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Orlando City

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

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3 years ago

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Orlando City hosted FC Cincinnati and fell 2-1 after a brace from Brandon Vazquez. Junior Urso was able to score his first goal of the season to equalize after the first Vazquez goal, but the Lions couldn’t find another goal in them in the second half. It was a windy night in Orlando, making crossing even more difficult as Cincy stacked the box with bodies to earn a result on the road. Orlando’s offense looked threatening but couldn’t convert as the Lions lost their first game of 2022.

Here’s how the Lions individually performed in the loss.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6 — El Pulpo wasn’t able to come up with a save in a one-on-one against Vazquez as Orlando conceded its first goal of the season in the 13th minute. On the second goal, Gallese nearly reacted in time to get a hand to Vazquez’s quick header, but there was enough speed that it may have gone in regardless. His only save of the night was a good one against another header from Vazquez. Gallese passed at a strong 89.5% success rate and was accurate on four of his six long balls.

D, Joao Moutinho, 6 — There wasn’t too much the Portuguese left back could do to stop the first Vazquez goal, as the Cincinnati forward cut inside between defenders and Luciano Acosta’s ball in transition was inch perfect. His 106 touches were the second most on the team behind Mauricio Pereyra as he worked with Facundo Torres on the left flank to create chances. Although there were miscues here and there, the pair formed a strong connection that grew as the game went on. Although he did a good job finding open space to deliver crosses, none of his six attempts found the target due to the visitors packing the box and none of his five long balls were able to find their targets either. One of his crosses led to Orlando’s goal though, as Geoff Cameron couldn’t clear it cleanly and Torres was there to send in another for Urso to score off of. Moutinho led the Lions with four tackles and was successful on five of his attempted dribbles. He also had two clearances and a shot that went high and wide. He was strong in the air with a team-high four aerials won, and he passed at a 79% rate.

D, Robin Jansson, 5.5 — Jansson returned to the starting lineup following his one-game suspension. The Swede was beaten by Acosta’s pass on the first Vazquez goal but that’s more due to placement and timing than a positioning issue. However, he drifted too far from his mark on the second goal, allowing Vazquez an easy free header for the second goal. His 84 touches were the third most on the team, and he was successful on 86% of his 78 passes while accurate on two of his seven attempted long balls. It’s unclear how those are charted, as he connected multiple seeing-eye passes through the Cincinnati formation during the game to switch play. Jansson had a clearance and a pair of blocks, including a crucial one in stoppage time against Vazquez that kept the Lions alive. He received a yellow card for dissent as well in a frustrating night for Orlando. It was the kind of preventable booking that will end up being costly when he gets his fifth.

D, Antonio Carlos, 6 — Carlos led the Lions with three clearances and two interceptions while also adding two tackles in a decent defensive performance. He was successful on 89% of his 65 passes to help Orlando build possession and was also accurate on seven of his 10 long balls. The Brazilian center back drifted forward as the Lions searched for a goal and had two shots, one on target that forced a good save late in the game and the other blocked. Like Jansson, he foolishly received a preventable yellow card for dissent.

D, Ruan, 4.5 — Ruan’s crossing was especially poor in this match as he was only accurate on two of his 10 attempted crosses. Orlando players would often find Ruan in a good position behind enemy lines but the attack swiftly died once he tried to send the ball into the box. He either needs to improve at crossing or figure out a better way to attack, such as racing toward goal and giving a cutback pass. Things weren’t much better for him on defense, as he was shouldered off the ball on a counter attack by Dominique Badji to allow the assist on Cincy’s winner. He was caught jogging back after being upfield and could not recover to hold Badji up enough for Orlando to recover defensively. He had a chance to atone moments later but overhit what should have been an easy short cross to Kara after Pato sent him behind on the right. His only defensive stat was an interception and he was accurate on his lone long ball. He completed 35 of his 40 passes for an 88% success rate, but his crossing was a killer as he hardly worried Cincy’s defense. He had two particularly wasteful ones late, sending one into outside netting and the other was hit long for a goal kick.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6.5 — Araujo did plenty of the little things in another strong match as he won five fouls and completed 48 of his 52 passes for an impressive, team-best 92.3% success rate. His best moment came in the 51st minute when he inserted himself between Badji and an open net, walling off the attacker to win a foul after a tough save by Gallese ended up with a loose ball in front of goal. His worst moment was a bad pass that nearly ended up with Cincy scoring on the counter. Araujo understandably didn’t get involved much in the attack, although he was accurate on all three of his long balls and had one shot that was off target. Defensively, he finished with a tackle, an interception, and a clearance, and he came off in the 66th minute as the Lions hunted for goals while trailing. The 20-year-old continues to impress after joining this off-season.

MF, Júnior Urso, 7.5 (MotM) — The Bear’s goal counted this time as he made a great run into the box and smashed a header off the ground and past Alec Kann. It was one of Urso’s team-high four shots in the match, and he led Orlando with three shots on target while the fourth was blocked. He also had a key pass in the second half to give Benji Michel a crack at goal. On the defensive side of things, Urso had three tackles and an interception. Urso also did a nice job drawing five fouls, including three in the attacking third to set up dangerous set pieces for Orlando. He had 70 touches in 88 minutes of action and completed 86% of his 51 passes in a strong, all-around performance.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6.5 — For his first assist in MLS, Torres pounced on a loose ball near the end line and delivered a great cross for Urso to connect with. It was one of many impressive moments from the 21-year-old and Orlando looked most dangerous when he was on the ball. While his height was a mismatch at times against Cincy, his speed gave him plenty of opportunities to make runs and whip balls into the box. Of his seven crosses, four found their mark, and he led the team with five key passes. Both of his two shots were off target. Like Chicago last week, Cincy sent Facu to the ground often as he continues to get a rough welcome to the league and although Chris Penso called a tight game most of the night, he allowed the visitors to take a few liberties with the Uruguayan. As a result, he was dispossessed four times but hustled to chase after them and finished with 81 touches and 54 passes at an 85% success rate, while completing one of his three long balls.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6 — Orlando’s captain led the Lions with 108 touches and 81 passes, as he hustled around the field to serve as an outlet for teammates and fuel the attack. But the captain had a mixed night. His poorly placed pass ceded possession and led to the opening Cincinnati goal. He had a chance for an equalizer late in the match but he had to strike with his weak foot and sent the ball high from close range. That strike was one of two shots from him, the other sent wide from an ambitious free kick. There was another shot from long range that was well off target and perhaps so badly so that it wasn’t officially counted as a shot attempt. The Uruguayan had two key passes, completed 82% of his total passes, and was dispossessed three times. He was successful on four of his seven attempted crosses and accurate on four of his six long balls. Pereyra helped out defensively as well with two tackles, an interception, and a clearance. But he struggled at times on through-ball attempts, creating transition attempts for Cincinnati, and missed a couple of his teammates’ runs into space that could have gotten Orlando in behind the tightly packed Cincinnati defense.

MF, Alexandre Pato, 6 — The Brazilian had moments of brilliance throughout the match, including a beautiful ball right in front of goal for Kara despite a lack of vision. It was one of two key passes for Pato in the match as he tried to spark something on offense while trailing. One of his two shots on the night was a header well saved by Kann and the other was from distance but never dipped back down to get on target. He was accurate on one of his two attempted crosses as well. Pato played every minute of the match and had 50 touches while completing 82% of his 34 passes. While the series of passes between him and his teammates looked pretty at times, it wasn’t enough to put the ball in the back of the net as the final product was just never there.

F, Ercan Kara, 6 — In his first start as a Lion, he nearly scored in the 22nd minute with a diving header after Pato found him in the center of the box but Kann made a good save. It was his only official shot of the night — the statistician was a bit stingy in the game, not giving him a shot for his flick attempt off a first-half cross from Ruan, which was blocked by a defender — but he did well working himself into good positions in the center of the box. With the opposition leading much of the match and sitting back defensively, Kara was limited to 24 touches in 88 minutes. He completed 63% of his 16 passes but did create a scoring chance and his off-the-ball movement was good. He nearly had a tap-in in the first half off a good Moutinho cross but he was sandwiched between two defenders and couldn’t make contact with the ball. He tired notably in the second half and wasn’t as involved but the signs are there that Kara can be a dangerous addition to the Orlando attack.

Substitutes

F, Benji Michel (67’), 5.5 — Michel came on for Araujo to give Orlando another offensive weapon while trailing in the match. The Homegrown Player used his speed against Cincy’s tired legs to find himself in good positions to score, but he wasn’t able to get any of his three shots on target as two were blocked and the other — on which he was sent down the right by a good Pato pass — went wide. He had 19 touches and was dispossessed twice and halted a potential attack with a handball, while making one key pass to try to spark something. Michel didn’t have any crosses and completed seven of his nine passes for a 78% success rate. He brought needed energy to the offense and gave Cincy’s defense trouble, but ultimately couldn’t capitalize on it.

MF, Sebas Mendez (88’), N/A — It was a brief appearance for Mendez, but he had 12 touches and was successful on nine of his 11 passes for an 82% rate. The Ecuadorian also had a tackle and helped stop Vazquez from getting a hat trick in stoppage time.

F, Tesho Akindele (88’), N/A — The Canadian striker wasn’t able to replicate the success he’s had against Cincy in the past in his brief appearance. He had just three touches and only completed one of his three passes.

That’s how I saw the performances in Orlando City’s home loss to FC Cincinnati. It was a disappointing result, but the players will have to shake it off before road trips out west the next two weeks to take on the LA Galaxy and Portland Timbers. Be sure to vote in the poll below for your Man of the Match.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Junior Urso29
Facundo Torres3
Cesar Araujo3
Joao Moutinho5
Other (tell us who in the comments)9

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Opinion

Orlando City Has Been Better than Expected Halfway Through the Season

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

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1 day ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/20/25

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

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

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

Orlando Pride Face Racing Louisville Tonight

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

Zambia Calls Up Orlando Pride Trio

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

USMNT Beats Saudi Arabia to Qualify for Quarterfinals

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

FIFA Club World Cup Roundup

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

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

Free Kicks

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

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

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Orlando City

In 2025, OCSC Stands for Orlando City Scorers Club

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

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June 19, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

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

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

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

PlayerSeasonSeason Game ScoreRank in MLSMLS Best that Season
Nani201922.0850.7
Facundo Torres202320.91031.1
Facundo Torres202420.02132.6
Facundo Torres202217.42533.7
Duncan McGuire202316.32631.1
Nani202116.22626.6
Sacha Kljestan201815.64638.0
Chris Mueller2020*14.81121.8
Yoshimar Yotún201814.75338.0
Dom Dwyer201814.35838.0
Martín Ojeda2025**14.1416.8
  • * The 2020 season contained only 23 games due to COVID-19
  • ** Ojeda’s stats are through 18 matches; MLS teams have played between 16-19 matches

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vamos Orlando!

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