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

How did your favorite Lions perform during Orlando City’s 3-1 road win over the Chicago Fire?

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1 year ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City returned to league play in style as the Lions went on the road and executed a comeback win against the Chicago Fire. OCSC rallied from an early second-half deficit and did its scoring in quick succession to keep pace in the race for the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. The goals came from Wilder Cartagena, Ivan Angulo and Facundo Torres as Orlando continued its good road form in 2023.

Here are how the individual players performed during a fun Sunday night match out in the Midwest.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6.5 — Pedro was his usual reliable self in this one. He was largely helpless on Chicago’s goal, as the ball was blasted by him at close range, but he took care of everything else that came his way. He made three saves on the night, including an excellent one in the first half to deny Xherdan Shaqiri. He also passed with 67% accuracy and completed three long balls. His distribution was a little off at times but it was a decent night for El Pulpo.

D, Rafael Santos, 6 — Santos had a solid, if slightly unspectacular outing. His five clearances were the most on the team and he also chipped in with an interception on the defensive side of things. He completed three long balls and one cross while passing with 91% accuracy, and the whipped ball that he delivered that led to Ivan Angulo’s goal was an absolute peach.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — The Beefy Swede quietly put together a good game against the Fire. He ended the night with one interception, one clearance, and one block and took a shot that ended up off target. He completed four long balls and a through ball while passing with 93% accuracy, which was the highest on the team excluding substitutes Ramiro Enrique and Martin Ojeda.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 5.5 — It feels a little harsh grading him like this when the team won, but Schlegel was not at his best tonight. While Chicago’s first goal was disallowed and saved his bacon, he completely left his man and went out of position, which led to a gap big enough to drive a truck through and created the Fire’s chance. He also got sucked out of position on Chicago’s actual goal, pushing up to challenge for a ball that Cesar Araujo was already contesting, and leaving space in behind as a result. Still, he finished with two tackles, three clearances, and one successful dribble while committing two fouls and picking up a yellow card. He also passed at a 74% clip, including a completed long ball. His offensive contribution was pushing up the field and winning a corner that led to Orlando City’s first goal.

D, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, 6.5 — Oscar Pareja threw a bit of a curveball and gave Dagur Dan the start at right back over Kyle Smith, as Mikey Halliday continued working his way back after being sidelined by injury. But Orlando played mostly as a back three with Thorhallsson occupying higher spaces and sometimes adding a body to the midfield. He did a good job getting forward and passed with 83% accuracy, and completed a long ball and two dribbles. He drew the foul in the box that Torres turned into the Lions’ third goal from the spot, and recorded a clearance and a block defensively while also committing three fouls.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 7.5 — Cartagena has been a revelation this year and he had himself an excellent game in this one. He took two shots and put them both on target, and was only denied a brace by a fantastic Spencer Richey save to deny what would have been an absolute worldie. He wouldn’t be denied though, and his goal got OCSC back in the game straight away. He finished with an interception, a clearance, one foul drawn and one completed dribble. He passed with 91% accuracy, completed two long balls, and continued to be a boundless well of energy next to Cesar Araujo. A really great performance from him.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 7 — Surprise, surprise, Araujo had a good game for Orlando City, what else is new? He and Cartagena did a great job of keeping Shaqiri in check for the most part, and he’s going to make the Lions a nice little payday when he eventually leaves. He finished with one interception, one block, two key passes, three fouls drawn, one completed dribble, and the assist on Angulo’s goal. He committed three fouls but avoided a booking and passed with 82% accuracy while also completing a long ball.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 7.5 — Angulo gave Chicago plenty of problems down the left hand side and did really great to wriggle his way through the defense and fire off a wicked shot that was saved by Richey. That was one of the two shots he took, with the other being the header that gave OCSC the lead. He completed two dribbles, drew a foul, completed a long ball, passed with 85% accuracy and chipped in with a clearance on defense. He had a couple of poor giveaways in the first half but rebounded nicely from them.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 6.5 — Mauricio didn’t do anything spectacular but still had a solid outing. He completed five long balls, a through ball, and a key pass while distributing the ball with 74% accuracy. He also completed one dribble, drew four fouls while committing one himself, and chipped in with one clearance on the defensive end. It was nice that he was able to come off with a little over 10 minutes left to get some rest with Orlando in a secure position.

MF. Facundo Torres, 8 (MotM) — Facu was excellent and picked up right where he left off as far as tormenting the Fire is concerned. He took three shots, one of which was on target, one of which was off target, and one which was blocked. He scored his penalty emphatically and picked up the assist on Cartagena’s goal, but his involvement went farther than that. He completed one dribble, drew five fouls, made two key passes, completed two crosses and a long ball, and passed with 70% accuracy. He contributed one tackle on defense and committed four fouls and picked up a yellow card, which was the only black mark on an otherwise sterling report card.

F, Duncan McGuire, 6.5 — Big Dunc didn’t get on the scoresheet but he worked hard and made some notable contributions. His one shot came after some hard work to chase down a second ball during the first half and it was blocked behind for a corner by a Chicago defender. He also had a key pass, a clearance, one tackle, and one foul while passing with 89% accuracy. He found it a little difficult to get involved and only finished with 19 touches, but it wasn’t a bad performance overall.

Substitutes

D. Kyle Smith (71′), 6 — Smith wasn’t on the field for a particularly long time, but got plenty involved with three clearances. His passing accuracy of 33% is a pretty ugly number, but he only attempted three, so don’t hold that against him too much.

F, Ramiro Enrique (71′), 6 — Ramiro also found plenty to do in his relatively short time on the pitch. He did well to control the ball and carve out space for the lone shot he took, but he blasted the ball well over the goal and will have wanted that attempt back. He also had one tackle, one interception, and one clearance while committing a foul and accurately delivering all four of the passes that he attempted.

MF, Junior Urso (79′), N/A — It was a fairly brief appearance, but damn is it good to see Junior Urso wearing an Orlando City jersey again, even if it might take some adjusting to him wearing no. 21. Urso was his typically industrious self and finished with a tackle and won one aerial duel while passing with 55% accuracy on 11 total attempts.

MF, Martin Ojeda (79′), N/A — Ojeda helped the Lions see out the game and accurately delivered all four of his passes to their targets, one of which was even a key pass for good measure.

D, Michael Halliday (89′), N/A — It was great to see Halliday make his return from injury after not having appeared for the Lions since June. He didn’t record any statistics during his time on the field, but I’m just happy to have him back.

That’s how I saw each player’s performance in the Lions’ first match in a little over two weeks. Be sure to vote for your Man of the Match in the poll below, and share your thoughts on the fellas’ performances down in the comments. Vamos Orlando!

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How Orlando City’s Offense Stacks Up Against What Atlanta Does Defensively

How Orlando City has performed against teams playing with three or four defenders, and how that may influence the playoff game against Atlanta United.

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8 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The most famous quote about real estate is that “there are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” Soccer coaches also like to think in threes, especially when it comes to points, but for a soccer coach, the three things that matter might be the rhyming triplet “formation, formation, formation,” as that is where they will have the biggest influence on every game that their team plays.

Throughout his tenure as head coach, Óscar Pareja has preferred to use a 4-2-3-1 as his formation (fbref.com’s lineup data shows that the Lions primarily played a 4-2-3-1 in 65% of their MLS matches this season, and 79% of their MLS matches during the last three seasons). The Lions have lined up in a 4-2-3-1 during each of their last 14 games, and my confidence level is strong to quite strong (can you believe Meet the Parents came out 24 years ago?) that they will do so once again on Sunday when they host Atlanta United.

Atlanta United also prefers to deploy a 4-2-3-1, but was less consistent than Orlando City this season during MLS play, as evidenced by the chart below that shows how Atlanta lined up this season:

The purpose of this image is a table to show how Atlanta United lined up in 2024 (mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but also in one of six other formations).

I am relying on the coders at Opta for their evaluation of the formation, as I do not watch a lot of Atlanta United matches (sounds terrible), but though Atlanta primarily played with four defenders in more than two-thirds of its matches, during the last two matches it played a 3-5-2, the only two matches all season in which interim coach Rob Valentino rolled out that formation. I suspect that the formation change was related partially to playing Inter Miami and trying to defend the Herons’ dynamic offense and partially due to an injury suffered by defender Brooks Lennon in the first game of that series. So, while Atlanta primarily played four in the back for most of the season, there is a good chance it will roll with what worked against Florida’s second-best MLS team when it plays Florida’s best MLS team this weekend.

Now, if you want to read more about Atlanta, then you can read our match preview, which will drop Sunday morning, but I want to look at how Orlando did against teams that play similar styles. Looking only at MLS games, the table below shows how Orlando City performed against different back line structures this season (the left side is how the Lions’ opponents lined up, the right side is how Orlando City performed against opponents in those formations):

Table embedded as an image showing Orlando City doing best in goal differential in 12 games against three-man back lines, second best against four-man back lines, and having played once against a five-man back line (a 1-1 draw).

Orlando City earned slightly more points per game — the stat that matters most — against teams that played four in the back, but the Lions had a better average goal differential when teams played three in the back. Atlanta will likely deploy one of those two formations. In both games against Orlando City this season, Sunday’s visitors went with a 4-2-3-1, but as mentioned earlier, they used three in the back in each of their last two matches, so it really could be either.

Soccer is not like baseball, where players primarily stay in the same spot throughout the game, so some of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, as players are not always rigidly in the same position throughout a match. A team may also primarily play with four in the back but switch to three when chasing a game, or five when trying to protect against a late goal.

That said, using the data around Orlando City’s opponents’ general formations, here are the attacking groups who played the most frequently against four defenders during the 24 MLS games where Opta coded the opponents as using a defensive group of four:

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy four defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus eight goal differential for the season.

It is a little ominous that the main starting group, shown in row one, has played 666 MLS minutes against back lines of four this season, but do I like that green goal differential of +8 in those minutes, which is a strong +1.08 per 90 minutes. I like that goal differential more than I like all the things that Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin like on their song that is creatively named “I Like It.” Coincidentally, when people ask me what I think about that song, I say, “I like it.” I am very creative.

If we look at the lineups that Orlando City has used against back lines of three defenders then there are some pretty major differences in personnel groupings, but it must be noted that more than half of the games against teams playing three in the back came early in the season, when Ramiro Enrique was unavailable to play. Enrique, my presumed starter at striker, has played fewer than three games’ worth of minutes (265 total) against back lines of three this season, and only 28 minutes with the main starting group, which ranks 13th among all the attacking lineups for minutes played against three defenders. That group scored one goal in their 28 minutes together though, for a robust 3.21 goals-scored-per-90-minutes average.

While the team as a whole has been successful against three-man back lines, I do not expect any of the lineups shown in the table below to play more than a few minutes together this weekend, though the first row and the last row are strong groups and had a lot of success.

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy three defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus three goal differential for the season.

I am sure that all week long the Orlando City coaching staff has been going back and forth on whether it is more likely that Atlanta reverts to its most commonly used four in the back, or if the Five Stripes try for three wins in a row with three in the back. I would prefer that Atlanta plays with zero defenders and goalkeeper Brad Guzan wears a blindfold, but I think that is unlikely to be the case.

Even though Atlanta defeated Orlando City both times while in a 4-2-3-1, based on available personnel and recent results, I believe that the team will come out in a 3-5-2 in Inter&Co Stadium in the conference semifinal. Good things come in threes, and Orlando City’s best offensive production this season has been against three defenders, so I am going to be hoping that this continues, and in the third game against Atlanta the Lions grab the three points. Three’s company!

Well, it is a playoff game, so there are no actual points at stake, but you know what I meant.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final?

Published

10 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City continues its playoff journey against Atlanta United Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions are coming off an emotional penalty shootout win over Charlotte FC in their best-of-three, first-round series. Likewise, Atlanta United stunned everyone by taking out Inter Miami to advance in its own best-of-three matchup. Now, the rivals meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

What does Orlando City need to do to get past Atlanta United to advance to the Easter Conference final?

Beat Guzan

Brad Guzan made 16 saves over Atlanta’s three matches against Inter Miami, including seven in the 3-2 win on the road in Game 3. The 40-year-old former USMNT keeper is in excellent form and is a big reason why the Five Stripes are facing Orlando City. Converting chances against Guzan will be crucial to earning a result. There have been times this season when the Lions have struggled to convert their chances. Despite that, the team has done enough offensively to get to this point. Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire, Ramiro Enrique, and others have contributed and will need to do so this weekend.

Cartagena is Essential

Orlando City lost twice to Atlanta United during the regular season. What is interesting, and perhaps relevant, is that Wilder Cartagena was out for both of those matches. Cartagena was shown a straight red in the match against Minnesota United prior to the first match against Atlanta way back in March. He was shown a yellow card in the match against FC Cincinnati and then served a yellow card accumulation suspension for the final match of the season against Atlanta. Fortunately for Orlando City, Cartagena will be available for the match this weekend. I’ve mentioned before the importance of Cartagena to Orlando City’s success. When he and Cesar Araujo are on the field together, the defense is simply better. Cartagena is frankly one of the better defensive midfielders in MLS. Atlanta scored five goals in the series against Miami, and Orlando will need to keep the visitors from having that kind of offensive success.

Overcome the Past

That darn international break in the middle of the playoffs is something I don’t love. More precisely, I don’t like it because Orlando City often struggles after a break. It would have been nice if Orlando City could have ridden the momentum from the penalty kick victory into the Atlanta match, but that’s not to be. Now is the time for Orlando City to break some bad habits, including turning around its historical lack of success against Atlanta, and tendency to struggle in the first match after a break. Oscar Pareja needs to have the players in the right frame of mind, and the players need to execute the plan. A full house of supporters can also make a difference. Given it’s a Sunday afternoon match, there’s no reason not to pack the house.

That is what I will be looking for Sunday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 11/21/24

Marta’s chance to shine in NWSL Championship, NWSL and MLS award winners announced, 2025 SheBelieves Cup details, and more.

Published

13 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’ve been spending most of this week plotting out some holiday shopping to make things a little less stressful for myself over the next few weeks. A big weekend filled with Orlando soccer awaits us, so make sure to get any errands or obligations out of the way sooner rather than later. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s NWSL Championship between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, including Marta’s opportunity to put an exclamation point on what has been an excellent season for the Pride. Orlando has been enjoying the fruits of its labor this season after a rebuild over the past few years that’s included plenty of change in the City Beautiful. Marta has been a constant, however, enduring some difficult seasons since joining the Pride and adapting her game She’s scored in both of the Pride’s playoff games so far and has a chance to author a storybook ending on Saturday.

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was named 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, beating out the Pride’s Anna Moorhouse and Utah Royals FC’s Mandy Haught for the honor. It was Berger’s first year in the NWSL and she’s the first European player to win the award. She only conceded 16 goals across her 22 matches for Gotham this season and was a key reason behind her team’s success. I’m not too surprised that Moorhouse did not win, considering how solid the Pride’s defense was as a whole, but this won’t take anything away from a record-breaking season for her.

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

Columbus Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy was voted 2024 MLS Coach of the Year after a historic season in which the Crew set club records in both points and goals. The Crew also won the Leagues Cup this summer and their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign included advancing past Tigres and Monterrey en route to the final. This is Nancy’s first time being named Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the award every year since 2021. The Frenchman received 40.02% of the vote, winning the award over Inter Miami’s Gerardo Martino and Colorado Rapids Head Coach Chris Armas.

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

The 10th annual SheBelieves Cup will take place next year and the tournament will return to its usual format where each of the four teams plays each other once. The United States Women’s National Team will host Japan, Colombia, and Australia in February in what should be an exciting tournament. The U.S. will take on Colombia on Feb. 20 in Houston before facing Australia in Arizona on Feb. 23 and finishing the tournament on Feb. 26 against Japan at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. These games will also be the first domestic games of 2025 for the USWNT as it prepares to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

FC Dallas announced that Eric Quill will become the team’s next head coach. Quill joins Dallas after a great year with New Mexico United that included trips to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and USL Championship Western Conference semifinals. It’s also a reunion of sorts for Quill, as he previously coached North Texas SC and was named USL League One Coach of the Year with the club in 2019. Dallas missed out on the playoffs this season, with Peter Luccin coaching the team on an interim basis after the firing of Nico Estevez in June.

Free Kicks

  • District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser challenged Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to a bet involving this weekend’s NWSL Championship, with embarrassing lightshows on the line.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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