Connect with us

Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in a 3-1 victory at home against the Chicago Fire?

Published

3 years ago

on

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

It was a dominating performance across the board for Orlando City’s players. With the team outshooting the Chicago Fire 19-8 and creating a number of quality chances, there was never a question in my mind if the Lions would finish with a win. It was, “by how many?” Facundo Torres and Ramiro Enrique led the way in answering that question to the tune of a 3-1 victory. Even then, the scoreline likely favors the Fire as it could have been much worse while Orlando’s defense put in a great shift keeping Kei Kamara and Fabian Herbers at bay.

Here’s how I rated Orlando City’s individual performances at Exploria Stadium.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7.5 — When Kamara comes to town, it doesn’t matter what team he is playing for. The man just loves to score against Orlando City. For Pedro Gallese, he was sure to ruin Kamara’s night and stifle and record-chasing performances for the striker. Perhaps Gallese’s finest moment of the match came in the 51st minute, as Kamara forced a header on goal from a corner kick and the keeper made a diving save to keep it off the goal line. In total, Pedro made a couple saves across the course of 90 minutes and conceded just one — from the penalty spot — in a match that saw him face 2.2 expected goals against. His 15 passes found their mark 86.7% of the time and he was accurate on one of his three long balls when trying to spring a quick counter.

D, Rafael Santos, 7 — Santos entered the match up for the task against Chicago’s attack. The Brazilian was rarely beaten down the left side and was able to find space to swing in a few fiery passes from distance while even taking the time to complete a pair of dribbles and put a shot on frame in the 40th minute. Defensively, he recorded one tackle, one interception, and an aerial duel won, while conceding two fouls. Offensively, he found himself on the ball 61 times, completing 86% of his 44 passes. He found his man with five of his eight long balls but was inaccurate on all three of his crosses. Ultimately, he defended well against those coming down his left wing.

D, Robin Jansson, 7 — If there were such things as assists for forcing penalty kicks, Jansson would have earned himself a nice statistic on the match sheet. To be fair, Fabian Herbers should have felt hard done as the Beefy Swede clipped the ball up and into his elbow which he was trying to pull back within his body’s silhouette. Nonetheless, this attempt towards goal led to Facundo Torres’ brace, as he collected another to his tally from the spot. From a defensive standpoint, you can tell the task was to follow Kamara absolutely everywhere he went on the pitch. Early into the match, Jansson could even be spotted in the attacking third as he trailed Kamara, who was dropping deep to try to find the ball. While he recorded zero tackles or interceptions, Jansson made his presence known. He offered a clearance, a foul, and a yellow card. With his 55 touches, the center back completed 87% of his 48 passes, with two of seven long balls also being accurate, and he drew two fouls.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 7.5 — Stepping in for first-choice Antonio Carlos, Rodri once again stood tall for Papi. The Argentinian defender almost even scored one of his own in the 32nd minute as he flicked a header towards goal from a corner kick forcing Chris Brady to make a save. In total, Schlegel attempted two shots with one on target. With 48 touches, he passed at an 89% success rate across 38 attempts but was incomplete on both of his long balls. While he didn’t have a tackle or interception, he certainly made the night easier on Gallese with his six clearances and won an aerial duel.

D, Kyle Smith, 7.5 — The 31-year-old utility man from Transylvania University slotted into the right back position. As always, Smith was his usual workhorse self and was rewarded with an assist that opened the scoring for the Lions. Picking out the most unlikely Orlando player to score with his head, Smith dropped a cross right on top of Facundo Torres in the 32nd minute. Smith should have easily had another assist prior to that, as Martin Ojeda missed from a quality position in front of goal. If it weren’t for Smith getting beaten badly and conceding the penalty kick that gave the Fire their only goal of the night, he would have made a real case for my personal Man of the Match honors. With 45 touches, Smith took a shot and had two key passes in his 34 attempts (64% accuracy). He was accurate on one of three crosses, one of six long balls, one through ball, made one tackle and one clearance, and added a foul. While these stats don’t typically scream “best player on the pitch,” Smith continues to show sparks and has the intangibles that I appreciate and respect.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 8 — The Peruvian picked up right where he left off against Seattle’s attackers. This time he was challenged with the likes of Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri. And while Shaqiri did end up on the scoresheet, it was only due to a penalty kick. Cartagena consistently puts in great defensive shifts and even made the highlight reel, clearing the ball off of the goal line in the 51st minute. While the statistics state he only made two tackles, he also won an aerial duel, had an interception, a crucial clearance, a blocked shot, and four fouls conceded, while drawing one himself. Cartagena was on the ball 52 times, completing 86% of his 43 passes. He missed his only cross but was perfect on his three long ball attempts.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6.5 — With Cesar Araujo out for the match on bad behavior, El Capitan was relegated to a deep-lying position on the pitch. Similar to what we saw Head Coach Oscar Pareja experimenting with last year, it once again just didn’t do it for me. Pereyra is a maestro on the ball and in the attacking third, but when it comes to connecting from the back all the way to the front, it just isn’t his specialty. His play is much more fruitful clipping the final ball behind the back line or threading tough seams with pinpoint accuracy. Offensively in the match, he was fouled three times and gave shouts for a possible penalty but went to ground too easily and didn’t earn the call. From a defensive standpoint, he offered two interceptions and a foul. He had 43 touches, attempted 33 passes (84% accuracy), completed one of his two crossing attempts, and completed two of his four long ball attempts.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 8.5 — I love the play and tenacity of Angulo. The Colombian winger uses his pace in a way that would be utterly terrifying to line up against. This rang true for Arnaud Souquet, who had to foul Angulo twice in the same play just to stop from being embarrassed down the sideline and earned himself his first of two yellow cards on the night in the 20th minute. In the 75th minute, Enrique was about to ruin what would ultimately be his scoring play by chasing down a pass in the channel from an offside position. Instead, it was a smart play from Angulo — once again using his pace — to run over and collect the ball, then passing it to Enrique and earning the assist. Defensively, he made two tackles and an interception while conceding three fouls. Offensively, he used his 39 touches to take two shots, putting one on goal and tallying an additional two key passes. He completed two dribbles and drew three fouls. Of his 23 passes, 87% hit their marks, as did his only long ball and through ball attempts.

MF, Facundo Torres, 9 (MotM) — This match was all about the resurrection of last year’s Torres. If the whole season has been building up to this moment, I feel like the first meeting with the Chicago Fire was the tipping point. With a headed goal in the 36th minute, what could have easily been an earned penalty in the 42nd minute, converting a penalty in the 55th minute, and a couple other genuine chances throughout the match, Torres made a meal of the Fire defenders. His night finished with three of six shots on target, two key passes, two dribbles, and an aerial won on 55 touches. Torres drew two fouls and completed his long ball but missed both crossing attempts, while distributing the ball with 85% accuracy on 35 passes.

MF, Martin Ojeda, 7 — The past few matches have equated to Ojeda and Pereyra exchanging minutes in the No. 10 role. With Araujo forcing Pereyra into a deeper position, this was Ojeda’s moment to step up and show why he deserves the weekly start. Early on in the first half, Ojeda had a couple scoring opportunities and even forced a good save from Brady after rifling a strike at goal, but he also missed what should have been a tap in. Despite only putting one of two shots on target, Ojeda did create three key passes with his 44 touches. His 22 passes came at a 90% rate, and he was pinpoint on his one long ball, but he found the target on only four of 12 crosses. Defensively, Ojeda conceded a foul but also tallied an interception and a tackle.

F, Duncan McGuire, 6 — The rookie striker didn’t live up to his own high standards on the night. Don’t get me wrong though, McGuire was fine. But he wasn’t “outstanding.” There was no real danger created by the forward, and he only found himself on the ball 13 times in 66 minutes. With those touches, he only completed three of four passes, so he wasn’t exactly creating for others either. His only shot was off target, and his only defensive stat was a conceded foul.

Substitutes

MF, Felipe (67′), 7 — Brought on to rotate the defensive midfield with another game soon to be played, Felipe came on and helped see out the win. He likely should have done better in the dying moments as Orlando greatly outnumbered the Fire on a counter attack but he left his shot close enough to Brady for him to make a save. With 39 touches, Felipe completed his 36 passes at an astounding 97% rate and was accurate with his only long ball.

F, Ramiro Enrique (67′), 7.5 — Literally just last match I put the sentence, “There are certain truths in the world, and one of them seems to be Ramiro Enrique’s lack of real impact coming off the bench.” into Ramiro Enrique’s player grade segment. Well, the 22-year-old Argentine took it to heart because he was determined to get in behind and score against Chicago. Right from the jump, Enrique was finding balls played into the channel and speeding past the defensive line. For his efforts, Enrique found himself open at the top of the box to finesse the ball across goal and into the net in the 75th minute. We witnessed 10 touches, one of two shots on target, and a 100% passing accuracy on six attempts. Go on, Enrique. Let’s see more of this and I’ll eat my hat.

MF, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson (88′) N/A — Dagur Dan was able to find the ball 12 times in his brief stint on the field. He fed Petrasso an exquisite cross shortly after coming on, but Petrasso blasted the volley high. Dagur Dan seemed to be begging for a card and earned himself one as time expired. Aside from that, he completed all eight passes, one of two crosses, a tackle, and two fouls conceded.

D, Luca Petrasso (88′) N/A — Aside from wasting Dagur Dan’s cross, we didn’t see much of Petrasso in his few minutes back on the pitch. He recorded seven touches, a key pass, and a clearance. He completed just 60% of his five passes.

MF, Favian Loyola (90+3′) N/A — Making the most of the nine minutes of stoppage time, Loyola made his MLS debut and ran everywhere to try and get some touches. In the dying moments, he got on the ball six times, completed all six of his passes, turned one of those into a key pass, and conceded a foul.

That’s how I saw the performances in 3-1 home win against the Chicago Fire. Congrats to Homegrown attacker Favian Loyola for making his senior team debut. The best is yet to come for you! Be sure to cast your vote for this game’s Man of the Match in the poll below, and tell us your thoughts about this one down in the comments.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Orlando City

Flashback Friday: June 18, 2022 vs. Houston Dynamo

Let’s relive a yellow-card filled match with the Dynamo that took place just over four years ago.

Published

3 days ago

on

June 19, 2026

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The main event for today is, of course, the United States Men’s National Team’s second game of group play against Australia this afternoon. I’ll be fortunate enough to take that game in live, and I’ll probably report back on it during Monday’s subscriber newsletter, so keep an eye out for that if you’re signed up! If you’re not, you can do that here (the newsletter is a TAM or DP level perk).

In the meantime though, let’s continue our reminiscence on some memorable Orlando City games from years gone by. Last week we relived a shutout win over the Colorado Rapids that took place a little over two years ago, and today we’ll be going a little farther into the archives to June 18, 2022 and a home match against the Houston Dynamo.

The Lions were in slightly uneven form going into the match. They were on a three-game winless run (0-1-2) in league play, a four-game winless run in all competitions (0-1-3 with a shootout win after a U.S. Open Cup draw against Inter Miami), and hadn’t picked up three points in just over a month. Changing that wasn’t going to be the easiest task due to Rodrigo Schlegel being unavailable for selection due to a suspension for yellow card accumulation.

That meant that Oscar Pareja’s team consisted of Pedro Gallese in goal; Joao Moutinho, Robin Jansson, Kyle Smith, and Ruan in defense; Cesar Araujo and Junior Urso in the double pivot; Jake Mulraney, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres in attacking midfield; and Ercan Kara leading the line.

OCSC got off to a lively start and created its first chance after just two minutes, when Moutinho sent in a cross for Mulraney, whose effort was blocked. Kara sent a header straight at Houston goalkeeper Steve Clark shortly afterward, before Corey Baird sent a shot of his own into Gallese’s chest four minutes later.

Jansson then picked up a yellow for dissent in the 14th minute, which meant he’d miss the next game due to yellow card accumulation. The Dynamo seemingly took inspiration from his booking, as Robert Avila, Adam Lundqvist, and Matias Vera all picked up yellows of their own in the space of the next seven minutes.

Orlando finally provided a non-discipline-related event in the 25th minute, when it broke the deadlock. Pereyra played a delightful stabbed ball over the top of the defense with his first touch, which fell perfectly into the path of an onrushing Torres. He then used his own first touch to play the ball hard and low across the top of the six-yard box, where Kara was on hand to put it home from close range.

The next notable moment came in the form of — you guessed it — another yellow card, as Zeca picked up Houston’s fourth of the game in just the 32nd minute. Orlando responded by Mulraney carving out a good chance for Torres four minutes later, but his effort was blocked by defender Tim Parker. Pereyra then cut Orlando’s yellow card deficit in half in the 39th minute, as he fouled Baird and paid the price.

The closing moments of the half saw a flurry of activity. Pereyra got behind the defense in the 44th minute but could only send his shot directly at Clark. Just as the clock struck 45 minutes, the Lions thought they had a penalty after the ball hit Avila on the arm, but video review rightfully changed the call to a free kick on the edge of the box. Kara nearly scored as he was somewhat surprisingly the man to take the ensuing set piece, but Clark once again made a save to keep his team in the game.

Oh, and Teenage Hadebe picked up a yellow card in the 45th minute.

At halftime, the Lions boasted more possession (52.9%-47.1%), shots (9-3), and shots on goal (4-1), but just had the 1-0 lead to show for it. The Dynamo had a vastly superior lead in yellow cards (5-2).

Houston made a couple of changes at halftime, with Darwin Quintero coming on for Avila, and Daniel Steres coming on for Parker, but Orlando started the second half as hot as it had finished the first.

Clark saved from Urso in the 48th minute after the midfielder was set up well by Torres, but the game then entered a bit of a lull as both teams tried to adjust to the Dynamo substitutions. Fortunately for Orlando, things sprang back into life in the 57th minute. Moutinho put a ball into the box that Mulraney flicked on, and while Hadebe tried to clear it, he could only get it as far as Pereyra. The captain lashed the ball on the half-volley with his left foot, and it took the slightest of deflections off Kara and ended up in the net for the Austrian’s second of the night.

It took Houston less than a minute to cut Orlando’s 2-0 lead in half, though. Zeca sent a dangerous ball into the box from the right wing, and Carlos Ferreira was able to beat Smith to it. He stuck a great header into the far corner beyond a fully stretched Gallese, and the Dynamo had life at 2-1.

The Lions nearly got their own response just a minute after conceding, but Kara’s snapshot attempt at the top of the six-yard box flashed just wide, denying the big striker a hat trick.

The 64th minute saw Gallese come off his line to try to clear the danger during a Dynamo break, but he got none of the ball and all of Ferreira. Fortunately, referee Rosendo Mendoza was content to give El Pulpo a yellow card and the Lions managed to keep all 11 men on the field.

Pareja made a series of changes to try to keep Orlando fresh and in control, but Houston kept carving out good chances. The Dynamo hit the post with the free kick that was awarded for Gallese’s foul, and substitute Tyler Pasher forced El Pulpo into saves in the 72nd and 76th minutes to preserve OCSC’s slim advantage.

The 87th minute had hearts in mouths for the Orlando City faithful, as Thorleifur Ulfarsson went down in the box under pressure from Smith, and there were immediately questions about a foul. The Accountant was proven innocent by the replays though, and when Mendoza went to his pocket it was to show Ulfarsson a yellow card for simulation.

Orlando had a chance to put the game to bed as the clock ticked into the 90th minute, but Benji Michel put his shot over the bar from about seven yards away, and it looked to be a hugely consequential miss when Quintero put the ball into the net for Houston in the final minute of added time. The assistant referee rightfully pulled the play back for offside though, and the Lions managed to escape with a welcome three points.

The final stats saw Houston with the edge in possession (53.8%-46.2%) but the Lions with an edge in shots (18-13), shots on target (6-5), and duels won (52-45). Perhaps most crucially, the Dynamo finished with a whopping six yellow cards to Orlando’s pitiful (by comparison) three.

Ryan Smith handled our Player Grades for this one, and he gave Pereyra the Man of the Match nod with a grade of 8 out of 10. Other high earners were Kara with a 7.5, and Gallese and Torres, who each received a 7.

That’ll do it for today’s glimpse into the past. I’ll see you right back here next Friday for another trip down memory lane. Vamos Orlando!

Continue Reading

Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/19/26

USMNT takes on Australia today, Christian Pulisic’s availability still in question, Canada wins big, and more.

Published

3 days ago

on

June 19, 2026

By

Image of Maxime Crepeau taking a goal kick against Atlanta.
Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Happy Friday! Last Friday, we all got to enjoy the U.S. kicking off its World Cup campaign with an emphatic win. Hopefully, the Yanks can replicate that performance in today’s game. It should be a fun start to a weekend filled with soccer, including an Orlando City B home game on Sunday. If the soccer bug has bitten you this month, make sure to go out and support the Young Lions!

USMNT Hosts Australia Today in World Cup

The United States Men’s National Team returns to action this afternoon with a match against Australia in Seattle — the team’s second game of this year’s World Cup. Both teams won their first games of the tournament, with the U.S. dominating Paraguay 4-1 and Australia beating Turkiye 2-0. American forward Folarin Balogun scored a brace in that win and the U.S. will look to keep the attacking momentum flowing against a formidable Australian defense. A win tonight by either side would go a long way towards winning Group D, which would notably face one of the third-place teams to start the knockout stage.

Christian Pulisic’s Availability Up in the Air

It’s still unclear if American star Christian Pulisic will play for the USMNT today as he works his way back from injury. The 27-year-old notched an assist in the win against Paraguay but had to exit at halftime after aggravating a calf injury picked up in training. Sebastian Berhalter came on for him in that match, but it will be interesting to see if USMNT Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino opts for Giovanni Reyna or Tim Weah instead. Pochettino did state that he’ll be available for the game against Turkiye if he doesn’t play today, so that’s good at least.

Canada Cruises to Big Win Over Qatar

Orlando City goalkeeper Maxine Crepeau started in goal but had little to do in Canada’s 6-0 win over Qatar, which was its first-ever win at a World Cup. Former Lion Cyle Larin got the scoring started for Canada in the 16th minute with his second goal of the tournament and Jonathan David scored a hat trick. Qatar was reduced to 10 men when Homam Al-Amin was shown a straight red in the 32nd minute, and then Assim Madibo was sent off early in the second half for a tackle that resulted in a gruesome leg injury to Ismael Kone. The Canadian midfielder was stretchered off, and his replacement, Nathan Saliba, scored from a free kick and raised Kone’s shirt in celebration. Canada now sits atop Group B with a better goal differential than Switzerland, meaning it will win the group with a win or draw against the Swiss on Wednesday.

Keeping Up With the World Cup

As for the other Group B game, Switzerland beat Bosnia and Herzegovina 4-1 by scoring four times in the second half after the hydration break. Substitute Johan Manzambi scored twice, but Bosnia’s consolation goal from Ermin Mahmic could play a role in goal-differential tiebreakers. In Group A, South Africa kept its hopes alive thanks to a late penalty that Teboho Mokoena converted in a 1-1 draw against Czechia.

Along with the U.S. game, today’s action includes Morocco taking on Scotland and Brazil playing against Haiti in Group C. We’ll also get to see if Orlando City midfielder Braian Ojeda takes the field when Paraguay faces Turkiye late tonight.

Free Kicks

That’s all I have for you all this time around. I hope you all have a fantastical Friday and rest of your weekend

Continue Reading

Orlando City

How Orlando City’s Players Fared In Transfermarkt’s Latest Market Valuations

A look at Transfermarkt’s latest player valuations for Orlando City and where those players rank across all of MLS.

Published

3 days ago

on

June 18, 2026

By

Image of Inter&Co Stadium at night.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

The World Cup is finally here and in full swing, and the soccer on the field has been thoroughly enjoyable through its first week. The “home” North American teams are off to a good start, with dominating wins by Mexico and the United States, a draw from Canada, and good showings from Haiti and Curaçao, even though both teams lost (Panama had not played as of this article’s completion). Curaçao’s goal against Germany was one of the moments of the tournament so far, even in what turned out to be a thumping defeat, and if the next few weeks can match the first week, we are in for a great tournament.

And thank goodness for that, because Orlando City and the Orlando Pride are still on hiatus, leaving only Orlando City B in action locally, as MLS NEXT Pro continues to channel its inner Mcfadden & Whitehead, reminding everyone that “ain’t no stoppin’ us now.”

And speaking of on the move, several Lions who moved on from Orlando contributed majorly to their nation’s opening games, with Alex Freeman (U.S.) and Richie Laryea (Canada) earning starts and Cyle Larin (Canada) coming off the bench. All three were excellent during their time on the field, and Larin and Freeman each recorded a World Cup goal contribution (goal for Larin and assist for Freeman) on the same day. Laryea really broke out after leaving Orlando City (much like another L-named former Lion on a World Cup roster, Brazil’s Léo Pereira), but Larin and Freeman were excellent in Orlando before transferring elsewhere, which leads me to Transfermarkt, the go-to website for player valuations.

The analysts at Transfermarkt generally update their player valuations twice per year, with occasional additional valuations upon player transfers. Fortunately for us during this dearth of Orlando City soccer, those updates happen in June and December, so there are brand new valuations for the Lions (and most of the players in MLS) as of the last few weeks.

Keep in mind these are estimated player valuations if another team would try to buy that player, and not salaries or estimates of worth as it relates to Orlando City’s 2026 team. Robin Jansson, for example, is valued at a lower amount than Iago and considerably lower than David Brekalo, even though the Orlando City coaching staff likely rates him as their top center back on this year’s team. Jansson is nearing retirement age, while Iago and Brekalo both have many years left in their careers, hence their larger value than Jansson.

The calculations behind Transfermarkt‘s estimated valuations are proprietary and are not shared on the site, but here is the list of Orlando City’s top players by position, and their corresponding rank among all MLS players at that position:

PlayerPosition*Valuation (in $ millions)MLS Rank at Position
Maxime CrépeauGK$2.09T-8
Adrián MarínLB$1.74T-20
David BrekaloCB$4.06T-5
Griffin DorseyRB$1.74T-14
Braian OjedaDM$4.06T-3
Eduard AtuestaCM$4.06T-15
TiagoLW$4.06T-13
Marco PašalićRW$7.536
Martín OjedaAM$10.432
Duncan McGuireCF$2.32T-35

*GK=goalkeeper, LB = left back, CB = center back, RB = right back, DM = defensive midfielder, CM = central midfielder, LW = left wing, RW = right wing, AM = attacking midfielder, and CF = center forward. Those positions were assigned by Transfermarkt. I cannot tell you why Braian Ojeda is a defensive midfielder and Atuesta is a central midfielder. Also, in a somewhat surprising categorization, attacking midfielders are classified as midfielders and not attackers, which will become relevant below.

For those who are interested, the full list of Orlando City valuations can be found here; just know that the numbers will look different because the site tracks valuations in Euros and I did the conversion to dollars for the table above. Putting that mathematics degree to good use!

On the whole, Transfermarkt values Orlando City’s roster at $56.6 million, with goalkeepers at $2.3 million, defenders at $11 million, midfielders at $24.1 million, and attackers at $19.3 million, respectively (there is some rounding in there, which is why when you did the math in your head, and I know you did, you summed those values to $56.7 million instead of $56.6 million). Among all MLS teams, those positional sums rank 11th, 19th, fourth, and 20th, in the same positional order. Orlando City is not the only team that is about to add a new signing once the secondary transfer window opens up, but Antoine Griezmann is currently valued at $9.27 million and adding that to the existing $19.3 million of Orlando City’s attacking group would vault them from 20th to sixth in attack and into fifth overall across all rosters.

Griezmann is not yet on the roster, however, so he is not included in the chart below, which displays the MLS rankings based on Transfermarkt‘s valuations. Orlando City ranks 26th in the league in points earned per game, but the Lions are doing it with a roster that is estimated as having the 12th-most value, and it would be a lot nicer if those two were flipped, or if the Lions could just play better and pick up more points. It is the hope that kills you keeps you going.

Here is the current state of Transfermarkt‘s valuations (I combined goalkeepers and defenders into one grouping):

Graph showing estimated valuations by position group for MLS teams.

Miami dominates this list, as its roster contains three of the league’s seven highest-valued players, a group of three that by themselves are more valuable than the bottom eight teams in MLS. The less said about them the better, so that is enough on the Herons.

As previously mentioned, Orlando City’s midfield, featuring the league’s 14th-highest valued player Martín Ojeda, is where most of the team’s value is. Pašalić leads the attacking group at $7.53 million (26th overall in MLS), nearly double the estimated value of the next highest attacker Tiago, and Brekalo is in a similar boat as the defender with the most value ($4.06 million), nearly twice that of Crépeau ($2.09 million) and more than double any other back line player. Adding Griezmann will give the Lions some bite on the field and also in these rankings, as McGuire has the most value on the club but ranks only 35th among forwards, and his value has fallen 60% from where it was in June of 2024 ($5 million).

Among the 26 players that Transfermarkt valued for Orlando City, 16 of them had valuations two seasons ago as well. Eight players have increased in value from 2024, three are at the same valuation, and five have decreased. As much as I would like to put stock into these valuations, as Transfermarkt is one of the most trusted sites in the business, a certain former Lion named Freeman is on a rocket ship trajectory in his career and yet is currently only valued at the same dollar amount as Atuesta, Brekalo, Braian Ojeda, and Tiago. Positional differences account for some part of it, but I think few teams in the world would actually value all of those players the same, with Freeman commanding far more than any of those other four players.

In the end, a player’s value is determined not by a website but by what one team is willing to pay for them, and with the MLS secondary transfer window set to open in a little less than a month on July 13, we will soon see if any current Lions are transferred out, and at what price, and if there will be any new Lions joining the team aside from Griezmann.

Orlando City got younger and, according to Transfermarkt, more valuable from 2025 to 2026, but while we as fans enjoy the discourse and rumors about buying and selling players, what we really want are wins and banners. I do not think San Jose’s fans care one bit that their team is rated as having the third-least value in MLS, the Earthquakes are averaging earning the third-most points per match, picking up three points in most of their games.

The Lions still have 19 regular-season games remaining, and it would be great if by the next update from Transfermarkt in December the roster will be full of players who increased their valuations after a scorching run to close out the season. Once again, it is the hope that kills you keeps you going.

Vamos Orlando!

Continue Reading

Trending