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Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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Orlando City’s 2022 season ended with a 2-0 loss to CF Montreal north of the border in the first round of the 2022 MLS Cup playoffs. The Lions had some golden opportunities to open the scoring but couldn’t hit the target. That opened the door for the hosts to take the win and move on.

Let’s take a look at the individual performances from this game.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 5 — Gallese didn’t have much to do in this game as Montreal only had two shots on target. The first time the Orlando City goalkeeper was called into action was in the 68th minute, when Ismael Kone got between Antonio Carlos and Ruan and slipped the ball under the Peruvian. The two goals conceded were a one-on-one opportunity and a penalty, so Gallese didn’t make any big mistakes. However, he didn’t make any saves and conceded twice. Additionally, he completed 59.1% of his 22 passes, including six of his 15 long balls.

D, Joao Moutinho, 4.5 — While Moutinho didn’t have a terrible game, he didn’t make much of a positive impact. Defensively, the left back had two tackles, one interception, one clearance, and one blocked shot. He completed 73.5% of his 34 passes, one of his six long balls, and his only cross. What knocked the defender’s grade down a bit was when he took down Djordje Mihailovic in the box for a penalty in second-half stoppage time. Even though a late equalizer was unlikely, the penalty conversion ended any chance for the Lions to extend their season.

D, Antonio Carlos, 5.5 — Carlos was pretty good for most of the game, especially on the defensive end. He had three tackles, two interceptions, two clearances, and three blocked shots. All of those were team highs. He completed 77.4% of his team-high 53 passes and five of his 12 long balls. He would’ve had a higher score but made two mistakes that contributed to the loss. In first-half injury time, Carlos was set up for an open shot in front of goal but hit it over the crossbar. In the 68th minute, he slid over to provide Rodrigo Schlegel some cover — not necessarily an error, but with Ruan being late to recognize the danger, it left space for Kone to receive the ball and score the game’s first goal.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 5.5 — While Carlos was more active than Schlegel, the Argentine didn’t make any mistakes that cost his team. Defensively, he had two interceptions and two clearances. He completed 84.4% of his 32 passes and one of his four long balls.

D, Ruan, 4.5 — Similar to Moutinho, Ruan didn’t make enough of an impact and was at fault for one of the Montreal goals. He finished the game with one tackle and one clearance defensively. He completed 76% of his 25 passes but didn’t complete either of his two crosses. His biggest impact on the game came in the 68th minute when Carlos slid over to provide some cover for Schlegel. The right back had a perfect view of Kone moving into the hole created by Carlos’ decision but didn’t move inside. Instead, he watched as Kone received the ball and put it past Gallese.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6 — Araujo didn’t have the type of game that Orlando City fans have become used to, but he wasn’t bad in this one. He ended up with three tackles, one interception, and one clearance. On the attacking side, he completed 87.5% of his 40 passes and three of his four long balls. But none of his passes led to a scoring opportunity.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 7 (MotM) — The Orlando City captain did everything he could in this game to help his team win, but poor finishing by his teammates let him down. Pereyra ended the game with three tackles and two interceptions on the defensive side. He completed 84.6% of his 52 passes and four of his six long balls. Three of his passes were key and two set up the best chances of the game: first in the 25th minute for Ercan Kara and then in first-half injury time for Carlos. He also sent a perfect line-breaking pass to Ivan Angulo, but that too ended in a shot over the bar. Pereyra was, without question, the most positively impactful player for the Lions in this game.

MF, Facundo Torres, 5.5 — Torres didn’t have as impactful a game as you would hope from a player of his caliber. He completed 94.6% of his 37 passes but none led to scoring chances. He had one incomplete cross and one successful long ball. His only shot of the match came from the top of the area in the 51st minute. It was a decent look but like his teammates, Torres failed to get the shot on target.

MF, Junior Urso, 5.5 — Like many Lions, Urso didn’t have the game you’d hope for from a key player in a playoff game. The midfielder ended up completing 91.3% of his 23 passes and both of his long balls. He helped out defensively with one tackle, one interception, and two blocked shots. He was unable to get forward and help the attack in his box-to-box role and also wasn’t able to help win balls back and help keep possession much in the game.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 5.5 — Angulo started the game on the opposite side of Torres and had a similar performance, although he was tasked with playing deeper than usual to help out defensively with Alistair Johnston and Mihailovic. He completed 85.7% of his 14 passes but one of those passes led to an opportunity on goal. He took one shot in the first half but it was off target, like every other shot taken by the Lions.

F, Ercan Kara, 4.5 — Kara was more active than usual with 25 touches on the night, which is a considerable total given Orlando City’s lack of possession. He completed 76.9% of his 13 passes but none of them led to a chance on goal. The biggest moment of the game for Kara came in the 25th minute when Pereyra played him through. The striker was in on goal but his shot missed the target, squandering a great chance to take the lead. While there was an opportunity to square a pass for Ruan, the fullback was a bit behind him, so it’s uncertain if he knew the Brazilian was there and that wide open, and it would have required an accurate pass at full speed with his weaker left foot.

Substitutes

MF, Jake Mulraney (77’), 4 — Mulraney came on in the 77th minute for Urso but it was almost as if he never came on. The Irish midfielder only had three touches and completed his lone pass.

F, Benji Michel (77’), 5 — Michel came on in the 77th minute for Angulo to provide speed and energy but was barely noticeable. He only had seven touches, completed his only three passes, and didn’t take any shots.

F, Tesho Akindele (87’), N/A — Akindele came on in the 87th minute for Araujo and didn’t do much in his brief appearance. He didn’t make any costly mistakes but didn’t help much either. The forward only had three touches and didn’t complete his only pass.

D, Mikey Halliday (87’), N/A — Halliday came on with Akindele to replace Ruan. The defender only had three touches and completed two passes in the back.


That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s final game of 2022. Let us know how you saw the game in the comments below and don’t forget to vote on your Man of the Match.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Mauricio Pereyra18
Cesar Araujo1
Antonio Carlos1
Rodrigo Schlegel1
Ivan Angulo1
Other (Let us know in the comments)1

Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/23/25

Pride fall to Racing Louisville, Seb Hines and Giles Barnes share insight on path to success in Orlando, USMNT defeats Haiti, and more.

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Hello, Mane Landers! I hope all is well with you down in Florida. I’ve been busy working and catching up with friends over the past week. Before we get started, let’s wish a belated happy birthday to Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director Haley Carter, who turned 41 on Saturday. The Pride was the lone team in action over the weekend, while the Lions and OCB were off. We’ve got plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links.

Pride Fall at Racing Louisville

The Orlando Pride fell to Racing Louisville 2-0 Friday at Lynn Family Stadium. Arin Wright scored the opening goal in the first half, and former Pride midfielder Taylor Flint converted a penalty kick for Racing Louisville. The Pride struggled offensively and failed to capitalize on their scoring chances. Orlando’s struggles in Louisville continue, as the club is winless in five matches at Lynn Family Stadium. The Pride will be on a long break, and their next match will be Aug. 3, taking on the Utah Royals at Inter&Co Stadium.

Seb Hines, Giles Barnes Share Insight on Path to Success in Orlando

Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines and Assistant Coach Giles Barnes were featured in an interview in The Guardian. Both Hines and Barnes shared insight into their longtime friendship, which began with playing in English youth international camps, their different paths to playing in Major League Soccer, and how they became involved in coaching. Hines discussed his time as interim manager of the Pride in 2022 and how he brought in Barnes to help change the club’s culture. Hines and Barnes helped change the perception of the club and led the Pride to winning both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship last season.

USMNT Defeats Haiti to Win Group D in Gold Cup

The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Haiti 2-1 Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, in their final match in the group stage of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. The USMNT finished atop its group with three wins and nine points. Orlando City defender Alex Freeman made his third consecutive start and played 90 minutes.

Malik Tillman scored the opening goal 10 minutes into the match to give the USMNT the early lead. Haiti tied the match not long after Tillman’s goal. In the second half, Patrick Agyemang pulled the USMNT back in front. The USMNT advances to the quarterfinals as the group winner and will play its next match Sunday against the Group A runner-up which was the late game Sunday night and had yet to conclude as of this writing.

Club World Cup Weekend Recap

Another weekend of matches from the FIFA Club World Cup is in the books. On Friday, Benfica crushed Auckland City FC 6-0, while Flamengo beat Chelsea 3-1. LAFC was eliminated from advancing to the knockout round after a 1-0 defeat to ES Tunis. Bayern Munich edged Boca Juniors 2-1. On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund defeated Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3. Inter Milan needed a late stoppage-time winning goal from Valentin Carboni to edge Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1. Fluminense beat Ulsan HD 4-2, and River Plate and Monterrey ended in a scoreless draw. On Sunday, Juventus cruised to a 4-1 win over Wydad Casablanca. Xabi Alonso secured his first win as manager of Real Madrid with a 3-1 victory against Pachuca. Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Hilal played to a scoreless draw, with Manchester City playing Al-Ain in the late match Sunday. Today’s matches feature Atletico Madrid facing Botafogo, the Seattle Sounders hosting Paris Saint-Germain, FC Porto vs. Al Ahly, and Inter Miami taking on Palmeiras.

Free Kicks

  • Orlando Pride midfielder Ally Lemos and forward Simone Jackson have been called-up to the U-23 U.S. Women’s National Team. The U-23 camp will be led by Orlando Pride Assistant Coach Yolanda Thomas.

USL Championship side San Antonio FC has signed former Orlando City defender Abdi Salim to a 25-day contract.

San Diego Wave winger Maria Sanchez has reportedly reach an agreement to return to her former club, Tigres of Liga MX Femenil, on a four-year contract.

Paul Pogba is reportedly set to return to playing soccer and has signed a two-year contract with Ligue 1 side AS Monaco.


That will do it for me today, Mane Landers. Enjoy your Monday, and I’ll see you next time.

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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.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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.

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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.

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

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!

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