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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Final Score 4-1 as Lions Suffer First Road Loss of 2022

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3 years ago

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For the second time in three matches, Orlando City didn’t look like it belonged on an MLS pitch. The Lions were — well, the word awful comes to mind — in a deserved 4-1 road loss to CF Montreal at Stade Saputo. Orlando (5-4-2, 17 points) lost on the road for the first time in 2022 and never seemed likely to challenge Montreal (5-3-2, 17 points) once the hosts scored their first goal.

The Lions scored a set piece goal to cut a 2-0 deficit in half against the run of play in the second half but then handed two more goals to Montreal with the poor giveaways that plagued the team all game long. CF Montreal set a club record by extending its unbeaten run to seven games (5-0-2).

Joao Moutinho provided Orlando’s only goal on one of just two shot attempts. Joel Waterman, Djordje Mihailovic, Joaquin Torres, and Zachary Brault-Guillard all chipped in goals for Montreal.

“Certainly a difficult afternoon for us (against) a team that had a lot of initiative going forward,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “And we couldn’t, first get the ball back, and second create much. The mistakes that we did allowed them to score the goals. Very fair result for Montreal and we’re just going to push forward, just keep organizing things, and being back on results.”

Pareja’s lineup included Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Moutinho, Thomas Williams — in for the suspended Robin Jansson — Rodrigo Schlegel, and Ruan. Sebas Mendez joined Cesar Araujo in central midfield to try to provide more coverage for the back line. The attacking midfield line included Facundo Torres, Mauricio Pereyra, and Benji Michel, with Alexandre Pato as the main strike threat.

Earlier in the day, OCB sent center back Brandon Hackenberg to the senior side on a short-term loan to provide coverage in central defense in Jansson’s absence. Hackenberg was on the bench along with newly acquired winger Jake Mulraney.

The opening minutes were a bit sloppy on both sides but Montreal got the first good chance to score six minutes in. Just after Schlegel blocked a Joaquin Torres shot from the top of the box, the ball cycled out wide to Montreal’s right. A cross back into the area was met by Romell Quioto, who was hardly bothered by Williams or Schlegel but he sent his free header over Gallese’s crossbar.

Two minutes later, Ruan made a sliding attempt to deny a pass and clear the ball but instead he simply set the ball up nicely for Lassi Lappalainen to run onto in the box. Lappalainen fired from the left side of Montreal’s attacking side but Gallese made a big save.

Orlando’s first foray into the attacking end didn’t take place until the 10th minute. Moutinho sent in a cross but former Lion Kamal Miller cleared it away. The Lions tried to recycle down the left wing but Michel’s left-footed cross was right at goalkeeper Sebastian Breza.

Facu Torres fired Orlando’s first shot attempt in the 14th minute after Miller failed to properly deal with a ball over the top that was intended for Pato. His shot was well off target and since Pato was behind the defense there was no option for the winger to play a through ball for the Brazilian.

A minute later, Mihailovic was nearly in for a clear shot on target but Mendez did well to break up the play at the top of the box. Just after that, Ruan coughed up the ball in his own defensive end. Pereyra committed a foul, which handed a free kick to the hosts. Mihailovic played the free kick short and received the ball back quickly and fired a shot on target. The attempt was right at Gallese, who made the easy save in the 18th minute.

Montreal’s wingbacks were pushing higher and higher and it nearly put Mihailovic in behind in the 20th minute but Schlegel did well to get back and break up the play. However, he conceded a corner, which led to Montreal’s opener. The cross into the box hit Michel and bounced toward goal. Waterman was standing there all alone and scored. The initial ruling was that the play was offside, and Waterman was well behind the defense, but after video review, the referee saw that the ball wasn’t passed by a Montreal player and instead was knocked behind to the center back by Michel, so the goal was awarded, giving the hosts a 1-0 lead.

The hosts should have doubled the lead in the 36th minute. The Lions lost the ball in the attack and Montreal quickly countered. Quioto put in a good ball across for Lappalainen in front. Ruan overran the play, giving the wingback a 1-v-1 opportunity against Gallese but he sent his shot just wide of the right post.

Gallese had to make a key save in the 40th minute after Mendez tried to play too fancy in his own end and turned it over. The ball cycled left to right and was slipped into Mihailovic down the right. He’d gotten in behind Araujo and Williams was slow to react, giving the winger an open look at goal but Gallese did well to get down and make the save.

Each side wasted a set piece late and the hosts took their deserved 1-0 lead into the break. Montreal dominated the opening half, leading in possession (56.4%43.6%), shots (8-1), shots on target (4-0), corners (2-1), and passing accuracy (89.7%-87.1%). The Lions were fortunate to be within one, offering nothing in the attack and getting bossed around by a Montreal central midfield that was missing Victor Wanyama and Ismael Kone.

Montreal picked up where it left off after the restart. Orlando turned Montreal over at midfield but poor awareness by Michel allowed the hosts to easily dispossess the winger and go the other way, where they won a corner. Miller had a free header but didn’t get all of it and Gallese collected.

Montreal doubled the lead anyway shortly afterwards. Mendez took the ball away in midfield but instead of getting forward in transition, Pato played the ball backward. Orlando worked it around but again turned it over and Montreal bombed forward in transition. Alistair Johnston got to the end line and cut the ball back across the front of goal for Mihailovic to tap in, building the lead to 2-0 in the 52nd minute.

Down two goals, Pareja made three substitutions, sending on Mulraney, Ercan Kara, and Junior Urso for Michel, Pato, and Mendez. Mulraney’s first touch nearly produced something as his dangerous cross into the box required Breza to be quick off his line to prevent a scoring chance in the 58th minute.

Moments later, Mathieu Choiniere sent a shot just inches wide of Gallese’s goal off a slight deflection. The ensuing corner kick again rattled around the area but this time Orlando cleared.

A poor header attempt by Schlegel allowed Montreal to bomb forward again and Quioto ended up on the left side. Williams did well to keep him from getting into better position and he fired a tough-angle shot that Gallese blocked in the 67th minute. Three minutes later, Gallese made another vital save.

The Lions pulled a goal back two minutes after that, when pressure from Mulraney won a corner. Pereyra’s service picked out Moutinho in the area and the left back nodded home to make it 2-1 in the 72nd minute.

With the lead cut in half and everything to play for, Orlando…didn’t. The Lions couldn’t maintain possession, string together multiple passes, deliver a single accurate ball when trying to break lines, and simply didn’t make Montreal work very hard on defense. Orlando failed to even get another shot attempt off in the final 18 minutes plus five minutes of injury time.

Instead, the Lions conceded two more goals and both were off turnovers.

In the 81st minute, Joaquin Torres restored the two-goal advantage on a play that Orlando should have dealt with. Williams did well against substitute Kei Kamara but stopped playing when he thought the ball went over the end line for a goal kick. But Kamara’s hustle allowed him to get a foot around the ball and keep it in play. Williams was standing still, looking at the assistant referee when Kamara ran back onto the field past him and kept the play going. Montreal cycled it around and it ended up on the right, where it was crossed by Brault-Guillard to Torres, who spun off of Williams and put the game away with a cannon shot past Gallese.

Three minutes later, substitute Andres Perea gave the ball away with a horrible first touch to hand Montreal another transition. Brault-Guillard had little angle to shoot at from the right side, but he made an inch-perfect back-post shot count, beating Gallese to make it 4-1.

Kamara came with inches of making it five goals for Montreal in stoppage time but that was as bad as it got. Montreal dominated the stat sheet at the end of the game, leading in possession (59%-41%), shots (20-2), shots on target (10-1), corners (7-2), and passing accuracy (88.3%-83.6%).

As comprehensive as the loss to the New York Red Bulls was two weeks ago, this one was worse. Pareja didn’t have an answer for the continued stagnation of the offense but accepted responsibilty for it after the match.

“I am responsible,” he said, “just helping out to create the sequences, helping out to be the team that we want to be. And offensively when we are not being that team that is threatening, that is creating and all those things, obviously somebody needs to give some explanation. What happened is that we need to execute. It’s easy to say, but today we looked controllable and we did not threaten much behind, but that is something I need to help them out with.”

“I have to say, they were decent,” Mulraney said of Montreal, getting on the field after just arriving with his new team a couple of days ago. “It’s hard to come on the road in this league. I’m excited about this group. I feel there’s a real togetherness. So, we’ll see.”

The Lions have just 12 shot attempts and five shots on target over the last three MLS matches, and there’s not much time between now and the U.S. Open Cup match this midweek to get the offense figured out.

“This is a short turnaround. We have to focus on the next game and see how can we grow up with a team,” Pareja said. “It’s the task to do.”

The Lions return home for a Tuesday night fourth-round match-up with the Philadelphia Union in U.S. Open Cup play before heading back to Canada to face Toronto FC next Saturday.

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Lion Links: 3/21/25

Scott Sutter joins Orlando Pride staff, Pride watch party schedule announced, USMNT falls flat vs. Panama, and more.

Published

16 hours ago

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March 21, 2025

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Carlos Romero, The Mane Land

Welcome to the weekend, Mane Landers. I just found out that Barbra Banda’s goal didn’t win NWSL Goal of the Week, despite earning the most fan votes. Utterly ridiculous and I hope that Banda takes out the supporters’ frustration this weekend. I need these upcoming matches to take the bad taste of that USMNT match out of my mouth. In the interest of moving on, let’s get to the links.

Former Lion Scott Sutter Joins Orlando Pride Staff

Former Orlando City fullback Scott Sutter has joined Seb Hines’ staff with the Orlando Pride. Sutter was one of three new support staffers announced by the Pride on Thursday and will serve in the role of player development coach. Sutter made 51 appearances with Orlando City in 2017 and 2018, scoring four goals and adding six assists in his time with the club. He joins fellow former Orlando City players Hines and Giles Barnes on the Pride’s staff. Previously, Sutter has coaching experience as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Virginia and as an academy head coach with D.C. United. 

The Pride also named Erin Angelini as the new head of rehabilitation and Tara Kaff as the club’s performance nutritionist. In addition to the new hires, Chris Cafaro and Christi Edson were promoted to head of video performance analysis and head of performance, respectively.

Pride Announce Watch Party Schedule

You can watch the Orlando Pride away matches in the comfort of your own home, but if you crave the excitement of celebrating goals with your follow supporters, you can attend of the club’s official watch parties. These events are scheduled for some of the Pride’s biggest away matches against the best the NWSL has to offer. The match Sunday against NJ/NY Gotham FC is a must-see match and the first of those aforementioned watch parties.

Lifeless USMNT Crashes Out of Nations League

The USMNT lost 1-0 to Panama on a second-half stoppage-time goal from the visitors. The U.S. garnered most of the possession and more shots, but the Yanks couldn’t finish their chances and it came back to haunt them in the end. The loss knocks the U.S. out of the Concacaf Nations League, meaning it will be the first time that the competition isn’t won by the USMNT.

New Women’s World Sevens League

A new 7-v-7 league, Women’s World Sevens, will launch in May with a reported $5 million grand prize pool for each event. Eight clubs will participate in each event, though the participants have not yet been announced. We do know that form USWNT star Tobin Heath will be involved as a player advisor for the events.

Free Kicks

That will do it for today. Make sure to check back as we get you ready for the Orlando City and Orlando Pride matches this weekend. Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City’s Defense Must Start Rocking Right Now

Orlando City’s defensive struggles and the historical risks of giving up an average of more than two goals per game.

Published

1 day ago

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March 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock penned a song in 1988 that became a staple on dance floors and in sports arenas everywhere, and it will probably remain so for years to come. That song is the classic single “It Takes Two,” a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. The reason I bring it up here is not because of Rob Base and his excellent flow, but rather because in three of the four games this season “it takes two” was also the answer to the question “how many goals will the Lions need to score to at least give themselves a chance to earn a point?”

Sadly, in the other game of the first four it was not it takes two but rather it takes two times two, or perhaps it it takes two two times, when the Lions gave up four goals in the season opener.

The regular season is 34 games long, and with only four games played, Orlando City still has 88% of its games remaining. And, with one win and one draw among those first four games, the Lions have earned four points, which is better than last season, when they had only earned one point after their first four games. That team went on to make it all the way to the Eastern Conference final, so we should not overreact to a slow start.

And really, the slow start is only on the defensive side, because the offense has scored nine goals, tying for second in MLS so far, and it is also among the top teams in shots (second), shots on target (third), goals per shot (seventh), and goals per shot on target (sixth).

I wanted to look a little more at the defense this week, and in particular look at that ugly stat around giving up at least two goals in every game. I looked back at the last three seasons in MLS to see how many regular-season games a team gave up at least two goals, and I was both heartened and disheartened by what I found. Here are the results, broken out by each team’s final position (reminder that the regular season is 34 games):

Final Position202220232024Three-Year Avg.
Champion11131914.3
Runner-Up4121410.0
Conf. Finalist14.010.013.512.5
Conf. Semi-Finalist13.012.313.813.0
Conf. Quarter-Finalist13.212.113.512.9
Wild CardN/A14.51916.8
Did Not Make Playoffs17.515.819.517.6

It was heartening to see that the average across every final position that ended in the playoffs was at least 10 games, and most were at least 12.5. I had thought it would be a lower average, so based on Orlando City’s early performances, I was glad to see that it was higher than I thought.

Though it is not in the chart above, the average for all playoff teams during the three seasons was 13.1 games of giving up at least two goals. That is approximately 38% of a season, so the average playoff team gave up at least two goals in nearly two out of every five games. This was also more than I thought, and it means that Orlando City can pretty quickly get back onto a similar pace with a good run of defensive form.

While I was happy to see that most teams — even teams that went deep into the playoffs — had posted double-digit games of shipping two or more goals, that still does not change the fact that Orlando City is on pace to give up two or more goals in…let me check my math here….every game this season. A four-game sample is a small one, and it would not be wise to make any firm conclusions off of that, but it is simple math to look at the three-year averages for the teams that went deep into the playoffs and to calculate that Orlando City is already around one-third of the way there, with nearly 90% of the season left to play. Disheartening.

The obvious question is why are the Lions giving up so many goals, and, as was discussed a bit on the most recent episode of The Mane Land PawedCast, the team has started four different defensive lineups in four games, and the Lions will make it five for five during this week’s game against D.C. United, as Pedro Gallese was called up to Peru’s national team, so Javier Otero will likely be the starter in goal. The back line in front of Otero will probably be a repeat of a lineup that has already been used, but the lack of continuity in defense has certainly contributed to some of the issues in the first four games.

Head Coach Óscar Pareja has pointed to individual mistakes that need to be cleaned up for the results to improve, but the team as a whole has allowed the fourth-most shots on target this season, an average of 5.75 per game. Using expected goals as a measure for the danger of the locations of the shots allowed, Orlando City is giving up shots from the second-most dangerous locations across MLS, making it unsurprising that its opponents have put so many shots on target per game and converted 10 of those shots into goals. Individual mistakes certainly contributed, and Robin Jansson was called for a questionable foul that gave the Red Bulls an undeserved penalty kick, but the issues seem to be a little deeper than just a few mistakes that need to be cleaned up.

Or, perhaps it is a few individual mistakes, a lack of continuity on the back line and also some bad luck. Six of the goals allowed have been from within four yards, one was a penalty kick, and one was shot into a wide open goal after Rodrigo Schlegel took perhaps the worst touch in his professional career. According to Opta’s tracking, Orlando City only gave up five goals from four yards or closer in 2024, and for that number to already be six this season seems like an aberration more than a new normal. The team also opened the season against Philadelphia, and after four games played, the Union lead the league in goals scored. That was also the game when Jansson was unexpectedly scratched from the starting lineup just minutes before the opening kickoff, changing the defensive game plan considerably.

Maybe that is me seeing the glass half full instead of half empty, but these are the same defensive players as last season, with the exception of Alex Freeman playing instead of Dagur Dan Thórhallsson for most of the minutes at right back. The defensive statistics were much better in 2024 than thus far in 2025, and Freeman is not a downgrade from Thórhallsson, so I think a positive regression to the mean will be coming. The 2024 team also gave up 10 goals in the first four games, 2.5 goals per game, but then gave up 40 goals in the next 30 regular-season games, a reduction of more than one goal per game, from 2.5 to 1.33.

The Lions’ defense has the talent and the experience to do something similar this year, especially as the players spend more minutes together, and there is no time like the present to have their first game of giving up fewer than two goals. I do not think it is too much to ask, and if the players are looking for some inspiration, they could get that by watching the Orlando Pride’s defensive players, who are coached by former Orlando City defender Seb Hines.

Let’s hope that the defense can, to quote Rob Base, make this thing go right.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. D.C. United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to secure three points at home against D.C. United?

Published

2 days ago

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March 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City B

Orlando City returns to Inter&Co Stadium Saturday night to face Eastern Conference foe D.C. United. The Lions have given up a ton of goals this season but have also scored quite a few. However, with only one win so far, Orlando City needs to get a positive result at home this weekend. Here’s what Orlando City needs to do to earn all three points against D.C. United.

Blank Benteke

D.C. United has scored six goals so far this season. Christian Benteke has scored three of those six goals. While that is completely unsurprising, it also makes Benteke the most important player on the field for the Lions to shut down. Orlando City has given up at least two goals in every match and a total of 10 goals already this season. That must change on Saturday night.

Robin Jansson is back in the starting lineup, but he didn’t have his best match against the New York Red Bulls. We need the Beefy Swede to get back into form both mentally and physically if he is to help keep Benteke off the scoresheet. Obviously, Jansson won’t be the only player needed to stop Benteke, but he is the leader of the team and the leader of the defense.

The other major factor is Pedro Gallese’s absence, as the keeper will be on international duty. That means Javier Otero will get his first MLS start in goal. Otero will need to rise to the challenge in front of a leaky back line. Said back line needs to stop being so leaky to help out Otero. Everyone elevating to get the job done is ideal.

Continued DP Contributions

Orlando City’s Designated Players have scored six of the club’s nine goals, and provided four of the team’s five assists on the season. While that is exactly like it should be for any team, that hasn’t always been the case for the Lions in the past. It’s so normal and also so odd at the same time.

D.C. United has given up five goals so far this season, which is pretty average in comparison around the league. My point is that Kim Jun-hong is not Carlos Coronel, and D.C. United’s defense hasn’t been as stingy as the New York Red Bulls defense. If the Lions can score two goals against New York — and it should have been more — then Marco Pasalic, Martin Ojeda, and Luis Muriel can certainly score multiple goals against D.C.

New Midfield, Who Dis?

Eduard Atuesta had an excellent game against the New York Red Bulls. Joran Gerbet had as good a first start as any rookie could in place of Cesar Araujo, who missed the match due to some tightness late in the week. Orlando City may have its starting defensive midfielder back, but if not, then Gerbet will need to build on his performance from last week.

The D.C. United midfielders are expected to provide service for Benteke. The Orlando City midfield needs to disrupt that service at every opportunity. If they do this, then Atuesta can do what he does best to link the defense to the Orlando City offense and provide opportunities to the attack to hopefully outscore D.C. United.

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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