Orlando City
Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Final Score 1-1 as a Late Own Goal Salvages a Point for the Lions
It was a mostly forgettable match but the Lions found a late goal to at least earn a point.
Orlando City continues to struggle in the final third, but an own goal created by a Jack Lynn flick allowed the Lions (1-3-2, 5 points) to come from behind late to grab a point in a 1-1 draw against the New York Red Bulls (3-1-2, 11 points). The Lions conceded first from the penalty spot with Lewis Morgan giving the visitors the lead, but ultimately found a way to get a result in front of an announced crowd of 23,859 at Inter&Co Stadium.
“A great effort with what a poor result,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the game. ” And the poor result means, we’ve got to take the point, but with that performance, that effort, that energy, you may think things should end different, but it did not. We conceded a PK from nothing and other than that dangerous play that New York had in the second half, I don’t remember any other action (created by the Red Bulls).”
Pareja’s lineup included Pedro Gallese back in goal after missing last weekend while on international duty. El Pulpo lined up behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. The four-man midfield was made up of Ivan Angulo, Nico Lodeiro, Kyle Smith, and Facundo Torres. Luis Muriel and Duncan McGuire led the attack up top.
The Lions started on the front foot but struggled to break through New York’s tight defense in the last decisive movement. Angulo fired a shot that was blocked behind for a corner in the second minute. Orlando took its first several corners short in the first half and none of those plays came close to producing anything.
Thorhallsson tried to fizz a cross through the six to Angulo in the fifth minute but it was too close to Carlos Coronel, who came off his line to grab it.
In the 16th minute, Muriel lined up a shot but took too long in getting it off and Wikelman Carmona got to it first. As a result, Muriel’s swing hit the New York midfielder instead of the ball and the resulting foul on the Orlando forward stopped another promising attack.
New York broke through moments later. Santos was beaten badly by fullback Dylan Nealis, who got into the penalty area and held off Angulo before dropping a pass for Morgan. Smith arrived at the same time as the ball but clipped Morgan and referee Victor Rivas pointed to the spot.
Morgan sent a perfect penalty inside the right post to open the scoring in the 22nd minute.
“They get the penalty, which is too easy that we let that one happen,” Jansson said. “But other than that, I don’t remember anything crazy. They created a little bit, but I do think that we had the most time on the ball and we were really trying to go for it today.”
The Smith foul was a microcosm of the first half for Orlando, which was always second quickest to 50/50 balls and every untidy touch was taken away by the visitors.
Orlando won a series of corners but did nothing with them, although one dangerous cross in was flicked on by McGuire. However, none of his teammates could get onto the end of it and New York cleared.
The Lions were lucky not to go down two goals moments later. A terrible giveaway by Santos sent the Red Bulls in transition. Dennis Gjengaar took the ball down the right and Gallese came off his line to cut down the angle. The New York winger sent his shot well wide of the near post, wasting the opportunity.
The match got a bit chippy after that, with players on both teams pushing and shoving but everyone managed to avoid a booking for it. New York did have Peter Stroud cautioned for a hard foul on Lodeiro and Andres Reyes later picked up a yellow card for a tactical foul to stop McGuire in transition.
Muriel did well to beat Coronel to a ball in the box in the 43rd minute but he had no angle to shoot. He laid the ball back to Torres, who crossed it to the far post for Thorhallsson, however, the Icelandic fullback was beaten in the air and New York cleared.
Angulo sent a bouncing ball high over the net deep in stoppage time and that was it for the first half. Orlando did some things well but the passing and touch was a bit off, playing right into New York’s pressure, and several Lions dribbled into traps the Red Bulls set and were dispossessed in a half mostly played between the penalty areas.
Orlando City finished the half with more possession (55.4%-44.6%), shot attempts (6-2), and corners (5-0), while New York passed more accurately (86.2%-83.8%) and each team put just one shot on frame.
Orlando had a couple of opportunities to start the half, but could not make them pay off. His first was a shot he pulled wide of the left post in the 52nd minute. Coronel had his near post covered anyway. Moments later, McGuire had a shot deflected into Coronel’s hands. Muriel then missed badly on a good attacking movement started with Smith sending a great ball down the left for Torres.
Jansson kept the scoreline from getting worse in the 57th minute. Santos got skinned down the flank again and the ball found its way to Gjengaar in front but Jansson slid in to deflect the shot wide.
New York again could have doubled the lead in the 64th minute when substitute Elias Manoel had a free header in the box but sent it right at Gallese. The play quickly went the other way and McGuire did well to get free of the last defender, but when he entered the box, he sent his shot straight at Coronel.
Orlando nearly got a gift of an own goal in the 73rd minute off a free kick entry that the defense smashed just wide of Coronel’s goal.
The Red Bulls should have put the game away moments later. Schlegel coughed up the ball in his own half and Morgan quickly sent the ball to the middle for a streaking Manoel, but the New York attacker sent his shot just inches wide of the left post.
Smith won Orlando a dangerous free kick two minutes later just outside the area and right in the middle, however, the Lions were called for being offside on the ensuing set piece shot by substitute Martin Ojeda. Coronel had made the save on the shot, but gave up a juicy rebound. The infraction on Orlando stopped the attack.
Pareja sent Lynn and Cesar Araujo on as late subs and it paid dividends. In the 89th minute, Angulo did well to race past the defense to get to a through ball from Araujo, and he cut toward goal, sending a dangerous ball in front. Lynn tried to backheel flick it toward goal but couldn’t make good contact, and it hit defender Noah Eile and went in to tie the score.
“Before I (sent in the centering pass), I took a look up and I saw Jack Lynn at the front post,” Angulo said through a club interpeter. “So, I crossed it and centered it his way. But the good news is that thankfully it went off the defender and resulted in that own goal that we were able to equalize with.”
The Lions looked for a late winner, but couldn’t find one. The only decent look during the five minutes of stoppage time fell for Araujo outside the area. The midfielder had a long run-up to the loose ball and smashed it toward the net, but it was always rising and fizzed over the crossbar.
Moments later, the game was over. Orlando is just 1-1-2 at home in 2024 in MLS play.
The Lions dominated possession (62.2%-37.8%) with New York content most of the second half to stay compact and look for counterattack opportunities. Orlando also finished with more shots (13-7), shots on target (4-2), and corners (8-1). With the Red Bulls playing the anywhere-will-do game in the second half, the Lions also finished as the more accurate passing team (87.6%-78.4%).
“I think we played well. We had the ball, (but it) was not really too dangerous in the opposite attacking area, unfortunately,” Jansson said. “But we’re creating a lot, bringing the ball up there, and then we need to get to the more dangerous chances to put the ball in the net.”
“We had volume, we had sequences, we had energy, we had many things that make you win games, but if you don’t have punch, then it’s not going to happen,” Pareja said. “So, we need to score goals if we want to win games. It’s not happening and I have to come up with something and help them. They are bringing a lot of energy and they have the quality.”
The Lions have next weekend off and will next be in action on April 13, when they visit Audi Field to play D.C. United.
Orlando City
Orlando City Announces Signing of Iago on MLS U22 Initiative Deal
The Brazilian youth international joins the Lions through the 2028-2029 season.
Orlando City announced today the long-reported signing of Brazilian defender Iago Teodoro, colloquially known simply as Iago, from Brazilian top flight club CR Flamengo. The Lions signed Iago through the 2028-2029 season on an MLS U22 Initiative contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the club, although unconfirmed online reports have stated the Lions will only get 50% of a sell-on in the transaction.
“Iago is a talented young defender with experience at one of the best youth and professional clubs in the world,” Orlando City General Manager and Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira said in a club press release. “He has shown a strong competitive mentality (and) leadership qualities beyond his years that took him to lead Brazil’s U-20 squad as a captain in the latest FIFA U-20 World Cup. Iago also has an ability to contribute on both sides of the ball. We believe his profile fits well within our long‑term vision, and we’re excited to bring him here (to) Orlando.”
The 20-year-old Brazilian youth international from Volta Redonda, Brazil came up through Flamengo’s academy, debuting for the club’s U-20 team in July 2022 and making his first-team debut in January of 2024. Iago has accumulated a combined 68 appearances and has logged more than 5,000 minutes across Flamengo’s senior and U-20 teams across all competitions. He’s scored 14 goals for his club, helping Flamengo win the 2021 U-17 Brazilian Championship, the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 U-20 Intercontinental Cups, the 2022 and 2024 Brazilian Cups, the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 Campeao Carioca, and the 2025 Serie A title.
On the international stage, Iago has 13 caps with Brazil’s U-20 team, scoring three goals and captaining the team in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
If you like buying kits with unique numbers, Iago will wear No. 57 on his jersey.
What It Means for Orlando City
The Lions have filled all three MLS U22 Initiative slots and will likely have to press the young center back into service quickly with Robin Jansson out with an injury and the club short of experienced depth in the interior back line. Iago is young, has good size, and is athletic. He fits the club’s profile and is the type of player who could yield a big profit in a future sale, even if Orlando City gets only half the fee.
The defender will have a little bit of preseason to learn Oscar Pareja’s system and get to know his teammates, but getting this signing across the finish line earlier would have obviously been more optimal. Iago seems to have a better nose for the net than just about any previous Orlando City center back in the MLS era, but only time will tell if those skills will translate to Major League Soccer.
The back line depth is still sketchy and lacks experience with Jansson out. David Brekalo has to be a locked-in starter at this point, with Iago his probable partner to start the season. Nolan Miller, Wilder Cartagena, and Adrian Marin would serve as the depth until the captain returns, with the Lions perhaps employing a three-man back line and wingbacks at times. The Lions will need Iago and Miller to grow up in a hurry, or things could get dicey quickly if Brekalo picks up a knock or a suspension early in the season.
Orlando City
Orlando City’s Roster Short On Tenure, Long On Ambition
The 2026 roster is not yet finalized, but for the first time in years it will primarily be made up of players who only recently joined the club.
If you are like me and are a fan of both soccer and basketball, you likely have been overwhelmed during the last few days by transfer news in global soccer and trades in the NBA as teams shape their rosters for the stretch runs of their seasons (most soccer leagues around the world, the NBA) or the season about to start (MLS, a handful of other spring-to-fall leagues). The news around Orlando City has mostly been limited to rumors about possible defensive reinforcements in recent weeks, and while our Ben Miller became an overnight expert in Polish soccer X (the service that was formerly, and more successfully, known as Twitter), it turned out to be for naught, as the attempted acquisition of Dušan Stojinović fell through due to a failed medical.
The rumors persist about the coming acquisition of Brazilian central defender Iago (Shakespeare lovers surely agree that if he signs it is a good thing there is no longer a Rod(e)rigo on the roster), but as of this writing, the only official recent acquisition came when the Lions signed 2026 MLS SuperDraft draft pick Nolan Miller on Wednesday.
MLS roster construction is complicated, and if you are struggling with sleep I recommend you read through the rules and regulations from the league’s website (that link takes you to the 2025 rules, as they have yet to update them for 2026, which is good news because that means some new sleep-inducing material will be published soon). To simplify, however, teams generally have 20 players on their senior roster and then a supplemental roster of up to 11 players who are also available for selection on game days.
With more than two weeks until the season opener, the roster remains in flux, but we can assume that by the season opener the club will probably have signed a few more players in order to make use of most of those available roster spots. Unless they go out and bring a former OCSC player back to Orlando, the Lions will be acquiring a player who will be new to the club, and that, plus all of the turnover from the 2025 team, made me wonder about the average tenure of this year’s team, in comparison to other Orlando City clubs from the past.
The 2026 roster is not finalized yet, but in honor of the hopefully soon-to-be-announced acquisition, we can channel Othello’s Iago and manipulate the data a little bit to fill out the 2026 Orlando City roster like so:
- Goalkeeper: Maxime Crépeau, Javier Otero.
- Defender: David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Adrián Marín, Nolan Miller, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi.
- Central Midfielder: Eduard Atuesta, Wilder Cartagena, Joran Gerbet, Colin Guske, Braian Ojeda, Luis Otávio.
- Attacker: Iván Angulo, Gustavo Caraballo, Justin Ellis, Duncan McGuire, Martín Ojeda, Marco Pašalić, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer, Tiago, Yutaro Tsukada.
- Roster Spots That Will Be Filled: Designated Player (attacker), Defender (likely Iago), Defender (outside back), Additional Player, Additional Player.
I held the line at 29 players, though I will not be surprised if the club maxes out the full 30. It is also possible that some of the young players like Caraballo, Ellis, Guske, Miller, Otávio, Reid-Brown, Sarajian, and even Tsukada play very few or even zero minutes this year at the senior level. It is always exciting to think about the potential of young players, especially those who came up through the academy or were signed via the MLS U22 Initiative, but Óscar Pareja plays every game to win, and over the years he has shown a preference for going with veterans as opposed to young players.
Pareja is not completely opposed to youth, however, and with a roster this full of young players he may not have a choice but to give a serious chunk of minutes to players in their teens or early 20s this season. According to fbref.com, last season’s team had a weighted average age of 27.4 years old during MLS play (10th oldest among all teams), but unless the next few acquisitions are veterans in the twilights of their careers (I am looking at you, Antoine Griezmann), that average age is likely going to drop in 2026.
If we take that theoretical roster that I outlined earlier, and instead of using their actual ages use the number of years that each player has been with the club (assigning a value of one for all of the players who have never played for the senior team), we get the distribution below:
- Goalkeeper: Maxime Crépeau (1), Javier Otero (3).
- Defender: David Brekalo (3), Robin Jansson (8, most in the MLS era), Adrián Marín (2), Nolan Miller (1), Tahir Reid-Brown (1), Zakaria Taifi (2).
- Central Midfielder: Eduard Atuesta (2), Wilder Cartagena (4), Joran Gerbet (2), Colin Guske (2), Braian “Defensive” Ojeda (1), Luis Otávio (1).
- Attacker: Iván Angulo (5), Gustavo Caraballo (2), Justin Ellis (2), Duncan McGuire (4), Martín “Offensive” Ojeda (4), Marco Pašalić (2), Harvey Sarajian (1), Tyrese Spicer (2), Tiago (1), Yutaro Tsukada (2).
- Roster Spots That Will Be Filled: Designated Player (attacker) (1), Defender (likely Iago) (1), Defender (outside back) (1), Additional Player (1), Additional Player (1).
Before anyone yells at me, Cartagena and Tsukada both have actually been with the club for one more season than I represented above, but I am counting soccer-playing seasons, and they both missed all of 2025 due to injury. The math is not as elegant as it was to Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, but the chart below, which shows the counts by player tenure for every season going back to the team’s inaugural MLS season, will either look beautiful or hideous to you, depending on your artistic perspective. I think it looks fantastic.
The first few years are clear outliers, with every player being new to the club in 2015 (some players had been with the club in the USL era, but my definition of tenure was playing in a game for Orlando City’s MLS team) and no players being able to get to a “longer” tenure until at least 2019. That said, the 2026 team looks like it will be heavily populated by players in their first two seasons with Orlando City (the purple and gold bars in the chart), with that combined number likely being the most since the 2020 team.
Until the roster is finalized and the games begin my 2026 forecast is just that — an estimate of who will play in at least one game for the Lions this season. Just because the team will most likely be full of newer players, it does not mean that they cannot be successful. Inter Miami won the league title last season with 19 players in their first two seasons with the club and only four who had been there for more than three seasons.
The sports world writ large is moving to shorter contracts, with teams changing a lot from year to year, and after two years of relative stability, it looks like this Orlando City season will follow the same pattern and we will see the debuts of more players than in recent years — and also see more appearances by recent acquisitions (i.e. last season or this season) than in a long time.
Hopefully, some more new acquisitions will be announced soon, helping fill out the roster and answer some of the depth chart questions that we frequently talk about in our internal The Mane Land Slack channel (if you are reading this article, you are clearly incredibly intelligent and a passionate fan, so why not come join us and add your opinion to the mix?).
All those new acquisitions would come in as brand new Lions, bringing down that average tenure, but in the end what really matters is not whether a player has been with the club for three years but whether in a game they can help bring the club three points. The crowds at Inter&Co Stadium will be ready to roar for any Lions who can deliver, and I am looking forward to the next announcement from Ricardo Moreira on who will be taking their talents to Church Street and taking Orlando City back to the playoffs.
The club’s lofty goals remain the same, even if many of the players scoring the goals may be playing for the team for the first time.
Vamos Orlando!
Opinion
Likes and Dislikes From the Fourth Week of Orlando City Preseason
Let’s talk through some of the good and bad from the fourth week of Orlando’s preseason preparations.
The fourth week of Orlando City’s preseason preparations is (almost) in the books. The Lions will be kicking off the 2026 MLS season against the New York Red Bulls in a little over two weeks’ time, which seems impossibly near at hand. Let’s take a look at some of the good and some of the bad from the week that was.
Likes
Nolan Miller Earns a Contract
OCSC announced on Wednesday that it signed 2026 MLS SuperDraft selection Nolan Miller to a deal through the 2026 season with several additional option years tacked on. The center back was the ninth overall pick in the draft, and it’s good to see another high selection earning a contract after Harvey Sarajian was the first from the current draft class to do so back in January. Part of the motivation behind the move may be due to Orlando’s center back situation that we’ll touch on later, but either way, the youngster has his foot in the door and will have a chance to get on the field, contribute, and potentially extend his stay in the City Beautiful.
Iago Reportedly on Track
It’s been a trying week for Orlando City fans (more on that below), but another piece of news to be happy about came on Wednesday, when Oscar Pareja noted during his media availability that the team is continuing to work towards finalizing the signing of center back Iago from Flamengo.
This is one that’s been rumored for awhile, and devoted social media users may have even seen specific numbers thrown around, like a transfer fee of $1.5 million and Flamengo retaining a sell-on clause of 50%. Whether those are accurate or not, only time will tell, but for now it’s good to hear that talks are ongoing. While it would be nice for the process to go a little quicker, signing players from Brazilian teams seems to be a bit tricky at times, so it isn’t necessarily surprising that this deal is taking its sweet time. Hopefully negotiations wrap up quickly and Iago can join the Lions sooner rather than later though, because as we’re about to discuss, the team is almost certainly going to need him.
Dislikes
Robin Jansson’s Injury
Robin Jansson had surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his right foot. While no specific recovery timeline was announced and it’s difficult to estimate one since we don’t know when exactly the surgery happened, this is not great news so close to the start of the season. David Brekalo is currently the only experienced center back available to take the field, and we’re 15 days away from the first game of the season. A lot can change in that amount of time, but it’s a nervy place to be regardless. I also don’t love the fact that the injury is a Jones fracture. The fifth metatarsal, where the break occurred, is an area of the body that’s notorious for not getting great blood flow when compared to other bones, and Jones fractures have a reputation of being tricky injuries to heal. The captain is in good hands with the club’s staff and the good folks at Orlando Health, but I would caution restraint when it comes to expecting him to make a speedy return to the field.
A Signing Falls Through
The news of Jansson’s injury might have been slightly easier to bear if not for this piece of news that Tom Bogert broke on Monday.
The wording that the deal fell apart after a failed medical implies that all of the particulars were sorted between the clubs and the player, and that it was the very last hurdle that proved its undoing. That’s brutal enough on the face of things, as it deprived Orlando of a starting-caliber center back who is only 25 and would presumably have time to grow and improve at the club for a number of years. When Jansson’s injury is taken into account, it hurts even worse. As I said earlier, a lot can happen in two weeks, but due to unfortunate and uncontrollable circumstances the Lions’ center back corps is looking positively threadbare at the time of this writing.
While it’s very easy to get lost in the negatives, this week wasn’t all bad. Losing one potential center back and then a nailed-on starter and club captain in the space of two days hurts, there’s no getting around it. But on the bright side, a young player will get a chance to prove himself, an MLS U22 Initiative signing will reportedly be on the way sooner or later, and there’s still some time for additional reinforcements to arrive before the season opener arrives. Keep your heads up, take things one day at a time, and pray for good things from the soccer gods. Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City Announces Signing of Iago on MLS U22 Initiative Deal
Orlando City’s Roster Short On Tenure, Long On Ambition
Likes and Dislikes From the Fourth Week of Orlando City Preseason
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