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

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!