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Orlando City vs. Inter Miami CF: Final Score 4-1 as Lions in Free Fall with Another Loss

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2 years ago

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Orlando City sank beneath the weight of bad bounces and defensive transition mistakes in an inconceivable 4-1 beatdown loss to Inter Miami CF at DRV PNK Stadium. The loss dropped the Lions below the playoff line with one match day remaining.

Starting in the game’s very first minute, awful mistakes cost the team and luck played a little bit of a role as well, as the Lions (13-14-6, 45 points) fell back below .500, fell below .500 on the road (5-6-6), and lost their fourth game in the last five since winning the U.S. Open Cup. Meanwhile, Miami (14-13-6, 48 points) climbed above .500 and clinched a postseason berth for the first time.

Leonardo Campana, Gonzalo Higuain (twice), and Ariel Lassiter did the damage on the scoreboard, but the Lions were honestly their own worst enemies in the first Tropic Thunder match that was decided by more than one goal. Ercan Kara pulled a goal back in the second half but by then the game was effectively over.

“I know what these kinds of games mean for our fans and I’m very disappointed not to perform the way we should,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “In that part, I take responsibility.”

“I want to say sorry to our fans, because they come from Orlando to Miami to to push us and today was not so good for us,” Junior Urso said.

Pareja rotated his lineup somewhat, playing Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Joao Moutinho, Rodrigo Schlegel, Antonio Carlos, and Kyle Smith. Cesar Araujo played his customary stopper role next to a deep-lying Mauricio Pereyra, with an attacking midfield line of Benji Michel, Junior Urso, and Facundo Torres, with Tesho Akindele up top.

It took less than a minute for that lineup to break down. Smith somehow knocked a pass attempt off an opponent and the ball squirted in behind the Orlando center backs. Neither Carlos nor Schlegel went to get the ball so Campana ran onto it and chipped Gallese, who was off his line but not nearly far enough out to get to the ball before the Miami forward. Just over 30 seconds into the match, Orlando City trailed. (Warning: sound off is better, so you can avoid Ray Hudson’s overblown, maniacal commentary.)

The Lions didn’t respond well to going behind, despite getting a ton of possession. Orlando looked unsettled, consistently did nothing with set piece opportunities, and broke down in transition when there were chances to get numbers forward. Wayward passes from Torres, Akindele, and Urso and a couple of poor touches from Michel prevented some quality chances from materializing. The Lions did set up some half chances but did nothing with them.

“It’s normal when you start the game in the first minute just conceding the goal and then obviously, the other team with energy and with this momentum that they have, they take advantage of that situation,” Pareja said. “And then from there, our energy was doubtful and we were not precise in the movements, and then we started losing confidence.”

Akindele tried to flick a pass from Smith on target but he didn’t quite pull it off, slowing the ball too much and sending it off target. Smith sent a blistering pass through the six in the 18th minute, but there was no way Akindele could get to it in time and Michel didn’t anticipate the pass quickly enough to get to the back post for the tap-in.

Higuain nearly got in behind in the 21st minute but Carlos did just enough to force him wide and Gallese chased him into the corner and knocked it out of play. Two minutes later, Campana got in for a first-time shot but just missed wide.

Moutinho smashed a shot well wide from the top of the area when a long throw fell to him. A failure to put shots on target was a problem Sunday at New York City FC and it definitely continued into tonight.

The hosts doubled the lead in the 38th minute on a weird transition as Akindele tried to force a pass into traffic. Miami came the other way and Schlegel got caught pressing high, giving the Herons a 2-on-1 break. Ariel Lassiter crossed in early to Higuain and his first touch was a shot past Gallese to make it 2-0.

Akindele ‘s headed flick went just over the bar in the 43rd minute off a corner kick cross, which was the closest the Lions came in the opening half. In the final minute of the half, a good cross found Urso but he swung and missed at it and kicked DeAndre Yedlin instead.

Orlando City held more possession in the half (61.9%-38.1%), had more shots (7-4) and corners (2-1), and passed more accurately (87.3%-78.3%) but Miami got more shots on target (2-0) and both of those went in. It was the second consecutive first half in which Orlando failed to get a single shot on frame and the Lions had only one on target in its last three halves.

The Lions brought on offensive-minded reinforcements to start the second half as Pareja withdrew Akindele, Michel, and Smith, sending Kara, Ivan Angulo, and Ruan onto the pitch. The changes made Orlando seem more dangerous immediately. Angulo got in the box, made a good move to bypass two defenders and took a shot. The Lions screamed for a handball but Victor Rivas did not give it and a check by the video assistant referee maintained the call on the field. The only replay shown on the broadcast was inconclusive.

But Rivas wasn’t opposed to giving Miami a penalty moments later when the Lions were bit again by a bad bounce. A ball in for Lassiter skipped up off the Miami forward’s foot and hit Ruan’s arm at close range. The fullback’s arm wasn’t extended unnaturally, nor was the play intentional, but the call was upheld again and Higuain scored on the ensuing penalty to make it 3-0 in the 53rd minute.

Three minutes later, Lassiter added to Orlando’s misery with a shot just inside the right post, making it 4-0. Don’t ask me why Carlos was trailing on the play, my stream froze a few seconds earlier and started back up right where this video begins.

Things got worse for Orlando City moments after the fourth goal when Carlos was booked, meaning he’ll miss Sunday’s regular-season finale against Columbus with a suspension for yellow card accumulation.

“It’s a little bit soon to answer it but we always have to think about what’s next,” Pareja said when asked if he had formulated a plan for the back line on Sunday yet with Carlos suspended and Robin Jansson injured. “(The booking) was probably the thing that frustrated me the most. It’s the lack of common sense from the referee. It’s unbelievable. Their responsibility is to protect the game and they need to have the context of the players. And it was a very, very, very unnecessary yellow card, and that’s what disappoints me. Not a good call for me, and it affects us not having Antonio, but we have to find a different answer and see how we can set out that back four. Somebody needs to do the job.”

Kara spoiled Miami’s shutout bid in the 71st minute, taking a pass from Torres at the top of the box, then turning and firing a well-placed shot just inside the left post. It was the big Austrian’s 11th goal of the season.

Ruan had a chance to set up Kara for another moments later. With Kara running free to his left, Ruan tried to chip a pass across to him over Miami goalkeeper Drake Callender. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite get the pass high enough and Callender caught it to prevent the easy header at the back post.

Orlando squandered a late series of corner kicks and Ruan got deep into the box but sent a pass behind both of his teammates crashing the net and that was basically the end.

As a product of chasing the game for all but a few seconds of the match, Orlando finished with more possession (60%-40%), shots (16-6), corners (8-1), and passing accuracy (89.1%-83.4%), but Miami got more shots on target (4-1). Every shot on target in the match ended up in the net. The Lions now have one shot on target in each of the last two matches, which is just two on 29 attempts.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Urso said of the lack of precision. “We had good passing, we had good combinations, but like Oscar told us we have to get more confidence in front of the target and to shoot well. I think we have to be more calm in front of the goal, but no excuses for us.”

“We’re going to leave it there, we’re going to make our corrections,” Pareja said. “We’ve got to move on. This is a quick turnaround. We have a possibility at home that nobody gave us. We fought for that one during the season and this opportunity belongs to us. We’ll see. If we don’t beat Columbus then maybe we didn’t deserve to be in the playoffs, but certainly we have a great opportunity at home to get our qualification.”

The Lions have a knockout game in the final match of the regular season on Sunday, when the Columbus Crew visit Exploria Stadium. A draw won’t be good enough unless Cincinnati somehow loses at D.C. United.

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Orlando City

How Orlando City’s Offense Stacks Up Against What Atlanta Does Defensively

How Orlando City has performed against teams playing with three or four defenders, and how that may influence the playoff game against Atlanta United.

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6 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The most famous quote about real estate is that “there are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” Soccer coaches also like to think in threes, especially when it comes to points, but for a soccer coach, the three things that matter might be the rhyming triplet “formation, formation, formation,” as that is where they will have the biggest influence on every game that their team plays.

Throughout his tenure as head coach, Óscar Pareja has preferred to use a 4-2-3-1 as his formation (fbref.com’s lineup data shows that the Lions primarily played a 4-2-3-1 in 65% of their MLS matches this season, and 79% of their MLS matches during the last three seasons). The Lions have lined up in a 4-2-3-1 during each of their last 14 games, and my confidence level is strong to quite strong (can you believe Meet the Parents came out 24 years ago?) that they will do so once again on Sunday when they host Atlanta United.

Atlanta United also prefers to deploy a 4-2-3-1, but was less consistent than Orlando City this season during MLS play, as evidenced by the chart below that shows how Atlanta lined up this season:

The purpose of this image is a table to show how Atlanta United lined up in 2024 (mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but also in one of six other formations).

I am relying on the coders at Opta for their evaluation of the formation, as I do not watch a lot of Atlanta United matches (sounds terrible), but though Atlanta primarily played with four defenders in more than two-thirds of its matches, during the last two matches it played a 3-5-2, the only two matches all season in which interim coach Rob Valentino rolled out that formation. I suspect that the formation change was related partially to playing Inter Miami and trying to defend the Herons’ dynamic offense and partially due to an injury suffered by defender Brooks Lennon in the first game of that series. So, while Atlanta primarily played four in the back for most of the season, there is a good chance it will roll with what worked against Florida’s second-best MLS team when it plays Florida’s best MLS team this weekend.

Now, if you want to read more about Atlanta, then you can read our match preview, which will drop Sunday morning, but I want to look at how Orlando did against teams that play similar styles. Looking only at MLS games, the table below shows how Orlando City performed against different back line structures this season (the left side is how the Lions’ opponents lined up, the right side is how Orlando City performed against opponents in those formations):

Table embedded as an image showing Orlando City doing best in goal differential in 12 games against three-man back lines, second best against four-man back lines, and having played once against a five-man back line (a 1-1 draw).

Orlando City earned slightly more points per game — the stat that matters most — against teams that played four in the back, but the Lions had a better average goal differential when teams played three in the back. Atlanta will likely deploy one of those two formations. In both games against Orlando City this season, Sunday’s visitors went with a 4-2-3-1, but as mentioned earlier, they used three in the back in each of their last two matches, so it really could be either.

Soccer is not like baseball, where players primarily stay in the same spot throughout the game, so some of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, as players are not always rigidly in the same position throughout a match. A team may also primarily play with four in the back but switch to three when chasing a game, or five when trying to protect against a late goal.

That said, using the data around Orlando City’s opponents’ general formations, here are the attacking groups who played the most frequently against four defenders during the 24 MLS games where Opta coded the opponents as using a defensive group of four:

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy four defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus eight goal differential for the season.

It is a little ominous that the main starting group, shown in row one, has played 666 MLS minutes against back lines of four this season, but do I like that green goal differential of +8 in those minutes, which is a strong +1.08 per 90 minutes. I like that goal differential more than I like all the things that Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin like on their song that is creatively named “I Like It.” Coincidentally, when people ask me what I think about that song, I say, “I like it.” I am very creative.

If we look at the lineups that Orlando City has used against back lines of three defenders then there are some pretty major differences in personnel groupings, but it must be noted that more than half of the games against teams playing three in the back came early in the season, when Ramiro Enrique was unavailable to play. Enrique, my presumed starter at striker, has played fewer than three games’ worth of minutes (265 total) against back lines of three this season, and only 28 minutes with the main starting group, which ranks 13th among all the attacking lineups for minutes played against three defenders. That group scored one goal in their 28 minutes together though, for a robust 3.21 goals-scored-per-90-minutes average.

While the team as a whole has been successful against three-man back lines, I do not expect any of the lineups shown in the table below to play more than a few minutes together this weekend, though the first row and the last row are strong groups and had a lot of success.

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy three defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus three goal differential for the season.

I am sure that all week long the Orlando City coaching staff has been going back and forth on whether it is more likely that Atlanta reverts to its most commonly used four in the back, or if the Five Stripes try for three wins in a row with three in the back. I would prefer that Atlanta plays with zero defenders and goalkeeper Brad Guzan wears a blindfold, but I think that is unlikely to be the case.

Even though Atlanta defeated Orlando City both times while in a 4-2-3-1, based on available personnel and recent results, I believe that the team will come out in a 3-5-2 in Inter&Co Stadium in the conference semifinal. Good things come in threes, and Orlando City’s best offensive production this season has been against three defenders, so I am going to be hoping that this continues, and in the third game against Atlanta the Lions grab the three points. Three’s company!

Well, it is a playoff game, so there are no actual points at stake, but you know what I meant.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final?

Published

8 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City continues its playoff journey against Atlanta United Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions are coming off an emotional penalty shootout win over Charlotte FC in their best-of-three, first-round series. Likewise, Atlanta United stunned everyone by taking out Inter Miami to advance in its own best-of-three matchup. Now, the rivals meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

What does Orlando City need to do to get past Atlanta United to advance to the Easter Conference final?

Beat Guzan

Brad Guzan made 16 saves over Atlanta’s three matches against Inter Miami, including seven in the 3-2 win on the road in Game 3. The 40-year-old former USMNT keeper is in excellent form and is a big reason why the Five Stripes are facing Orlando City. Converting chances against Guzan will be crucial to earning a result. There have been times this season when the Lions have struggled to convert their chances. Despite that, the team has done enough offensively to get to this point. Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire, Ramiro Enrique, and others have contributed and will need to do so this weekend.

Cartagena is Essential

Orlando City lost twice to Atlanta United during the regular season. What is interesting, and perhaps relevant, is that Wilder Cartagena was out for both of those matches. Cartagena was shown a straight red in the match against Minnesota United prior to the first match against Atlanta way back in March. He was shown a yellow card in the match against FC Cincinnati and then served a yellow card accumulation suspension for the final match of the season against Atlanta. Fortunately for Orlando City, Cartagena will be available for the match this weekend. I’ve mentioned before the importance of Cartagena to Orlando City’s success. When he and Cesar Araujo are on the field together, the defense is simply better. Cartagena is frankly one of the better defensive midfielders in MLS. Atlanta scored five goals in the series against Miami, and Orlando will need to keep the visitors from having that kind of offensive success.

Overcome the Past

That darn international break in the middle of the playoffs is something I don’t love. More precisely, I don’t like it because Orlando City often struggles after a break. It would have been nice if Orlando City could have ridden the momentum from the penalty kick victory into the Atlanta match, but that’s not to be. Now is the time for Orlando City to break some bad habits, including turning around its historical lack of success against Atlanta, and tendency to struggle in the first match after a break. Oscar Pareja needs to have the players in the right frame of mind, and the players need to execute the plan. A full house of supporters can also make a difference. Given it’s a Sunday afternoon match, there’s no reason not to pack the house.

That is what I will be looking for Sunday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 11/21/24

Marta’s chance to shine in NWSL Championship, NWSL and MLS award winners announced, 2025 SheBelieves Cup details, and more.

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11 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’ve been spending most of this week plotting out some holiday shopping to make things a little less stressful for myself over the next few weeks. A big weekend filled with Orlando soccer awaits us, so make sure to get any errands or obligations out of the way sooner rather than later. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s NWSL Championship between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, including Marta’s opportunity to put an exclamation point on what has been an excellent season for the Pride. Orlando has been enjoying the fruits of its labor this season after a rebuild over the past few years that’s included plenty of change in the City Beautiful. Marta has been a constant, however, enduring some difficult seasons since joining the Pride and adapting her game She’s scored in both of the Pride’s playoff games so far and has a chance to author a storybook ending on Saturday.

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was named 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, beating out the Pride’s Anna Moorhouse and Utah Royals FC’s Mandy Haught for the honor. It was Berger’s first year in the NWSL and she’s the first European player to win the award. She only conceded 16 goals across her 22 matches for Gotham this season and was a key reason behind her team’s success. I’m not too surprised that Moorhouse did not win, considering how solid the Pride’s defense was as a whole, but this won’t take anything away from a record-breaking season for her.

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

Columbus Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy was voted 2024 MLS Coach of the Year after a historic season in which the Crew set club records in both points and goals. The Crew also won the Leagues Cup this summer and their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign included advancing past Tigres and Monterrey en route to the final. This is Nancy’s first time being named Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the award every year since 2021. The Frenchman received 40.02% of the vote, winning the award over Inter Miami’s Gerardo Martino and Colorado Rapids Head Coach Chris Armas.

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

The 10th annual SheBelieves Cup will take place next year and the tournament will return to its usual format where each of the four teams plays each other once. The United States Women’s National Team will host Japan, Colombia, and Australia in February in what should be an exciting tournament. The U.S. will take on Colombia on Feb. 20 in Houston before facing Australia in Arizona on Feb. 23 and finishing the tournament on Feb. 26 against Japan at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. These games will also be the first domestic games of 2025 for the USWNT as it prepares to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

FC Dallas announced that Eric Quill will become the team’s next head coach. Quill joins Dallas after a great year with New Mexico United that included trips to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and USL Championship Western Conference semifinals. It’s also a reunion of sorts for Quill, as he previously coached North Texas SC and was named USL League One Coach of the Year with the club in 2019. Dallas missed out on the playoffs this season, with Peter Luccin coaching the team on an interim basis after the firing of Nico Estevez in June.

Free Kicks

  • District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser challenged Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to a bet involving this weekend’s NWSL Championship, with embarrassing lightshows on the line.

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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