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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Final Score 1-0 as Facundo Torres’ Goal Lifts Lions to Road Win

The Lions snapped a three-match losing streak and a five-match winless skid in league play with a win at Red Bull Arena.

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3 years ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

Facundo Torres scored in the first half and Orlando City played well defensively to beat the New York Red Bulls, 1-0 on the road at Red Bull Arena. With the win, the Lions (9-10-6, 33 points) snapped a three-game losing streak and a five-match winless skid in MLS play. It was Orlando’s second straight win over the Red Bulls (10-8-7, 37 points) following last month’s U.S. Open Cup victory and only the team’s third win ever at Red Bull Arena (3-5-1),

“A tremendous victory for our team. A tremendous effort for the players,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “A tremendous week of work that they have done as well, after a couple weeks where we could say that we deserved much more but the game did not reward them. They kept pushing, and today, in a difficult place against a difficult rival, they confirmed first that they are committed with this group. Second, that what happened in Open Cup was not just a one-day thing.”

Pareja doubled down on 10 of his 11 starters from the past three matches, with the only change being Kyle Smith going into the lineup at right back for Ruan. As a result, Pedro Gallese took his place in between the sticks behind a back line of Joao Moutinho, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Smith. Cesar Araujo and Mauricio Pereyra played in central midfield behind an attacking line of Torres, Alexandre Pato, and Junior Urso, with Benji Michel up top.

The first shot of the match fell to New York in the third minute. A long throw from John Tolkin was headed out of the area by Carlos and came straight to Lewis Morgan, who fired immediately but sent his shot over the bar. A few minutes later, Kyle Duncan sent a shot well over off a free kick played short to the top of the box.

Orlando opened the scoring in transition in the 17th minute. Gallese sent a ball forward from the box toward Pato, who faked out a Red Bulls player and then chested it down, sending it to Urso up the middle. Urso cut to his left and sent a pass wide to Torres while Michel dragged a defender toward the middle. Torres fired from a tight angle and goalkeeper Carlos Coronel got a piece of it with his left foot, but it found the post and bounced into the back of the net to make it 1-0 .

It was Torres’ fifth goal of the MLS season and eighth in all matches (five MLS, two U.S. Open Cup, and one in the Arsenal friendly).

New York got forward more in transition late in the half as Orlando City held more of the ball. A turnover by Pato led to a counterattack that ended in a ball skipping through the six in the 33rd minute. Jansson blocked a Patryk Klimala cross out for a corner two minutes later.

Urso got taken off the ball by Tolkin moments later and Smith fouled him to set up a dangerous free kick. Tolkin sent the set piece short to Morgan, but Pereyra did well to close and block the shot in the 37th minute. A minute later, Morgan sent a shot just inches over the bar from the left after Orlando City failed to adequately defend the box, allowing the ball to ping around from New York’s right to left.

The Lions had an excellent chance to make it 2-0 in the 41st minute as Torres got to the end line and cut a good pass back for Pato, who attempted to take his shot right away. Pato was hit from behind while he was in the process of shooting by Dru Yearwood, who got a significant chunk of the forward’s plant leg cutting across from behind. Referee Rubiel Vazquez and video assistant referee Joe Dickerson judged it to be a fair challenge, but Pato had to be stretchered off in a lot of pain.

Pareja said the play was a foul in the box in his eyes.

“We could have gone to two-zero with the PK they didn’t call against Pato that hurt him also. I don’t know why they didn’t see that,” Pareja said. “Everybody tries to do their job well. I think referees try very hard to do it well and sometimes it works, sometimes not. The play was a foul because it was the player who hurt (Pato) and I thought it was surely when he tackled his knee.”

Pato left the stadium on crutches and Pareja said they’ll have to wait for a medical evaluation to determine his condition.

Pareja sent Jake Mulraney on to see out the first half, with the delay for the injury costing the Lions a substitution window as Orlando couldn’t afford to risk playing four minutes while a man down at the end of the half.

The Lions escaped a late scare on a pair of turnovers by Smith in his own defensive third and Carlos did well to clear a corner kick, allowing Orlando to get into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

Orlando held more possession (58.5%-41.5%) despite starting the game by absorbing pressure, and passed more accurately (79.8%-70%). New York had more shots (5-2), although Orlando got one on target to none for the hosts, and more corners (3-1) than the Lions.

Without Pato, Pereyra moved back into the No. 10 role and Urso left the wing, dropping back deeper to his No. 8 spot. Orlando wasn’t able to create much of anything after halftime and didn’t even register a shot in the second 45 minutes.

Smith conceded a dangerous free kick early in the second half after Tolkin beat him. Morgan’s set piece was cleared to Frankie Amaya, who sent a shot right at Gallese in the 48th minute. Three minutes later, Urso coughed up the ball in his own half and Klimala blasted a shot well wide.

Mulraney crossed in from the left on one of Orlando’s rare forays into the final third in the 55th minute but hit his pass deep into the six, where it was easily caught by Coronel. After a poor shot from distance by Amaya, Moutinho got forward and sent the ball into the area but nobody made a near-post run and Coronel again collected.

Luquinhas fired over the bar in the 66th minute off a long throw-in. He was freed up for the shot when Carlos mistimed his jump and missed his attempt to clear with a header. Araujo did well to read a cutback pass in the 77th minute and chest it away for the clearance but the Red Bulls kept coming.

Cameron Harper sent a shot/cross just over Gallese’s bar in the 83rd minute. Moments later, Orlando did nothing with a corner kick and Luquinhas got down the right side of the box in transition, sending a shot into the outside netting from a severe angle.

Omir Fernandez and Tom Barlow came nowhere near hitting the net as time wound down, but substitute Tesho Akindele conceded an unnecessary free kick just outside the box to Gallese’s right late in stoppage time. Morgan sent the set piece on target, but Moutinho got his head on it just in front of the line and it was cleared by midfielder Wilder Cartagena, who subbed on late to make his Orlando City debut.

That was the last decent look for either side and even though Vazquez allowed yet another attack nearly a minute after his already generous five minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle eventually blew on a much-needed Orlando victory.

Orlando finished the match with more possession (55.1%-44.9%) and passing accuracy (73.4%-69.3%), with each team winning four corner kicks. New York badly out-shot Orlando (15-2), with each getting one on target, but the Lions prevented the Red Bulls from getting into good scoring positions throughout the match and the hosts were forced to take most of their shots either from outside the area or from wide areas.

“Sometimes the game’s like that,” Mulraney said about the lack of chances created in the second half. “Sometimes you score five goals like you did last time. Sometimes you just have to grind out the three points and we did that tonight.”

The Lions will be back on the road next Sunday night when they visit Charlotte for the first time. They’ll have to play without Moutinho, who picked up a yellow card in the match and will be suspended for caution accumulation.

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Orlando City

Orlando City Striker Duncan McGuire Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

It’s the other shoulder this time, but Big Dunc is on the shelf for awhile again after undergoing surgery.

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1 day ago

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June 6, 2025

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Orlando City announced today that Duncan McGuire has undergone arthroscopic surgery to repair the labrum in his left shoulder. The surgery was performed by Orlando City Chief Medical Officer Dr. Craig Mintzer of the Orlando Health Jewett Orthopedic Institute performed the surgery. Mintzer previously repaired the labrum and rotator cuff in McGuire’s right shoulder back in December for an injury he sustained in Orlando City’s playoff match against Charlotte FC Nov. 9 when he was pulled down by Djibril Diani.

The club’s press release said the 24-year-old striker’s return to play is expected “later this year.” The recovery given for his right shoulder surgery in late 2024 was listed as four to five months, but McGuire was able to come back and play much earlier than expected, appearing for the first time in 2025 in Orlando’s March 15 against the New York Red Bulls — at least a month before the earliest initial projection — however, this time there was no mention of damage to the rotator cuff.

Regardless, the Lions will be without the big target striker for a considerable amount of time.

McGuire had appeared in 12 matches during the regular season in 2025, starting three and scoring one goal and adding an assist. His goal came recently, serving as the game winner in Orlando’s 1-0 home victory over the Portland Timbers on May 24. He was recently listed as questionable on the club’s availability report ahead of the team’s most recent match against the Chicago Fire.

Orlando City drafted McGuire in the first round (No. 6 overall) in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft. After a breakout rookie campaign, in which the Omaha, NE native scored 14 goals, he was courted by several teams in Europe, signing with Blackburn Rovers, only to see the transfer rejected by the English Football League due to an administrative error by the EFL Championship club. After returning to Orlando, McGuire signed a new deal on Aug. 22 to remain a Lion. The new contract runs through 2027 with a club option for 2028. McGuire scored 10 goals and added three assists in 2024. For his Orlando City career, McGuire has appeared in 88 games (46 starts) across all competitions, scoring a total of 28 goals to go along with seven assists.

What It Means for Orlando City

McGuire appeared to be just finding his form, so this injury is unfortunate. The club didn’t put a timeline on McGuire’s recovery this time, but shaving a little off his 2024 recovery estimate, it’s likely that he’ll be out until at least some time in September.

Oscar Pareja has been favoring a 4-4-2 with Luis Muriel and Martin Ojeda up top in recent weeks, with Ramiro Enrique — who is also finding his form — typically spelling one of them when needed. Not having McGuire will affect Pareja’s late-game substitution pattern when Orlando is trailing, as he likes to put Enrique and McGuire both on the field when chasing the game. It also takes the team’s best target striker option out of the lineup when dealing with back lines with lots of height.

McGuire brings size and strength and an ability to occupy center backs that others on the roster can’t replicate. There are times when Enrique’s game is better suited to the opponent, but without McGuire there will be no ability to pivot. With Jack Lynn’s off-season retirement, that leaves the striker pickings mighty slim on the Orlando City bench. That might change Ricardo Moreira’s approach to the MLS Secondary Transfer Window.

Losing a scorer of McGuire’s caliber is always difficult, but this season it could be the difference between finishing high in the table and simply getting into the postseason in a strong Eastern Conference field.

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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.

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1 day 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.

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2 days 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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