Orlando City welcomed Eastern Conference bottom dwellers CF Montreal to the City Beautiful on a night that fell significantly short of expectations, as the home side was only able to muster one point. The 1-1 draw against the Wooden Spoon candidates from the Great White North, who were also short on rest, is more than likely the lowest point of the Orlando City season to date. What follows are my takeaways from a match which needed to be a victory for OCSC (but wasn’t).

Welcome Back, Alex

Alex Freeman as the Orlando City right back just feels so correct to type, and yet the Orlando City faithful have been without their first-choice attacking defender for over a month, as he has been with the USMNT in the Gold Cup. The young Lion slotted into his usual spot and did well throughout the match to both contain the Montreal attack while trying to contribute from an offensive perspective. There have been whispers about Freeman potentially being sold, but I believe that he will be with Orlando City for the duration of the 2025 season, and fans should feel comfortable in the fact that the connection between Freeman and the other attacking pieces for Orlando will continue to gel as the season progresses.

Set Piece Success

After a largely uneventful first 25 minutes of the match, Orlando City took the lead in the first half on the heels of what appeared to be a well-rehearsed set-piece goal. After a free kick was awarded in the 27th minute, Martin Ojeda, Luis Muriel, and Cesar Araujo all lined up over the ball. Ojeda elected to play the ball short and quickly to Muriel, who simply stopped the ball to tee it up for the No. 10, who fired a shot inside the near post, propelling Orlando City to a 1-0 lead. It was a cheeky and quick strike from Orlando City but exactly the type of play that someone would want to see from a team playing a vulnerable away squad. Ojeda became just the third player in club history to record double-digit goals and assists in a single season across all competitions, and the schedule is barely past the halfway point of the MLS season.

Failure to Launch

Orlando City finished the first half up by one goal and looked the part of the attacking home side. The problem was that the Lions were unable to find any additional goals to stretch the lead. Despite having a majority of the possession, the starters or substitutes were just not capable of being clinical enough to break down Montreal and find the back of the net. Without finding a second goal, Orlando allowed itself to be vulnerable to a less-than-ideal outcome as the end of the match approached.

Penalty Kick Misery

Orlando City clung to a 1-0 lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the match when Prince Owusu took the ball into the Orlando City box and dribbled past a few defenders before being met by the thigh of Rodrigo Schlegel in the 80th minute of the match. By the game’s standards to that point, it was a soft foul, and in real time it appeared Owusu had anticipated the contact and started to go to ground before any physical contact was made. There was no ruling of an obvious error, and the call on the field stood. Owusu took the ensuing penalty kick and successfully converted, tying the game at a goal apiece with little time remaining.

Unacceptable Ending

Orlando wound up with a home draw and earned only a single point. Against many other adversaries in the Eastern Conference, that result would be nothing to turn a nose up at. However, against a CF Montreal team that has struggled to find results throughout the whole season, and that Orlando City already played to a draw in Montreal (down a man for part of that match), a home draw is downright unacceptable for a team with playoff aspirations. In two weeks and two consecutive draws, Orlando City has lost ground in the playoff race and hardly appears to the eye test like a team ready to challenge the best of MLS.

Orlando City will face a quick turnaround as the Lions will face New York City FC at home on Wednesday. After Saturday’s result, the stakes are that much higher in a matchup against a strong team that sits directly below Orlando City on the table. The squad must refocus in a narrow window and move forward. Let us know your takeaways in the comments below and as always, Vamos Orlando!

Orlando City’s slate of June matches has come to an end, and the Lions are now staring down the barrel of a busy group of July matches. OCSC will play six games this month, with an even split between home and away games. I did a pretty decent job at forecasting the three June games, as I accurately predicted wins (scorelines not withstanding) against the Colorado Rapids and St. Louis City SC, although my powers of divination went a little haywire as the Lions lost to FC Cincinnati rather than battling to a draw. Time to test my prophetic tendencies against a larger sample size, as I peek into the crystal ball and predict Orlando’s July contests.

Saturday, July 5 — at Charlotte FC

Things get started Saturday when the Lions hit the road to take on Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium. This will be the second meeting between the two teams this year after OCSC took down Charlotte 3-1 back on May 14 at Inter&Co Stadium. Charlotte is currently 10th in the Eastern Conference with 25 points from 20 games. The team has been in a rough run of form recently, having lost all three games in June to the Philadelphia Union, Sporting Kansas City, and Chicago Fire. While Orlando will be without the services of Alex Freeman, Charlotte is missing both Tim Ream and Patrick Agyemang, who are also with the United States Men’s National Team. Given the opposition’s current form and the key players Charlotte will be missing, I like Orlando’s chances in this one.

Prediction: Orlando City 2-1 Charlotte FC.

Saturday, July 12 — vs. CF Montreal

Montreal is another team that OCSC will be playing for the second time, following the first meeting of the year that ended in a scoreless draw, which saw Rafael Santos sent off after picking up a pair of yellow cards on the road. While Orlando was offensively anemic on that occasion, the fortunes of the two teams have gone in different directions as Montreal is last in the East with 14 points from 20 matches. The Canadians were better during June and won games against the Houston Dynamo and New York City FC while losing to FC Cincinnati. They’ll be coming off short rest after a match against Forge FC on July 9, and will then have to play the Union midweek on July 16. I like the Lions’ chances at home, and I’ll back them to make it two wins in a row.

Prediction: Orlando City 2-0 CF Montreal.

Wednesday, July 16 — vs. New York City FC

The Lions then get a second match in a row at home and a second match against a team it played earlier in the year. The first time around it went the way things usually do for OCSC at Yankee Stadium, as the good guys lost 2-1 in a disjointed effort. Orlando will get the chance to even the series, but it won’t be easy against an NYCFC team that always seems to give the Lions a tough time. That being said, the Pigeons have just one road win this year, which came against Toronto FC back on April 26 in a 1-0 win. OCSC will be on short rest, but I think New York’s road struggles give the men in purple the slight edge they’ll need.

Prediction: Orlando City 3-2 NYCFC.

Saturday, July 19 — at New England Revolution

Orlando then hits the road for its second meeting of the year with the Revs, following a wild 3-3 draw at home back on May 10. The Revs are currently 11th in the East with 24 points from 18 games, and they’ve got a tricky run of games leading up to Orlando’s visit, with a road match against Austin FC on July 12, and a road game against the New York Red Bulls on July 16. That being said, Orlando has historically had a positively horrific time at Gillette Stadium, and only picked up its first-ever win at that venue last July. Despite the differences between Orlando and New England in the standings, this one just feels like a bridge too far. Coming off a crowded run of games and playing at a place they’ve traditionally struggled, I don’t see the Lions getting the job done here.

Prediction: Orlando City 1-2 New England Revolution.

Friday, July 25 — at Columbus Crew

The Lions then get a rare Friday game when they hit the road to take on the Columbus Crew in the first meeting of the year between the two sides. The Crew are currently fourth in the East with 37 points from 20 games, and Diego Rossi is having a typically great season with nine goals and four assists in 19 games. The two teams are closely matched from a statistical standpoint, as they’ve each given up 26 goals, and Columbus has scored 31 while Orlando has 37. As Andrew DeSalvo noted, the Lions have played five games so far against teams in the top third of the league rankings for points per game, and the 1.4 ppg Orlando is averaging against those teams is tied for sixth best in the league. Columbus is a team that usually gives the Lions a tough time, and the good guys will have a trio of Leagues Cup games against Liga MX sides looming on the horizon. I think OCSC will drop points on the road for the second game in a row.

Prediction: Orlando City 0-1 Columbus Crew.

Wednesday, July 30 — vs. Pumas

It’s hard to have a good read on the Mexican side, as the Apertura season doesn’t start until July 12. In the 2024 Clausura season, Pumas finished 10th and narrowly qualified for the play-in portion of the final league phase. It advanced to the bracket proper as the seventh seed, but lost in the first round to Cruz Azul by an aggregate score of 4-2. As far as Concacaf Champions Cup, Pumas was knocked off by Vancouver on away goals in the quarterfinals. Orlando will have the advantage of playing at home, as it will do for all three of its group stage games in Leagues Cup. I expect Oscar Pareja to come out with guns blazing in an effort to start the competition off strong with a win, and that’s exactly what I think the Lions will do.

Prediction: Orlando City 2-1 Pumas.

If everything goes as predicted, the Lions will have a pretty tidy month of July. All we can do now is sit back and see how things unfold. Vamos Orlando!

With 18 matches in the books, we’ve moved just past the halfway point of the 2025 Major League Soccer season, and based off my feelings before Orlando City played its opening game of the season, the Lions have performed above expectations so far. There were plenty of valid reasons to be concerned heading into the year. Orlando had sold its all-time leading goal scorer, and there were questions about whether he’d been adequately replaced. There were worries about depth at multiple positions, and the defense was coming off an uncharacteristically poor year. Here we are though, with the Lions sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference, just three points out of second place and seven points out of first. So how did we get to this point?

For one thing, Marco Pasalic has been much better than I (and I think a lot of other people) expected him to be. The Croatian has six goals and four assists across 18 matches, and is second on the team in both categories. He scored 10 goals in 49 appearances in the Croatian first division before coming to Orlando and was extremely one-footed, which was enough evidence to sow real doubt about whether he could adequately replace the impact of Facundo Torres.

So far, it’s mostly been so good. His direct style of play is a good complement to the styles of Martin Ojeda and Luis Muriel, and he’s largely hit the ground running in a league that can be difficult to adapt to. It hasn’t been perfect, as he’s still very one-footed, and can sometimes disappear if he’s stringently man marked, but on the whole there’s been much more good than bad.

Speaking of Ojeda and Muriel, they’ve also had strong years. Ojeda in particular has continued his great second half of the 2024 season and has nine goals and five assists in 18 games to show for it. He looks fast, confident, and decisive and is a far cry from the player who struggled frequently during his first year as a Lion. Muriel has cooled off a little after a scorching start to 2025, but he still has six goals and three assists in 18 matches. He looks vastly improved from last year, when he looked a little off the pace of play and quickly lost the starting striker role. He still has a tendency to not be as selfish as he needs to be in front of goal, but he’s been much better than 2024.

I mentioned depth being a big concern, and not just at one position. At the beginning of the season Orlando City was, and arguably still is, thin at striker, center back, defensive midfield, and fullback. Duncan McGuire was injured to start the year and is now injured again, leaving Orlando with two true strikers in Muriel and Ramiro Enrique. There was no true backup left back, only one reliable backup center back, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson starting at right back meant that defensive midfield depth consisted of rookie Joran Gerbet and the Swiss army knife that is Kyle Smith.

Things have mostly worked out though. David Brekalo has supplanted Rafael Santos, meaning the Brazilian is now a proven backup option at the position, and Smith has filled in there as well. That means that in games in which Rodrigo Schlegel or Robin Jansson are unavailable, Brekalo fills in at center back, Santos starts at left back, and Smith is the backup for both positions, so it isn’t a flawless system. Gerbet has been playing better and better and got some valuable minutes when Eduard Atuesta and Cesar Araujo were unavailable. His emergence has been a crucial piece of the puzzle this year. So too has the rise of Alex Freeman, as his locking down the right back role has allowed Thorhallsson to fill in at defensive midfield, attacking midfield, and right back. The situation isn’t perfect, as a couple untimely injuries to the wrong guys would leave the Lions looking pretty threadbare, but so far it’s just about worked.

Another big concern was the defense. The Lions conceded 50 goals in the regular season last year, which was tied for the second-most of any Eastern Conference playoff team and fourth-most of any playoff team. With no defensive signings and the aforementioned depth concerns, there were plenty of reasons to worry about Orlando’s ability to keep the ball out of the back of the net.

Things have looked much better in 2025, though. The 22 goals OCSC has conceded are the fifth-fewest in the league, and Pedro Gallese’s eight clean sheets are tied for most in the league. Aside from a few egregious defensive performances against the Philadelphia Union, Atlanta United, and the Chicago Fire, things have mostly been tidy at the back, and when they haven’t been, El Pulpo has been around to pick up the slack. Again, things haven’t been perfect, as there have been moments where individual and collective errors have hurt the team, but it’s been better.

I thought the Lions would struggle this year. Going into the start of the season, we were talking about a team that lost Torres, arguably didn’t do enough to strengthen the team across the board, was facing depth issues, and was dealing with a leaky defense — all while pretty much every other contender in the East got stronger on paper. Instead, OCSC tied a club-best unbeaten streak and is just three points out of second place.

That being said, the East is so tight that Orlando is only five points above the playoff line, and injuries to the wrong guys could easily topple the fragile ecosystem that is the depth chart, but so far things are going better than I thought they would be. There are still a lot of matches to play, but this isn’t a bad position to be in at the halfway mark.