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Orlando City at Nashville SC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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4 years ago

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Orlando City finished up their three match road trip heading into Music City to take on Nashville SC. The Lions did a good job maintaining possession to try to keep Nashville off the scoreboard, but a penalty and a counterattack made things difficult for Orlando City on the road. Possession was obviously the name of the game for Óscar Pareja, as Nashville is a team that can score in bunches. But that also plays right into Nashville’s game plan of sitting back and waiting for mistakes, too. Despite the challenges, Orlando City was able to secure a 2-2 draw, and earn a point on the road.

Just a note for those who read our player’s grades: Each staff member has their own scale on how they grade players. My grading involves not just stats and key moments, but also how the player performs against my expectations. If you disagree with how I, or any of our staff, approach our grades, I sincerely encourage you to join The Mane Land staff so you can use your own criteria. Now, let’s see how the Lions did in the come back draw against their Eastern Conference foes.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6.5 — Gallese made the initial save on the penalty, but he couldn’t contain it, and Nashville scored on the rebound. That’s just a tough position for a keeper, and one you hope he doesn’t have to deal with ever. I’m not sure what happened on Nashville’s second goal. It might be he moved late, or was second guessing. Regardless, it was a tough shot to save. Randall Leal was in the middle and had either side to choose from as the defense left him plenty of space. El Pulpo’s distribution was fine, though his teammates don’t always seem to be able to give him a quicker outlet. He did, however, make four saves, and one interception. He attempted 23 passes at an 87% passing rate and connected on seven of 10 long balls.

D, João Moutinho, 6 — Moutinho was able to contribute to the offense, as Pareja wants his fullbacks to do. He played well going forward, and was okay when Orlando City was on defense, though he did get turned around a time or two. On defense he had five tackles, three interceptions, and committed one foul. He attempted 85 passes and had a 87.1% passing rate with two key passes, while completing two of three long balls and earning one foul. He came off in the 92nd minute for Kyle Smith.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — Schlegel will miss the next match thanks to yellow card accumulation. Our own Michael Citro predicted this on The Mane Land PawedCast this week. To be fair, Schlegel spent most of the night marking Walker Zimmerman on every free kick and corner Nashville took (which was too many). He actually did a pretty good job keeping Zimmerman from impacting the match, only getting picked once by Jack Maher on several attempts to do so. His yellow hurt his overall performance, and he nearly earned a second yellow and a sending off moments later, but was spared thanks to unexpected leniency by referee Drew Fischer. Defensively, Schlegel made one tackle, two clearances, and committed three fouls. Offensively, Schlegel had two shots, with one on target. He also attempted 73 passes and had an 84.9% passing rate, while attempting three long balls.

D, Antônio Carlos, 5.5 — Having a match off didn’t do Carlos any good as he gave away the ball in Orlando City’s half at least twice. He attempted 71 passes and had an 84.5% passing rate, with one key pass, and completed six of nine long balls. He made three clearances, and committed three fouls. Remember that I base my grades on how well a player does against my expectations, which are based on his normal play. This was not the best Antônio Carlos, particularly when he allowed Hany Mukhtar to get on the wrong side of him which could have led to a second Nashville goal had the forward crossed in front rather than shooting into side netting.

D, Ruan, 6 — Ruan was able to range up and down the pitch as usual, but didn’t necessarily create chaos for Nashville in the offensive end. He did make two key passes, and completed one of four crosses. Defensively, he made one clearance. Ruan attempted 25 passes and had a 92% passing rate. He came off in the 92nd minute for Emmanuel Mas.

MF, Júnior Urso, 7 — How nice is it having a healthy Urso/Sebas Mendez combo in the midfield? Like the rest of the midfield, Urso put in the work to keep the ball away from Nashville. He also did well transitioning the ball from the defense to the offense. The Bear took one shot that was on target in the 44th minute but it had nothing on it. Otherwise, Urso had one key pass, and drew five fouls. Defensively, he had one clearance. He attempted 51 passes, had a 90.2% passing rate, and made one key pass.

MF, Sebas Mendez, 6 — Other than committing the penalty that led to the first goal for Nashville, Mendez had a pretty good match [Insert Mrs. Lincoln joke here]. Of course, that penalty was important and as such his grade is not as high as it could be. He was good in possession and made two successful dribbles. Defensively, he had one clearance, two blocked shots and committed one foul. He attempted 65 passes at a 92.3% clip. He came off in the 83rd minute for Tesho Akindele as Orlando tried to press the attack.

MF, Alexander Alvarado, 6 — Alvarado was a surprise start for the Lions as Pareja seemingly wanted to give Nani more rest. The rarely seen Alvarado probably played the best he has all season, but also the most he has all season. He wasn’t exactly a force to be reckoned with, but he didn’t hurt Orlando. Alvarado had two successful dribbles, was fouled twice, and committed one foul. He attempted 22 passes with a 95.5% passing rate. Alvarado came off for Nani in the 66th minute. He didn’t create much danger but did help maintain possession in tight quarters throughout his time on the pitch.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 7 — Pereyra wore the Captain’s armband to start the match with Nani on the bench, and he showed why he had the honor. Magic Mo pulled the strings of Orlando’s offense throughout the match. As the Lions played themselves into the match, he was able to create a more effective role for himself. He had two shots, with one on target that forced a diving save. His free kick effort deflected off a defender and went just wide in the 39th minute, so just a little more sharpness to beat the wall might have produced a stunner. Pereyra made four key passes, and suffered two fouls. Defensively, he committed one foul. He attempted 89 passes with an 83.2% passing rate and made one successful cross. He also completed two of four long balls. His biggest blemish was that he was unable to thread some of the passes he attempted and played into Nashville’s strategy of sitting back and looking to counter. This led to Leal’s goal when his pass attempt hit Moutinho in the back and jump-started the counter.

MF, Silvester van der Water, 6 — Like much of the Orlando City offense, van der Water took a bit to get going, and he had some heavy touches, but he eventually settled down and was able to contribute to Orlando City’s possession based game plan. Offensively, van der Water had one shot that wasn’t on target, was fouled once and dispossessed once. Defensively, he made three tackles, and had one clearance. He attempted 24 passes with a 79.2% passing rate, with three successful long balls out of four attempts. He came off in the 66th minute for Benji Michel.

F, Daryl Dike, 8 (MotM) — Calling Man of the Match was easy for me this time. Dike put in a shift. He earned fouls, did well in his holdup play, and once he got involved in the match, made sure that Nashville knew it. Add to that he was having to go up against Zimmerman all night and you can see how he’s coming back into form. Most importantly, he earned the penalty and then promptly put it in the back of the net. Decisively. It was that goal that gave the Lions hope, and allowed the comeback. Dike attempted two shots, with both on target. He also suffered three fouls, had one successful dribble, and was dispossessed twice. Defensively, Dike made one clearance, blocked one shot, and committed one foul. He attempted 12 passes with an 83.3% passing rate, attempted one long ball, and had one cross.

Substitutes

MF, Nani (66’), 6.5 — Nani wasted no time trying to impact the game with three shots taken and one of those on target and the other two coming close from outside the box. He had one successful dribble and suffered one foul. The captain attempted 15 passes with an 86.7% passing rate, and was successful on his one long ball. I know that people online will say his biggest contribution is that he didn’t take the penalty kick, but Dike grabbed that ball the second that the penalty was given. There was no way he wasn’t taking it. Given that Nani was on the bench to start this second consecutive important road match might mean he has a lingering knock, or it might mean nothing. Orlando City’s injury report means next to nothing, but I still feel it’s telling. That being said, the Lions did score both goals once Nani hit the pitch and his excellent corner delivery would have been an assist if Benji Michel had gotten onto it instead of the Nashville defender.

F, Benji Michel (66’), 7 — Offensively, Benji had one shot that was not on goal. Defensively he committed one foul. He attempted 4 passes with a 100% passing rate. Normally, that would mean an N/A for a grade, but he was the guy that forced the own goal on Brian Anunga to even the score and earn the point. Plus he did it without shoving Anunga or putting his forearm into the man’s neck. For that alone, he earns a good grade.

F, Tesho Akindele (83’), N/A — Tesho was brought on to help with the attack as Orlando City tried to equalize late in the match. To be fair, he did help. He maintained possession in Nashville’s half and offered himself up as another attacker that Nashville had to defend instead of just focusing on Dike. He earned the corner kick that created the tying goal and another in the 96th that might have produced a winner had Fischer not spotted some foul while the cross was in the air. He attempted six passes with a 66.7% passing rate but wasn’t on the pitch quite long enough to earn a grade.

D, Emmanuel Mas (90+2’), N/A — Mas was one of two late fullback subs that Pareja put on to spell Ruan and Moutinho as Orlando tried to ensure the club earned a point on the road. He attempted one pass and completed it.

D, Kyle Smith (90+2’), N/A — Smith was the other sub mentioned above. He did not get a touch on the ball.

That is how I saw the game. How do you feel about the individual performances? Tell us by commenting and voting on the Man of the Match below.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Mauricio Pereyra4
Daryl Dike27
Junior Urso0
Sebas Mendez2
Rodrigo Schlegel0
Other: Put answer in the comments0

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Opinion

Orlando City’s Start to the Season a Pleasant Surprise So Far

The Lions have started the new season well enough, but we shouldn’t get too carried away just yet.

Published

16 hours ago

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April 18, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

While Orlando City didn’t have a ton of roster turnover to deal with during the off-season, it was really anybody’s guess as to what sort of start the Lions would make to the 2025 Major League Soccer season. There was obviously the loss of all-time leading goal scorer Facundo Torres to deal with, then Wilder Cartagena was lost for the year in preseason, although the club did a great job in landing Eduard Atuesta to replace him. There were also questions about depth at left back, center back, and central midfield. It was anyone’s guess on how Marco Pasalic would adjust to life in MLS, and there were serious questions about whether the Lions had enough firepower up front with Duncan McGuire unavailable to start the season while he recovered from shoulder surgery.

While the club returned the vast majority of the guys who played key roles in helping reach the Eastern Conference final, on paper, the roster didn’t improve and arguably got weaker, so was it truly realistic to expect the team to go a step farther and make the final this year?

Despite all of those concerns, and despite a confidence-shaking 4-2 opening game loss to the Philadelphia Union, Orlando has largely made a good start to the campaign. The Lions have compiled a respectable 3-2-3 record and have 12 points to show for it, currently sitting in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, six points behind the first-place Columbus Crew.

Even in the two losses, it’s hard to make the argument that OCSC played truly bad games on the whole. Rather, the Lions were undone by moments of bad defending and losses of concentration that led to silly mistakes, particularly against the Union. The shaky defending has certainly been one of the bigger concerns, especially on an Oscar Pareja-coached team, but things have begun to look better after keeping two straight clean sheets.

Ironically, even though the offense seemed to be most people’s biggest concern before the season started, it’s been the part of the team that has consistently functioned at the highest level. Before the two 0-0 draws, Orlando had scored the most goals in the league, and despite being held scoreless twice in a row, they still have the third-most goals scored. Out of OCSC’s six games played with a first choice XI, the Lions have scored more than one goal four times. Even in the games when they haven’t been as prolific, or have largely been on the back foot, the Lions have still managed to carve out a healthy number of chances. While their finishing has let them down at times, they’ve still managed to get several good looks at goal in every game, and that’s half the battle.

All in all, it’s been a perfectly respectable start to the season, and the team honestly has performed higher than my (probably slightly pessimistic) expectations. While the start hasn’t been white hot, it’s been nice to not see the sort of slow start that so often has seemed to plague this club during Pareja’s tenure at the helm.

That being said, I think it’s important to place the beginning of the year in the proper context. It’s worth noting that of the teams that Orlando has played to this point, Philadelphia is the only one currently above the playoff line (although the New York Red Bulls occupy the last play-in spot). The Lions have beaten an LA Galaxy team that is the worst in the West; Toronto FC, which is second from the bottom in the East; and D.C. United, which is third from the bottom in the East. They drew the fifth-place Union on the road, and lost to NYCFC at the baseball stadium. But it has to be said that Orlando has faced a noticeable lack of top shelf opponents so far.

Essentially, Orlando has played three bad teams, two decent ones, and one that started very well but has cooled off in recent weeks (twice). Of course, OCSC can’t do anything about that, but it’s worth asking if the solid start to the season is due to the Lions legitimately being a good team, or if it’s more of a paper tiger situation where they just haven’t had to play many tough opponents yet.

There isn’t really any way of knowing for sure, and there won’t be any hints for awhile. With the way the standings currently look, Orlando won’t face a team above the playoff line until they go up against Charlotte FC on the road on May 14. I don’t bring all of this up to try to dampen the mood, but I just don’t think we have a truly accurate idea of this team’s level yet. Which is fair and totally fine, after all we’re only eight games into the season.

That doesn’t mean that we can’t give OCSC its due for a solid start to the year. It hasn’t been perfect by any means, but the team has done more good than bad, and the Lions’ current place in the standings reflects that. We should still keep things in perspective and resist the urge to dole out too much praise just yet, but we can be happy with what we’ve seen so far.

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 4/18/25

Orlando City set to play the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Lions reach Generation Adidas Cup semifinals, Angel City hires Alexander Straus, and more.

Published

19 hours ago

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April 18, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Happy Friday! I hope today finds you well as we gear up for another Saturday filled with soccer to enjoy. I don’t have many plans this Easter weekend beyond working, catching soccer when I can, and playing Baldur’s Gate 3 for the first time if I find some spare hours. Let’s dive right into today’s links from around the soccer world!

Orlando City Learns U.S. Open Cup Opponents

Orlando City’s 2025 U.S. Open Cup campaign will begin on the road against the Tampa Bay Rowdies on May 7 at 7:30 p.m. in what will be the latest edition of the I-4 Derby. It will be Orlando’s first game of this year’s tournament, while the Rowdies joined in the previous round and got past FC Naples in penalties. The Rowdies have lost four of their five games so far this season in the USL Championship and fired Robbie Neilson as head coach earlier this month. The Lions also notably would have hosting priority if they reach the round of 16, where they will play either Nashville SC or the Chattanooga Red Wolves.

Here’s the full schedule for the round of 32, which includes some interesting matchups across the country. The Tacoma Defiance are the only MLS NEXT Pro side left and will face the Portland Timbers, while the New York Red Bulls will have a long road trip to take on the Colorado Springs Switchbacks.

Lions Advance to Generation Adidas Cup Semifinals

Orlando City’s U-18 team beat Real Salt Lake 1-0 in the Generation Adidas Cup to secure a spot in the semifinals. The Young Lions have won four of their five games of the tournament and will take on Santos Laguna in the semifinal on Saturday. The winner of that match will face whichever team becomes victorious in the other semifinal between Atlanta United and the Colorado Rapids.

The U-16 team’s run in the Premier bracket is also going strong after a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich, and Orlando will take on the New England Revolution in the semifinals on Saturday.

Angel City FC Hires Alexander Straus

Bayern Munich’s Alexander Straus was named Angel City FC’s next head coach and will officially join the club on June 1. The Norwegian coach has won back-to-back Bundesliga titles and has Bayern positioned well to make it three straight this season. He’ll join an Angel City team that’s unbeaten in its first four games of the season under interim head coach Sam Laity, who will stay on as an assistant coach once Straus joins.

Europa League Quarterfinals End In Dramatic Fashion

Old Trafford hosted one of the wildest games in Europa League history, with Manchester United and Lyon battling for a spot in the quarterfinals. United scored twice in the first half, then conceded twice in the second, sending the game to extra time. Lyon took the lead despite being a man down and then the teams traded penalty kicks as the madness continued. Casemiro orchestrated Manchester’s victory in the end, assisting on two late goals within a minute of each other to beat Lyon 5-4 and advance. This United fan pretty much sums up just how much of a rollercoaster this match was.

There was also drama in Italy, as Lazio came back in the second leg to force extra time against Bodo/Glimt. The match went to penalties and Bodo/Glimt goalkeeper Nikitka Haikin denied former New York City FC player Taty Castellanos from the spot to book his team’s place in the semifinals. Although Tottenham was without Son Heung-Min, it got the job done in a 1-0 road win against Eintracht Frankfurt, while Athletic Club beat Rangers 2-0 in Spain to advance as well. In the semifinals, Tottenham will face Bodo/Glimt and Manchester United will take on Athletic Club.

Free Kicks

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

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Orlando City

Orlando City at CF Montreal: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to earn all three points on the road against Montreal?

Published

2 days ago

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April 17, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City heads to the Great White North to take on CF Montreal. The Canadian squad sits in last place in not just the Eastern Conference but also the entire MLS, with only two points from a pair of draws. To say it’s not been a good start to the season is an understatement. Of course, it’s exactly that type of situation that makes it feel like a trap. What does Orlando City need to do to take all three points against CF Montreal?

Designated Goal Scorers

What do you do if you haven’t scored a goal in the last two matches? You play a team that has given up 13 goals in eight matches with a -9 goal differential. Montreal doesn’t have the worst defense in the league — I’m looking at you, D.C. United — but it’s not far off. That presents an opportunity for Orlando City to get back on track when it comes to scoring goals.

Through the first six matches of the season, Orlando City was leading the league in scoring with 15 goals. Over the last two matches, the spigot has dried up. The Lions must seize on this opportunity to create and finish their chances. Much like earlier in the season, I want to see Luis Muriel, Martin Ojeda, and Marco Pasalic lead the way. If anyone can get the first goal, then I’m hopeful the dam will break and the scoring drought will be over.

Keep it Clean

There is some good news of late when it comes to the Orlando City defense. The club has two clean sheets over the last two matches, and that is without Cesar Araujo. There is also some bad news, given Rodrigo Schlegel will be serving his red card suspension this match. That means David Brekalo will move back to center back with Robin Jansson, and Oscar Pareja will have to employ either Rafael Santos or Kyle Smith at left back. Santos has been less than good so far this season.

Montreal has scored a paltry four goals so far in 2025, but two of them have come from striker Prince Owusu. The defense will also need to deal with Caden Clark facilitating in the midfield. I get that this isn’t a prolific attack. Montreal has not looked very good this season and is looking for both its first win and its first points of any sort at home. That means the hosts may be desperate for a result, and desperate is often dangerous. How well the defense does — in particular, how well Santos does if he plays — may determine if Montreal is able to break out of its slump. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.

Give the Midfield Time

Before the last match, I was a little worried about the midfield. Having both Araujo and Eduard Atuesta out at the same time seemed to be a concern. Now, after seeing how well Joran Gerbet and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson worked together against the New York Red Bulls, I’m way less worried. If Araujo and Atuesta need a little more time to get fully healthy, then let them. The Franco/Icelandic combo seems to be a potent one.

Of course, if the normal starters are ready, then by all means bring them back, but maybe not until the 60th minute. Perhaps Pareja could even mix and match. One never knows how yellow card suspensions or minor injuries will affect player availability. This is a good match for Gerbet and Thorhallsson to work their magic.

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

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