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Orlando City at Chicago Fire: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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4 years ago

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Orlando City went to Chicago and will bring home one point that should have been three after a 0-0 draw against the Fire. We may never know if Ercan Kara actually handled the ball in the area, because the available replays were inconclusive at best, but referee Ismir Pekmic not only believed he saw Kara do it from those replays, which he watched repeatedly for several minutes, but after the game he also claimed Kara did it intentionally.

You really have to hand it to PRO — every year they find new ways to remove points from Orlando’s final total and absolutely lack any humility when doing it. If Kara clearly and obviously handled the ball intentionally on a goal originally ruled good, that should show up on the video in a matter of one viewing (because that’s how “obvious” works) rather than requiring several minutes of review.

Anyway, the Lions have to grin and swallow it yet again. They were at least able to keep a second straight clean sheet without the suspended Robin Jansson and get a result on the road.

Here’s how I saw the individual performances of the men on the pitch.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7 — The Peruvian international did his job with four saves out of four on target and controlled his area for the most part. He didn’t have any especially spectacular saves. Of the four, the toughest was a rocket from outside the area that wasn’t too much of a reach for him and he was able to parry it over the bar for a corner, showing good control. The other three were fairly soft and right to him. He looked confident and passed at a strong 90.5% rate and connected on two of his four long balls. It was a good night for El Pulpo.

D, Joao Moutinho, 6 — The Portuguese fullback was mostly solid through the night, settling in after an early turnover to Xherdan Shaqiri. He didn’t allow attackers to get down to the end line for dangerous crosses and kept most of the play on his side out wide. He contributed two tackles, an interception and a clearance defensively while dealing with Chicago’s most dangerous midfielder much of the evening. He was able to get on the ball a lot, but like many of the Lions, he had trouble unlocking the Chicago defense, as the Fire’s back line and central midfielders did a good job on their own end. Moutinho passed at only a 71.2% rate. He connected four of his 10 long balls but none of his four crosses, but created a scoring chance from his left back position on a night when the Lions had few of those.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — Schlegel got his first start of the season with Jansson sidelined after last week’s second yellow card. The Argentine and central defense partner Antonio Carlos were aggressive, often coming up the field to crowd Shaqiri. He had a scary challenge in the area early on against Fabian Herbers that had the home crowd screaming for a penalty. I think it was a good no-call, with Herbers flying in out of control and getting a piece of the ball, but it looked more a case of the attacker getting into Schlegel than the other way around. He and Carlos did well to limit Kacper Przybylko’s looks at goal, which was his primary focus. The Polish striker was limited to just one shot attempt. Schlegel had a tackle, an interception, a blocked shot and three clearances. His 80.5% passing rate wasn’t bad on a windy night in Chicago, although he was successful on only one of six long balls. His biggest knock was conceding four free kicks, with a couple of them coming from dangerous spots.

D, Antonio Carlos, 7 (MotM) — The Brazilian continued to show that preseason is overrated with his second strong showing of the year. He helped limit Przybylko to one weak header attempt and, as usual, had more territory to defend than his central defense partner due to Ruan serving as a de facto wingback further up the pitch. Carlos had two interceptions, a team-high four clearances, and a blocked shot. His 82.4% passing rate was tops among all outfield starters, although he connected on only three of 10 long balls. He had a shot attempt on a late set piece but his header went wide.

D, Ruan, 6.5  — The Brazilian speedster was creating issues down Chicago’s left side for Miguel Navarro and Herbers throughout the night, helping force turnovers, but he couldn’t quite get his crosses right in the attack, going only one of five for accuracy. He attempted one unsuccessful long ball and completed 21 of his 28 passes (75%). Defensively, he did well overall with a tackle and three clearances. He nearly allowed a goal to Brian Gutierrez in stoppage time but his positioning wasn’t a problem so much as his height on that play.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6.5 — The MLS U22 Initiative midfielder has basically made the No. 6 role his own very quickly. Tasked with the difficulty of defending Shaqiri in the middle of the pitch, the young Uruguayan held his own. He had only one tackle, but largely worked well in either denying the ball to dangerous areas with his movement and positioning or forced the Fire to go wide into the channels. His 50 passes were the most by any non-back line player on the team and he completed 80%, including one of his two long balls. He unlocked the defense with a key pass, attempted one shot (off target), and drew a team-high five fouls (along with two of his teammates). His yellow card was laughably soft as he attempted to reach out and slow down an opponent but he whiffed.

MF, Júnior Urso, 6 — The Bear should have scored a goal, blasting a shot in off a defender in the 73rd minute, stepping into a layoff pass by Facundo Torres. Alas, the referee stole his moment along with two vital points. That would have been Orlando’s only shot on target in the game if it hadn’t been erased for…reasons. He had one key pass on 71.4% passing but was dispossessed a worrying, team-high five times. Still, he did well defensively with a tackle and two interceptions and kept the Orlando press organized.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6 — In their opening game, the Fire saw Inter Miami use the tactic of fouling Shaqiri a lot. It seemed that Chicago coach Ezra Hendrickson borrowed that tactic against Orlando, as his team employed it often, including five of them against Facu. One of those fouls, by Herbers, prevented an Orlando counter-attack and was sufficiently vicious that I honestly thought the red card would come out but it was only yellow. Torres was fouled well over those five times but only five were called as Pekmic allowed several two-handed shoves and clips from behind to go unpunished — mainly through the opening 45 minutes. Torres recorded one shot and three dribbles. His 62.1% looks quite pedestrian until you look at the rate of Orlando’s other starting attacking midfielders, though he was unsuccessful on three long balls and two crosses. His layoff for Urso should have been an assist if not for…well, you know. Defensively, he contributed a tackle and two interceptions.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6 — The captain wasn’t able to leave his usual mark on the game. His passing was just 55% as the Chicago defensive midfield and back line played aggressively all night, which is a tactic that was successful because the wind prevented Orlando’s ability to play over the top into spaces in behind. Pereyra attempted one shot and created one chance. He was successful just once on six long balls and on one of three long balls. He had one tackle, an interception, and a clearance. Like Araujo and Torres, he was fouled five times and, much like Torres, it should have been more than that.

MF, Benji Michel, 3.5 — The Homegrown winger had a tough night offensively, although his defensive hustle was evident while he was on the pitch. After he was subbed off for Tesho Akindele, Chicago fullback Boris Sekulic was able to get forward more often. Benji’s passing rate of just 16.7% was simply dreadful and his hold-up play was lacking (four unstable touches, dispossessed once), forcing Oscar Pareja to sub on Tesho. He recorded a tackle and an interception on defense but had no shot attempts and no key passes on the offensive end.

F, Alexandre Pato, 6 — Much like his attacking teammates, Pato was roughed up quite a bit whenever Orlando got the ball in the attacking half, and for some reason he wasn’t even able to get some of the calls Pereyra and Torres got, drawing just two foul calls. He had one key pass on 63.6% passing but no shot attempts. He had one chance to get into a good shooting position but took an uncharacteristically heavy touch and the chance evaporated. He was active defensively with one tackle, an interception, and two clearances.

Substitutes

MF, Tesho Akindele (52’), 6 — Tesho’s lack of lateral quickness allowed Sekulic to dribble past him a couple of times but the Lions’ hold-up play got noticeably better when he came on for Michel. His work rate and pressure was evident as always, as the Canadian posted two interceptions and a blocked shot. He passed at a 77.8% rate, giving the Lions something that had been lacking on the left, but he attempted no shots and didn’t create scoring chances on a night when the Fire were dealing with any attack by simply crushing guys. He did well to switch the play on the disallowed goal, getting the ball over to Torres on the left. That provided the space to score the goal, but…yeah.

F, Ercan Kara (72’), 5.5 — The Austrian came off the bench and made a difference in his first minute on the pitch, winning an aerial ball in the box, which led to Urso’s goal. It should have been a game-changing play. It’s possible that the ball hit his arm, but nothing shown on TV or on the referee’s monitor — which was shown on television and seemed to have the exact same two angles we saw — should have resulted in any overturned call. Kara was officially only credited with three touches and he completed his one pass attempt. He didn’t have a shot or a key pass but chipped in one defensive clearance. It will be nice to see what he can do when he’s 90-minute fit and fully integrated.

MF, Andres Perea (88’), N/A — Perea came on late for a tiring Torres but didn’t play enough minutes to warrant a grade or impact the match. He completed one of his three passes and won an aerial on his eight touches.

That’s how I saw the performances in Orlando City’s road draw. It’s difficult to look beyond the statistics sometimes but Chicago did a great job of playing the weather conditions, crowding the Lions up high to force low-percentage balls over the top on a gusty night and fouling everywhere. The Fire’s strategy was helped by a referee who was quite lenient until midway through the second half (which is, not coincidentally, when Orlando started looking more dangerous) and by Orlando’s complete lack of ability to hold onto the ball on the left side for the first 50+ minutes.

Be sure to vote in the poll below for your Man of the Match.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Rodrigo Schlegel1
Junior Urso6
Pedro Gallese17
Antonio Carlos23
Cesar Araujo14
Other (tell us who in the comments)1

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 5/8/26

Orlando City prepares for CF Montreal, Pride host North Carolina tonight, Johnny Cardoso injured, and more.

Published

3 hours ago

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May 8, 2026

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Image of goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! We have some exciting games ahead of us over the next few days, with three straight days of Orlando soccer to enjoy. It all starts with the Orlando Pride’s game tonight, with Orlando City playing Saturday afternoon, and Orlando City B wrapping things up on Sunday. Make sure to plan your weekend accordingly! Let’s get to the links.

Orlando City Gets Ready for Road Match

The Lions are on the road this weekend for a game in Canada against CF Montreal on Saturday. Orlando is coming off of a dramatic 4-3 win over rival Inter Miami, with Martin Ojeda scoring a hat trick. Ojeda has had Montreal’s number in recent years, scoring at least once against the Canadian club each year for the past three years. Orlando hasn’t lost to Montreal since 2023, but it also hasn’t won on the road against Montreal since 2021. Saturday’s match will also be a reunion of sorts for goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, who joined Montreal’s academy at age 15 and played there for nine years. He was excellent in Orlando’s win in Miami, so hopefully he can keep it up in his home country.

Orlando Pride Host North Carolina Courage Tonight

The Orlando Pride are back in action tonight with a home game against the North Carolina Courage. Both teams are coming off of losses last week, with the Pride falling 4-2 to the Washington Spirit. Tonight’s match will pit the league’s top two scorers against each other, with Barbra Banda scoring seven so far while Ashley Sanchez has scored five. The Pride will play three consecutive road games after tonight, putting an emphasis on a strong showing at home. It’s also Survivor Night at the stadium, so make sure to bring any immunity idols if you’ll be in attendance. The Pride could use any advantage they can get.

Johnny Cardoso Injured Ahead of World Cup

Atletico Madrid announced that American midfielder Johnny Cardoso was diagnosed with an ankle sprain he sustained in training, casting doubt on his availability for the World Cup next month. He’ll now work on rehabilitation before the club provides a timetable for his return. The 24-year-old started in the United States Men’s National Team’s game against Belgium in March, but he had to exit that camp due to injury as well. Hopefully he has a smooth and successful recovery from this.

English Clubs Reach European Finals

Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 in the Europa League, overcoming a loss in the first leg to secure a spot in the final. John McGinn scored twice to help his team reach its first major European final since 1982. Villa will play in the final on May 20 against SC Freiburg, which also bounced back from a loss in the first leg by beating Braga 3-1 in Germany. A red card to Mario Dorgeles in the sixth minute reduced Braga to 10 men early on and Lukas Kubler bagged a brace for Freiburg.

In the Europa Conference League, Crystal Palace won 2-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk to advance to the final on May 27 against Rayo Vallecano. As a result of this week’s semifinals across the continent, English clubs are in contention to win the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League.

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

Justin Ellis Off to Hot Start in 2026 on Multiple Levels

Homegrown forward Justin Ellis is off to a strong early start to the season for both Orlando City and OCB.

Published

21 hours ago

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May 7, 2026

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Image of Justin Ellis after he scored a goal against Chicago Fire II.
Image courtesy of Orlando City B / Justin Glatt

May is a big month for graduations, as students of all ages are wrapping up their school years and preparing to move up to the next level. Some graduations are bigger deals than others, but it is a big deal for every student that they accomplished everything required of them during the school year and should be celebrated thusly. Dr. Seuss’s book Oh The Places You’ll Go is commonly gifted to graduates in honor of their accomplishments, as the famous author writes about soaring to great heights and overcoming obstacles while on the journey of life.

That book is great and one I highly recommend that everyone, not just graduating students, read every year. I do not know if Orlando City’s Justin Ellis has read that book recently, but he is certainly going places with how he has played in 2026. Ellis started the year primarily playing with Orlando City B (OCB), but his last six games in all competitions have all been with Orlando City. In those games he started five of them, playing a total of 443 minutes, and he scored two goals while adding three assists. For the season Ellis now has one goal and two assists in MLS play, one goal and one assist in U.S. Open Cup play, and three goals and two assists in MLS NEXT Pro play for a total of five goals and five assists in all competitions. He is the leading scorer among all three Orlando teams, as you can see in the chart below.

I was a mathematics major, but you do not have to be one to notice that the chart below will only list eight goal contributions for Ellis, rather than the 10 I just mentioned. The chart below comes from Opta’s tracking on the American Soccer Analysis website, and they only track data from games in league play (a cool feature of theirs is that they track stoppage time minutes, so the per 90-minutes-values are far more accurate than on other websites). Even so, Ellis still leads all three teams in total goal contributions and also goal contributions per 90 minutes played.

All three leagues are at different parts of their season, but the per-90-minutes data normalizes it for all players. In the chart you will see two numbers in each category, the raw number for that category, and then the per-90-minutes number inside of the parentheses. The overall rank is as compared to every player who has at least three goal contributions (there are 218 as of Wednesday) across MLS, MLS NEXT Pro, and the NWSL.

PlayerGoalsAssists*Goal ContributionsOverall Rank
Justin Ellis4 (0.52)4 (0.52)8 (1.04)T-12 (17)
Barbra Banda7 (0.92)0 (0.00)7 (0.92)T-19 (26)
Martín Ojeda7 (0.58)0 (0.00)7 (0.58)T-19 (120)
Harvey Sarajian4 (0.57)2 (0.28)6 (0.85)T-41 (32)
Gustavo Caraballo3 (0.41)2 (0.28)5 (0.69)74 (72)
  • * This dataset only includes primary assists, though MLS counts both primary and secondary assists in the league’s official tracking. None of the players in the chart have accumulated any secondary assists thus far, though Banda and Ojeda certainly should have accumulated at least one assist somehow by now with how well they have set their teammates up. Sigh.

If we take a look at the two individual per-90-minutes categories of goals per 90 minutes and assists per 90 minutes, a player who contributes equally in all facets of the offense would be one who has pretty similar numbers in each, as that would make them just as proficient in setting up their teammates as they are in scoring goals. Most players tend towards being goal scorers or distributors, but very few players are adept at being both. In his short professional career Ellis is one of the rare players who scores and assists at nearly even quantities, as he has scored 14 goals and assisted on 11 while playing for Orlando City and OCB.

Looking at his 2026 performance alone, Ellis is in the top 17 among all players in both total goal contributions and goal contributions per 90 minutes during league play, with a perfectly even four goals and four assists and 0.52 per 90 minutes for each. That puts him right on the f(x) = x line (real ones know), and he, St. Louis 2’s Palmer Ault, and San Diego’s Anders Dreyer are the only players with at least eight goal contributions (Ault has eight and Dreyer has 10) to have the same number of assists as goals thus far this season.

The scatterplot below shows all 218 players with at least three goal contributions and their associated goals and assists per 90 minutes, and you can see that Ellis is one of only a few players to be strongly positive on both measures.

Scatterplot showing Justin Ellis in the upper right quadrant, meaning high in goals per 90 minutes and in assists per 90 minutes.

Ellis’ excellent stats are combined between the two leagues, but based on how well he has played for Orlando City recently it is quite possible that (oh) the places that he will go in 2026 will no longer include any OCB games, unless it is to watch from the stands. After last year’s great year — what a season, in fact! — Ellis is rolling along on the Alex Freeman track.

The senior Lions’ next three games are against teams that are all right next to them at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings (Montreal, Philadelphia, and Atlanta), meaning that all three games are winnable, especially considering that two of the three will be at home. Results have been better recently, especially after the injection of Ellis into the lineup, and thanks to his contributions I am feeling better about the team’s chances of putting together a good run of form in the upcoming weeks.

Will they succeed? Yes! They will indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Three Keys to Victory

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

Published

23 hours ago

on

May 7, 2026

By

Image of Martin Ojeda and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal against Montreal.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City is on the road once again and this time in another country. The Lions are heading to the great white north to take on CF Montreal on Saturday. The Lions are coming off a monumental 4-3 comeback victory over rival Inter Miami. Hopefully, Orlando City can keep scoring goals in bunches to get a fourth win on the season. What must the Lions do to earn all three points against Montreal on Saturday afternoon?

Hot Streak Ojeda

Last season, Martin Ojeda had a stretch of good form that forced the national pundits to talk about him as a potential MLS MVP. Many players go on runs of good and bad form — especially attacking players — where nearly every shot finds the back of the net. It’s hard to follow up a hat trick with another, but a brace from Orlando City’s Designated Player would not be unwelcome. I don’t even care that he doesn’t have any assists so far this season as long as he continues to score the goals. Given how leaky the Orlando City defense has been — despite Maxime Crepeau’s efforts — scoring multiple goals is probably necessary to earn three points in this match.

Consistent Kids

Everyone wants teams to “play the kids”, and Orlando City fans have gotten their wish. The amount of younger players in each match is a bit overboard thanks to off-season missteps and injuries. That being said, the kids are generally improving. Most of them even had a decent match against Inter Miami, but can they do it again?

It’s likely we see Iago start next to Robin Jansson. He and the captain will have to deal with Montreal’s leading scorer, Prince Owusu. The striker has six goals and four assists this season, including a goal against the Lions when the two teams met on March 14. As for Justin Ellis, he’s best when he starts, and despite Duncan McGuire’s return, I think Martin Perelman should probably keep riding the hot foot.

Mental Monsters and Road Warriors

The match after a big win over a rival is often difficult. When said match is one of the greatest comebacks in MLS history, it’s more difficult. Being able to recover from the mental and emotional toll in addition to the physical toll such an effort requires is not easy. The Lions must “be a goldfish” and focus on the next match.

If that wasn’t enough, this is Orlando City’s fourth match in a row on the road in all competitions. All of that travel takes a toll, especially when traveling to a different country. Time and climate changes mess with the body and mind. Not sleeping in your own bed messes with your body. The schedule is different than when playing at home. How well the Lions are able to deal with the rivalry match hangover and the long stretch of travel may decide the match.

That is what I will be looking for Saturday afternoon. The Lions return to Inter&Co Stadium on Wednesday, meaning they will be on short rest after traveling. However, that is a discussion for next week. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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