Hello, Mane Landers! I hope all is well with you down in Florida. I had a busy weekend covering a Little League baseball game and working at Under Armour. It was a mixed weekend for Orlando’s teams, as the Lions lost and the Pride won. Let’s also wish a happy birthday to Orlando Pride defender Emily Sams. We’ve got plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links. 

Lions Fall on the Road to New York City FC

Orlando City lost 4-2 to New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Friday. NYCFC scored three goals in the first half to take a large lead into halftime. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Duncan McGuire scored for the Lions late in the second half to pull Orlando within one before NYCFC countered with a late goal to seal the win. Orlando drops to 11th in the Eastern Conference with 21 points. NYCFC snapped its three-match winless streak and is in fifth in the Eastern Conference with 32 points. The Lions’ next match will be on the road on Wednesday to face Toronto FC.

Mason Stajduhar Out For the Season

Orlando City announced that goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar has undergone successful surgery to repair a broken tibia and broken fibula in his right leg. The club confirmed that Stajduhar will be placed on the season-ending injury list as a result. Stajduhar left the pitch early in Orlando’s match against NYCFC due to the injury, with Javier Otero filling in off the bench in his MLS debut.

Orlando Pride Win on the Road against Angel City FC

The Orlando Pride defeated Angel City FC 3-0 on the road at BMO Stadium. Adriana scored twice in the first half, while Barbra Banda added one late in stoppage time for the Pride’s second consecutive win. Orlando extended its 2024 unbeaten streak to 15 matches. After this weekend’s results, Orlando and the Kansas City Current are tied with 35 points. They are tied on goal differential as well, and the two sides will face off when the Pride play the Current on the road Saturday.

USMNT Takes on Uruguay in Copa America

The United States Men’s National Team will take on Group C leader Uruguay tonight in its final match of group play in Copa America. The USMNT lost to Panama on Thursday, meaning there is plenty riding on today’s match. CONMEBOL announced over the weekend that USMNT forward Tim Weah is suspended for two matches and fined for a jab to the back of the head of Panama defender Roderick Miller. Uruguay manager Marcello Bielsa is suspended for tonight’s match due to Uruguay being late to enter the field for the start of the second half in its previous match against Bolivia. As for what to watch for tonight, the U.S. must focus on making smart decisions, going for goals, and stopping Uruguay’s top strikers, Darwin Nunez and Luis Suarez.

Euro 2024 Round of 16 Roundup

The round of 16 kicked off over the weekend in the European Championship. There was an upset as defending champion Italy lost 2-0 to Switzerland with goals from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas. Despite elimination, the Italian FA confirmed manager Luciano Spalletti will keep his job. Germany needed second-half goals from Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala to beat Denmark 2-0 and move on to the quarterfinals. England was trailing 1-0 to Slovakia before Jude Bellingham scored the equalizer to send the match into extra time. Harry Kane then scored the winner to defeat Slovakia 2-1, and England will play Switzerland in the quarterfinals. Spain cruised past Georgia 4-1 to advance as well and will play Germany in the next round. Today’s matches feature France taking on Belgium and Portugal facing Slovenia.

Free Kicks

• Orlando City goalkeeper Pedro Gallese’s Peru side was eliminated from Copa America after a 2-0 loss to Argentina in its Group A finale on Saturday. Peru finished at the bottom of its group with one point.
• The Utah Royals parted ways with head coach Amy Rodriguez and goalkeeper coach Maryse Bard-Martel, while club president Michelle Hyncik will move on to a new opportunity. Jimmy Coenraets will be the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
• Due to a loophole in the CBA, the U.S. men’s Olympic soccer team will not be paid for participating in the Olympics in Paris, as the U.S. Soccer Federation considers it an amateur team.
• Chelsea is reportedly in negotiations to sign Atlanta United defender Caleb Wiley.
• The Philadelphia Union have reached an agreement to transfer forward Julian Carranza to Feyenoord.

That will do it for me today, Mane Landers. Enjoy your Monday and I’ll see you next time.

It was a tale of two halves in a stadium that is designed for games played in innings, and unfortunately Orlando City’s positive second-half performance was not enough to overcome a woeful first half as the Lions lost 4-2 in Yankee Stadium. You are forgiven if you thought you were watching pinball instead of soccer for much of the game, but the Lions lacked a pinball wizard to help them overcome the Pigeons as they fell to 2-7-2 all time on the road at New York City.

I have not turned in grades since my last year teaching high school back in 2008, but I have brought my red pen out of retirement so here we go. Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated individually in an Eastern Conference road defeat.

Starters

GK, Mason Stajduhar, 6 — A nasty injury to Mason’s leg overshadowed everything else in this match, and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that I hope it looked worse than it was, but I think we are going to hear that Mason will once again have a long road to recovery ahead of him. Prior to his injury, he had been playing well. He had two saves and I do not think he was at fault for the goal, as it was a perfectly struck ball in the corner, and very few goalkeepers, if any, could have made that save. Mason only played 17 minutes in this match before his injury forced him off the field, but he did enough during those minimal minutes to earn a positive grade, even if it may be partially for sentimental reasons.

D, Rafael Santos, 4.5 — The Brazilian defender did not have one of his better games, as his 67.6% pass percentage was the lowest among all 22 starters (including NYCFC players) and he was caught ball-watching on the second goal and was a step behind as Hannes Wolf blew right past him to finish and put NYCFC up 2-0. Santos did have three tackles and made a number of aggressive attacking runs up the left side of the field, but when he did receive the ball on those runs, his crosses did not lead to anything of substance. There was time and space for Santos to set up something from the left flank in the 53rd minute but he crossed the ball straight to the goalkeeper. The Brazilian was subbed off for Kyle Smith in the 64th minute.

D, Robin Jansson, 5.5 — Jansson’s performance will not be one he remembers fondly, in particular because NYCFC’s second goal happened right in front of him and deflected off his leg into the back of the net. It is possible that Javier Otero may have saved the shot had it not deflected off of Jansson, but I do not fault the Beefy Swede fully for this goal, as it was a series of poor plays that all combined to drop the Lions behind 2-0. Jansson did lead the team in clearances (3) and blocked shots (2), and he was third on the team with 47 completed passes at a 75.8% rate, but in the end it was not one of his better performances for Orlando City.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6 — I was surprised when looking at the stats to see that Schlegel was second on the team in completed passes with 50, at an 83.3% completion rate, because for large stretches of the match I did not even think about him being out on the field. Both he and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson were caught ball-watching on NYCFC’s third goal, as they were late to react to the through ball played by Tayvon Gray, and by the time they got up to sprinting speed Agustín Ojeda had beaten them to the spot and put the ball in the net. The Argentinean finished three tackles, two interceptions and two clearances, and he made a couple of vital plays that kept the score from getting worse before halftime, with a headed clearance of a dangerously whipped in ball in the 43rd minute and a challenge that turned a would-be NYCFC scoring chance into an Orlando goal kick in first-half stoppage time. He also completed the rare game where did not get into a screaming match with any of his teammates or his opponents.

D, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, 6.5 — This match was a little bit of a trick-or-treat match for the Icelandic defender, as he was a step slow in recovery for NYCFC’s third goal and his turnover led to the Pigeons’ fourth goal, but he also put the Lions on the board with a well-placed header, and his driving run into the box led to Orlando City’s second goal, even though he probably shot have shot the ball instead of trying to pass it. For the game, he completed 88.6% of his passes and led the team in aerials won (5) and tackles (4), but that one moment of ball watching that allowed Agustín Ojeda to get behind him and tap in a cross will likely be what he remembers most from this match.

MF, César Araujo, 5.5 — The last play of the game basically amounted to an undressing of Araujo as Mounsef Bakrar just dipped a shoulder and nutmegged the Uruguayan midfielder before tucking the clinching goal into the far corner of the net. It was not emblematic of Araujo’s play all game long, but it will likely be what he remembers most about this match. For the game, Araujo was his usual engaged self, leading the team in completed passes (54), fouls earned (3), fouls committed (3), and he intercepted two passes. The partnership with César and Nico Lodeiro was just not there in this game, and on a field as small as Yankee Stadium’s I think the Lions really missed the Araujo and Wilder Cartegana pairing in the central midfield of the team’s standard 4-2-3-1.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6 — Unfortunately Torres’ scoring streak has now ended after two games, but he did make a good effort to extend it to three against NYCFC. The Uruguayan Designated Player led the team with four shots, putting two on target, including a dipping shot in the 77th minute that could have changed the complexion of the final minutes had he not hit it pretty much right down the middle. He also played a nice give and go with Duncan McGuire in the 61st minute but slipped on the turf as he tried to shoot and ended up hitting a weak shot right at the goalkeeper. In addition to leading the team in shots, Facundo also led the team with three key passes and was involved in the buildup to the first goal.

MF, Nico Lodeiro, 3.5 — This will be a game to forget for Lodeiro, from the first NYCFC goal, where it was his turnover that gave the ball away to start the counterattack, to the second and third goals, where on both occasions a critical pass in the buildup happened right in front of him while he stayed yards away without putting any pressure on the ball. Due to Stajduhar’s injury, Orlando City had to use a substitution window in the first half, leaving the team with only two for the second half, so Oscar Pareja chose to use halftime to take Lodeiro off for Jeorgio Kocevski. Despite only playing during the first half, Nico did complete the fourth-most passes on the team with 40, at an 87% completion percentage, but his passes did not really create any offense and the coaching staff likely felt that they had seen enough of the partnership of Araujo and Lodeiro in the middle.

MF, Iván Angulo, 4.5 — What a different game this could have been had Angulo put away that golden chance he had in the first minute of the match, but he shot it weakly right at the goalkeeper. Unfortunately for him, that was not his only mistake of the half, as in stoppage time Angulo failed to hold off Tayvon Gray on a ball that he should have seen out for a goal kick. Instead, he allowed Gray to fight through him and pass it back into the middle for NYCFC’s second goal. As always, Angulo tried to use his speed out on the flanks, but in Yankee Stadium there basically are no flanks due the fact that they are playing soccer on a baseball field, and so he did not impact the game as much as he usually does with runs up the left side. He completed 77.8% of his 27 passes, but it was not his day and Luis Muriel subbed on for him in a Colombian-for-Colombian swap in the 64th minute.

MF, Martín Ojeda, 6.5 (MotM) — I thought this match was one of the better ones I have ever seen from the Argentinean Designated Player, as from the beginning he was all over the field and aggressive on both offense and defense. I expect that he was especially excited to start after coming off of the bench in six of the last seven matches. He could have done more, especially with some of his crosses that looked remarkably similar to those of Orlando City’s legendary lefty Carlos Rivas in how they flew very high and very far away, but Ojeda did have two key passes, including a perfect cross to Dagur Dan for the first goal. He placed two of his three shots on target, including one he absolutely ripped right at Matt Freese in the second half. Jack Lynn came on for Ojeda in the dying minutes of the game as Orlando City was chasing a third goal, but if the Lions can get more performances like this from Ojeda then I expect we will see him in the starting lineup more often.

F, Duncan McGuire, 5.5 — Duncan waited until very late in the game, but he got on the scoresheet once again, smashing a ball into the net after it rebounded off of NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese in the 91st minute. I thought Duncan brought his usual high level work rate to this match but the crosses from his teammates just were not close enough for him to be able to do anything with them and his holdup play could have been better. NYCFC’s slim field likely contributed a lot to their ability to keep Duncan isolated off the ball as well, as the hosts could keep their two central defenders around him since they did not have to worry too much about the ball going wide, because there is no ‘wide’ in Yankee Stadium. Duncan played the full match but only got 25 touches of the ball in those 90 minutes, though in those 25 touches he did win three aerials and scored his seventh goal of the season on his only shot.

Substitutes

GK, Javier Otero (29′), 5 — Otero made his MLS debut, coming in for the injured Stajduhar in the 29th minute. I am sure this is not how he had imagined it, coming in after a horrific injury, but the moment did not seem too big for the young Venezuelan, and he was engaged in the game from the first minute he stepped on the field. Unfortunately for Otero, Orlando City’s defense put him in a tough position twice during first-half stoppage time, giving up two shots from close range in the first half that both were converted for NYCFC goals. Otero might have had a chance to stop the first one had it not deflected off Jansson, and the second first-half stoppage-time goal was one that no goalkeeper would have stopped. Otero held his own in the second half, collecting one cross and completing 82.3% of his passes, but was beaten on the final play of the game by a well-placed shot that curled just around his fingertips into the far corner of the net. The shot was perfect, so it’s harsh to blame Otero for any of the three goals conceded on his watch. Still, it was not the debut that Otero would have wanted, and he is still looking for his first MLS save, but this experience will surely prove invaluable to him in future matches .

MF, Jeorgio Kocevski (46’), 6.5 — The MLS rookie from Syracuse came on at halftime for Lodeiro, and I gave him some consideration for Man of the Match with how he changed the game for Orlando City in the second half. In his longest performance of the season, Kocevski played well, looking composed on the ball, completing 91.9% of his passes, and playing an incisive pass to Kyle Smith that led to the Martín Ojeda cross, allowing him to serve as provider on the first goal for Orlando City. With a midweek road game coming up at Toronto, Jeorgio may have earned himself another batch of minutes since the Lions will be on short rest, and if he can put in another performance like the one from this match, he may find himself playing more and more minutes in the second half of the season.

D, Kyle Smith (64′), 5.5 — Smith entered the game in the 64th minute for a mostly ineffective Santos, and in the most minutes he has played since April he had a solid performance. The veteran defender did not make a lot of defensive plays, only recording two blocks and one interception, but he did show his offensive abilities, completing 85.7% of his passes, including a well-placed pass to Ojeda for the secondary assist on the first Orlando City goal.

F, Luis Muriel (64′), 5.5 — The Colombian Designated Player entered the game for Angulo in the 64th minute and in his minutes on the field he provided the full Luis Muriel experience — one that I wrote about in more detail earlier this week. In less than 30 minutes on the field, he took three shots, launching two over the goal in his best Aaron-Judge-in-Yankee-Stadium impression while putting one shot on target, though that one was basically a tap after the ball bounced of the NYCFC goalkeeper. He played two key passes, including a smart ball to Torres that led to a great opportunity that Facundo unfortunately just hit too close to the goalkeeper. Muriel also completed the only through ball for the Lions, but overall he only completed 72.7% of his passes. Muriel was on the field for both of Orlando City’s goals and I believe that the offense was better with him in the game, but in my opinion he did not do as well with the ball at his feet as he could have with the Lions chasing a result.

F, Jack Lynn (90′), N/A — Lynn came on in stoppage time with the Lions chasing the game, but during his brief time on the pitch he only touched the ball twice and completed one pass.

That’s how I saw the individual performances on Friday night. What did you think? Be sure to let us know in the comments and vote in the poll below for your Orlando City Man of the Match.

Orlando City was shell shocked out of the gate on Major League Soccer’s smallest field en route to a 4-2 loss to fellow 2015 expansion side New York City FC. What follows are my five takeaways from a match where Orlando City lost more than just three points.

Early Giveaways

After an initial chance for Orlando in the first minute, NYCFC grew into the match much quicker than the Lions did, asking questions early and often and ultimately finding the breakthrough goal in the 15th minute. On a field where you must be aware of the opposition at all times, Nico Lodeiro was dispossessed from behind by Alonso Martinez, leading to a wide-open shot by Santiago Rodriguez, which found the bottom left corner of the goal past an outstretched arm of Mason Stajduhar. For a veteran like Lodeiro, the giveaway comes as a praticularly frustrating mental lapse and allowed NYCFC jump out to a far-too-easy lead.

Gruesome Injury

On the heels of arguably his best game as a Lion, Stajduhar once again was slotted into the starting 11 as Pedro Gallese continues to represent Peru in Copa America. Just after the first NYCFC goal, Malachi Jones found himself streaking down the pitch and met the legs of a sliding Stajduhar near the top of the box. The Homegrown keeper suffered a horrific lower leg injury in the collision with Jones, requiring an extended stoppage of play as Mason’s leg was immobilized and he was ultimately stretchered off the field. While the extent of the injury isn’t known at this time, it seemed like the kind of thing that will force Stajduhar to miss the remainder of the 2024 MLS season. All of us are wishing him as fast a recovery as possible.

Lions Stop Nothing in Stoppage Time

With 13 mintures of injury time added on at the end of the first half, it seemed as if the best-case scenario for Orlando City was to make it to the break only down by a goal. Instead, the Lions essentially played themselves out of the match, conceding an additional two times before limping their way to the lockerroom. NYCFC simply outhustled Orlando on both opportunties and effectively put the game to bed after just one half of play. It is understandble for the players to be rattled after watching their teammate get carted off the field, but that isn’t an excuse for the sloppy marking and poor communication, which seemed to plague the back line over the final minutes of the half.

Second-Half Effort

Orlando could have packed up the bus, headed to the plane, and got out of town without playing the second half at all, but the Lions did come back out onto the pitch and put in a much better effort over the final 45 minutes. Even in a defeat there were small positives to take away from this match, such as the play of Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, the maturity of Jeorgio Kocevski, and the levelheaded play of Rodrigo Schlegel. Arguably the best Lion on the baseball field, Thorhallsson’s second-half efforts paid off when he was able to head a perfectly weighted cross from Martin Ojeda into the back of the net for Orlando’s first goal of the match. Maybe Orlando looked better due to NYCFC taking its foot off the gas. Maybe the Lions decided that — win or lose — their pride was still on the line.

No Quit

Orlando did just enough to make the final moments of the match interesting before ultimately allowing a fourth NYCFC goal. Just after the 90th minute, thanks to continued pressure and a little bit of sloppy defense, Duncan McGuire was able calmy toe poke the ball into the back of the net for his seventh goal of the campaign. If we are being honest, Thorhallsson probably should have shot the ball in the buildup but made an extra pass in the box, resulting in a rebound from a bad back pass by NYCFC. That deflection led to a failed attempt by Luis Muriel that fell to McGuire. Again, Orlando could have easily given up in this one after being down 3-0 at halftime, but somehow, with 90 seconds to go in stoppage time, the Lions found themselves only down a goal.

Those were my takeaways from a disappointing 4-2 loss to NYCFC. Orlando will look to regain its winning form next week north of the border against Toronto FC in a match where we might see a handful of Lions return from international duty. What were your thoughts from this game? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and, as always, vamos Orlando!