Orlando City welcomed league-leading Nashville SC to town Saturday night as new Designated Player Antoine Griezmann made his home debut for the team. The fans’ excitement was electric, with a massive tifo by the supporters groups and a sell-out crowd that saw the Lions win a 1-0 defensive battle. Several club alumni were on hand to see the victory, with Alex Freeman, Ruan, Mikey Halliday, and Alexandre Pato all in the house, and Orlando City honored returning World Cup participants Braian Ojeda, Maxime Crepeau, and Marco Pašalić during the pregame festivities.

Once the game started, both teams looked a bit leggy having played midweek, creating a cagey, evenly matched affair with not a lot of clear-cut chances. Super-sub Tyrese Spicer played hero for Orlando City on the night, scoring in the 72nd minute to allow the Lions to eke out a well-played win.

Griezmann and Justin Ellis paired well, and their partnership of old veteran and new talent looks to be blossoming nicely. The pair moved the ball well when the Lions had possession and ultimately created seven of the team’s eight shots in the first half. Unfortunately, most of them on the night were not strong takes, the best of which was a jostled header in the 15th minute with not enough power on it and a squibbed open shot in the 22nd minute — both by Ellis. The rest were either off target or weakly at the keeper. For Nashville, Andy Najar played Alex Muyl in behind the defense in the 42nd minute, but Crepeau made the save, colliding with Muyl in the aftermath. Muyl was forced off the pitch briefly after receiving treatment and left the game at halftime.

The second half brought more of the same with Griezmann and Ellis advancing well but Nashville defending and smothering the buildups. Nashville looked for opportunities to counterattack, but few opportunities were given. Former Lion Shak Mohammed generated Nashville’s best chance of the night, getting a clear look at goal in transition in the 63rd minute, but Crepeau was again up to the task and turned away his shot. Then in the 72nd minute, Ellis got on the ball and evaded two defenders to open up a gorgeously disguised no-look pass through the defense to Spicer breaking in from the wing on the left. Spicer still had a lot to do from a tight angle, but he fired a first-time shot into the net for the lead.

Orlando defended well to close out the win after that, not allowing a significant shot through the rest of the game, despite being kept on the back foot by Nashville pushing numbers forward. The win marked the Lions’ first back-to-back victories of the regular season.

We hope you enjoy these pictures of the match and the ancillary activities.

The Orlando Pride dominated possession and peppered the Chicago Stars’ goal but had to wait until late for a magic combination between Cori Dyke and Julie Doyle to pull out a 1-0 victory on Friday night. A Marta missed penalty and 18 missed shots pretty well summed up the evening on a night when better finishing could have seen an easy, multi-goal victory.

The Pride were especially front-footed early, with 20 shots in the first half and eight on target. They could not seem to miss Chicago goalkeeper Katie Atkinson, with Angelina (twice), Jacquie Ovalle, Marta, and Solai Washington (also twice) all directing unchallenging shots directly at the goalkeeper. Haley McCutcheon rattling the bar (off a dangerous Oihane cross) in the eighth minute and Ally Lemos’ decent strike from a tight angle in the 33rd minute were the best chances from open play in the half.

Not all the Atkinson saves were easy, however, as she knocked a deflected would-be own goal off her own crossbar to avoid a disastrous sequence for Chicago. She also saved a so-so Marta penalty attempt late in the half and did well to not move first against the veteran Brazilian, but the location was poorly placed in just the second NWSL penalty that Marta has failed to score on.

The second half brought some adjustments from Chicago that balanced the game more, particularly after the Pride’s substitutes in the 61st minute did not inject energy into the match and, in fact, had the opposite effect.

Orlando’s finishing issues continued, with most of the chances still generated by Orlando but only Ovalle getting a shot on target — again, straight at Atkinson. That is until late in normal time, when some good ball movement following a throw-in saw Dyke play a perfectly weighted ball to Doyle at the corner of the six-yard box. Doyle finally found some finishing magic, lasering the ball into the roof of the net for her first goal of the season in the 88th minute. Chicago pushed for a tying goal and kept more of the possession for the remainder of the game, but Orlando defended well, allowing only two off-target shots from distance.

The victory pulls the Pride back up above the playoff line (although most of the teams around them have games in hand). The Pride go on the road to face the North Caroline Courage next Friday night.

We hope you enjoy these images of an Orlando Pride victory that was much more difficult than it should have been.

Orlando City hosted Southeast rival Atlanta United on Saturday night in the first of two consecutive matches between the two clubs. While Orlando played a preferred lineup, Atlanta rotated more of its usual roster with a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal match coming up on Tuesday. The results did not reflect the lineup choices, however, with the teams drawing 1-1.

The Lions started well, taking the lead in the 18th minute on a well-worked Martín Ojeda pass to spring Ivan Angulo down the left. The Colombian cut the ball back to the top of the six-yard box where Griffin Dorsey was waiting to tap it home. However, Orlando was unable to fashion any other good chances in the first half, and center back Robin Jansson ended the half nursing an injury that would see him not return for the second-half kickoff.

The second half initially continued more the same, but the game leveled out after a few minutes. Again, the teams did not create a lot of decent chances for a while. Ojeda got a half-chance in the 52nd minute, taking a heavy touch after a give-and-go with Justin Ellis, which in turn forced him to fire directly at the keeper from a tight angle. Orlando was fortunate when Aleksey Miranchuk got in behind but couldn’t direct a tricky ball on frame in the 61st minute. The other Orlando chance of note came from Dorsey in the 72nd minute, with some good ball movement from Ojeda and Duncan McGuire finding him at the penalty spot, but he scuffed the chance well wide.

Orlando City’s neglect of Fortune at the top of the 18-yard box allowed the visitors to steal a point just a few minutes from full time. Fortune placed his shot from the right perfectly inside the left post to make it 1-1. From that point, Orlando tried to get forward but could not generate any real chances, and the match finished as a draw.

The two teams will play again Tuesday, hopefully with a better result. We hope you enjoy the photos from the match!