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Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions rate in Orlando City’s 1-1 draw at home against New York City FC?

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2 years ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

After a difficult series of road games, Orlando City returned to Exploria Stadium and drew 1-1 against New York City FC. The Lions got out to an early lead thanks to a goal from Ercan Kara, but faded later in the first half. The defense did well to keep the Pigeons at bay until Gabriel Segal scored his first MLS goal to equalize late. It was a disappointing result when three points were so close to being secured. Here’s how each Lion individually performed in the match.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7.5 (MOTM) — Gallese proved yet again why signing him to a new contract was Orlando’s best move this off-season. El Pulpo came up with five saves in this match, with each seemingly getting more difficult as the match went on. From denying a header from Maxime Chanot off of a free kick to laying out and saving a long-range shot from Gabriel Pereira, Gallese worked hard to maintain Orlando’s lead. His clean sheet was ruined late in the match on a goal he couldn’t do much about due to the speed on the skipping cross. As far as his distribution, he completed 69.6% of his 23 passes and was accurate on three of his 10 long balls. He’s our Man of the Match for keeping Orlando in front for a majority of the match. He also injured his right hand during the match, but carried on.

D, Kyle Smith, 6 — As NYCFC lacked a clear center forward, it often tried to stretch Orlando’s back line and Smith struggled at times to defend in open space. He picked up a yellow card by taking Pereira down after being beaten and had a few nervy moments. However, Smith did well enough and led the team with three tackles, adding a clearance as well. Although he didn’t have any crosses, Smith completed three of his five long balls and had 44 passes at a 90.9% success rate. He was subbed off in the 84h minute for some fresher legs in Rafael Santos.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — The center back served up a patented long ball to set up Orlando’s goal, finding Gaston Gonzalez out wide in a threatening area. The Beefy Swede connected on three of his five long balls and finished with 53 passes at a strong 88.7% success rate. Jansson anchored Orlando’s defense alongside Antonio Carlos and had four clearances, two blocked shots, and a tackle. Unfortunately, his night was marred a bit by not marking Segal’s run in the box well enough to stop him from equalizing.

D, Antonio Carlos, 7 — Carlos looked right at home in the center of defense at Exploria Stadium, finishing the match with four clearances and an interception. He was particularly dominant in the air, winning all three of his defensive aerial duels. Of his seven long balls, three were accurate and he was successful on 89.4% of his 47 passes. He nearly scored off of a corner kick in the second half by Spartan kicking a bouncing ball in front of goal, but Luis Barraza came up with the save.

D, Michael Halliday, 6 — His crossing could have been better overall, particularly when on the attack, but the right back also served up two key passes in this one. Only one of his four crosses was successful, as he completed 84.9% of his 33 passes on the right side of the field. He also delivered a fantastic long ball that coasted along the touchline for Martin Ojeda. There were a few defensive lapses, but he often recovered well enough to help put out the fire. Halliday had three clearances, an interception, and blocked a shot as well. He could’ve done better on NYCFC’s goal by heading away the danger more cleanly or stopping Talles Magno’s cross, but it’d also be a bit unfair to pin too much of the blame on him for a goal that seemed like a longtime coming from the opposition.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6.5 — The 22-year-old had a busy night, leading the Lions with 78 touches and also completing 82.8% of his 58 passes. Araujo completed three of his six long balls and had a shot blocked late in stoppage time following a corner. Defensively, he had two tackles and a clearance to help limit NYCF’s chances. It was a solid outing from him and the ninth game in a row in which he’s played all 90 minutes.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 7 — The Peruvian set a single-game club record by committing seven fouls throughout the match, all without receiving a booking. His 70 touches were second only to Araujo, and he had a team-high 60 passes at an impressive 90% completion rate. Cartagena had two clearances and a tackle to help out defensively as well. He put his only shot on target, although it was fired directly at Barraza, and was accurate on two of his five long balls. It was a strong performance from Cartagena and I wouldn’t mind seeing him taking more shots when the ball falls to him at the top of the box during attacking sequences.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 6 — Angulo had 31 touches in 65 minutes and led the team with three shots, although he only put one of them on target. That effort earned a corner from a tight angle, with another attempt blocked and a third sent into the stands. He was successful on two of his four dribbles and gave the team some needed speed on both sides of the ball. One of his two crosses found their mark and he was successful on 85.7% of his 21 passes. It wasn’t a bad night from Angulo by any means, but he wasn’t as dynamic as he’s proven to be in other matches.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6 — Although he didn’t have a shot, he did contribute to Orlando’s goal thanks to some combination play alongside Gonzalez that earned him an assist on the stat sheet. His presence at the top of the box and opportunity to surge towards goal opened up space for Gonzalez to cross once Torres played it back to him. NYCFC had him in his crosshairs throughout the match, and that helped open avenues for other Lions to attack. Still, it was a fairly quiet night from the Young Designated Player, even if his movement off the ball is worth noting. In 58 minutes of action before being subbed off for Mauricio Pereyra, the Uruguayan had 20 passes at an 85% success rate and completed one of his five crosses.

MF, Gaston Gonzalez, 7 — The winger received great service throughout the match and made it count in the seventh minute. He whipped in a cross with enough speed and bend on it that only an expectant Kara could get to it, giving Gonzalez his second assist of the season. There were times, especially early on, when he looked like Orlando’s best attacking option, as he won set pieces in good areas. But as the game wore on and Mitja Ilenic came on to defend him, he lost some of his sharpness. Gonzalez missed a golden opportunity for the Lions to double their lead by dribbling into traffic rather than playing the ball to an open Duncan McGuire. His lone shot of the match was off target and he was successful on just one of his four crosses. The Argentine winger had 25 passes at an 84% success rate and his only long ball was unsuccessful. Although he couldn’t maintain it for the entire match, Gonzalez displayed why the Lions were eager to bring him to Orlando.

F, Ercan Kara, 7 — The Austrian forward scored his third goal in four matches by getting on the end of a great cross into the box by Gonzalez. Orlando’s finishing this season has been lackluster, so it was nice to see Kara cap off some great team play with his strong header. His goal was also his only shot of the game, as he didn’t receive much service and had just 16 touches in 65 minutes. His hold-up play was a mixed bag. While he completed all six of his passes, he also turned the ball over a few times and was successful on one of his three attempted dribbles. Kara remains in good form and his goal proved how he can excel up top when given good service.

Substitutes

MF, Mauricio Pereyra (58′), 6.5 — In his first match since April 22, Pereyra came off the bench and gave needed life to Orlando’s offense. The Uruguayan led the Lions with three key passes, was accurate on both of his long balls and both of his crosses, and completed all but two of his 25 passes for an excellent 92% success rate. He set up Ojeda at the top of the box in stoppage time but his teammate rushed a shot on the half volley when he may have been able to take a touch to split the defense. Although he wasn’t able to extend Orlando’s lead or give the team a late winner, this was a great performance as he eases back into action.

F, Duncan McGuire (65′), 6.5 — He may have only had eight touches and five passes, but McGuire was active while on the field. The rookie made good runs and his only shot of the game was blocked. Center backs Chanot and Thiago Martins gave him difficulty at times, but he was far from neutralized. McGuire’s positioning continued to put him in good spots, but the service was lacking to really capitalize on it.

MF, Martin Ojeda (65′), 6 — Ojeda played with hunger, but didn’t see all too much of the ball. He had 14 touches and completed 90.9% of his 11 passes while connecting on his lone long ball. His only shot was a difficult one on the half volley in the box that he scuffed and sent off target. With some more rest under his belt now, hopefully he can provide more of an impact in the upcoming matches.

MF, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson (84′), N/A  — The Icelandic midfielder had three touches and completed both of his passes during his cameo. He could’ve closed down Magno a bit better on NYCFC’s goal considering Halliday was preventing the angle at the near post. Thorhallsson had a tackle in the match as well.

D, Rafael Santos (84′), N/A  — The left back completed three of his four passes and had five touches in his brief appearances. Although neither his one cross or one long ball found their target, they were decent efforts. He didn’t play long enough to earn a grade from us this time around.

That’s how I saw each performance from the Lions in their 1-1 draw at home against NYCFC It’s tough seeing the Lions drop points at home, but hopefully they can turn it around against their rivals. Who was your Man of the Match? Make sure to vote in our poll and let us know what you think in the comments!

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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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1 day ago

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June 20, 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: 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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1 day ago

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June 20, 2025

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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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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.

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2 days ago

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June 19, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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.

PlayerSeasonSeason Game ScoreRank in MLSMLS Best that Season
Nani201922.0850.7
Facundo Torres202320.91031.1
Facundo Torres202420.02132.6
Facundo Torres202217.42533.7
Duncan McGuire202316.32631.1
Nani202116.22626.6
Sacha Kljestan201815.64638.0
Chris Mueller2020*14.81121.8
Yoshimar Yotún201814.75338.0
Dom Dwyer201814.35838.0
Martín Ojeda2025**14.1416.8
  • * 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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