Connect with us

Orlando City

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

Published

2 years ago

on

After a bump in the road last weekend against CF Montreal, the Lions returned to getting away results Saturday in a 1-0 win against Toronto FC at BMO Field. Major League Soccer is notorious for being a difficult league on road teams, but this year’s Orlando City squad seems well suited for the task of playing away from home (so far).

Despite bringing back all three points, it was far from the best performance of the season and needed a stoppage-time set piece goal to turn one point into three. Let’s take a look at the individual performances.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6.5 — The Peruvian international made two saves in the match on Toronto’s two shots on target, which is all you can ask in the shot-stopping department. He completed 87.5% of his passes, including two of his five long-ball attempts. He earned one tackle in the match, as well. It was a fairly quiet day for Gallese, who had 22 touches in the game and kept a clean sheet on a day when the opponent registered 0.55 expected goals. Goalkeeper seems to be the one position where volume of work affects the score, but the one thing you can say is that El Pulpo did his job on Saturday.

D, Joao Moutinho, 7.5 — The Portuguese fullback had a strong game. He finished third on the team in touches (68), tied for the team lead in shot attempts (3), and played solid defensively. His 75.7% passing success rate and 0/3 on crosses could have been better, but he recorded a key pass, was 2/5 on long balls, fired one of the team’s six shots on target, and won two aerials. He led the team with six tackles and four interceptions, and he contributed a clearance.

D, Robin Jansson, 7 — The Beefy Swede did Beefy Swede things in Toronto, including picking up a yellow card. I didn’t like this one, as he appeared to make his sliding challenge successfully ahead of the opponent’s arrival, but at least it was better than getting booked for yapping at the ref about a foul against someone else that was/wasn’t called. He contributed one on-target shot and made a terrific foray up the field that would have resulted in a quality scoring chance had Junior Urso not had a heavy touch at the end of the play. In a quiet day for the back line, Jansson had only one tackle and one clearance. He completed 90.5% of his 42 passes and five of his seven long-ball attempts — both led the back line players.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — Alongside Jansson, Schlegel had a solid day overall, albeit just a little below what his central defense partner provided. His 87.5% passing rate was solid and he managed 20 more touches than Jansson as the center back who stayed back more. He contributed four tackles, two clearances, and a blocked shot. His yellow card was for a tactical foul, which prevented a Toronto counter, so no issues with that. The Argentine did not have any offensive statistical contributions.

D, Ruan, 7 — The Brazilian speedster had an active day, although his crossing continues to be painful to watch. He was 0-for-2 on crosses but 3-of-4 on long balls. His 81.8% passing rate was good, considering some of the positions he gets into. He made one key pass that Urso should have finished to make it an assist, but…alas. He attempted one shot, but it wasn’t on frame, completed one dribble, and drew two free kicks. He made an underrated play late in the game to sneak in and win a corner, helping Orlando waste a bit more time. Defensively, Ruan blocked a shot and recorded three tackles.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 7.5 (MotM) — Once again, the young Uruguayan had a massive game. On a day that Toronto didn’t muster much offensively, he still had two tackles, two interceptions, two clearances, and one blocked shot. Araujo had no offensive stats but he did pass at a 93.3% rate to lead all starters, and he was second in touches (76), just one behind Mauricio Pereyra. Impressively, he completed nine of his 10 long-ball attempts, helping the lines stay connected. Much of what Araujo does on the pitch doesn’t translate to the box score, but he’s been asked to do a lot this season and he’s mostly delivered.

MF, Andres Perea, 6.5 — Perea built on his solid Open Cup outing and rewarded Oscar Pareja for giving him another start. He nearly scored a goal in his second straight game, getting a foot on a Pereyra free kick but sending the shot just wide. It was his only shot attempt of the match. Perea contributed two key passes and connected with his teammates at an 85.2% rate, completing both of his long passes. He contributed two tackles and an interception on the defensive end. Most importantly, he was only dispossessed once and had one bad touch — two areas that have been an issue at times for him so far this season.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6 — The Uruguayan Young Designated Player compiles a lot of stats during a match but some of what he does — good and bad — doesn’t turn up on the sheet after the match. Torres attempted two shots in the match. One was an ambitious, long-range effort that missed the target (we seem to get at least one of those per game from him). The other was on frame but wasn’t terribly dangerous. Torres was active, with the team’s fourth-most touches (67), passing at an 80.4% rate. He struggled in crossing (1/5) and long passes (1/3), but did have one key pass. Defensively, he contributed a tackle and a clearance. But he had three unstable touches and in one instance he laid on the field lobbying for a foul call while Toronto cycled the ball dangerously around Orlando’s penalty area. That can’t happen. If the call isn’t made, some effort to get up and defend must take place.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6.5 — The midfield maestro continues to log a lot of miles for Orlando City, with a team-high 77 touches in the match. He tried to be more of an offensive threat in this match, firing three shots and getting a decent free kick effort on target to force a good ave. That was his only shot that hit the target. He contributed a team-high five key passes, although his teammates struggled to do anything with them. Defensively, he added five tackles, two interceptions, and two clearances. His 84.3% passing rate was good. He completed three of seven crosses and two of four long balls. I deducted a little for getting dispossessed three times and for trying some difficult passes that didn’t get through the maze of legs when better options were available to potentially get in behind down the flanks.

MF, Junior Urso, 4.5 — This may seem like a harsh grade, but coming off a monster performance against Philadelphia, some tired legs may have been affecting the Bear. He gave his all, but at times he just didn’t have it. His heavy touches wrecked two glorious scoring chances, including a 3-v-1 transition chance and a great passing sequence that started with Jansson’s run up the field. He missed a sitter that Ruan served up, although some good defensive pressure from behind may have bothered him just enough to divert his focus. None of his three shots were on frame, but he did have two key passes. However, he was also dispossessed a team-high four times and had the two costly unstable touches. His passing rate was OK (81.8%), considering he played much of the match at wing. He was 0-for-2 on crossing accuracy and just 1-for-4 on long balls. Defensively, he added a tackle, an interception, and a clearance. I obviously knocked a lot off his score for lacking composure in a few critical moments of the match in an otherwise solid outing, but with fresher legs and/or a fresher mind, he could have helped the Lions put the game away early.

F, Ercan Kara, 5.5 — It’s not always the forward’s fault when he doesn’t get a lot of touches. The Austrian only had 17 of them, which isn’t good, and some of that is on him, but a lot of it has to do with the poor crossing and wasted opportunities from bad touches that have been described above. He was in the right position a few times, such as when Ruan crossed too close to the goalkeeper and as part of the 3-v-1 break that Urso’s heavy touch squandered. He attempted one shot that didn’t reach the target. He didn’t register a key pass and completed six of his nine pass attempts (66.7%). He managed to win three aerials, leading all Lions. He contributed one clearance on defense.

Substitutes

MF, Jake Mulraney (65’), 6 — The team’s new winger came on for the last 25 minutes and provided some energy. He completed all seven of his passes on his 12 touches and won a corner kick for the second time in as many games. Mulraney didn’t contribute any shots or key passes, and his one cross wasn’t accurate. He was dispossessed once and didn’t contribute anything statistically on defense, but he did give the Lions a new look and energy after his introduction.

F, Alexandre Pato, (76’), 7 — It was a short stint for the Duck, but an important one. His cross on the game’s only goal was inch-perfect at the near post, allowing Kyle Smith to finish. He sent one shot on target, created two scoring chances, and completed six of his eight passes on his 16 touches. He also completed two dribbles. His only cross was accurate but he missed on his one long-ball attempt. He didn’t contribute anything statistically on the defensive end.

D, Kyle Smith (76’), 7.5 — The Accountant’s contributions in the final quarter of an hour plus stoppage time went above and beyond the expected for a defensive substitution. He scored the game’s only goal on his only shot attempt and he won the corner kick that set it up when his cross was knocked behind by the defense. Those were the highlights, certainly. He completed just two of his five pass attempts, and just one of his three long balls. His lone cross wasn’t accurate but, as mentioned, worked out well in the end. He added two tackles, two interceptions, and a clearance on the defensive end. His impact was big in a short amount of time. It was that amount of time compared with Araujo that gave the edge to the midfielder for me, although I wouldn’t argue against those who select Smith as Man of the Match.

MF, Sebas Mendez (87’), N/A — The Ecuadorian came on late for Mauricio Pereyra but didn’t have much time to impact the match. He did his job, though. With six touches, he completed all six pass attempts, including his one long ball.

That’s how I saw the individual performances on Saturday. What did you think? Be sure to let us know in the comments and vote in the poll below for your Orlando City Man of the Match.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Joao Moutinho2
Cesar Araujo13
Kyle Smith24
Alexandre Pato6
Robin Jansson6
Other (Let us know who in the comments)1

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Orlando City

Orlando City vs. CF Montreal, Leagues Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions begin their 2024 Leagues Cup quest at home against Montreal.

Published

10 hours ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread for a Friday night Leagues Cup matchup between Orlando City and CF Montreal at Inter&Co Stadium (8 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). It’s the first match of the competition for both teams, and tonight’s game marks the third time the two Eastern Conference sides will meet this season. The teams split the points in both regular-season matchups, drawing both times. More on that later.

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

History

The Lions are 8-9-5 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 9-10-5 in all competitions since they joined MLS. OCSC is 4-4-3 in its home stadium against Montreal and 5-4-3 in the greater Orlando area when including a win in the knockout rounds of the MLS is Back Tournament in 2020.

The two sides last met in Montreal on April 20, trading goals back and forth in a 2-2 draw at Stade Saputo. Mason Toye opened the scoring early but Facundo Torres equalized from the spot a few minutes later. Ariel Lassiter appeared to win it late in normal time for the hosts, but Ivan Angulo struck in stoppage time to earn Orlando City a road point. These teams opened the 2024 season against each other in Orlando and played to a 0-0 draw. The Lions dominated the stat sheet but had a goal waved off for offside and simply weren’t lethal enough in front of goal.

The teams met twice in 2023, completing the season series on Sept. 30, 2023, with the Lions winning 3-0 in dominant fashion. Jonathan Sirois’ own goal opened the scoring, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Torres added strikes for Orlando City. That was a good measure of revenge for OCSC, after Montreal defeated Orlando City 2-0 and handed the Lions their first road loss of the 2023 MLS season on May 6 at Stade Saputo. A Robin Jansson own goal got Montreal started in the second half and Romell Quioto added a second goal four minutes later.

These two sides played their biggest game against each other in the 2022 MLS playoffs, with CF Montreal knocking Orlando City out of the postseason by a 2-0 scoreline on Oct. 16, with goals by Ismael Kone and Djordje Mihailovic — the latter coming deep in stoppage time from the penalty spot.

Each team won at home in the two-game, regular-season series in 2022, with Montreal thumping Orlando 4-1 on May 7. Joel Waterman, Mihailovic, Joaquin Torres, and Zachary Brault-Guillard did the damage on the scoreboard and Orlando City managed just two shot attempts, with Joao Moutinho’s goal on a set piece helping the Lions avoid a shutout. Orlando City did not have either starting center back for that match, and it showed. The teams also met on opening day of the 2022 season, when Orlando City captured a 2-0 home win behind second-half goals from Alexandre Pato and Benji Michel.

In 2021, the teams met in Montreal on Decision Day, with the Lions earning a 2-0 road victory at Stade Saputo to clinch a playoff spot. Sebas Mendez and Daryl Dike provided the goals. That season’s matchup in Orlando came on Oct. 20, 2021, with the visitors managing a 1-1 draw. Chris Mueller struck for the Lions just before halftime, but Rudy Camacho answered on a corner kick header shortly after the restart. The first meeting of 2021 took place Sept. 15 in Orlando with the Lions falling 4-2 and finishing the game with just nine men after both Nani and Andres Perea were sent off. Quioto led Montreal with a goal and two assists. Mathieu Choiniere and Quioto put Montreal up 2-0, but despite already being down one man, Jansson and Ruan tied things up. The visitors got two more from Lassi Lappalainen and Sunusi Ibrahim.

The teams met at Red Bull Arena in late 2020 as the team then known as the Montreal Impact played home games in New Jersey due to the pandemic. Orlando City got a Dike goal in the 39th minute to win 1-0 on Nov. 1, 2020. It was the second meeting of the 2020 season, with Orlando also beating Montreal 1-0 in the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds on July 25 to advance to the quarterfinals. Tesho Akindele scored the game’s only goal on a Montreal defensive mistake.

Orlando City snapped a six-game winless streak against Montreal (0-5-1) in MLS regular-season play dating back to 2016 when the Lions put the Impact to the sword in a 3-0 drubbing at Stade Saputo on June 1, 2019. Nani (penalty), Akindele, and Will Johnson supplied the offense that day. The Lions fell 3-1 at Exploria Stadium back on March 16, 2019, and Ignacio Piatti was a big reason why, scoring his ninth and 10th career goals against Orlando, adding to a strike by Orji Okwonkwo. Dom Dwyer added a cosmetic goal late for Orlando City to spoil the clean sheet.

Montreal did not allow a goal against the Lions in 2018, sweeping the two-game set from Orlando, and the Impact shut out Orlando City in three of the six meetings in that 5-0-1 run. The lone draw in that time frame was a 3-3 shootout in Orlando in 2017, in which the Impact led deep in stoppage time, only to see Jonathan Spector’s well-placed header steal the Lions a point.

Orlando won the first two meetings in 2016 by a combined score of 6-2. The teams split three meetings in 2015, with each going 1-1-1.

Match Overview

Orlando City enters this match on a five-game unbeaten run (4-0-1). The Lions are coming off a tightly contested 1-1 home draw against New York City FC on Saturday. The only Orlando goal was provided by Ramiro Enrique, but the Lions conceded a Hannes Wolf strike five minutes later. Enrique is in fine form, having scored goals in each of his last four games. Regardless of Orlando’s form, this competition is not part of the MLS regular season, so it’s difficult to know how teams and players will approach it. In addition, it’s not like the Lions have lit it up at home in 2024, amassing a poor record of 3-5-4 at Inter&Co Stadium. However, the Lions have been better of late, going 2-0-1 in their last three at home.

Montreal sits four spots and seven points behind Orlando in the Eastern Conference standings at the Leagues Cup break, struggling to defend in 2024. CF Montreal has allowed 49 goals this season, which is just one fewer than D.C. United’s conference-worst 50. The Canadian club, which is coming off a 1-0 home loss to rival Toronto on Saturday, is 2-7-4 on the road this season and is 0-7-3 in its last 10 road games against MLS competition (0-7-4 on the road in all competitions in its last 11).

A new competition offers hope for both teams, especially Montreal. There is not as much pressure to get a result for the underdog visitors, and it’s a chance to reset and chase a trophy. Ibrahim and old nemesis Josef Martinez are offensive players the Lions must account for, as they are Montreal’s leaders with six and five goals, respectively. Former Lion Ruan will present enough speed to keep up with Orlando City’s Angulo, so that will be an interesting battle to keep an eye on tonight (assuming both play).

“First, we are very excited to participate in this tournament. Last year, I thought it was a successful one, and the experience we had playing the two leagues was good,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “We played against Houston [Dynamo] and Santos [Laguna], which is one of the best teams in Mexico, and the experience was good. Overall, we are preparing and respecting the tournament as much as we can. Everyone is excited to be a part of it.”

As of this writing, it doesn’t appear that availability reports will be a thing for the Leagues Cup, but it’s fair to say the Lions will be without Duncan McGuire (international duty), Mason Stajduhar (lower leg), and Michael Halliday (knee).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Kyle Smith, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.

Attacking Midfielders: Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Nico Lodeiro.

Forward: Ramiro Enrique.

Bench: Javier Otero, Rafael Santos, Luca Petrasso, Alex Freeman, Rodrigo Schlegel, Felipe, Jeorgio Kocevski, Favian Loyola, Yutaro Tsukada, Luis Muriel, Jack Lynn.

CF Montreal (3-4-1-2)

Goalkeeper: Sebastian Breza.

Defenders: Fernando Alvarez, Joel Waterman, Gabriele Corbo.

Midfielders/Wingbacks: Joaquin Sosa, Nathan Saliba, Victor Wanyama, Ruan.

Attacking Midfielder: Mathieu Choiniere.

Forwards: Matias Coccaro, Sunusi Ibrahim.

Bench: Jonathan Sirois, Lassi Lappalainen, Dawid Bugaj, Bryce Duke, Ilias Iliadis, Ariel Lassiter, Joseph Martinez, Kwadwo Opoku, Tom Pearce, Rida Zouhir.

Referees:

REF: Adonai Escobedo González.
AR1: Enrique Bustos Díaz.
AR2: Enedina Caudillo Gómez.
4TH: Lizzet Garcia Olvera.
VAR: Melissa Borjas Pastrana.

How to Watch

Match Time: 8 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

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

Radio: FM 96.9 The Game (English).

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Enjoy the match. Go City!

Continue Reading

Orlando City

Examining the Sustainability of Ramiro Enrique’s Scoring Explosion

Is Ramiro Enrique’s scoring outburst sustainable, or is a regression to the mean on the horizon?

Published

11 hours ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Since Orlando City’s 5-0 thumping of D.C. United back on July 6, Ramiro Enrique has tapped into a red-hot vein of form. He’s got four goals in four games, matching his scoring output from the entirety of the 2023 season, and doing so in four matches and 245 minutes, as compared to 30 matches and 1,019 minutes last year. That brings us to the big question: is this sort of output sustainable?

We’ll start by looking at the expected goals on each of his four tallies. While xG isn’t a perfect statistic, it provides a fairly good measure of how good a chance is. To get a clearer picture, we’ll also take a look at each goal to help gauge how difficult the chance is.

Against D.C. United, Enrique latched onto a flicked-on header from a corner kick and used a header of his own to score the Lions’ fifth and final goal of the night. That strike had an xG of 0.1. In truth, that number seems a bit low to me, as once Enrique’s in front of his defender, he has the whole net to aim at, and the ball comes in at a great height for him to get his head on it. He makes no mistake and sticks it into the side netting, where the goalkeeper has no hope of reaching it.

Against the New England Revolution, the Argentine again scored from a corner, sneaking in front of goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic and flicking the ball past him before he could collect Cesar Araujo’s header. His second goal of the season had an xG of 0.4. That number seems more reasonable to me. Once he does the hard work of losing his marker and getting across Ivacic, the goalkeeper is helpless to stop any ball that isn’t coming straight at him, and it’s a good finish.

Against Nashville, he collected a pass from Ivan Angulo a few yards outside of the six-yard box and blasted it off the crossbar and in. The tight angle from which he scored means the xG of 0.04 isn’t too surprising. Once again, Enrique managed to lose his defender and got himself into a really nice area of open space. The finish is outstanding, but it wouldn’t have been surprising to see a save or shot off target from this angle.

His fourth goal of the year had elements of skill and luck, as he redirected Martin Ojeda’s shot against NYCFC. The effort from Ojeda took a deflection off Enrique that caught the goalkeeper leaning the wrong way and had enough pace to carry it into the net, for an xG of 0.11. Again, I’m surprised the number is as high as it is. That’s probably due to the deflection happening in the box and leaving Matt Freese next to no time to react. While it was a clever touch to redirect it, there was also a good deal of luck involved.

Those totals add up to 0.65. In other words, Enrique would be estimated to score 0.65 goals off those chances (or one, rounding up, as there are no fractions of goals), and he instead bagged four. There are a couple ways you can view that. The optimist would say that he’s simply a good finisher and has been making the most of the chances that have come his way, even when they aren’t very good ones. The pessimist would say that him converting low percentage chances at this rate isn’t sustainable, and he’s due to regress back to the mean soon.

We can also look at the bigger picture of his statistics up to this point in the year. Across 11 games and 483 minutes, Enrique has taken 18 shots, put nine of them on target, and scored from four of those. He’s also got a season xG of 3.52, which is pretty much in line with his goal total of four, although he’s slightly outperforming it. That isn’t a bad thing though, as the best strikers score difficult chances too, not just the easy ones. Cristian Arango, Christian Benteke, and Denis Bouanga are the top three scorers in the league, and Bouanga is the only one not outperforming his xG (17.68 xG compared to 16 goals).

In my opinion, the truth of Enrique’s case lies somewhere in between. He’s put 50% of his shots on target this year, which is a great number, and getting the ball on frame is half the battle in this sport, so that’s an encouraging place to start. Each of his first three goals in 2024 came as a result of getting into space in a dangerous area and making no mistake with his finish once the ball arrived. Against D.C., he did well to get in front of his defender. In New England, he snuck in from the blind side of the defense. And against Nashville, he found space in the box and stayed onside until Angulo was able to find him. That sort of movement and ability to get yourself into dangerous areas is something that can be replicated, even if finishing low-percentage chances like the strikes against Nashville and NYCFC probably isn’t.

If Enrique continues being clever with his movement and finding dangerous spaces, Orlando’s offense has begun to look fluid enough that his teammates will find ways to get him the ball. As long as he keeps getting shots on frame and his finishing stays sharp, it isn’t unreasonable to assume that he’ll grab some more goals this year. It probably won’t be at the rate he’s done so in July, but if nothing else, he should be able to provide some extra firepower to an OCSC attack that has woken up in recent weeks. Keep your fingers crossed, folks. Vamos Orlando!

Continue Reading

Lion Links

Lion Links: 7/26/24

Orlando City plays CF Montreal tonight, USWNT wins against Zambia, Marta provides assist in Brazil’s win, and more.

Published

13 hours ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Mark Thor

Happy Friday! I hope the work week has gone easy on you as we get ready for a weekend filled to the brim with soccer to enjoy. The Olympic opening ceremony is also today, and I’m interested to see what the organizers in Paris have come up with. But for now, let’s get this Friday started with today’s links!

Orlando City Takes On CF Montreal Tonight

The Leagues Cup kicks off today and Orlando City will host CF Montreal tonight in its first of two group games. The Lions will then take on Atletico de San Luis on Aug. 4. It’s worth noting that these games will go into a penalty shootout if the score remains level after 90 minutes, with the winner of the shootout getting an extra point. The top two teams of each group advance to the next round and Orlando will play the Philadelphia Union, Cruz Azul, or Charlotte FC if it survives the group stage.

USWNT Beats Zambia in Summer Olympic Opener

The United States Women’s National Team started its Olympic campaign with a dominant 3-0 win against Zambia. The USWNT’s attack looked free and dangerous, with Trinity Rodman striking first and Mallory Swanson scoring twice in quick succession to give the USWNT a comfortable lead. Those goals also came before Zambia was reduced to 10 players after a red card to Pauline Zulu. The Orlando Pride’s Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda both started for Zambia, although Chanda was subbed out in the first half when Zambia had to make changes due to the red card.

There is some bad news along with the good for the USWNT though. Jaedyn Shaw missed out on playing in the opener due to a leg injury, and Sophia Smith had to exit in the 42nd minute.

Marta Assists in Brazil’s Olympic Win

The USWNT was far from the only team to win its first game of this year’s Olympics, as there were no draws after the first round of games. Pride star Marta provided the assist on Brazil’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Nigeria. Marta did well to pick out Gabi Nunes from a tough angle, and the striker had a great first touch and strike to put it away. Pride defender Rafaelle helped secure the shutout, with Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena coming up with huge saves as well. Elsewhere in Group C, Spain’s Aitana Bonmati had a goal and an assist in her team’s 2-1 win against Japan.

New Zealand struck first against Canada in Group A, but the Canadians rallied to come back and win 2-1. France scored three goals in the first half and survived a rally from Colombia in the second half to win 3-2. Germany may have had the most impressive win so far, beating a talented Australian side 3-0.

Analyzing New Zealand Ahead of Olympic Clash

The United States Men’s Olympic Soccer Team will aim to bounce back from a loss to France when it faces New Zealand on Saturday. New Zealand beat Guinea in its first game and is coached by Darren Bazeley, who led New Zealand to the knockout stage of the 2023 U-20 World Cup. Minnesota United center back Michael Boxall and Viking FK midfielder Joe Bell are two of New Zealand’s overage players and give the team some stability. Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, who joined Bournemouth this summer, is capable of coming up with acrobatic saves to give the U.S. fits as well. As for New Zealand’s attack, midfielder Sarpreet Singh and striker Ben Waine are a couple of the dynamic players the U.S. will have to keep in check.

Bev Priestman Removed From Canadian Olympic Team

Canada will have to go the rest of the Olympics without Head Coach Bev Priestman, who was removed from the team by the Canadian Olympic Committee. This decision comes amid a scandal involving spying on New Zealand’s training, which led to Canada Soccer suspending Priestman for the rest of the tournament. Reports have also surfaced that Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have tried to spy on opponents for years, including during the women’s team’s winning campaign in the 2021 Olympics. Only time will tell if Priestman will coach the team after this tournament and if punishments for the team’s actions will be handed out.

Free Kicks

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

Continue Reading

Trending