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Orlando City vs. D.C. United: Five Takeaways

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3 years ago

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Orlando City finally scored more than two goals in a game this season but that provided no comfort as the Lions were bombed for five goals in a 5-3 home loss to D.C. United on Independence Day at Exploria Stadium. Some fans had barely settled into their seats before the home team was behind by two goals and things got worse before they got better…and then got worse again…and then got better…and then finally sunk to the worst. It was the most goals conceded by Orlando at home under the current regime, and it came at the hands of a team that had scored only 18 total goals in 15 previous matches.

Here’s what I took away from Monday night’s match.

Best XI > Not-Best XI

There is a notable depth issue with this year’s Orlando City squad and even if the players and Head Coach Oscar Pareja like to (understandably) talk publicly about how much belief they have in the entire roster, that is not a belief that bench players have given reason for anyone to share. The coaching staff tried to steal a little rest for starters Cesar Araujo and Facundo Torres Monday night, starting Sebas Mendez and Alexandre Pato in their spots. Additionally, Antonio Carlos continues to work back slowly from his thigh injury and Joao Moutinho — upgraded to ‘questionable’ on this week’s availability report — was not in uniform. Some of the team’s biggest issues against D.C. United came from those spots. We’ll get into some of those specifics below, but with eight matches this month, Orlando City had to have three points from a home game against a team riding a six-match winless skid dating back to early May. With the most days off between games the team will see until August happening between last Wednesday’s match vs. Nashville and Monday night, and Monday night to this Saturday against Miami, those are the two matches in which it’s perhaps wisest to play the best available lineup, resting guys where possible when the fixtures get more crowded.

But hey, I’m not in training every day, so if guys were looking a bit leggy or nursing minor knocks, then Pareja did the right thing in rotating.

A Night to Forget Defensively

Giving up five goals is often a team effort, and so it was Monday night. Most of what D.C. did offensively began in Orlando’s attacking third. Poor decisions or badly executed passes led to turnovers that started the D.C. transition and the Lions simply didn’t handle those situations well at all.

Rodrigo Schlegel’s 1-v-1 defending in transition has been spotty in the last week (albeit against admittedly high-quality players like Hany Mukhtar and Taxi Fountas) and Monday night it was an issue, in addition to the Argentine conceding the free kick that handed Fountas his third goal. But some of that defending wouldn’t have been necessary had Kyle Smith not had a howler of a night at left back, subbing for the injured Moutinho. For all the versatility and admirable willingness to do whatever he can to help the team Smith possesses, Monday night was an incredibly harsh reminder that he is not the starter at the position. Smith was absolutely smoked by…well, whoever D.C. threw at him — Michael Estrada, Drew Skundrich, or anyone who fancied a go down United’s right attacking channel.

Finally, there’s Mendez to wrap up this (lengthy) takeaway. The Ecuadorian has shown himself to be a capable player and many have felt he needed to get some minutes. On Monday night, Mendez got the start and the cynical part of me wonders if it was a showcase for a potential trade. If so, things didn’t go as planned. Mendez showed some rust and, as a No. 6 who normally needs to be forcibly dragged into the attacking half, he was often missing from the team’s efforts to track back in transition.

Pato Not in a Good Place Right Now

With Pato starting in place of Torres, the hope was that scoring a vital penalty in the shootout after Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup draw with Nashville SC might give the Brazilian veteran some confidence to get back to the form he displayed at the start of the season, when he was arguably the team’s best player on the field. That was not the case.

Pato’s touch, crossing, and passing have been an issue for several games now. Monday night he had a team-high five unstable touches and opponents are getting wise to his hesitation move and they’re waiting on it. He’s also been easy to knock off the ball. As a result of his play, the Lions gave away the ball while in vulnerable positions on Monday. And his shooting was no better — excellent penalty-kick goal aside. In open play he found himself in space twice just outside the box in the middle of the field and he hit both shots wildly off target.

The Lions need more from a player of Pato’s caliber.

Lions Lack Balance

Orlando isn’t getting enough production from the wings, which helps teams that play defensively compact games and keep their lines well organized. Outside of Torres, wing play has been spotty (at best) all season. Pareja has tried several things to fix that. Benji Michel, Junior Urso, and Pato have taken turns and the club brought in Jake Mulraney from Atlanta. Not only has nothing worked with any kind of consistency, but the fullbacks have provided little on the overlap. Moutinho’s absence doesn’t help with that and I don’t even have to get into Ruan’s crossing because…well, Ruan. The diminutive Brazilian speedster is an agent of chaos, which sometimes produces exactly what is needed but often wastes promising attacking opportunities. By providing no threat opposite Torres in either the scoring or the crossing departments, the Lions become much easier to defend. D.C.’s five-man back line was hardly challenged from wide areas and felt comfortable enough to not stretch itself sideline to sideline.

Bereft of Bench Firepower

While Torres did come off the bench and provide a goal and an assist, he’s a starting player, so that’s not unexpected production. The problem lies elsewhere on the bench. This is partly under the umbrella of the team balance mentioned above. In addition to the team lacking balance on either side of the field, it lacks any balance in scoring from the starting XI to the bench.

Michel is on pace for the worst statistical season of his career and the Homegrown winger hasn’t scored since the season opener. Although he was fortunate to win a penalty against D.C., it wasn’t a terribly threatening night for him. Tesho Akindele had a glorious late chance in transition against United but predictably fired with his strong foot, which Rafael Romo did well to read and easily smother, whereas a quick movement onto his left might have produced a more difficult opportunity, yet with a much higher probability of success. For all of Michel’s struggles, Akindele has yet to score an MLS goal in 2022. However, it’s important to keep in mind he hasn’t played more than 20 minutes in any league match since March 27 at Portland, which makes it difficult to find any kind of form.

Oh, and Jack Lynn made a late appearance but wasn’t on the field long enough to work up a sweat, let alone make an impact. There is no super sub on this year’s roster. There are barely even guys who can change the game’s energy. That was apparent against D.C.

Bonus Takeaway: Adding Injury to Insult

As bad as Monday’s match was, it could have a longer lasting impact. Captain Mauricio Pereyra, the team’s only viable No. 10 and chief breaker of lines, pulled up in the waning moments of the game with a non-contact injury while retrieving a ball out of play for a throw-in. The extent of the injury wasn’t known after the match and he’ll be evaluated today. An injury to Pereyra is precisely the worst possible player to lose, given the lack of anyone’s ability to replace what he does in the lineup and it underscores the club’s biggest off-season failure — finding a suitable backup. If the technical staff thought Andres Perea would grow into that kind of player, it hasn’t happened. In fact, Perea has regressed a bit in 2022. Torres seems more comfortable in wide spots and is still young and developing. Pato might be the closest thing the team has to a backup No. 10, but his form is dreadful at the moment and his passing rate and tendency to take on multiple defenders himself can be a liability in that position. If Pereyra’s injury from late Monday is serious — and he was limping after the match — it could mean more than one battle lost for Orlando.

Those are the talking points I had from Monday night’s loss. What stuck out to you? Let’s chat about it in the comments section below.

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Opinion

Orlando City Must Learn from May’s Mistakes

The Lions can learn some valuable lessons from the three losses they suffered in May.

Published

6 hours ago

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June 6, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Orlando City hadn’t quite achieved juggernaut status as the Major League Soccer season turned from April to May, but a 12-match unbeaten run in the league is nothing to sniff at, despite there being a healthy number of draws interspersed with the victories. Things turned sour as May drew to a close though, as the Lions lost three of their final four matches of the month and entered a two-week break with a whimper rather than a roar.

Losing is never fun, but in this case those three defeats don’t need to be entirely negative experiences, and there are plenty of lessons to be learned from those three bitter losses that will hold Orlando in good stead if it can implement the proper solutions.

More Squad Rotation

One of the biggest factors in Orlando’s rough finish to May was a lack of squad rotation. Oscar Pareja has always been a coach that likes to find his first-choice XI and stick to it almost religiously. He doesn’t normally tweak his lineups or tactics according to whatever opponent is on the slate, and very much values consistency. In periods of fixture congestion, that tendency can be to Orlando’s detriment, and that was very much the case against both Nashville SC and the Chicago Fire.

After beating Inter Miami 3-0 in an emotional rivalry match on May 18, Pareja made just one change for a U.S. Open Cup match against Nashville SC three days later. Ramiro Enrique slotted in for Luis Muriel up top, but every single other starter from the Miami game also got the nod midweek. With Nashville deploying a heavily rotated lineup mostly filled with backups, the gamble was a simple one: hope that OCSC’s A-team can open up a big first-half lead against Nashville’s B-squad before bringing mass changes in the second half to get guys some rest. Hindsight is, of course, 20/20, but the strategy backfired badly as the Lions lost 3-2. Orlando started well with Marco Pasalic’s 17th-minute strike, but the team faded badly afterwards and gave up a couple of very uncharacteristic goals to lose the game. Lapses in concentration and tired defending cost OCSC the game, and that isn’t something we can normally say about this team.

Then, after losing to Atlanta United 3-2 on May 28 due in no small part to Cesar Araujo’s red card, Pareja made two changes for a match against the Chicago Fire on May 31, with Muriel coming in for Enrique, and the other change being a forced one, as Eduard Atuesta replaced the suspended Araujo. Those starters looked noticeably gassed during the resulting 3-1 loss, and the fatigue manifested itself by players missing chances that would normally be converted or in sloppy, mistake-ridden defending.

May was a packed month with a whopping nine matches in 31 days, and most months won’t be that busy. August is set to be the busiest remaining period of the year with six games in 31 days, although that number could rise higher if the Lions make a run in Leagues Cup. The bottom line is that guys are going to need more rest as the season goes on. If the coaching staff doesn’t trust some of the guys currently available as backups, then they need to dip into the transfer market in one way or another and get some players that they do trust, because if the starting XI gets run ragged during busy periods it’s going to cost Orlando, plain and simple.

Cool Heads Usually Prevail

Orlando City has received three red cards on the season, which is tied for the second-most in the league. Unsurprisingly, the Lions are winless in games in which they’ve had a man sent off, with draws against the New York Red Bulls and CF Montreal and a loss to Atlanta United. The results against the Red Bulls and Atlanta were particularly difficult to swallow, as before going down to 10 men, Orlando had looked on track to get three points in each game.

Araujo’s red card against Atlanta was especially frustrating, as he allowed Mateusz Klich to get under his skin, grabbed him by the throat, and reduced his team to 10 men when OCSC was nursing a 2-1 lead on the road. It was completely unnecessary and was also the sort of thing that Orlando had looked to put in the rearview mirror after keeping its collective composure and not picking up any bookings in the 3-0 road win against Miami, while the Herons picked up four and looked noticeably rattled in the process.

It should go without saying, but the Lions can’t afford to get key players sent off. Six extra points could make a big difference in the standings at the end of the year, and that number could rise even higher if OCSC can’t put its disciplinary issues to rest once and for all.

Focus for the Full 90

There were moments in each of Orlando’s three May losses that the team committed bad defensive lapses or mistakes. Whether it was not playing to the whistle on Nashville’s third goal, Atuesta’s bad turnover against Atlanta, or the Lions collectively allowing Chicago to stroll through midfield to score a third goal, there were plenty of examples of bad breakdowns that were largely absent during the team’s unbeaten run. Can some of that be attributed to tired minds and tired legs? Maybe so — it’s a lot harder to play crisp and focused when the minutes have piled up. Regardless, its something that can’t continue to happen going forward. It’s possible that having more rotation in the squad will help that a lot, but it’s also on the players on the field to stay as mentally sharp as they can when they’re out on the pitch.

Clearly, a recurring theme here is that fresh legs and balanced squad rotation are top of my list of things I want to see change. I’m all for riding the hot hands, but tired legs make for tired minds, and tired minds make mistakes and are easier to rile up. Whether reinforcements come from the bench or an outside source, using more bodies will go a long way towards solving some of the issues that we saw in May’s three losses. All we can do now is wait and see what happens once the team returns from its break. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/6/25

Alex Freeman called up for Concacaf Gold Cup, Orlando Pride get ready for the Houston Dash, Orlando City B plays tonight, and more.

Published

9 hours ago

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June 6, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Happy Friday! I’ll be spending this weekend celebrating my birthday by beating my friends at mini golf with no mercy but still hope to catch some soccer over the next few days. I’ve also been on a bit of a movie kick and plan on catching Wes Anderson’s new flick at some point soon. But for now, let’s dive into today’s links!

Alex Freeman Called Up For Gold Cup

Orlando City defender Alex Freeman was officially called up by the United States Men’s National Team for the Concacaf Gold Cup this summer. He’s the only Lion who will be at the tournament and is one of seven uncapped USMNT players on the roster. The 20-year-old could receive more playing time than expected, as right back Sergino Dest is not on the roster so that he can recover over the summer. Left back John Tolkin was added to replace Dest, so Freeman has a real shot at making a claim for the position this month. The U.S. will take on Turkey Saturday in the first of two friendlies before its first Gold Cup match against Trinidad & Tobago on June 15.

Orlando Pride Prepares to Host the Houston Dash

With the international break for women’s soccer over, the Orlando Pride return to action Saturday with a home game against the Houston Dash. It should be a great opportunity for the Pride to ease back into the swing of things against a Dash team that’s only scored 10 goals this season. Pride midfielder Ally Lemos spoke on the benefit of being able to rest heading into this match while maintaining a winning mindset from a 3-1 victory on May 23.

Anna Moorhouse Called Up For 2025 Euros

Orlando Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse was named to England’s final roster for the 2025 UEFA European Women’s Championship. She’s one of three goalkeepers on the squad following Mary Earp’s surprise retirement from international soccer, and she will likely compete with fellow uncapped player Khiara Keating for the backup position behind Hannah Hampton. Moorhouse has started in every game for the Pride this season and was an NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year finalist for her record-breaking season last year. England’s Euro run will begin July 5 against France before other group matches against the Netherlands and Wales.

Orlando City B Takes On Huntsville City FC

The Young Lions are riding high after a 2-1 win over Chattanooga FC and will take that momentum into tonight’s road match against Huntsville City FC. Midfielder Noah Levis scored his first career goal in that home win, with Justin Hylton providing the assist in his OCB debut. Orlando’s offense has been hot and cold this season but has a variety of attacking talent that can create chances in different ways. The Young Lions have only won once on the road, but a win tonight would lift them to third in the Eastern Conference.

Free Kicks

  • FIFA Club World Cup action is coming to the City Beautiful this month and Orlando City legend Kaká spoke on how it’s nice for Orlando to host games.
  • San Diego Wave Head Coach Jonas Eidevall was named NWSL Coach of the Month. The Wave were undefeated in May, winning three of their four matches to climb to second in the league standings.
  • The NWSL will allow intraleague loans for all teams, with the players needing to consent to the move in order for it to happen. Denver and Boston’s expansion teams will have access to potentially over $1 million in Allocation Money starting on July 1 to build their rosters before the 2026 season.
  • Atletico Madrid is reportedly close to signing American midfielder Johnny Cardoso from Real Betis.
  • South Korea, Uzbekistan, and Jordan all qualified for the 2026 World Cup, while China was eliminated from contention. Australia beat Japan 1-0 and will qualify so long as it doesn’t lose heavily to Saudi Arabia on June 10.
  • Spain beat France 5-4 in a wild game to reach the UEFA Nations League final against Portugal on Sunday. Lamine Yamal continues to take the world by storm, but a late rally by France nearly completed a comeback.

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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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/5/25

MLS All-Star voting update, Kerry Abello shines with USWNT, Sergio Zapata earns recognition, and more.

Published

1 day ago

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June 5, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I hope this week has been treating you well as we enjoy some international soccer and prepare for the return of NWSL action this weekend. Before we jump right into today’s links, let’s all wish a happy birthday to Orlando City B midfielder Dylan Judelson!

Pair of Lions Lead MLS All-Star Voting

Voting for this year’s MLS All-Star Game remains underway and an update was provided on which players are leading at each position. Orlando City defender Alex Freeman leads all right backs as he enjoys a breakout season. I was aware of the buzz he’s been getting this year, but it’s still surprising to see a Lion as an All-Star frontrunner. What’s even more surprising is that Pedro Gallese leads the voting for goalkeepers. The Peruvian made a rough gaffe last week, but has otherwise had a stellar season with Orlando that’s included seven clean sheets. Voting will close on June 11, so make sure to get those votes in before then.

Kerry Abello Impresses With USMNT

Orlando Pride defender Kerry Abello made her first appearance for the United States Women’s National Team Tuesday, playing every minute of the 4-0 win over Jamaica. The versatility she’s shown with the Pride translated well in Head Coach Emma Hayes’ system, as she was able to hold things down defensively and contribute to the attack as well. Abello could end up bringing solid depth to the USWNT as Hayes figures out the team’s future core of players. Enjoy this video from the USWNT that provides a look behind the scenes of Abello’s international debut.

Sergio Zapata Named Player of the Month

Sergio Zapata scored a whopping 11 goals for Orlando City’s U-19 team over the course of just four matches in May, winning the honor of MLS NEXT Player of the Month. He had three hat tricks last month, including one against Hoosier Premier at MLS NEXT Fest. Zapata committed to Cornell, so hopefully we’ll get to see him tear it up in the Ivy League over the next couple of years.

Zack Steffen Sustains Knee Injury

Goalkeeper Zack Steffen injured his knee at the United States Men’s National Team’s training camp and will reportedly miss this summer’s Concacaf Gold Cup. It’s rough news for the 30-year-old, as he was expected to compete with Matt Turner for the starting job with the USMNT. He’s been having a great season with the Colorado Rapids and returned to the club for further evaluation on the injury.

Free Kicks

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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