It seems strange to write considering it feels like the 2025 MLS season only ended yesterday, but week one of Orlando City’s preseason is (almost) fully in the books. With that being the case, let’s talk about the week that was and discuss some good things and not-so-good things about it.

Likes

Married to Martin

Orlando City announced on Thursday that it signed Martin Ojeda to a contract extension that runs through the 2028-2029 season. Given that the Argentine no. 10 had a record-breaking 2025 season, and the fact that there were some rumblings online about interest from Palmeiras and other teams, this is an extremely welcome piece of news. Ojeda was the straw that stirred Orlando City’s drink last year, and losing him after his breakout year would have been a huge blow, despite what undoubtedly would have been a tidy little transfer fee. Instead, Orlando’s talisman is locked down for the long term, and it was also good to hear him speak about how happy his family has been in the City Beautiful.

Moving on From Muriel

On the opposite side of the coin, the Lions also announced on Thursday that the team has sold Luis Muriel to Colombian side Junior FC. Like Ojeda, this is a key move for the club to make as it moves off a Designated Player whose time here probably can’t be called a failure, but certainly can’t be called an outright success either. The forward’s wildly fluctuating inconsistency was what made his time in Orlando so frustrating, because it isn’t like he wasn’t capable of performing at a high level in MLS. One has only to look at his two league performances against Inter Miami during the 2025 season to see that. Ultimately though, he wasn’t consistently clinical enough in front of goal, and he was off form more than he was on. His departure frees up a precious Designated Player slot that OCSC really needs to nail if it wants to have a more successful campaign this year, and we can now enjoy speculating about which player the front office decides to use it on.

Returning Faces

It did my heart good to see the formerly injured duo of Yutaro Tsukada and Wilder Cartagena back training with the full team after suffering season-ending injuries during the 2025 preseason. Cartagena tore his Achilles tendon in the first friendly of the year against Atletico Mineiro, while Tsukada tore his ACL during a friendly with CF Montreal, and both injuries changed Orlando’s season before it even started. The team lost a starting defensive midfielder in Cartagena and a depth piece who had shown promise with Orlando City B when it came to Tsukada, and the year started on a somber note as a result. Not only is it good for the outlook of the team to have them back, but it’s just great for the players themselves to be able to get back out there, and hopefully they’re both able to rebound well this season.

Dislikes

Dearth of Open Practices & Friendlies

Technically we found out about this last week when the preseason schedule was announced, but I just think the lack of open practices and friendlies this year is a damn shame. None of the Lions’ preseason games are open to the general public, and there are no opportunities to go watch the team train. While I do think it’s good that the final preseason match is at least open to season ticket members, as they do deserve something for their extra commitment, it just seems like a missed opportunity. Given how many new faces will be on the team this year, having open practices and friendlies is a great way to get fans excited about the new arrivals and build anticipation for the upcoming season. I have no doubt that the club had its reasons for structuring the preparations in the way it did, but I can’t help feeling disappointed regardless.

All in all it was a pretty good first week of preseason preparations, and I think that’s evidenced in the fact that I could only find one (slightly nitpicky) thing to dislike. Hopefully, the rest of the weeks leading up to the regular season are in the same vein. Vamos Orlando!

The preseason has begun, and we know about Orlando City’s four tuneup matches during the 2026 training camp. The season opener is just over six weeks away on Feb. 21. This seems like a good time to discuss a few things that I’m hoping for from this edition of the Lions’ preseason.

A Clean Bill of Health

I would trade every other item on this list if it means getting through the preseason without any injury setbacks like the one the Lions experienced last year. When Wilder Cartagena tore his left Achilles tendon against Atletico Mineiro on Jan. 25, it broke up the previously established and successful duo of himself and Cesar Araujo and had a big impact on the start of the season. Of course, OCSC pivoted magnificently as Eduard Atuesta was signed just a little over two weeks later on Feb. 10, but the timing of Cartagena’s injury and Atuesta’s subsequent arrival meant that he was playing catch-up when it came to integrating with his new teammates. The Colombian still put together a solid season with seven assists (good for third-best on the team), but not having Cartagena in 2025 was a blow, particularly when considering his versatility in being able to play at midfield or center back. If the Lions can get to opening day this year with no repeats of that incident or Yutaro Tuskada’s 2025 season-ending knee injury, then I’ll be a very happy man.

Timely Reinforcements

It’s been pretty well established that more additions need to be made to the roster before it’s ready for opening day. Luis Muriel is likely about to be moved and at least one striker will be needed to replace him, while convincing arguments can be made for signing a left back, a couple of center backs, and a right back. Not only would I love those signings to be made, but there’s also a lot to be said for any new arrivals to join up with the team sooner rather than later. Some of that is out of the Lions’ hands, particularly in the case of using the Designated Player spot if/when Muriel exits, but the more time any new faces have to begin integrating with their new teammates, the better. Of course, there’s also something to be said for Orlando doing its homework and ensuring that it makes the correct call when pulling the trigger on a new signing, but with how tough the Eastern Conference was last year, a fine balance is going to need to be struck between patience and urgency to ensure OCSC isn’t playing catchup in the standings.

Continued Chances for Young Players

It’s no secret that a big storyline for Orlando City during 2025 was the eye-wateringly fast rise of Alex Freeman. He’s a shining example of what MLS teams want to get out of their academies — rising up through the youth systems, starring for the reserve side, earning a spot on the first team, and going even farther beyond that. The big question now is whether or not other young players can follow in his footsteps. It would be unreasonable to expect other Young Lions to hit the heights that Freeman did in 2025, but there’s no reason that guys like Gustavo Caraballo, Tahir Reid-Brown, and Colin Guske can’t earn some more minutes after making their debuts last season. Likewise, as Sean Rollins noted several days ago, there are some current Orlando City B players who could realistically make their senior debuts this year. That process begins during the preseason, when the coaching staff is trying to get a good sense of what it has to work with, and if any of the youngsters show well, then Oscar Pareja and his staff have shown themselves to be more than willing to hand them opportunities. Hopefully, some of the more promising young faces get plenty of chances to prove themselves.

There you have it. If Orlando City can keep everyone healthy, get new signings in the door sooner rather than later, and hand promising youngsters the chance to show what they can do, then I’ll be a happy man during this preseason. Keep your fingers crossed, people. Vamos Orlando!

In sports, as in life, nothing lasts forever. That, in fact, is one of the core truths of being a sports fan. Your team won’t be at the top or the bottom forever (unless the team is the Cleveland Browns), your team won’t have the same owner(s) forever, or the same coach, or the same players. Change is inevitable, whether it comes as a result of trades, sales, career-ending injuries, old age, or even (god forbid) a franchise moving to a different city.

It’s also true that, as in life, some goodbyes in sports are easier than others. Maybe a player or club official torched their relationship with the fans a la Nico Harrison, formerly the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks. Maybe a player, despite being successful with a certain team, never truly felt like they belonged there, similar to Zlatan Ibrahimovic with Manchester United. Or maybe a player both never found success with a team and never felt like a good fit with that squad’s colors either, which was unfortunately the case with former Lion Josue Colman. In those cases, moving on from the team concerned wasn’t a particularly bitter pill to swallow because it was best for all parties involved: the player, the team, and the fanbase.

By contrast, some departures feel positively torturous even if they’re rooted in logic and make sense. Take the sudden medical retirement of Andrew Luck, or Thomas Muller leaving Bayern Munich after having been at the club since 2000. In Luck’s case, it felt like he had more to give on the field but his body simply wouldn’t hold up anymore, and retiring was the right choice for his health. Of course, it stung for fans of the Indianapolis Colts, but anyone with sense could hardly begrudge him for prioritizing his well-being.

For Muller, who was a couple weeks away from turning 36 when he signed with the Vancouver Whitecaps, Father Time was simply catching up to him. He made his fewest-ever starts for Bayern and played his fewest-ever minutes in the 2024-2025 season, and his number of starts had declined in every season since the 2021-2022 campaign. It hurt to see him go, but he wanted to keep playing, and to keep playing regularly, which simply wasn’t going to be possible for a side that is regularly in the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League each year.

What about the area in between the two extremes, though? What about a situation where a player is still doing some good things, is a good fit with the club, and could easily continue with that same team if the circumstances were just a little different? Saying goodbye in cases like that can be much more nuanced and confusing, and that’s what we’re here to talk about with relation to three of Orlando City’s recent departures.

Pedro Gallese

Let’s begin with the most high profile of the exits, which is that of the Lions’ former starting goalkeeper. Gallese had been with OCSC just under six years after he signed in January of 2020, and the good memories with El Pulpo are too numerous to count. From backstopping Orlando to a U.S. Open Cup championship in 2022 to taking over against Toluca in the Leagues Cup quarterfinal shootout this year and burying the winning penalty himself, the Peruvian international gave the club and its fans plenty to cheer for.

The fact remains though that while his save percentage ticked up from 66.7% in 2024 to 70.1% in 2025, his clean sheet percentage fell from 27.6% to 25%, his average goals against per 90 minutes went up from 1.34 to 1.53, and he failed to save any of the three penalty kicks he faced during the run of play, making 2025 only the second time in six seasons in which he did not save a spot kick outside of a penalty shootout.

To be clear, none of those drop-offs are particularly egregious, but the in-game statistics also aren’t the only factors in play. There’s also the fact Gallese will turn 36 in February and was on a base salary of $960,000. Even signing him to a new contract at the same exact number is a big ask for a goalie on the wrong side of 35, despite goalkeepers having the longest shelf life of any position on the field. We don’t know what numbers were thrown around during contract negotiations, but we know that the two sides ultimately couldn’t agree on one, and there’s no guarantee that either side was in the wrong. Gallese likely wanted either the same salary or an increase, while the club almost certainly wanted to bring him back at a cheaper base number with incentives tacked on.

You can’t fault the player for likely wanting to be paid at the same level or better, while you likewise can’t fault the club for being wary of investing a large sum into a soon-to-be 36-year-old when so much work needs to be done to the rest of the roster. It’s going to be strange not having him between the sticks, but ultimately his departure makes the most sense for both parties. If a cheaper number could have been agreed upon, then I’d have been happy to have him back, because I do think he’s still good enough to be a starting goalkeeper in this league, just not at his previous salary. It’s tough, because under the right circumstances a return could have gone very well, but those circumstances simply didn’t materialize.

Rodrigo Schlegel

The next highest-profile departure is that of Rodrigo Schlegel. Like Gallese, the Argentinian center back spent six seasons as a Lion after being signed on Dec. 30, 2019, but he has now joined Liga MX’s Atlas via a transfer. While nominally a backup, he somehow always seemed to find himself in a starting role in place of either Antonio Carlos, Robin Jansson, or David Brekalo. Like Gallese, there were plenty of highs where Schlegel is concerned. He was a key contributor on the run to lifting the U.S. Open Cup, and don’t even get me started on the “Papi, I can do that” save on Gudmundur Thórarinsson’s penalty kick in Orlando City’s first-ever MLS playoff match. Like the goalkeeper he played in front of for so long, his time on the field was defined by passion, tenacity, and a willingness to give everything he had for the shirt.

The tricky thing with Schlegel was that he was maddeningly inconsistent, and his positional discipline could be…interesting at times. Too many times to count he would charge from his spot in the back line to attempt a tackle or an interception, and when it worked, it neutered dangerous attacks before they could even materialize, but when it didn’t, the Lions had an unfortunate habit of giving up goals as a direct result. He seemed to waver from being too good to be a backup yet too error prone to be a starter for a team with true championship aspirations.

Add in the fact that his base salary was $500,000 and multiply it with Orlando City not keeping a clean sheet after the month of June, and things start coming into clearer focus. While the club did not disclose how much the transfer was for, Transfermarkt lists it at €2 million, which would be a significant profit on the €410,000 that the site says it took to sign him from Racing Club. If those numbers are accurate or even roughly in the right ballpark, that’s another piece of the puzzle that can’t be ignored. As mentioned above, the roster needs to be reshaped, and having over a million extra in transfer fees and an additional $500,000 in salary budget isn’t going to hurt. It would be hard to justify keeping that much salary on the books for a guy who hasn’t consistently played at the level needed for a starter, but given the passion he played with and the brilliance he was capable of producing, it doesn’t make the departure an easy one to accept.

Kyle Smith

Though it may seem odd to some readers, this is easily the off-season departure that hurt me the most. Kyle Smith was signed all the way back in December of 2018, when he came onboard with James O’Connor, who had been his coach at Louisville City. No one at the time could have predicted he would play seven seasons with the Lions and finish second on the all-time list for appearances, and sixth and fifth for starts and minutes, respectively. That’s precisely what happened though, and after Mason Stajduhar’s departure in January of this year, Smith was the longest-tenured player on the team with Robin Jansson next on the list.

While Smith didn’t play with the visible ferocity of Schlegel, and might not have provided the sort of dramatics fans saw from Gallese, what he did provide was a versatility that at times bordered on the bewildering. During his time as a Lion, The Accountant appeared at damn near every position on the field except goalkeeper, and one can’t help but suspect that if he’d been called upon to don the gloves a la Schlegel, he would have found a way to do a perfectly serviceable job. Smith brought a level of reliability and flexibility that stood the Lions in good stead when the injury bug reared its ugly head, international breaks left the roster threadbare, and fixture congestion necessitated rotation. The 2025 campaign even saw him match his highest assist total in a season with the team, as he contributed three helpers while notching his best passing accuracy.

The issue with Kyle was likely twofold. For one, he’ll be 34 in January, and for another, he had a base salary of $270,000 in 2025, and a guaranteed compensation of $318,000. I am not joking in the slightest when I tell you that Smith is one of my favorite all-time Lions, but that’s simply a lot of money for a defender (by trade) that only made 12 starts this past season, especially when that defense gave up 51 goals in 34 games. It’s also likely that Smith was looking for an increase on his 2025 contract, and it would be tough to justify giving even more money to a guy who, if things go according to plan in 2026, should be a backup/rotational player. If he could have been brought back for cheaper or on an incentive-heavy deal then it would have made sense for the club, but likely not for the player. When that’s the situation, a parting of the ways is usually the solution.

I look at all three of these departures through the lens of a breakup. Ending any romantic relationship is rarely easy, but it tends to be slightly less difficult if its evident that things are bad. While it might not be fun breaking things off, it’s likely an easier change to come to terms with if your partner is being unfaithful, has gambled your life savings away at the horse races, or hates your family so much that they intentionally ran your parents over with their car.

By contrast, its much more difficult to decide to end things and process that decision when the relationship isn’t overwhelmingly horrible, but rather just isn’t right. When there are plenty of good things about the person and about the two of you together, but for some reason the relationship just isn’t clicking. That’s when things are hardest, because you can see how good the two of you could be together…if only the circumstances were a little different. Except, the circumstances aren’t different; the situation is what it is. They’re the person they are and they want what they want, while you’re the person you are and you want what you want; and the two of you simply aren’t meshing the way that you used to.

For me, that’s how it is with each of these three long-serving Lions. Saying goodbye to Gallese, Schlegel, and Smith would be so much easier if their performances had nosedived off a cliff, they’d become combative and hostile with fans, or they were retiring due to medical concerns or old age. That isn’t the case though, and it means that these farewells are complicated ones.

Freeing up the salary space they occupied will allow the club to rebuild and hopefully reach new levels of success, but it’ll be strange not having them around if/when that success does come. Still, they each brought us plenty of good times, and we’ll always have those times to look back on fondly. For one reason or another though, it simply doesn’t work for them to continue with Orlando City anymore, no matter how much them, the club, and the fans might have wanted them to.

If it hurts to end a relationship, that’s how you know it meant something. Saying goodbye to Pedro Gallese, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Kyle Smith hurts like hell, there’s no way around it. You can be damn sure though, that their time here meant something. Vamos Orlando.