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Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Final Score 3-2 as Lions Clinch Second in East with Win

Duncan McGuire, Facundo Torres, and Ivan Angulo provided plenty of offense in the first half to offset two odd Carles Gil goals.

Published

10 months ago

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Orlando City’s offense exploded for three first-half goals and the Lions controlled most of the second half, holding on for a 3-2 win over the New England Revolution in front of an announced crowd of 24,440 tonight at Exploria Stadium. The Lions (17-7-9, 60 points) closed the home portion of the 2023 MLS regular schedule with another win, splitting the season series with New England (14-8-10, 52 points).

Duncan McGuire, Facundo Torres, and Ivan Angulo scored for Orlando City to offset two odd Carles Gil goals as the Lions end the regular season 9-3-5 at home in league play.

With the win, Orlando City clinched home-field advantage in the playoffs and a spot in Champions Cup.

“Very difficult game against New England. That first half was difficult but we responded very well. We scored goals,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “In the second half we may have better finishing and increase our goals and be more efficient and lethal. But I thought we were playing with probably too much responsibility of just get the job done and get the game done, and that probably tired us a little bit and (we) conceded that second goal.”

Pareja’s lineup reverted back to the one that’s been getting most of the starts in recent weeks, with Pedro Gallese in net behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. Cesar Araujo and Wilder Cartagena started in central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres, with Duncan McGuire up top.

The Revolution was the sharper team in the early going, connecting passes well and holding the ball in the attacking half. The Lions looked sloppy early with some heavy touches and passes that either weren’t on line or weren’t weighted properly to find their target.

That isn’t to say the Lions didn’t have any early chances. Pereyra fired a shot from the top of the box in the fifth minute that was blocked in front by the defense. Santos gathered the rebound and fizzed a shot just over the bar.

Five minutes later, the Revs got a good chance with a free kick straight out from goal. Gil sent the set piece just wide. Two minutes later, Tomas Chancalay fired just over the bar from the left. New England won a corner shortly after that and Orlando cleared, but a shot from the top of the box on the recycle again cleared the crossbar.

“The first 20 minutes their possessions were longer and we found difficulties to get the ball back,” Pareja said. “And we couldn’t find the chemistry when we got it back. And it felt like we were uncomfortable. The plan that I had in the first 15 minutes was not working and then we let Rafa go and we changed our structure in the back when we had the ball, and immediately the boys felt much (more) comfortable and they started creating dangerous crosses and plays. And I felt that they felt themselves again and we readapted the game in that moment and the last 25 minutes of the first half were very good for us. “

Orlando’s first real opportunity came in the 17th minute. Torres got into the box on the right, cut onto his left foot and fired. However, his shot effort was a weak one and right at former Orlando City goalkeeper Earl Edwards, Jr. for the easy scoop. Six minutes later, Angulo had an opportunity to shoot but took too long on the ball, getting it blocked.

In the 24th minute, the visitors nearly scored when Chancalay sent a shot off the crossbar, as New England continued to look dangerous on the counter.

The Lions started to settle down and control more of the game over the next several minutes, especially in the midfield. That paid off in the 31st minute when a good attacking movement set up the game’s first goal.

Pereyra sprayed the ball out right to Thorhallsson. The Icelandic fullback sent in a great cross and McGuire flicked it inside the left post to make it 1-0 with his 11th goal of the season.

“It was definitely good buildup play,” McGuire said of the scoring attack. “We had possession for a little bit, stretching out the defense. Dagur got his head up. We talked before the game on the kind of delivery I wanted from him and he gave me exactly that. So, great ball in from Dagur. He made it easy for me.”

Six minutes later, the Lions doubled the lead on their next good look. Cartagena sent Santos down the left. The Brazilian found Angulo, who sent a cross to the far side of the box. Torres circled back to track it down and smashed a shot that beat Edwards, making it 2-0.

Orlando City couldn’t enjoy the two-goal lead long. Gil smashed a shot from extreme distance that had a lot of heat and a lot of movement on it. Gallese was slow to react to it and played it off to his side, which allowed the ball to squirt through him and into the net, making it 2-1 in the 42nd minute. It was an uncharacteristic mistake from the Peruvian.

However, the Lions hit right back after the Gil goal. Pereyra again was the catalyst, sending Santos down the left. The fullback cut a pass back for Angulo, who took an extra touch and then fired a shot that deflected off a defender and past Edwards, making it 3-1 in the 45th minute.

“On the goal, I’m just happy that my teammates found me,” Angulo said through a club interpreter. “And obviously happy for the assist (on the Torres goal) but now we have to continue working to push to enter playoffs in a good moment as well.”

The Lions saw out the one minute of stoppage time quickly and took their lead to the break.

Orlando City not only led at the break, but also held more possession (51.2%-48.8%), passed more accurately (90.5%-88.4%), finishing the first half with more shots on target (4-2). New England attempted more shots (9-8) and won the only corner of the first period.

New England sent Gustavo Bou and Emmanuel Boateng on at halftime to bolster the attack and moved to three at the back by bringing in Henry Kessler as well.

Orlando came close to a fourth goal in the 49th, when Torres sent a good cross in front but it was just slightly ahead of a sliding McGuire. A minute later, Cartagena sent a good shot on target that Edwards had to palm over the crossbar. Araujo headed over the bar on the ensuing corner. Santos then fired over the bar in the 53rd.

Gallese made up for his earlier mistake in the 60th but stopping Gil from point-blank range on a well-worked attack by New England.

Pareja made a triple substitution after that, sending on Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique, and Junior Urso for Torres, McGuire, and Pereyra. A minute later, Enrique got loose at the top of the area but he pulled his shot wide to the left in the 67th minute.

In the 71st minute, Ojeda and urso both got shots blocked near the top of the box.

New England’s next decent chance came in the 77th minute off a dangerous free kick, but the wall blocked the initial delivery and Urso cleared it.

Much of the rest of the match consisted of Orlando City playing keep-away the way the Lions did Wednesday night at Nashville. By taking the air out of the ball, the Lions were able to prevent New England from building dangerous attacks and the visitors struggled to get touches on the ball.

Thorhallsson had a go from the top of the area early in stoppage time but got under it and hit the facing of the Heineken sign at the bottom of the upper deck.

The Revs pulled one back moments later on another fluky goal. Gil fired a shot that took a deflection in front and changed directions. Gallese had committed to stopping the original shot and could do nothing but watch it roll into the other side of the net, giving the Revs life late.

“That was something that we were not very good at,” Pareja said of his team’s ability to pass the ball around and keep it away from the opposition. “We normally finish the games with a lot of stress. Today they are disappointed too, because they conceded that second goal. But today I saw a team that was comfortable with the ball. We wanted to find the right moment to get in there, but we were not desperate. I think we can get that better.”

Orlando City had to snuff out one last Revolution attack and the game was over.

The Lions finished with the advantage in possession (54.2%-45.8%), shots (22-15), shots on target (5-4), corners (7-3), and passing accuracy (90.2%-87%).

“We are very proud of belonging to the city, belonging to the community, and just taking this team to second place and to the Concacaf Champions (Cup) again,” Pareja said. “We have a long journey still to go. The players know and the game today was a reflection of where we are.”

Most of the Lions have some time off between now and the season finale, as we enter the FIFA international window. Orlando City will visit Toronto FC to close out the season on Saturday, Oct. 21.

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Orlando City vs. CF Montreal, Leagues Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions begin their 2024 Leagues Cup quest at home against Montreal.

Published

5 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread for a Friday night Leagues Cup matchup between Orlando City and CF Montreal at Inter&Co Stadium (8 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). It’s the first match of the competition for both teams, and tonight’s game marks the third time the two Eastern Conference sides will meet this season. The teams split the points in both regular-season matchups, drawing both times. More on that later.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

The Lions are 8-9-5 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 9-10-5 in all competitions since they joined MLS. OCSC is 4-4-3 in its home stadium against Montreal and 5-4-3 in the greater Orlando area when including a win in the knockout rounds of the MLS is Back Tournament in 2020.

The two sides last met in Montreal on April 20, trading goals back and forth in a 2-2 draw at Stade Saputo. Mason Toye opened the scoring early but Facundo Torres equalized from the spot a few minutes later. Ariel Lassiter appeared to win it late in normal time for the hosts, but Ivan Angulo struck in stoppage time to earn Orlando City a road point. These teams opened the 2024 season against each other in Orlando and played to a 0-0 draw. The Lions dominated the stat sheet but had a goal waved off for offside and simply weren’t lethal enough in front of goal.

The teams met twice in 2023, completing the season series on Sept. 30, 2023, with the Lions winning 3-0 in dominant fashion. Jonathan Sirois’ own goal opened the scoring, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Torres added strikes for Orlando City. That was a good measure of revenge for OCSC, after Montreal defeated Orlando City 2-0 and handed the Lions their first road loss of the 2023 MLS season on May 6 at Stade Saputo. A Robin Jansson own goal got Montreal started in the second half and Romell Quioto added a second goal four minutes later.

These two sides played their biggest game against each other in the 2022 MLS playoffs, with CF Montreal knocking Orlando City out of the postseason by a 2-0 scoreline on Oct. 16, with goals by Ismael Kone and Djordje Mihailovic — the latter coming deep in stoppage time from the penalty spot.

Each team won at home in the two-game, regular-season series in 2022, with Montreal thumping Orlando 4-1 on May 7. Joel Waterman, Mihailovic, Joaquin Torres, and Zachary Brault-Guillard did the damage on the scoreboard and Orlando City managed just two shot attempts, with Joao Moutinho’s goal on a set piece helping the Lions avoid a shutout. Orlando City did not have either starting center back for that match, and it showed. The teams also met on opening day of the 2022 season, when Orlando City captured a 2-0 home win behind second-half goals from Alexandre Pato and Benji Michel.

In 2021, the teams met in Montreal on Decision Day, with the Lions earning a 2-0 road victory at Stade Saputo to clinch a playoff spot. Sebas Mendez and Daryl Dike provided the goals. That season’s matchup in Orlando came on Oct. 20, 2021, with the visitors managing a 1-1 draw. Chris Mueller struck for the Lions just before halftime, but Rudy Camacho answered on a corner kick header shortly after the restart. The first meeting of 2021 took place Sept. 15 in Orlando with the Lions falling 4-2 and finishing the game with just nine men after both Nani and Andres Perea were sent off. Quioto led Montreal with a goal and two assists. Mathieu Choiniere and Quioto put Montreal up 2-0, but despite already being down one man, Jansson and Ruan tied things up. The visitors got two more from Lassi Lappalainen and Sunusi Ibrahim.

The teams met at Red Bull Arena in late 2020 as the team then known as the Montreal Impact played home games in New Jersey due to the pandemic. Orlando City got a Dike goal in the 39th minute to win 1-0 on Nov. 1, 2020. It was the second meeting of the 2020 season, with Orlando also beating Montreal 1-0 in the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds on July 25 to advance to the quarterfinals. Tesho Akindele scored the game’s only goal on a Montreal defensive mistake.

Orlando City snapped a six-game winless streak against Montreal (0-5-1) in MLS regular-season play dating back to 2016 when the Lions put the Impact to the sword in a 3-0 drubbing at Stade Saputo on June 1, 2019. Nani (penalty), Akindele, and Will Johnson supplied the offense that day. The Lions fell 3-1 at Exploria Stadium back on March 16, 2019, and Ignacio Piatti was a big reason why, scoring his ninth and 10th career goals against Orlando, adding to a strike by Orji Okwonkwo. Dom Dwyer added a cosmetic goal late for Orlando City to spoil the clean sheet.

Montreal did not allow a goal against the Lions in 2018, sweeping the two-game set from Orlando, and the Impact shut out Orlando City in three of the six meetings in that 5-0-1 run. The lone draw in that time frame was a 3-3 shootout in Orlando in 2017, in which the Impact led deep in stoppage time, only to see Jonathan Spector’s well-placed header steal the Lions a point.

Orlando won the first two meetings in 2016 by a combined score of 6-2. The teams split three meetings in 2015, with each going 1-1-1.

Match Overview

Orlando City enters this match on a five-game unbeaten run (4-0-1). The Lions are coming off a tightly contested 1-1 home draw against New York City FC on Saturday. The only Orlando goal was provided by Ramiro Enrique, but the Lions conceded a Hannes Wolf strike five minutes later. Enrique is in fine form, having scored goals in each of his last four games. Regardless of Orlando’s form, this competition is not part of the MLS regular season, so it’s difficult to know how teams and players will approach it. In addition, it’s not like the Lions have lit it up at home in 2024, amassing a poor record of 3-5-4 at Inter&Co Stadium. However, the Lions have been better of late, going 2-0-1 in their last three at home.

Montreal sits four spots and seven points behind Orlando in the Eastern Conference standings at the Leagues Cup break, struggling to defend in 2024. CF Montreal has allowed 49 goals this season, which is just one fewer than D.C. United’s conference-worst 50. The Canadian club, which is coming off a 1-0 home loss to rival Toronto on Saturday, is 2-7-4 on the road this season and is 0-7-3 in its last 10 road games against MLS competition (0-7-4 on the road in all competitions in its last 11).

A new competition offers hope for both teams, especially Montreal. There is not as much pressure to get a result for the underdog visitors, and it’s a chance to reset and chase a trophy. Ibrahim and old nemesis Josef Martinez are offensive players the Lions must account for, as they are Montreal’s leaders with six and five goals, respectively. Former Lion Ruan will present enough speed to keep up with Orlando City’s Angulo, so that will be an interesting battle to keep an eye on tonight (assuming both play).

“First, we are very excited to participate in this tournament. Last year, I thought it was a successful one, and the experience we had playing the two leagues was good,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “We played against Houston [Dynamo] and Santos [Laguna], which is one of the best teams in Mexico, and the experience was good. Overall, we are preparing and respecting the tournament as much as we can. Everyone is excited to be a part of it.”

As of this writing, it doesn’t appear that availability reports will be a thing for the Leagues Cup, but it’s fair to say the Lions will be without Duncan McGuire (international duty), Mason Stajduhar (lower leg), and Michael Halliday (knee).

Match Content

Projected Lineups:

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.

Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, Facundo Torres.

Forward: Ramiro Enrique.

CF Montreal (3-4-2-1)

Goalkeeper: Jonathan Sirois.

Defenders: Joaquin Sosa, Fernando Alvarez, Joel Waterman.

Midfielders/Wingbacks: Raheem Edwards, Mathieu Choiniere, Samuel Piette, Ruan.

Attacking Midfielders: Ariel Lassiter, Jules-Anthony Vilsaint.

Forward: Josef Martinez.

Referees:

REF: Adonai Escobedo González.
AR1: Enrique Bustos Díaz.
AR2: Enedina Caudillo Gómez.
4TH: Lizzet Garcia Olvera.
VAR: Melissa Borjas Pastrana.

How to Watch

Match Time: 8 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.

Radio: FM 96.9 The Game (English).

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Examining the Sustainability of Ramiro Enrique’s Scoring Explosion

Is Ramiro Enrique’s scoring outburst sustainable, or is a regression to the mean on the horizon?

Published

6 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Since Orlando City’s 5-0 thumping of D.C. United back on July 6, Ramiro Enrique has tapped into a red-hot vein of form. He’s got four goals in four games, matching his scoring output from the entirety of the 2023 season, and doing so in four matches and 245 minutes, as compared to 30 matches and 1,019 minutes last year. That brings us to the big question: is this sort of output sustainable?

We’ll start by looking at the expected goals on each of his four tallies. While xG isn’t a perfect statistic, it provides a fairly good measure of how good a chance is. To get a clearer picture, we’ll also take a look at each goal to help gauge how difficult the chance is.

Against D.C. United, Enrique latched onto a flicked-on header from a corner kick and used a header of his own to score the Lions’ fifth and final goal of the night. That strike had an xG of 0.1. In truth, that number seems a bit low to me, as once Enrique’s in front of his defender, he has the whole net to aim at, and the ball comes in at a great height for him to get his head on it. He makes no mistake and sticks it into the side netting, where the goalkeeper has no hope of reaching it.

Against the New England Revolution, the Argentine again scored from a corner, sneaking in front of goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic and flicking the ball past him before he could collect Cesar Araujo’s header. His second goal of the season had an xG of 0.4. That number seems more reasonable to me. Once he does the hard work of losing his marker and getting across Ivacic, the goalkeeper is helpless to stop any ball that isn’t coming straight at him, and it’s a good finish.

Against Nashville, he collected a pass from Ivan Angulo a few yards outside of the six-yard box and blasted it off the crossbar and in. The tight angle from which he scored means the xG of 0.04 isn’t too surprising. Once again, Enrique managed to lose his defender and got himself into a really nice area of open space. The finish is outstanding, but it wouldn’t have been surprising to see a save or shot off target from this angle.

His fourth goal of the year had elements of skill and luck, as he redirected Martin Ojeda’s shot against NYCFC. The effort from Ojeda took a deflection off Enrique that caught the goalkeeper leaning the wrong way and had enough pace to carry it into the net, for an xG of 0.11. Again, I’m surprised the number is as high as it is. That’s probably due to the deflection happening in the box and leaving Matt Freese next to no time to react. While it was a clever touch to redirect it, there was also a good deal of luck involved.

Those totals add up to 0.65. In other words, Enrique would be estimated to score 0.65 goals off those chances (or one, rounding up, as there are no fractions of goals), and he instead bagged four. There are a couple ways you can view that. The optimist would say that he’s simply a good finisher and has been making the most of the chances that have come his way, even when they aren’t very good ones. The pessimist would say that him converting low percentage chances at this rate isn’t sustainable, and he’s due to regress back to the mean soon.

We can also look at the bigger picture of his statistics up to this point in the year. Across 11 games and 483 minutes, Enrique has taken 18 shots, put nine of them on target, and scored from four of those. He’s also got a season xG of 3.52, which is pretty much in line with his goal total of four, although he’s slightly outperforming it. That isn’t a bad thing though, as the best strikers score difficult chances too, not just the easy ones. Cristian Arango, Christian Benteke, and Denis Bouanga are the top three scorers in the league, and Bouanga is the only one not outperforming his xG (17.68 xG compared to 16 goals).

In my opinion, the truth of Enrique’s case lies somewhere in between. He’s put 50% of his shots on target this year, which is a great number, and getting the ball on frame is half the battle in this sport, so that’s an encouraging place to start. Each of his first three goals in 2024 came as a result of getting into space in a dangerous area and making no mistake with his finish once the ball arrived. Against D.C., he did well to get in front of his defender. In New England, he snuck in from the blind side of the defense. And against Nashville, he found space in the box and stayed onside until Angulo was able to find him. That sort of movement and ability to get yourself into dangerous areas is something that can be replicated, even if finishing low-percentage chances like the strikes against Nashville and NYCFC probably isn’t.

If Enrique continues being clever with his movement and finding dangerous spaces, Orlando’s offense has begun to look fluid enough that his teammates will find ways to get him the ball. As long as he keeps getting shots on frame and his finishing stays sharp, it isn’t unreasonable to assume that he’ll grab some more goals this year. It probably won’t be at the rate he’s done so in July, but if nothing else, he should be able to provide some extra firepower to an OCSC attack that has woken up in recent weeks. Keep your fingers crossed, folks. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 7/26/24

Orlando City plays CF Montreal tonight, USWNT wins against Zambia, Marta provides assist in Brazil’s win, and more.

Published

8 hours ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Mark Thor

Happy Friday! I hope the work week has gone easy on you as we get ready for a weekend filled to the brim with soccer to enjoy. The Olympic opening ceremony is also today, and I’m interested to see what the organizers in Paris have come up with. But for now, let’s get this Friday started with today’s links!

Orlando City Takes On CF Montreal Tonight

The Leagues Cup kicks off today and Orlando City will host CF Montreal tonight in its first of two group games. The Lions will then take on Atletico de San Luis on Aug. 4. It’s worth noting that these games will go into a penalty shootout if the score remains level after 90 minutes, with the winner of the shootout getting an extra point. The top two teams of each group advance to the next round and Orlando will play the Philadelphia Union, Cruz Azul, or Charlotte FC if it survives the group stage.

USWNT Beats Zambia in Summer Olympic Opener

The United States Women’s National Team started its Olympic campaign with a dominant 3-0 win against Zambia. The USWNT’s attack looked free and dangerous, with Trinity Rodman striking first and Mallory Swanson scoring twice in quick succession to give the USWNT a comfortable lead. Those goals also came before Zambia was reduced to 10 players after a red card to Pauline Zulu. The Orlando Pride’s Barbra Banda and Grace Chanda both started for Zambia, although Chanda was subbed out in the first half when Zambia had to make changes due to the red card.

There is some bad news along with the good for the USWNT though. Jaedyn Shaw missed out on playing in the opener due to a leg injury, and Sophia Smith had to exit in the 42nd minute.

Marta Assists in Brazil’s Olympic Win

The USWNT was far from the only team to win its first game of this year’s Olympics, as there were no draws after the first round of games. Pride star Marta provided the assist on Brazil’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Nigeria. Marta did well to pick out Gabi Nunes from a tough angle, and the striker had a great first touch and strike to put it away. Pride defender Rafaelle helped secure the shutout, with Brazilian goalkeeper Lorena coming up with huge saves as well. Elsewhere in Group C, Spain’s Aitana Bonmati had a goal and an assist in her team’s 2-1 win against Japan.

New Zealand struck first against Canada in Group A, but the Canadians rallied to come back and win 2-1. France scored three goals in the first half and survived a rally from Colombia in the second half to win 3-2. Germany may have had the most impressive win so far, beating a talented Australian side 3-0.

Analyzing New Zealand Ahead of Olympic Clash

The United States Men’s Olympic Soccer Team will aim to bounce back from a loss to France when it faces New Zealand on Saturday. New Zealand beat Guinea in its first game and is coached by Darren Bazeley, who led New Zealand to the knockout stage of the 2023 U-20 World Cup. Minnesota United center back Michael Boxall and Viking FK midfielder Joe Bell are two of New Zealand’s overage players and give the team some stability. Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, who joined Bournemouth this summer, is capable of coming up with acrobatic saves to give the U.S. fits as well. As for New Zealand’s attack, midfielder Sarpreet Singh and striker Ben Waine are a couple of the dynamic players the U.S. will have to keep in check.

Bev Priestman Removed From Canadian Olympic Team

Canada will have to go the rest of the Olympics without Head Coach Bev Priestman, who was removed from the team by the Canadian Olympic Committee. This decision comes amid a scandal involving spying on New Zealand’s training, which led to Canada Soccer suspending Priestman for the rest of the tournament. Reports have also surfaced that Canada’s men’s and women’s teams have tried to spy on opponents for years, including during the women’s team’s winning campaign in the 2021 Olympics. Only time will tell if Priestman will coach the team after this tournament and if punishments for the team’s actions will be handed out.

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That’s all I have for you today. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend. Enjoy the Olympics!

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