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Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Final Score 2-1 as Lions Lose Final Preseason Game

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3 years ago

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Orlando City conceded twice after the break and fell 2-1 to the New England Revolution on jersey reveal night at Exploria Stadium in the Lions’ last preseason game before the start of the 2023 season. Ivan Angulo gave the Lions a 1-0 lead in the first half, but a second-half goal by Giacomo Vrioni and an 82nd-minute own goal by Robin Jansson handed the visitors a 2-1 win.

Orlando City came out in the 4-2-3-1 formation they’ve used frequently over the past three seasons under Oscar Pareja. Pedro Gallese started in goal behind a back line of Luca Petrasso, Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Mikey Halliday. Cesar Araujo and Mauricio Pereyra were the defensive midfielders, with Angulo, Martin Ojeda, and Facundo Torres in the attack. 2023 MLS SuperDraft pick Duncan McGuire got the start up top.

The first solid chance of the game came in the fifth minute, when Angulo played a cross toward the back post. Petrasso headed it back towards the top of the six-yard box, where Ojeda was making a run. It was a little behind the Designated Player, so he attempted to turn and shoot, but the shot was wide of the far post.

The Lions nearly opened the scoring in the 11th minute when a quick free kick from Araujo put Ojeda behind most of the New England defense. The Argentine took a shot from outside the box that was headed towards the far post, but Djordje Petrovic made an excellent diving save to tip it wide.

The Revs felt they should’ve had a penalty in the 16th minute when slight contact between Jansson and Bobby Wood saw the latter go down. The referee waved play on and Wood slammed the ground in disgust. However, replays showed there clearly wasn’t enough contact to point to the spot.

Less than two minutes later, Orlando City took the lead. Jansson’s long ball to Torres was flicked with the heel to McGuire, who quickly played it on for Halliday. The right back’s shot required a diving save by Petrovic, but Angulo beat Brandon Bye to the ball and tapped it in to give the Lions a 1-0 lead after 17 minutes.

New England had a chance in the 27th minute when Carles Gil’s cross was just behind Wood. The forward attempted to flick it on goal with his heel, but the shot went wide. The Revs had another chance in the 31st minute when an Araujo foul provided a free kick opportunity for Gil. The midfielder decided to take a shot at goal rather than play it into the box, but it was well off target.

The final good chance of the first half came in the 34th minute. Torres set up Halliday for a cross that went across the top of the six-yard box, but it couldn’t find a purple-clad player’s foot. Torres ended up with it again, but his shot was blocked and the Lions took a 1-0 lead into the break.

At halftime, New England had more possession (52%-48%) and a higher passing accuracy (83%-81%), but the Lions had more shots (10-5) and shots on goal (4-2).

New England had the first good second-half attempt in the 52nd minute. Christian Makoun’s cross initially appeared harmless, but found the head of Dave Romney in the box. The defender turned it on goal, forcing Gallese to dive and tip it wide of the post.

In the 59th minute, a poor clearance attempt by New England provided a chance for Ojeda. The initial shot by Angulo bounced off two players and fell to Ojeda at the top of the box. His first touch was a shot on goal, but it was over the target.

Three minutes later, Ojeda had another shot from distance when Torres played a short pass back to the oncoming midfielder. Ojeda took a low, hard shot towards goal, but Petrovic did well to get low and knock it wide.

The Lions nearly scored in the 64th minute when Halliday got a shot off just inside the box. It forced Petrovic low to make the stop, but the ball bounced to Ramiro Enrique charging in. The substitute headed the ball back towards goal, but Petrovic made a good stop with his foot to keep it a one-goal game.

The Lions had dominated the first 65 minutes and were unlucky not to have a multi-goal lead. However, things changed after Petrovic’s save on Enrique and the Revolution began to create most of the chances down the stretch.

The 66th minute provided a scary moment when Gallese came way out of his box to tackle Justin Rennicks. It was a solid tackle and Gallese won the ball, but he immediately lost it back to Rennicks. With Gallese way out of his box, Rennicks attempted a shot from the left side, but missed wide of the near post and into the side netting.

Second-half substitute Emmanuel Boateng nearly equalized for New England in the 68th minute when he beat Halliday to the ball in the Orlando City box. As Halliday went to the ground, Boateng was in on Gallese. However, the Lions’ goalkeeper made an excellent save with his left foot, maintaining the one-goal advantage.

Two minutes later, Boateng caused confusion among Orlando City’s defense that led to a goal when he made a run in behind Halliday, who stepped up to take Makoun with Pereyra already moving in to cover the Revolution defender. That allowed Makoun to slip a pass to Boateng, and Schlegel was forced wide to provide coverage. Receiving the ball from Makoun, Boateng sent a cross into the box. Vrioni got behind the two center backs, getting his head to the ball right in front of goal. Gallese attempted to dive for the ball, but to no avail as it went into the corner, tying the game at 1-1.

The visitors nearly had a chance to take the lead in the 77th minute on a counter attack. Gil was sent past all but one Orlando defender and looked to have a decent chance at a breakaway. Jansson caught him from behind and made a risky challenge, but fortunately got the ball.

After coming up short of a go-ahead goal in several opportunities, New England finally took the lead in the 82nd minute. Vrioni challenged Jansson on a good, low Bye cross, and the ball gently rolled past Gallese for an own goal on Jansson. The Orlando City goalkeeper was glued to his spot, only falling backwards as the ball went into the net to give New England a 2-1 lead.

The Lions tried to get one back in the 87th minute when Torres created space just outside the box and took a shot. Petrovic made a good save that went right to substitute Kyle Smith, but his shot hit the outside netting. That was the last good chance of the game.

New England ended the game with slightly more possession (51%-49%), but Orlando City controlled most of the other statistical categories. The Lions had more shots (22-11), shots on goal (10-6), and a better passing percentage (85%-83%), but still lost the match.

“I thought it was a good game. I like it. I thought we had a lot of good things that we surely need to improve and bring it into the competition next week,” Pareja said about the performance. “A lot of good things. I’m very, very happy, very optimistic with the team. The new players today, they started just testing what is Major League Soccer and what is the competition. We have in front of us a good rival in the opener and I know that this will help us. Obviously, we compete for winning in a friendly game and taste after a defeat is not the best. It was good in terms that we pushed. The good news is that the boys are showing good things.”

Orlando City dominated the first half, creating several chances that could’ve put the game away. They also had the better start to the second half, but New England started to control as the game went on, eventually leading to two late goals.

“It was good first half, better than second,” Halliday said after the game. “I think we were attacking well in the first half. We were killing them in behind, but then in the second, we got a little beat down in the middle. So then, they’re exploiting our wide spaces and just getting in crosses and just killing us because we kept losing the ball. But it’s a good start just, you know, better finish.”

Despite the uneven performance, Pareja said it was a game that will help the Lions as they head into the season opener next weekend.

“I think the rhythm of the games. Just being in competition mode over time, and just getting more games, it surely would help us continue with the same rhythm that we have shown in the first half,” Pareja added. “We had that. It was a fairly dominant half. And the second one, 65 minutes, we started slowing down and New England showed more energy in those moments.”

Orlando City ends the 2023 preseason with a 3-1-1 record.

With the preseason now complete, the Lions look to the regular season. They’ll start their ninth MLS campaign next Saturday night at Exploria Stadium when they welcome the New York Red Bulls to town.

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Orlando City restarts its 2026 MLS campaign late tonight out west at San Jose.

Published

2 weeks ago

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July 22, 2026

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Image of Braian Ojeda taking a shot in a friendly against FC Dallas.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Justin Glatt

Welcome to your match thread for a late night midweek matchup tonight between Orlando City (4-9-2, 14 points) and the San Jose Earthquakes (10-3-2, 32 points) at PayPal Park (10:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the only scheduled meeting between the teams in 2026 and the first time the teams have met since 2024.

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

History

Orlando City is 3-1-3 in the previous seven MLS meetings with the Quakes since the club joined Major League Soccer in 2015. The Lions got their only away win in the series in the last meeting and enter tonight 1-1-2 on the road against San Jose.

The teams last met on May 18, 2024, with Jack Lynn coming off the bench to score the game’s only goal. Lynn’s strike in the 89th minute broke the scoreless deadlock and lifted the Lions to a 1-0 victory.

The teams met in Orlando most recently way back on June 22, 2021, with the Lions beating the Quakes down, 5-0. Orlando got things started with an early penalty kick goal by Nani, followed by braces from Benji Michel and Daryl Dike to easily put the game away. The lasting memory from the game is Michel’s celebratory dance wearing a cowboy hat that came out of the stands.

Prior to that Orlando City romp, the last time the teams met was on Aug. 31, 2019 when the Lions got freight trained 3-0 at Avaya Stadium, giving the Quakes their first win in the series. San Jose’s offense came via a Chris Wondolowski brace and an early opening goal by Magnus Eriksson. Orlando looked flat and weary out of the gate.

The Lions were victorious in Exploria Stadium in the 2018 meeting on April 21, a 3-2 Orlando win. It was the first win in the series for either side after three straight draws. Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, and Dom Dwyer gave the Lions a 3-0 lead before Florian Jungwirth pulled two back in the game’s late stages.

The Lions led all of the first three matches in the second half only to see San Jose pull level, with two of those tying goals coming late. In the 2017 meeting, Carlos Rivas finally broke the scoreless tie and gave Orlando City the lead in the 81st minute, but Wondolowski spoiled the Lions’ night with an equalizer two minutes later as the teams drew at Avaya Stadium, 1-1.

In 2016, the Lions were gut-punched in the 94th minute in an emotional match that ended in a 2-2 draw. It was the first home match following the Pulse nightclub tragedy and what appeared to be a storybook ending to a cathartic win turned sour on a last-gasp equalizer by Shea Salinas. Seb Hines — now the Orlando Pride’s head coach — opened the scoring for Orlando, only to see Chad Barrett tie it up. Julio Baptista restored the lead in stoppage time, but Salinas ruined everything.

The two teams also drew in the first meeting, a 1-1 affair at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, with the Lions down to 10 men after Brek Shea was sent off in the first half. Kaká and Wondolowski each scored from the penalty spot four minutes apart in that initial meeting.

Overview

The teams meet tonight to get their post-World Cup portion of the season started. Orlando City has been terrible on the road all season long, keeping only one MLS opponent under two goals all year away from home and allowing five goals twice (at New York City FC and Nashville) and six goals twice (at LAFC and in the team’s most recent match away at FC Cincinnati just before the break).

Orlando City is a putrid 1-6-1 on the road this season, and now the Lions must face the Western Conference co-leaders tonight before coming home to face Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC at home on Saturday. They’ll have to play at least tonight’s game without Martin Ojeda, who is out with a thigh injury sustained some time between his first-half goal a week ago in a friendly against FC Dallas and the time the availability report dropped on Tuesday.

But it isn’t all bad news for the Lions, who should have both Antoine Griezmann and Dike in the lineup. Griezmann was the club’s highly prized and widely publicized summer Designated Player signing, while Dike’s return to Orlando came together more recently, following his departure from West Bromwich Albion. They’ll help the club’s offense, but the attack hasn’t been the issue in 2026 — it’s been the historically porous defense, which is on pace to shatter the MLS record for goals conceded.

Meanwhile, San Jose is one of the first half of the season’s biggest surprises, as the Quakes have been outstanding in 2026. Scoring 34 goals while conceding just 15, San Jose is among the league leaders in goals scored (tied for third), goals conceded (third), and goal differential (+19, third).

The Earthquakes are 4-2-1 at home and are coming off a 3-1 road win at Portland in their last game prior to the World Cup break. San Jose boasts Golden Boot challenger Preston Judd, who leads the Quakes with 11 goals, adding two assists in his 15 appearances. Ousseni Bouda has chipped in five goals and three assists. Niko Tsakiris leads the team with seven assists to go along with his two goals, but he’s still recovering from a lower body injury and is not available tonight. However, the arrival of Timo Werner (four goals and five assists in just seven games) has truly elevated Bruce Arena’s Quakes, and he’ll need to be one of the main focal points for the Orlando defense.

To have any shot at taking something from this game, the Lions will need to play better road defense than they have all season. Orlando can score goals, but with Ojeda out, Griezmann will need to adapt quickly, and someone other than the team’s leading scorer will need to find the net.

The Lions will play without Ojeda (thigh), Joran Gerbet (knee), Nolan Miller (knee), Colin Guske (international duty), and Clovis Archage (international duty). In addition, Marco Pasalic may or may not have returned to the team after the World Cup. He was not in training Monday, although interim head coach Martin Perelman said he expected the Croatian back soon. The Earthquakes will be without Nonso Adimabua (lower body), former Lion Earl Edwards Jr. (lower body), DeJuan Jones (lower body), and Tsakiris (you guessed it, lower body…come on, San Jose).

Match Content

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tiago.

Forwards: Justin Ellis, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Bernardo Rhein, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer

San Jose Earthquakes (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Angus Gunn.

Defenders: Jamar Ricketts, Reid Roberts, Daniel Munie, Benjamin Kikanovic.

Defensive Midfielders: Beau Lerouox, Ronaldo Vieira.

Attacking Midfielders: Timo Werner, Nick Fernandez, Ousseni Bouda.

Forwards: Preston Judd.

Bench: Jonathan Gonzalez, Dave Romney, Paul Marie, Jack Skahan, Jack Jasinski, Ian Harkes, Francesco Montali, Max Floriani, Darius Johnson.

Referees

REF: Elijio Arreguin.
AR1: Adam Wienckowski.
AR2: Mike Nickerson.
4TH: Timothy Ford.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

How to Watch

Match Time: 10:30 p.m.

Venue: PayPal Park — San Jose, CA.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Podcasts

PawedCast Episode 542: Tampa Bay Friendly, McGuire Traded, OCB Beats Cincinnati, and More

Lions maul the Rowdies in friendly action, OCB wins on the road, and it’s transfer season.

Published

3 weeks ago

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July 14, 2026

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Image of Antoine Griezmann and Ivan Angulo celebrating a goal in a friendly against the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City welcomed I-4 Derby rival Tampa Bay to Inter&Co Stadium for a friendly match on Wednesday and then proceeded to bludgeon the Rowdies with a couple of hammers named Antoine Griezmann and Justin Ellis. The two attackers combined for a goal and four assists in a 6-0 beatdown of the team from the Gulf Coast, with five different Lions scoring and Griffin Dorsey forcing an own goal. We discuss Griezmann’s first minutes with Orlando City, what the team showed in its formation, and how good Justin Ellis’ vision is.

Oh, and it’s also transfer season now. Duncan McGuire is on his way out and Marco Pasalic reportedly will follow soon, while a new left back may be headed from Spain to Orlando.

Following all of that, we discuss Maxime Crepeau being added to the MLS All-Star Team and the announcement that he’ll participate in the 2026 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge.

Our mailbagbox asked us about which World Cup semifinalist players we’d want to join Orlando this season (if we could only pick one), and more. Remember, if there’s anything — and we do mean anything — you want us to address on the show, just ask us by tweeting it to us at @TheManeLand with the hashtag #AskTMLPC, or hitting us up on Bluesky Social with that same hashtag.

After the mailbagbox, we dive into OCB’s 2-1 road win at FC Cincinnati 2. It wasn’t the prettiest game by the Young Lions, but they managed to do enough to earn three points on the road, where they’ll stay to face Chattanooga on Saturday. We briefly preview that game.

Finally, Orlando City will be in Dallas Wednesday for the second of two friendlies leading up to the restart of the MLS season. It’s unlikely we’ll get a lot of details about that one, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe the FC Dallas folks will help us out.

Be sure to rate and review our show wherever you get your podcasts. Remember, we’ll read any five-star reviews we get on Apple Podcasts on the next show.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how No. 542 went down:

0:15 – Orlando City crushed the Rowdies, the transfer season is in full swing, plus: hey now, Crepeau’s an all-star.

28:50 – The mailbagbox is always good for a hypothetical scenario.

36:54 – The Young Lions slipped past Cincy and head to Chattanooga, while the senior Lions head to Dallas.

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Podcasts

SkoPurp Soccer Episode 119: International Break, USWNT, Louisville Preview, and More

The Pride return from a long international break looking to get their first-ever road win against Racing Louisville.

Published

3 months ago

on

April 22, 2026

By

Image of Haley McCutcheon scoring the opening goal in Orlando's home playoff win over Seattle.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

It feels like months since the Orlando Pride last took the field, but the calendar says otherwise. If you believe calendars, it’s only been a little less than three weeks, but time moves strangely in the post-pandemic apocalyptic world.

Anyway, we don’t have a match to recap, so we touched on a couple of Pride players putting the ball in the net during the international break and chat a bit about the United States Women’s National Team’s three-game friendly series against Japan. Emma Hayes used a lot of players, and the team looked solid for two of the three matches, but the rotated middle game seemed a bit disjointed. Hayes has greatly expanded the player pool and will have plenty of options when the World Cup approaches.

Our mailbagbox had questions about a potential change in the NWSL schedule, as the league explores adopting the fall-to-spring slate, and opposition own goals. Remember, you can ask us anything by hitting us up on Twitter at either @TheManeLand or @SkoPurpSoccer and using the hashtag #AskSkoPurp. You can use that same hashtag and hit @TheManeLand.bsky.social up on Bluesky. Or you can visit our show page, scroll down, and fill out the handy form. We’d also appreciate any ratings or reviews you can leave wherever you get your podcasts, and if you do that on Apple Podcasts, we’ll find them easily and read them on the show.

After the mailbagbox, we turned our attention toward Friday’s late afternoon tussle with Racing Louisville in Kentucky. The Pride have never won on the road against Louisville, and it’s about high time they did. This match begins a congested push to the June World Cup break, and although Friday’s hosts aren’t high in the table, the Pride must be at their best to get a road result in this fixture. We look back at the series history, compare the two sides, provide our key matchups in the game, and make our final score predictions.

If you’d like to support our independent writing and podcasting efforts, we’d love to have you as a subscriber or donor over at our Buy Me a Coffee site.

Here’s how Episode 119 went down:

0:15 – We open the show with a little banter about the Pride in the international break and the USWNT’s series vs. Japan.

9:03 – The mailbagbox features questions via both eletronic mail and social media. We welcome all modes of delivery.

19:59 – The Pride travel to Louisville to face Racing. They’ve never won in Kentucky, but we inform them how to do so.

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