Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Toronto FC: Final Score 4-0 as Lions Romp Over the Reds

Orlando City bounced back from two straight losses in emphatic fashion with a 4-0 demolition of Toronto FC at Exploria Stadium. The Reds (9-16-7, 34 points) were eliminated from playoff contention with the loss as three different Lions scored and Toronto chipped in an own goal. Orlando City (13-12-6, 45 points) climbed back to .500 at home at 8-8-0.
Facundo Torres, Ercan Kara, and Tesho Akindele scored to go along with a Lukas MacNaughton own goal to provide all the scoring.
“A very complete performance with a group that is very responsible, with a group that in spite of these quantity of games with no time to rest, they came out today and put in a very important victory and, more important, a very good performance,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “I thought we were solid. I thought we were hard (to break down). We scored goals and we had good moments on the field where the team looked very connected.”
Pareja’s lineup included Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Joao Moutinho, Rodrigo Schlegel, Antonio Carlos, and Ruan. Wilder Cartagena started in central midfield with Junior Urso, behind an attacking midfield line of Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, and Torres, with Kara up top.
The Lions controlled most of the first half, working the ball through Pereyra in his now-familiar, deeper-lying position. Still, it was Toronto winning a corner shortly after the start of the game. Gallese did well to catch a sizzling cross that may have been an Olimpico attempt.
Orlando then went on the attack, with a Cartagena shot dribbling well left of goal in the fifth minute. Angulo took a layoff from Kara in the eighth minute and fired from inside the box but his shot deflected out for a corner. But a minute later, the Lions had the lead.
A switch in play from Angulo was flicked deftly by Carlos, who was still forward from the corner kick. His flick found Torres out on the right wing. The Uruguayan cut inside and smashed a shot past Quentin Westberg to make it 1-0 in the ninth minute. It was Torres’ seventh goal in MLS play this year and his 16th goal contribution.
Facu Torres. That's it. 🙌 @facutorresss | #DaleMiAmor pic.twitter.com/6ljnqsJ7GV
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) September 17, 2022
“I love that type of play,” Torres said of Carlos’ backheel assist on the goal. “I know that he looked back and he already saw that I was behind him, and I just really love that type of play where you can take it back through the middle and get one on one with someone, so it was great.”
Toronto tried to pull that goal back, with Lorenzo Insigne firing over the bar in transition after shedding Ruan’s defensive efforts in the 15th minute.
Orlando doubled the lead shortly after. Pereyra sent a fantastic seeing-eye pass through the defense to Kara, who was streaking down the left. Kara carried it into the box and fired a shot past Westberg with his left foot to make it 2-0 in the 22nd minute. It was Kara’s 10th goal of the MLS season.
Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. 🤩 #DaleMiAmor | #ORLvTOR pic.twitter.com/3deDPCRguf
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) September 18, 2022
“I watched before the goalkeeper with my brother — he’s a goalkeeper and he analyzes the goalkeepers for me,” Kara said. “And he told me the near post is always open (against Westberg).”
“I think that those first 20 minutes gave us fresh air,” Pareja said.
Pereyra’s assist gave him 10 on the year, making him the first Lion to reach double-digit assists in a season twice.
After a shot high into the stands by Ruan in the 33rd minute, Toronto controlled the ball for a good chunk of the remainder of the first half. Federico Bernardeschi missed the target in the 35th minute after Carlos turned it over in his own end with a wayward pass that found Michael Bradley instead of a teammate.
Orlando nearly got a third in the 42nd minute when Torres took a pass and smashed a shot off the left post.
That Angulo-Torres combo looks like fun to us 💜 #DaleMiAmor | #ORLvTOR pic.twitter.com/ie7S5SnN42
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) September 18, 2022
Urso sent a weak shot on goal in stoppage time and that was it for the opening period.
Orlando City held a slight edge in possession (50.2%-49.8%), and the Lions had more shots (9-3) and more shots on target (3-0). Both teams had two corners and Toronto passed slightly more accurately (89.3%-88.8%).
Orlando’s lead bulged to 3-0 early in the second half. A cross from Moutinho was deflected past Westberg by MacNaughton in the 47th minute for an own goal.
Grabbing that third goal of the night 💪 #DaleMiAmor | #ORLvTOR pic.twitter.com/jNKRves08F
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) September 18, 2022
Toronto had a good flurry in the 52nd minute. Bradley had a shot blocked out for a corner and, on the ensuing set piece, Domenico Criscito fired over the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Angulo freed himself up on the left side at the top of the box and sent a soft shot to Westberg. Kara then saw a shot deflect out for a corner moments later and on the set piece he launched a shot off the facing of the upper deck.
Gallese made a nice save on substitute Jesus Jimenez in the 61st minute as Toronto made a nice cutting move in the attack. A minute later, Insigne headed a shot on target but Gallese was able to catch it, although he needed treatment on his thigh after landing on one foot and tweaking something.
Torres nearly scored again in the 79th minute but his shot fizzed just over the top left corner of the net. However, the Lions didn’t have to wait long for their fourth goal. MacNaughton was booked for taking down Angulo in transition, giving Orlando a free kick, although referee Nima Saghafi should have played advantage, as Akindele reached the ball first and Orlando had numbers forward. Akindele scored anyway after the restart, powering a shot through Westberg off an Angulo assist in the 84th minute.
Beautiful from Ivan, and as cool as you like from Tesho 🧊 @Tesho13 | #DaleMiAmor pic.twitter.com/or4L9Fe73L
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) September 18, 2022
Angulo notched his second assist of the night on the play and he was also involved on the MacNaughton own goal, sending Moutinho to the end line with a well-timed and well-weighted pass. His contributions in this win were vital.
“I think Ivan was definitely that player who could connect us all up front,” Pareja said. “It’s just amazing how a piece just makes things clear. I think the way that he possessed the ball and he kept it for us and protected the ball when we needed it. And also that change of speed that he has that provides as well some fast plays in the last third — all those things are helping us a lot, and we’re very happy with his contribution.”
Gallese robbed Jimenez in the 88th minute in a one-on-one chance for his best save of the night on his way to his ninth clean sheet of the year, extending his club single-season record.
It's why we call him El Pulpo 🐙 @pedrogallese | #DaleMiAmor pic.twitter.com/1zl3eJ07g0
— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) September 18, 2022
After a couple of near misses by Andres Perea late, the game was over.
Toronto finished with more possession in the end (55.9%-44.1%) as Orlando was content to stay organized once the Lions built their big lead. The Reds also passed more accurately (88.8%-84.9%). The Lions had more shots (18-11) and shots on goal (7-3), while both teams finished with four corners.
“They kept going and I think that’s what I like from the effort today,” Pareja said of his team’s response to the Atlanta loss. “But I will highlight all the effort of the players. Today against Toronto, on a day we must win it, they came out with such a good performance, so that makes us feel very optimistic, that’s for sure.”
The international break is upon us, so the Lions won’t be back in action until Oct. 2 when they visit New York City FC.
Opinion
Orlando City Has Been Better than Expected Halfway Through the Season
While there was plenty to worry about at the start of the season, Orlando has had a good first half of 2025.

With 18 matches in the books, we’ve moved just past the halfway point of the 2025 Major League Soccer season, and based off my feelings before Orlando City played its opening game of the season, the Lions have performed above expectations so far. There were plenty of valid reasons to be concerned heading into the year. Orlando had sold its all-time leading goal scorer, and there were questions about whether he’d been adequately replaced. There were worries about depth at multiple positions, and the defense was coming off an uncharacteristically poor year. Here we are though, with the Lions sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference, just three points out of second place and seven points out of first. So how did we get to this point?
For one thing, Marco Pasalic has been much better than I (and I think a lot of other people) expected him to be. The Croatian has six goals and four assists across 18 matches, and is second on the team in both categories. He scored 10 goals in 49 appearances in the Croatian first division before coming to Orlando and was extremely one-footed, which was enough evidence to sow real doubt about whether he could adequately replace the impact of Facundo Torres.
So far, it’s mostly been so good. His direct style of play is a good complement to the styles of Martin Ojeda and Luis Muriel, and he’s largely hit the ground running in a league that can be difficult to adapt to. It hasn’t been perfect, as he’s still very one-footed, and can sometimes disappear if he’s stringently man marked, but on the whole there’s been much more good than bad.
Speaking of Ojeda and Muriel, they’ve also had strong years. Ojeda in particular has continued his great second half of the 2024 season and has nine goals and five assists in 18 games to show for it. He looks fast, confident, and decisive and is a far cry from the player who struggled frequently during his first year as a Lion. Muriel has cooled off a little after a scorching start to 2025, but he still has six goals and three assists in 18 matches. He looks vastly improved from last year, when he looked a little off the pace of play and quickly lost the starting striker role. He still has a tendency to not be as selfish as he needs to be in front of goal, but he’s been much better than 2024.
I mentioned depth being a big concern, and not just at one position. At the beginning of the season Orlando City was, and arguably still is, thin at striker, center back, defensive midfield, and fullback. Duncan McGuire was injured to start the year and is now injured again, leaving Orlando with two true strikers in Muriel and Ramiro Enrique. There was no true backup left back, only one reliable backup center back, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson starting at right back meant that defensive midfield depth consisted of rookie Joran Gerbet and the Swiss army knife that is Kyle Smith.
Things have mostly worked out though. David Brekalo has supplanted Rafael Santos, meaning the Brazilian is now a proven backup option at the position, and Smith has filled in there as well. That means that in games in which Rodrigo Schlegel or Robin Jansson are unavailable, Brekalo fills in at center back, Santos starts at left back, and Smith is the backup for both positions, so it isn’t a flawless system. Gerbet has been playing better and better and got some valuable minutes when Eduard Atuesta and Cesar Araujo were unavailable. His emergence has been a crucial piece of the puzzle this year. So too has the rise of Alex Freeman, as his locking down the right back role has allowed Thorhallsson to fill in at defensive midfield, attacking midfield, and right back. The situation isn’t perfect, as a couple untimely injuries to the wrong guys would leave the Lions looking pretty threadbare, but so far it’s just about worked.
Another big concern was the defense. The Lions conceded 50 goals in the regular season last year, which was tied for the second-most of any Eastern Conference playoff team and fourth-most of any playoff team. With no defensive signings and the aforementioned depth concerns, there were plenty of reasons to worry about Orlando’s ability to keep the ball out of the back of the net.
Things have looked much better in 2025, though. The 22 goals OCSC has conceded are the fifth-fewest in the league, and Pedro Gallese’s eight clean sheets are tied for most in the league. Aside from a few egregious defensive performances against the Philadelphia Union, Atlanta United, and the Chicago Fire, things have mostly been tidy at the back, and when they haven’t been, El Pulpo has been around to pick up the slack. Again, things haven’t been perfect, as there have been moments where individual and collective errors have hurt the team, but it’s been better.
I thought the Lions would struggle this year. Going into the start of the season, we were talking about a team that lost Torres, arguably didn’t do enough to strengthen the team across the board, was facing depth issues, and was dealing with a leaky defense — all while pretty much every other contender in the East got stronger on paper. Instead, OCSC tied a club-best unbeaten streak and is just three points out of second place.
That being said, the East is so tight that Orlando is only five points above the playoff line, and injuries to the wrong guys could easily topple the fragile ecosystem that is the depth chart, but so far things are going better than I thought they would be. There are still a lot of matches to play, but this isn’t a bad position to be in at the halfway mark.
Lion Links
Lion Links: 6/20/25
Orlando Pride take on Racing Louisville FC tonight, Orlando Pride players called up by Zambia, USMNT beats Saudi Arabia, and more.

Happy Friday! June continues to fly by as we enjoy the buffet of soccer here in the U.S. this month. I’ll be spending most of the weekend working, but I am hoping to get some reading done after being gifted some books for my birthday. But enough about me, let’s jump right into today’s links!
Orlando Pride Face Racing Louisville Tonight
The Orlando Pride are on the road tonight for a match against Racing Louisville FC at 8 p.m. in the final game before a league break until August. Going into the break with four straight wins would be nice for the Pride, but they’ve struggled at Lynn Family Stadium over the years. Louisville enters this match following a 4-2 loss to the league-leading Kansas City Current and has scored eight goals over the past three games. Orlando’s defense has been phenomenal this year, conceding just eight goals this season and only one during this win streak. Midfielder Cori Dyke spoke on how the team is finding its groove and shutting out opponents.
Zambia Calls Up Orlando Pride Trio
Barbra Banda, Grace Chanda, and Prisca Chilufya were all called up for Zambia’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations roster ahead of this summer’s tournament. Banda has eight goals this season with the Pride and had four goals at last year’s Olympics, including a hat trick against Australia. The Copper Queens claimed third place in the 2022 edition of this tournament, and they’ll need to be at their best to win this summer against tough opponents like South Africa and Nigeria. Zambia’s tournament campaign will kick off on July 5 against the host nation, Morocco.
USMNT Beats Saudi Arabia to Qualify for Quarterfinals
The United States Men’s National Team won 1-0 against Saudi Arabia to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of this year’s Concacaf Gold Cup. After a scoreless first half, the Yanks broke through in the 63rd minute thanks to a free kick. Sebastian Berhalter served the ball on a silver platter to Chris Richards, who buried it for the crucial goal. The defense did well to secure its second shutout of the tournament, with Orlando City’s Alex Freeman starting at right back yet again. The USMNT will play Haiti on Sunday and should be able to win the group for a smoother path in the knockout stage.
FIFA Club World Cup Roundup
An MLS club finally won a game during this year’s FIFA Club World Cup, with Inter Miami beating Porto 2-1 in Atlanta. Lionel Messi scored the winner from a free kick to complete the comeback after conceding an early goal. The Seattle Sounders had a rougher day, falling 3-1 to Atletico Madrid, with Pablo Barrios scoring a brace. Former Lion Facundo Torres started for Palmeiras in the Brazilian club’s 2-0 win over Egypt’s Al Ahly.
Today’s action features more soccer at Inter&Co Stadium, with Benfica and Auckland City squaring off in the City Beautiful. Our Michael Citro will be on hand to report on it. Elsewhere in the U.S., Chelsea will take on Flamengo, LAFC will face ES Tunis, and Bayern Munich will play Boca Juniors.
Free Kicks
- Canada Head Coach Jesse Marsch, who is already serving a suspension for misconduct during the Nations League, is under investigation by Concacaf for incidents during this Gold Cup. Reports detail that Marsch disregarded regulations and used offensive language toward match officials.
- Kylian Mbappe was discharged from the hospital after suffering from a case of gastroenteritis. It’s unclear if or when he’ll play for Real Madrid during the Club World Cup.
- Carlos Cuesta was hired as Parma’s next head coach after five years with Arsenal as an assistant coach. The 29-year-old becomes the second-youngest coach in Serie A history.
- Manchester City was fined over $1 million by the English Premier League for repeated delays regarding kickoff times.
That’s all I have for you all today. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!
Orlando City
In 2025, OCSC Stands for Orlando City Scorers Club
How Orlando City’s top offensive performers this season compare to the rest of MLS…and the Premier League.

Last week, I wrote about the state of Orlando City at the halfway point of the season, focusing mostly on the team’s accomplishments on offense and defense through 17 games. For this week, let’s look at some of the top performing Lions, because it’s always fun to talk about offensive success. I do not apologize if you take offense to my desire to only focus on offense, because that would be defensive, and there is no place in this article for defense.
Many moons ago, back in January during the preseason, I wrote an article looking at the best offensive seasons in Orlando City’s MLS history. I used a derived metric called game score to rank the seasons, and I’ll quickly explain again how that is calculated:
Goals Scored + Expected Assists + 0.0113 (Progressive Carries + Progressive Passes)
I went into much more detail about why that is the calculation in the original article, but the quick and dirty version is that scoring goals, completing passes to players in dangerous scoring areas, and progressing the ball by dribbling and passing are core components of a strong offensive player. Think of the game score as an offensive value calculation, and think of it simply as a value for which more is better and the most is best.
Opta only tracked the last three contributing statistics (expected assists, progressive carries, and progressive passes) from 2018 onwards, and the chart below shows Orlando City’s 10 best MLS regular seasons since 2018. It also shows the season that currently ranks 11th — Martín Ojeda’s 2025 season, which, as a reminder, is only in game 18 of a 34-game regular season. This means, if you get the extrapolation machine out, Ojeda is on pace for a season-long game score of 26.5, which would rank as the highest full season game score in Orlando City history.
Player | Season | Season Game Score | Rank in MLS | MLS Best that Season |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nani | 2019 | 22.0 | 8 | 50.7 |
Facundo Torres | 2023 | 20.9 | 10 | 31.1 |
Facundo Torres | 2024 | 20.0 | 21 | 32.6 |
Facundo Torres | 2022 | 17.4 | 25 | 33.7 |
Duncan McGuire | 2023 | 16.3 | 26 | 31.1 |
Nani | 2021 | 16.2 | 26 | 26.6 |
Sacha Kljestan | 2018 | 15.6 | 46 | 38.0 |
Chris Mueller | 2020* | 14.8 | 11 | 21.8 |
Yoshimar Yotún | 2018 | 14.7 | 53 | 38.0 |
Dom Dwyer | 2018 | 14.3 | 58 | 38.0 |
Martín Ojeda | 2025** | 14.1 | 4 | 16.8 |
- * The 2020 season contained only 23 games due to COVID-19
- ** Ojeda’s stats are through 18 matches; MLS teams have played between 16-19 matches
Ojeda’s 14.1 currently ranks only behind Sam Surridge of Nashville (15.7), Anders Dreyer of San Diego (16.6), and some player from Miami who clearly wants to play for Orlando since he has lion as part of his first name (Messi, 16.8). During Ojeda’s first two seasons, he only accumulated 12.1 and 12.5, respectively, so this is already by far his best season in purple and it is just barely halfway complete.
Ojeda is not the only Orlando City player who is on pace to jump into the club’s all-time top 10 by the end of the season, as teammates Luis Muriel (10.76, on pace for 20.3) and Marco Pašalić (10.46, on pace for 19.8) are both in the top 30 in MLS this season. Muriel is 24th, and Pašalić is 27th. Orlando City is the only team in the league with three players in the top 30, or really the top 27 (shout out to my son, for whom 27 is his favorite number).
One last point on Ojeda: if we were to extrapolate his performance through 18 games to 38 games, his season game score would bump up to 29.6. Why did I choose 38? Well, 38 happens to be the number of games played in the world’s most popular league, England’s Premier League. I am well aware that the Premier League is a different level of competition than MLS, but just for fun I ran the numbers on the 2024-2025 Premier League season, and a season-long game score of 29.6 would coincidentally also rank Ojeda fourth in England, right behind Cole Palmer (29.7) and in front of Alexander Isak (29.2). I do not think Ojeda would actually finish fourth if he was in the Premier League, but my point is more that the frequency of Ojeda’s contributions for Orlando City thus far this season have been similar to that of Palmer for Chelsea and Isak for Newcastle, which is pretty heady company.
Speaking of heady, we also need to talk about the player who is leading Orlando City in aerial duel wins, Alex Freeman. Heady, aerial duels…you got the segue, right? Don’t answer that.
Freeman has been on a rocket ship in the last year, going from Orlando City B starter to Orlando City starter to U.S. Men’s National Team starter, and he likely will also be the MLS All-Star Game starter, too. My mention of his leading the team in aerial duel wins, while noteworthy, was really just a convenient way to cut over to talking about him and his season-long game score of 8.1.
According to Opta’s positional tracking, only two MLS defenders have accumulated game scores of more than six thus far this season — Philadelphia’s Kai Wagner at 6.88 and Freeman’s 8.1. The extrapolation machine says 8.1 through 18 games puts Freeman on pace for a final score of 15.2, which would be the second best performance by an MLS defender since tracking began in 2018. Freeman is going to miss at least a few more games due to being with the U.S. team during the Gold Cup, so that 15.2 will likely not happen, but wow, what a great first half of a season for Orlando City’s right back.
Going back to the Premier League for comparative context…actually, please sit down and buckle up first. Are you good? Ok.
Going back to the Premier League for comparative context, there is none. Freeman’s performance blows away every defender’s from that league. It will likely surprise few that the defender with the best season game score in the Premier League this season was Trent Alexander-Arnold, who accumulated a score of 13.5 during Liverpool’s championship run. That 13.5 was 15% better than the defender who finished in second place, and yet, if we extrapolate Freeman to 38 games, he would be on pace for 17.0, which is 26% better than Alexander-Arnold. Mind the gap.
Once again, I do not mean to say that Freeman is as skilled or would contribute like Alexander-Arnold did in the Premier League. It is instead that Freeman’s contributions to Orlando City’s offense are unlike that from any defenders in the Premier League. Freeman’s performance thus far this season places him 43rd in the overall MLS rankings, first among defenders, and ahead of strikers such as Christian Benteke, Emmanuel Latte Lath, and Brandon Vazquez. He ranks fourth on Orlando City, and the Lions are not only the only club with three players in the top 30, but also the only club with four players in the top 45.
Two teams had four players in the top 45 during the 2024 MLS season, and one of them was the LA Galaxy, the eventual MLS Cup champions. I am not saying that Orlando City having four players in the top 45 this season means they will win MLS Cup, but I am not not saying it either. I am saying I would like it to happen though, and saying that loudly and clearly.
The game score metric is not the be-all, end-all of measuring offensive prowess, but I think it does a good job of creating a ranking system where the eye test matches the math. Most fans would point to Ojeda as the player who has driven Orlando City’s offense more than any other this season, and being that the team is on pace to have one of the best, if not the best, goal-scoring seasons in the club’s MLS history, it should track that Ojeda is also on pace to have one of the best, if not the best, individual offensive seasons in the club’s MLS history as well.
There are 16 more MLS games to go, and the great thing about sports is that in any game anything can happen, and that is why we love to watch. It is awesome that all three Designated Players and Freeman are off to great starts, but nothing is guaranteed for the back half of the season. That’s why they play the games, as the saying goes. For all we know, Ramiro Enrique could come on like gangbusters in the final games and rip off double-digit goals to end as the team’s leading scorer.
Ramiro, this is a bold strategy, and I am on board for it. The more goals the merrier. Feel free to bring us fans some goals for Christmas in July.
Orlando City does not have a game this weekend, with next match coming June 25 on the road in St. Louis. Winning that game would give the Lions their third winning streak of the season and would be something I would very much like, since I will be doling out the grades for that game. And since I have been writing about the offense this week, how about three goals and three points?
Vamos Orlando!
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