWSL Provides Entertaining Slate of Weekend Matches

While it’s far too early to think about the NWSL Shield race, it never hurts to check out how the Pride’s competitors are doing while enjoying some great soccer. Tonight features a pair of matches at the same time, with the Washington Spirit hosting Bay FC and the Houston Dash playing on the road against NJ/NY Gotham FC. Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga will have a chance to tie her own record of scoring in eight straight games when her team plays the Utah Royals on Saturday. On Sunday, we’ll get to see if the Seattle Reign’s solid start continues against an unbeaten Angel City FC team searching for its first win of the season.

USMNT Roster Predictions for Concacaf Gold Cup

The pressure is on United States Men’s National Team Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino to turn things around after a rough showing in the final four of the Concacaf Nations League. This summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup will be an opportunity for the USMNT to impress in preparation for the 2026 World Cup, and Pro Soccer Wire dove into how the roster could look for the tournament. Injuries to Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun complicate things up top, but we could see Brenden Aaronson or Alex Zendejas could return to the attack. The Gold Cup will likely also determine which goalkeeper between Matt Turner, Zack Steffen, and Patrick Schulte emerges as the true starter. Players like Sergino Dest, Malik Tillman, and Johnny Cardoso are other notable names to keep an eye out for leading into the tournament.

FA Cup Quarterfinals Kick Off This Weekend

Only eight teams remain in the FA Cup and the action returns with enticing quarterfinal matchups. Preston North End is the only team outside of the English Premier League still fighting, but Manchester City is the only traditional giant left in the field as well. City will face off against a Bournemouth side that beat it 2-1 back in November, while Preston will have to get past Aston Villa, which has only won two of its last eight games. Nottingham Forest forward Chris Wood’s injury adds an obstacle to overcome when the team travels to play Brighton and Hove Albion. Meanwhile, Crystal Palace gets star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta back from injury for its clash with Fulham.

Free Kicks

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

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