Orlando City played over an entire half with a man advantage but couldn’t create many clear-cut chances and had to settle for a scoreless draw with the Chicago Fire. The Lions struggled to break down the bunkered Fire defense and often settled for shots from distance that didn’t come close to troubling the goal, and they didn’t deserve more than a point in the end. What follows are my five takeaways from the game.

Lions Lived Dangerously Early

The game was scoreless at halftime but that seemed like an extremely unlikely outcome based on the first half hour. The Fire took 11 shots inside the first 30 minutes and tested Pedro Gallese constantly, as El Pulpo was forced into making five saves. The highlight was an outstanding double save in the 10th minute, first from Philip Zinckernagel, and then again from Hugo Cuypers on the rebound. Orlando’s goal got absolutely shelled, and Cuypers really should have opened the scoring from an 11th-minute corner but somehow contrived to fire the ball over from about two feet away. Chicago was so dangerous that it racked up 2.91 expected goals from 11 shots in the opening half hour, which is good for a pretty impressive .26 xG per shot. If not for Gallese’s brilliance and Chicago’s poor finishing, this thing could have been over early.

Route One Gave Chicago Trouble

That being said, the Lions had some moments of their own, and the most dangerous ones came when OCSC dispensed with trying to keep possession and build with the ball, and simply chose to play long balls over the top of the defense. That sort of direct play gave the Fire all sorts of hell in the 7-2 thrashing they received at the hands of Nashville SC last week, and the few times that the Lions played long balls over the top, they looked extremely dangerous. Duncan McGuire flashed a shot just wide of the post in the 17th minute after getting on the end of a long ball, and then in the 36th minute he was on the verge of getting on the end of another one, but Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady rushed off his line, got all of Duncan and none of the ball, and got sent off as a result. Had the Fire kept 10 men on the field, we’d surely have seen Orlando keep trying to lob balls over the top.

Red Card Did Not Change the Game

In theory, one team going down to 10 men should drastically change the game. The side with the man advantage should be able to overwhelm the team with fewer players, apply pressure to the goal, and eventually break through. That’s not what happened here, though. The Lions had a ton of the ball in the second half, with 69% possession, and they took 15 shots. But they only put one of them on target, and took seven of those 15 shots from outside the box. Too often, Orlando was reduced to shooting from distance rather than playing through or around the compact Chicago defense, and OCSC often looked short of ideas in the final third. The Lions have often struggled to break down teams that choose to bunker deep and clog the middle of the field around their box, and that was the case again in this game. They did still manage to carve out a few chances, with Marco Pasalic and Martin Ojeda both hitting the woodwork, but it was a woeful offensive performance considering the circumstances.

No Atuesta, No Party

Eduard Atuesta was unavailable for this game after picking up a neck injury late in the week, and frankly that was probably a big part of Orlando’s anemic creative output. It was great to have Cesar Araujo back, but he isn’t exactly renowned for his offensive capabilities, while Atuesta does so much work linking defense to attack, and is more than capable of providing a key pass or assist. Whether or not he would have been any help when trying to break through the tightly compacted Chicago lines is anyone’s guess, but not having him on the field certainly didn’t help Orlando’s chances. He isn’t going to be available for every game either, particularly as the fixture congestion piles up, so the Lions are going to need to find some creative juice from other sources.

Road Point Feels Hollow

It’s hard to win on the road in MLS and a point is a point. But it’s hard to feel good about it when Orlando played for over a half with a man advantage but spent most of it looking like it was the team that only had 10 men. Yes, the Lions’ unbeaten run is now at eight games, but four of those are scoreless draws. Points are points but this was an extremely frustrating point considering the circumstances. It was sort of an odd game in that I felt Orlando was extremely fortunate to still have the game at 0-0 after the opening 30 minutes, and then for the remaining 54 minutes after Chicago’s red card, I ranged from annoyed to frustrated by the Lions’ inability to carve out meaningful chances. Some draws you’re thrilled with and accept without asking any questions, but this absolutely wasn’t one of those cases.

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Those are my five big thoughts from a frustrating evening for Orlando City up in Illinois. Be sure to voice your thoughts about this game down in the comments. Vamos Orlando!

Orlando City extended its unbeaten run to eight matches (3-0-5) at Soldier Field in Chicago but there’s no good way to spin a 0-0 road draw against a Fire team that went a man down in the first half. The Lions (4-2-5, 17 points) were unfathomably wasteful in the final third in a draw that felt like a loss, with numerous great chances sent off target, off the woodwork, or straight into the bellies of defenders on free kicks. The Fire (3-4-4, 13 points) actually created more dangerous opportunities throughout the match, even when down a man, than did the Lions.

Pedro Gallese had a stellar night in goal to help the Lions avoid what might otherwise have been an embarrassing loss, making eight saves in Orlando’s fourth scoreless draw in five outings. Chicago, which entered the match having conceded the most goals in MLS and allowed seven a week ago, held firm but remain winless at home in 2025.

“Our feelings today in a game that we probably, under the circumstances, we should have won it,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “But when you see the whole development of the game, it was a tough rival. After the red card they put a lot of density and we couldn’t break it up the way we wanted. And they were dangerous on a couple plays going on the counter. As the game was playing, we didn’t have that clarity to define and score our goal, despite having some actions, and even two times when we hit the post. But I think we lacked clarity, and that cost us the two points that I thought we should have won it.”

Pareja’s lineup included Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Alex Freeman. The midfield four consisted of Kyle Smith and Cesar Araujo in central midfield with Ivan Angulo and Marco Pasalic on the wings. Luis Muriel served as a false 9/No. 10 in the attack behind striker Duncan McGuire.

The match goes down as a point, but the Lions could have — and should have — gotten more out of it. Chicago defended well in a low block after losing goalkeeper Chris Brady to a red card in the first half, but Orlando City squandered the chances it created and frankly didn’t create enough with the ball or do enough to pull apart the Fire’s defensive lines.

The hosts created a half chance in the game’s first minute, carrying forward and crossing into the area. Schlegel’s clearance was muffed, falling to Andrew Gutman. The fullback tried a shot from outside the area but it was well off target.

Orlando’s first chance came from the left in the third minute, when Angulo got down the wing and fired. His shot was deflected wide for a corner. The Fire cleared the cross, ending the threat. Three minutes later, Muriel took a pass from Angulo at the end line, kept it in play, and tried a blast from a tight angle that Brady saved, knocking it out for another corner. Orlando had to hustle back to break up a Chicago transition on the set piece.

The Fire nearly scored multiple times in the 10th minute, with Gallese coming up with two big back-to-back saves. Philip Zinckernagel cut inside and blasted a shot from 15 yards out that Gallese fought off. It fell for Hugo Cuypers, who turned it back on goal but again the Peruvian came up big, with Brekalo then knocking it out for a corner.

PEDRO WITH THE DOUBLE SAVE 🐙 pic.twitter.com/MjhJSdkuZK

— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) May 4, 2025

“I think it was one of the most crucial and most difficult moments of the game, ” Gallese said of the double save. “Especially in key minutes, because if they’re able to score there, they’re able to control the game more and put us on the back foot, so yeah, really critical there.”

On the ensuing set piece, the ball was flicked to the back post by Sergio Oregel for MLS goal-scoring leader Cuypers, but the Golden Boot leader got under the ball and fired over the bar from about three or four yards out in front of goal.

Smith gave Orlando a good set piece opportunity in the 13th minute when he was fouled directly out in front of goal. Araujo took the set piece but fired straight into the wall, wasting the opportunity.

Gallese made another huges top three minutes later. Chicago fired a ball over the top to Jonathan Bamba, who stayed onside with a well-timed run. Bamba brought it down and fired, but Gallese made another big save in the 16th minute.

Orlando then found McGuire over the top in a similar manner in the 17th minute. McGuire wasn’t cleanly through on goal, but he was sent down the right, where he turned and fired wide of the left post.

Bamba took a pass from Gutman in front in the 19th minute and fired, but once again Gallese bailed out his defense. Cuypers headed a Jonathan Dean cross on target in the 27th minute, but the shot was soft and Gallese was able to get over and make the easy catch, racking up another save.

Muriel nearly sent McGuire in behind in the 33rd minute with a slick through ball. McGuire picked it up and could have shot, but instead he tried to finesse around Jack Elliott and lost the ball.

Three minutes later, another good ball over the top found McGuire, who chested it down just outside the box. Brady came charging out of his box and made contact with McGuire, who had gotten in behind both Fire center backs. Brady was booked and match referee Victor Rivas awarded a penalty. After reviewing the play, the red card stood, but the foul was judged to be just outside the box. Brady departed and Bamba was withdrawn by Gregg Berhalter in order to send backup goalkeeper Jeff Gal into the game for his MLS debut.

Muriel went for goal with the ensuing free kick, beating the wall but failing to get his shot to dip under the bar in the 42nd minute.

Orlando had two half chances in stoppage time. Muriel sent a great ball through the area but Freeman couldn’t get onto it. Moments later, Angulo sent a shot on target but left it too close to Gal, who made the save. Muriel fizzed a long-range shot over the bar a minute later, and then at the cusp of halftime sent in a great back-post ball for Araujo, who couldn’t quite get to it.

The Lions and Fire went to the break scoreless, but Chicago’s early domination helped Chicago end the first half with the advantage in possession (58.4%-41.6%), shots on goal (5-2), and passing accuracy (87.4%-77.7%). Each team attempted nine total shots, and Orlando won more corners (3-2).

The opening minutes of the second period saw Muriel dance around defender Christopher Cupps. Muriel went down after contact in the 47th minute, but there wasn’t enough in it for a penalty.

The Lions sent in two more almost balls in the 48th and 49th minutes, with Muriel again unable to find a teammate on the end of his cross on the first and Brekalo coming close to picking out Freeman at the back post on the second.

Orlando nearly gave up an embarrassing goal in the 52nd minute. Araujo sent a poor ball toward a teammate that was easily taken away by the Fire, jumpstarting the break in City’s defensive third. Mauricio Pineda smashed a shot from the top of the box that hit Jansson and nearly found its way inside the right post. Instead, it hit the outside of the upright and went out for a corner. The Lions didn’t deal with the corner well, allowing Brian Gutierrez to fire over the bar on the recycle.

Muriel again couldn’t find a fellow Lion with an entry ball in the 54th minute, and two minutes later, Angulo got down the left and squared the ball back into the box straight into a Fire player.

Unable to generate more danger against 10-man Chicago, Pareja sent Martin Ojeda in for Smith in the 57th minute. The Lions couldn’t do much with a couple of corners over the next few minutes, before a decent deflected ball into the box found Freeman in the 61st minute. The young fullback got a foot on it but couldn’t steer it on frame.

The lack of sharpness continued. Ojeda fired over the bar from long range in the 62nd minute. Brekalo telegraphed a shot and had it blocked at the top of the box a minute later.

Despite being down a man, Chicago nearly scored in the 67th minute. Orlando was dispossessed when Muriel was pushed down from behind but Rivas made no call. The play ended with Chicago winning a corner. The Lions made a mess of the clearance on the set piece, and it fell for Cuypers, who fired on goal, only to see Gallese deny him yet again with a vital save. A minute later, Gallese made critical back-to-back saves on Zenckernagel and Cuypers again off an Orlando City turnover.

PEDRO WITH ANOTHER DOUBLE SAVE 🐙 pic.twitter.com/8hl3rAQIJW

— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) May 4, 2025

“Pedro’s solidness has been increasing along the tournament. Now, in the game like today, when we needed the most, he was there,” Pareja said. “When you see the whole thing and the first part of the first half, and we had those actions, Pedro had to save us too. So it’s true, he played a great game and when we needed him most, he showed up.”

The two cruelest chances of the night fell for Orlando in the 75th and 77th minute. Angulo slipped the ball between defenders to put Ojeda in on goal for the first chance, but the Designated Player’s shot crashed off the left post. Two minutes later, Pasalic finally got an open look at goal and smashed a shot by Gal but off the crossbar. The spin of the ball took the rebound out of play before an onrushing Muriel could tap in the loose ball.

Elliott got a piece of McGuire in the 78th minute to set up a dangerous free kick for Orlando. However, Ojeda’s shot hit the midsections of one of Chicago’s wall players, wasting the opportunity. Muriel won a foul from Cupps in the 87th minute and waved off his teammates on the set piece. The Colombian then fired over the bar again.

Rivas added just three minutes of stoppage time and the Lions did not take advantage of any of the three. Muriel sent another shot over the bar from outside the box in the first added minute. Substitute Dagur Dan Thorhallsson blasted nowhere close to goal a minute later.

That was that, and the game ended without a goal.

Orlando finished with the advantage in possession (53.3%-46.7%), shots (23-17), and passing accuracy (85.1%-83.1%). Chicago won more corners (7-6) and put more shots on target (8-2).

“Chicago’s a good team. They’ve got good players, and they play a style that’s difficult and creates a lot of opportunities,” Gallese said. “I think we stood well in those first 30 minutes, and then after the card, you know, they weren’t really able to control too much of the game. But, you know, we’re still able to take the point against a good team tonight.”

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The Lions visit the Tampa Bay Rowdies Wednesday night as they kick off their 2025 U.S. Open Cup campaign. Orlando City’s next MLS match will follow on Saturday at home against the New England Revolution.

Welcome to your match thread and preview for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (4-2-4, 16 points) and the Chicago Fire (3-4-3, 12 points) at Soldier Field (8:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). This is the first of two scheduled meetings between the Eastern Conference rivals in 2024, with Chicago scheduled to make the return trip to Orlando later this month on May 31.

Here’s what you need to know about the match.

History

The Lions are 8-5-7 in 20 MLS meetings with the Fire and 8-6-7 in all competitions. Orlando City is 3-3-4 against the Fire on the road in the regular season and 3-4-4 away in all competitions.

These two teams last met on June 22, 2024 in Orlando, with the Lions capturing a 4-2 home victory. Facundo Torres scored a brace, with Luis Muriel (from the penalty spot) and Ivan Angulo adding goals to offset a penalty by Maren Haile-Selassie (after a Rodrigo Schlegel handball in the box) and Hugo Cuypers.

The two sides clashed at Soldier Field just a few weeks prior to that on May 29, playing to a 1-1 draw. Torres opened the scoring early with a scrappy goal in traffic, and the Lions should have had a penalty late in the first half when Angulo was clipped while in alone on a goal after rounding the goalkeeper, but the video assistant referee did not overturn the no-call on the field, and referee Malik Badawi did not look at the play himself. The Fire tied the match in the final 20 minutes on a Cuypers goal.

The Lions swept the two-game season series in 2023 by identical 3-1 scorelines. On Aug. 21, Orlando City got goals from Wilder Cartagena, Angulo, and Torres (from the penalty spot) to overcome a 1-0 deficit supplied by Mauricio Pineda, winning 3-1 on the road.

When the teams met in Orlando, the Lions rode a Torres brace to a 3-1 win on July 1. Xherdan Shaqiri pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after a Kyle Smith foul in the box against Brian Gutierrez, but Ramiro Enrique added an insurance goal.

Orlando City claimed a 1-0 victory at Exploria Stadium on April 9, 2022 on Ercan Kara’s first MLS goal. The two sides met at Soldier Field just over a month prior to that match and played, officially, to a 0-0 draw on March 5. The game is another Orlando City match that will live in infamy due to the Professional Referee Organization’s statement after the game that Junior Urso’s goal should not have been overturned upon video review by Ismir Pekmic due to Kara not having clearly and obviously handled the ball in the buildup in any of the available replay angles. Alas…

The teams met in Orlando on Aug. 21, 2021, with a second-half Benji Michel strike lifting the Lions to a 1-0 victory. Tesho Akindele set up the play by forcing a turnover. In that year’s meeting at Soldier Field, the Fire got the better of the Lions to the tune of 3-1 on July 7. Andres Perea scored his first career MLS goal to open the scoring, but a defensive lapse in first-half stoppage allowed Boris Sekulic to equalize just before the break. Chicago rode that momentum, adding goals by Robert Beric and Chinonso Offor.

The Lions were 0-4-4 in the eight meetings before smashing the Fire 4-1 in Orlando on Sept. 19, 2020. Orlando City withstood two Chicago penalties and saw two Fire goals overturned by video review in that rain-soaked match. (Weird things usually happen when Chicago visits Orlando.) The Lions got goals from Chris Mueller, Nani, Urso, and Michel, while Chicago had only a Beric penalty to show for an otherwise good offensive performance.

The last meeting of 2019 was the last time the Fire won on the road in the series. It was a debacle for the Lions, who lost defender Robin Jansson to a back/neck injury early and shipped a handful of goals in a 5-2 home loss in the regular-season finale. Orlando got goals from Akindele and Michel but largely played like a team that couldn’t wait to end its season. Chicago got an own goal from Orlando’s Smith and strikes from CJ Sapong, Aleksandar Katai, and Przemyslaw Frankowski (twice) in the rout.

Orlando City was seconds away from a road win on March 9, 2019 before Sapong’s free header in the 95th minute leveled things in a 1-1 draw in Chicago. Dom Dwyer scored Orlando’s goal.

In 2018, the Fire swept the season series. Orlando fell 2-1 at home on May 26, 2018, with Alan Gordon’s wondergoal breaking a 1-1 deadlock. The return leg in Chicago that September was an abysmal performance by Orlando in a 4-0 Fire victory.

Chicago went 1-0-1 in 2017, with the teams playing to a 0-0 draw on June 4, 2017, with the Lions reduced to nine men. The previous 2017 meeting was the Fire’s 4-0 beatdown of Orlando on June 24 of that year. David Accam figured in all four goals, with a hat trick and an assist on Nemanja Nikolić’s goal.

The teams split the points in 2016, drawing both meetings. Cyle Larin and Accam traded goals in a 1-1 draw in Orlando on March 11. The Fire again came from behind to draw, 2-2 in the return leg that August.

The teams met once in Orlando in 2015, with the Lions and Fire battling to a 1-1 draw. You may recall that five-hour, weather-delayed affair with Eric Gehrig’s own-goal canceling out an Accam strike. The other three meetings came in Chicago, with City winning 3-2 and 1-0 in MLS matches and falling 3-1 in U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal action.

Overview

The Lions are coming off a 3-0 home win over Atlanta United a week ago, snapping a three-match winless streak but extending their unbeaten run to seven matches (3-0-4). Orlando City is 1-1-3 on the road this season, having gone four consecutive away games without a loss (1-0-3). Orlando no longer has Torres, which is too bad, considering he scored in each of the last four meetings between the teams, including two braces, for six goals in his last four games against the Fire. Torres’ replacement, Marco Pasalic, leads the Lions in scoring, with five goals, adding two assists early in the season. Angulo has goals in two of the last three meetings with the Fire, so he should be looking forward to tonight as he has yet to find the net in 2025.

Chicago is winless in its last five matches (0-3-2) and is coming off a 7-2 beatdown at Nashville SC last weekend. The club is also winless at home so far this season (0-1-3) despite several close calls. Still, the Fire look like an improved team overall under new coach Gregg Berhalter, having played Inter Miami to a 0-0 road draw recently and losing just by one goal against FC Cincinnati during the current skid. Only two teams in the Eastern Conference have scored more goals than the Fire, while Chicago has conceded 22 goals, tying D.C. for the league’s worst defensive record in 2025 — although it is important to note that seven of those goals came in a single match.

Beating Chicago means trying to contain Cuypers, who is currently leading the MLS Golden Boot race with seven goals to go along with his two assists this season. Midfielder Jonathan Bamba is tied for fourth in the league in assists (5), while midfielder Philip Zinckernagel has contributed three goals and four assists on the season. Orlando City will need to maintain its recent defensive form to bring points home from the Windy City.

“First, we want to maintain that balance that we’ve been searching for or trying to achieve with the team. It seems like we found it against Atlanta United. We kept the solidness of our defensive phase and got back to scoring more, especially with the guys that have more influence in our team up front,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “So, we reached it, and now we need to keep it. That has been the mentality we have worked on during the week. We are doing our regular drilling and seeing what condition Chicago is in and all those things. That’s our preparation so far.”

The Lions will be without Wilder Cartagena (Achilles), Yutaro Tsukada (knee), and Joran Gerbet (lower leg), while Favian Loyola (thigh) is questionable. Chicago will be without Leonardo Barroso (lower body), Chase Gasper (lower body), Rominigue Kouamé (lower body), David Poreba (lower body), and Carlos Terán (yep, you guessed it…lower body). Additionally, former Lion Chris Mueller has been away from the team following the birth of his second child.

Match Content

• The most recent epsiode of the PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match.
• Our David Rohe provided his three keys to an Orlando City victory in tonight’s match.

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Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Alex Freeman.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Cesar Araujo, Kyle Smith, Marco Pasalic.

Forwards: Luis Muriel, Duncan McGuire.

Bench: Javier Otero, Rafael Santos, Thomas Williams, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Colin Guske, Gustavo Caraballo, Nico Rodriguez, Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique.

Chicago Fire (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Chris Brady.

Defenders: Andrew Gutman, Jack Elliott, Christopher Cupps Jonathan Dean.

Midfielders: Mauricio Pineda, Brian Gutierrez, Sergio Oregel.

Forwards: Jonathan Bamba, Hugo Cuypers, Philip Zinckernagel.

Bench: Jeffrey Gal, Omar Gonzalez, Omari Glasgow, Sam Rogers, Rominigue Kouame, Sam Williams, Dje D’Avilla, Maren Haile-Selassie, Tom Barlow.

Referees

REF: Victor Rivas.
AR1: Corey Parker.
AR2: Kyle Atkins.
4TH: Luis Diego Arroyo.
VAR: David Barrie.
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert.

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How to Watch

Match Time: 8:30 p.m.

Venue: Soldier Field — Chicago.

TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

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Enjoy the game. Go City!