Connect with us

Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: Final Score 1-1 as Lions Struggle on the Road

In an ugly road game, the Lions endured another controversy that went against them but ultimately accomplished little against the Fire.

Published

4 weeks ago

on

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

In perhaps the most frustrating match of the season, Orlando City threw away a one-goal lead on the road and drew an abysmal Chicago Fire team 1-1 at Soldier Field. The Lions (4-6-5, 17 points) got an early goal by Facundo Torres but were cut open repeatedly throughout the night and ultimately gave up a soft goal to Hugo Cuypers of the Fire (2-8-6, 12 points) in the second half to split the points.

Orlando City will feel hard done by the officiating crew again after what appeared to be a clear foul on an Ivan Angulo breakaway in the penalty area late in the first half, but the Lions simply didn’t play well enough outside of that to deserve three points.

“A game that we should have won,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “I thought we had our opportunities. I thought we had our actions to define the game. We felt that we should have won it.”

Pareja rolled with his 3-5-2 with Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Robin Jansson, Wilder Cartagena, and David Brekalo. Torres and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson played the wingback positions outside a midfield of Nico Lodeiro, Cesar Araujo, and Angulo, with Luis Muriel and Martin Ojeda up top.

Orlando City struggled all night to connect passes, seemingly baffled by the Chicago defense. Passes were often straight at Fire opponents, whether a no-look, one-touch effort or with plenty of time and space and a good view of the field. The striker partnership of Muriel and Ojeda was disjointed, and Ojeda struggled mightily in about every phase of the game on this night.

Still, the Lions took the lead just four minutes in. A good ball into the area by Angulo found Torres in front. The winger didn’t shoot with his first touch and he had a couple of attempts blocked by the defense just above the top of the six. Angulo had a go and his shot was blocked and it shook loose for Torres to take a swipe at. The Uruguayan made contact with the ball and it somehow squirted through the bodies in front and just inside the left post to make it 1-0.

“It was a ball that kind of fell to my right foot, and I was trying to control and finish with my right foot, but it escaped me a little bit,” Torres said. “And then there were about a thousand different situations in which we were trying to get it in, and it didn’t end up falling that way. But then it fell to my left foot in a situation where I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish, but thankfully it went in. At the end of the day, it doesn’t help us too much, because we were only able to get the draw, but (I’m) happy to be able to put the ball in the back of the net.”

The hosts were dealt a blow when fullback Andrew Gutman picked up a knock and was replaced in the 12th minute by Arnaud Souquet.

Each team blew a scoring chance over the next few minutes, only to see the flag come up anyway as this match was anything but the beautiful game.

Chicago couldn’t take advantage of Araujo and Cartagena both failing to clear their lines in the 21st minute when Cuypers sent a shot just inches wide of the left post. After Orlando did little more than get a blocked Angulo shot on a pair of consecutive corner kicks, Chicago got forward again and Brian Gutierrez shot from outside the area. Lodeiro got a foot on the attempt and it made for an easy scoop for Gallese.

Angulo blazed by the entire Fire defense in the 31st minute and with two teammates to his left, only he’ll know for sure if his final ball was a terrible shot or a bad pass. It ended up serving as neither.

Orlando’s defense had shaky moments throughout the match. Tom Barlow had a free header at the near post on a corner kick in the 32nd minute but missed the target badly. Five minutes later, Souquet got in on goal but fired his shot over the net.

The defense was cut open in the 42nd minute, allowing Federico Navarro to get into the box, but Gallese was there to make a vital save.

For the second straight game, an inexplicable call denied Orlando City a penalty, and this time there wasn’t even a potential foul on the other end to offer up any way to justify it. In fact, nothing could explain it away. Angulo was played in behind the defense by Lodeiro in stoppage time and was alone on goalkeeper Chris Brady. As he rounded Brady and prepared to slot the ball into an empty net, Angulo was clipped from behind in his trailing leg by Navarro and couldn’t maintain his balance after that contact and one additional bundle from behind. It seemed like a clear and obvious denial of a goal-scoring opportunity.

However, after a lengthy delay, video assistant referee Edvin Jurisevic determined that referee Malik Badawi did not make a clear and obvious error. Badawi did not go look at the play himself.

“We should have scored that one,” Pareja said. “I can’t understand why it’s not a PK. Surely if I go with all that I should say today I will be fined or something, but it’s inexcusable for the referee not to give us that PK. The guy came from behind him and pushed him. It was a clear PK.

“First and foremost, I think it was a penalty, and I said that (on the field), but at the end of the day you have to live with the decisions of the referee. Some referees would think that that was an error and go back and fix it. This referee didn’t think that there was an error, so we just continued to play, and that’s how it goes.”

The Lions instead had a corner and were called for a foul on the play.

Chicago finished the first half with the advantage in possession (51.4%-48.6%), shots (11-6), and passing accuracy (84.7%-84.6%), while the Lions had more shots on target (2-1), and corners (3-2).

The Lions looked a bit more lively in the opening minutes of the second half, but after about 15 minutes, Chicago looked in control of the match. Orlando won some set pieces early in the half but did nothing with them.

Brekalo bailed Angulo out in the 68th minute after the latter turned the ball over in his own half, leading to a transition chance. The Slovenian defender made a good play to take it away from Cuypers and end the threat.

Muriel got down the left a minute later but instead of shooting with his left foot, he tried to cut back to his right and was dispossessed. It was a costly blown chance because the Fire tied the game on its ensuing possession.

Chicago’s equalizer started at midfield and quickly cycled to the left. Brekalo came out to challenge the ball with plenty of help behind him, but both Cartagena and Thorhallsson reacted too slowly and Souquet got in behind. The substitute centered the ball to Cuypers who got across the front of Jansson and hit a weak shot toward goal that was back toward the direction from which Gallese came. The Peruvian wasn’t able to stop his motion cleanly and the ball dribbled under his outstretched arm and into the net.

The Lions were fortunate not to go behind off their own set piece in the 75th minute. Ojeda left the free kick cross too close to Brady, who punched it well out of his box. It fell kindly to a Fire teammate and the break was on. Orlando was completely disorganized, leaving two opponents wide open on the right. Chicago reacted too slowly, but eventually worked the ball to Jonathan Dean at the top of the area but the right back shot just wide.

Two minutes after that miss, Orlando should have taken the lead. Torres got down the left and put in an inch-perfect cross to Muriel at the back post. The Colombian had a free header but drove it straight at Brady for a comfortable save in the 77th minute.

In the late going, Orlando appeared content with one point on the road against one of the league’s worst teams. Chicago nearly made the Lions pay for that, creating several chances down the stretch. Gutierrez sent a curling shot from the left just wide of Gallese’s far post in the 79th minute. Fabian Herbers shanked a shot from a dangerous spot in the 85th minute and Carlos Teran’s free header was wide on the recycled ball.

Orlando’s last look at goal came in the 91st minute, when substitute Ramiro Enrique made a great play to poke the ball past his opponent and into space for him to run onto. Enrique blazed into the attacking third, cut to his right to clear himself a path to goal, and then fizzed a shot just over the bar.

That was the last decent sight of goal for either side and the game ended in a stalemate.

Chicago finished with the advantage in possession (52.2%-47.8%), shots (18-8), and corners (6-4). The Lions passed slightly more accurately (83.6%-83%), and both teams put two shots on target.

“There’s no excuses,” Torres said. “It was the responsibility of ourselves, especially given the way that we started to maintain control the ball and to play within our game, and when we weren’t doing that, that’s when Chicago was able to really grow into the game and believe in themselves. And this team takes nothing but responsibility for the result tonight.”

“Like always, we’re trying to recover, trying to get feedback from the game, and trying to prepare for the next rival,” Pareja said. “For us it’s important that we can keep our mind calm and see the things we need to get better. Obviously today we wanted the three points, but we’ll take this one. It’s what we should do and then prepare for New York.”

Orlando City has another quick turnaround with a match looming Saturday night at the New York Red Bulls.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Orlando City

Is Luis Muriel Who We Thought He Would Be?

A thorough investigation into whether Luis Muriel has underperformed or if fans just need some dissuasion.

Published

15 hours ago

on

June 27, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Winston Churchill famously evaluated what Russia would do during World War II by saying, “I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.” In the grand scheme of things, the performance of one player on Orlando City’s 2024 squad is slightly less important than what Great Britain’s prime minister was discussing, I think, but when analyzing Luis Muriel and how his season has gone thus far, I continue to come back to the same question: is Luis Muriel underperforming expectations or were our expectations never correct in the first place?

Let’s get right into it — Muriel’s traditional stats thus far this season do not look fantastic for a striker (though it must be said that his post-goal dance on Saturday, dubbed “The Muriel” on this week’s episode of The Mane Land PawedCast, did look fantastic). Here is a chart, using data from fbref.com in collaboration with Opta, that shows some of his 2024 stats, their rank in MLS, and their rank on Orlando City (for some of these metrics I included a qualifier of number of attempts and chose 19 as the minimum, because for many teams that would mean a player had averaged at least one attempt per game in that category):

For a player who is, according to the MLS Players Salary Guide, the 12th-highest paid player in MLS, you would like to see a lot of those ranks closer to the top 10 or 20 in the league than what you see in that chart. For a player who is by far the highest paid on Orlando City’s 2024 team, and is the second highest-paid player ever for Orlando City (Kaká was the highest paid), you would like to see him leading the team in at least one of those categories, if not several.

The bottom two in particular stand out to me, as there are 125 MLS players who have taken at least 19 shots this season, and Muriel ranks 113th on that list in distance from the goal and 92nd in getting his shots on target, meaning he is shooting from farther away than nearly all high-volume shooters, and he is getting his shots on goal less often than most. In fact, his shot profile shows that he is taking a higher percentage of shots from 25+ yards away from the goal (dark purple section below) than any of his teammates are taking from 19+ yards away from the goal (dark purple + light purple sections), and he is taking nearly 70% of all of his shots from outside of the 18.

Now, were he putting these shots on goal — or, even better, in the goal — then nobody would care about where he was shooting from, but when you have three goals all year and 69% of your shots are not on target, then heads are going to shake, shake, shake, shake like a song by the Ying Yang Twins and Pitbull. But this is where I think a step back is needed, because if fans were expecting Muriel to come in and perform as a traditional striker or No. 9, then they were misreading his historical performance and his strengths as a player.

When you look at Muriel’s season-by-season statistics, two seasons jump out that would seem to contradict what I just wrote, and those are his 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons, when he scored 18 and 22 goals, respectively.

“That seems like a lot of goals for someone you say is not a traditional striker, Andrew.”

Well, yes, but 11 of those 40 goals were from free kicks (which definitely takes skill, but skill that is not unique to a striker), and two were rebounds that fell to him inside the six-yard box, and while I do not generally love the statistic called xG (expected goals), it can be useful in some contexts, and those two rebounds both fell to Muriel in a location where a goal was expected 82% and 85% of the time. It’s almost so easy a caveman could do it.

So, either we are left with 27 of his goals (excluding 11 free kicks + two rebounds) or 29 of his goals (excluding only the 11 free kicks) that came from open play during those two high-scoring years — an average of 14.5 or 13.5 a season. Those are definitely good numbers, especially in a highly rated league like Serie A, but they are still also outliers when compared to his goals/year during most of his career.

Looking at his seasons from 2010-2011 through 2022-2023, excluding the two big seasons discussed above, Muriel averaged six non-penalty-kick goals per season. He scored those goals in Italy’s Serie A or Spain’s La Liga, top leagues, but six goals/year is not an amount generally associated with big-time strikers. To assume he would all of a sudden become a major goal scorer in the latter stages of his career just because he is joining a league rated lower than the one where he played previously is a bit of a stretch, and may be an unfair expectation by us as fans.

The other part I want to focus on that I think may be underappreciated by fans is all of the non-scoring contributions that Muriel has made during his time on the field. Yes, in the end the only stats that actually matter are goals and wins, and there have not been a lot of either thus far this season, but no single player is primarily responsible for that, even if they are a highly paid Designated Player.

A lot of the issues Orlando City has had this year are due to geometry (there will always be math when I write) and how the Lions’ shape needs to be in order to get the most out of the players on this year’s team. There are quite a lot of overlapping skills and overlapping places where players like to receive the ball, and that has frequently led to spacing issues on the field with creative players all wanting to go and get the ball in the same location at the same time.

Muriel, unlike many of his teammates, is a two-footed player and thus able to attack from anywhere on the field and in any direction, allowing him to create open spaces to play the ball all over the attacking third of the field. While this can get him into trouble (see: shots from very long range), he also has used this ability to be one of the more active and dangerous players in all of MLS when he has the ball:

As an aside, the last row there is interesting to me because Muriel ranks 16th in all of MLS, yet third on Orlando City (behind Nico Lodeiro in third overall and Facundo Torres in 15th overall). The Crew have two players in the top 16 as well, and every other player in the top 16 is the only one on his respective team. I am not sure whether Orlando City having three near the top is an example of an unselfish team that is comfortable playing the ball among playmakers or reflects a team that does not have the pecking order set, and thus it becomes a little of “my turn, your turn” type offense.

Last season, there was a clear order in that Torres led the team and was 25th in MLS, and the next-highest-ranking players were Martín Ojeda in 57th and Mauricio Pereyra in 79th. Is this something? I think it is still too early to tell, but removing own goals, Orlando City players scored 1.59 goals/game in 2023 and thus far this season they are only scoring 1.16 goals/game, and I believe that the lack of a defined primary creator is one of several contributing factors to the lower-scoring output this season.

Back to Muriel and that chart above, his talent and skill clearly shows in how he is able to thread passes into dangerous areas and create shots at a rate that puts him among the leaders in all of MLS. His dribbling ability, reflected in the progressive carry percentage, shows that he is moving the ball at least 10 yards forward towards the goal 12.7% of the time he dribbles the ball in the offensive half of the field. This puts the defense under pressure, because he is building up a head of steam and coming at pace, and since he is also completing approximately 80% of his short passes (0-15 yards) thus far this season, and completing many of those into the 18, he is a constant threat once he has the ball.

As I mentioned before, Muriel is a two-footed player (Opta’s tracking has the foot used for 83 Muriel goals — 22 were left foot and 61 were right foot, an impressive mix), so he is a player who can go left or right, is accurate with his passes in tight spaces, creates shooting opportunities for his teammates, and wants the ball at all times. These are all qualities you want in an attacking player, especially one as proficient as Muriel is in them.

So we return to the riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma — a player with clear skill and pedigree who is contributing offensively but is not putting up the counting stats fans thought he would, even though he never really did aside from two outlier years. As much as I like to be more glass-half-full than half-empty, I do feel like Muriel should have contributed more goals by this point in the season, but unlike what the fan sitting next to me said during Saturday’s game, I do not think he is massively underperforming either.

In the end, I think Muriel’s performance thus far has been kind of like where we frequently see him on the field, more in the middle than in the front.

Continue Reading

Orlando City

Orlando City at New York City FC: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory on the road at NYCFC?

Published

17 hours ago

on

June 27, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City travels to Yankee Stadium to take on New York City FC in an Eastern Conference showdown. The Lions have climbed within striking distance of the playoff line after the last two matches and need to keep things going in the right direction against the Pigeons. Since I’m not going to be in attendance, Orlando City will need to find another good luck charm.

What does Orlando City need to do to earn all three points on the road against NYCFC?

Keep Torres Hot

Facundo Torres has three goals and an assist in the last two matches, including his brace against the Chicago Fire. I’m not sure if it was the international duty snub by the Uruguayan National Team that prompted him to find the back of the net, but he needs to keep doing it. Prior to the four-goal explosion last match, the Lions have had trouble finishing the chances they have created. Even in that match there were some wasted opportunities with some shots that went wildly wrong. If Torres can put on the same scoring boots he’s had the last two matches, and if Luis Muriel’s penalty kick kicked-starts his scoring, then the Lions have a good chance against NYCFC.

Passing in Limited Space

The Lions are headed to the — in my opinion — worst soccer venue in all of Major League Soccer. Yankee Stadium is historic but for baseball, not soccer. The dimensions of the pitch are significantly smaller than any other place Orlando City has to play. The fact that NYCFC is used to the conditions and plays on that foosball table regularly gives the Pigeons a big advantage over the visitors.

Orlando City needs to be precise passing in such conditions. The passing windows are much smaller because the players are more bunched together. Additionally, the Lions tend to be too cute by half, often making too many passes in their buildup, looking for the perfect rather than accepting the good. That can result in giveaways Orlando City cannot afford. Sometimes it’s better to take a shot rather than make the extra pass. It’s a reverse Jamie Tartt.

Shore up the Defense

Recently, Orlando City’s defense has been a bit more porous than it was last year. Goals are hard to come by, and the defense — not just the back line, but everyone — needs to do better about closing those gaps. Players who normally make the right decisions have had mental lapses that have led to goals for the opposition. That has to stop.

The tighter confines of the pitch may help out a little on the defensive end, but again, NYCFC is used to playing there. Communication, positioning, and awareness need to be top of the mind for Orlando City’s defense. It would help if Mason Stajduhar followed up his record-tying performance from last match with another great game. Or, better yet, the defense makes it so he doesn’t have to.

That is what I will be looking for Friday night. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

Continue Reading

Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/27/24

OCB draws and wins shootout vs. Atlanta, USWNT Olympic roster named, USMNT plays Panama tonight, and more.

Published

21 hours ago

on

June 27, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City B / Mark Thor

How’s it going, Mane Landers? It’s been a pretty hectic week for me and I’m looking forward to some rest and relaxation over the next few days. Before we dive into today’s links, let’s all wish a happy birthday to Orlando City winger Gaston Gonzalez! He turns 23 today and is currently on loan with Nacional in Uruguay.

OCB Draws, Wins Shootout Against Atlanta

Orlando City B dueled Atlanta United 2 to a 2-2 draw that featured the dramatic finish we’ve grown to expect from the Young Lions. OCB led but collapsed in the second half, only to equalize late and go on to win the shootout for another point. Regardless, points were left on the table and the Young Lions had plenty of chances to put the game to bed. It was the team’s third straight draw and it went all of June without a win. OCB’s next match is scheduled for July 14 against Inter Miami II.

USWNT Olympic Roster Unveiled

United States Women’s National Team Head Coach Emma Hayes called up 18 players for the team’s Olympic roster, along with four alternates. It will be the third trip to the Olympics for goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, midfielder Lindsey Horan, and forward Crystal Dunn . It will be the first Olympics for nine of the players called up, including Naomi Girma and Sophia Smith. The two most notable exclusions in my eyes are former Orlando Pride forward Alex Morgan and 17-year-old Ajax midfielder Lily Yohannes. NWSL rookie Croix Bethune, who leads the league in assists, was named as an alternate alongside fellow Washington Spirit rookie Hal Hershfelt.

Pride defender Emily Sams won’t be headed to Paris, but was called up for the USWNT’s training camp in New Jersey next month. It’s the first call-up for Sams and is definitely deserved given her role in the Pride’s success this season.

USMNT Takes on Panama Tonight

The United States Men’s National Team will play its second game of this year’s Copa America when it takes on Panama tonight at 6 p.m. in Atlanta. A win would all but guarantee the USMNT a spot in the knockout stage, while a draw would complicate things with a match against Uruguay looming on Monday. The last time these two Concacaf sides met was in the semifinals of last year’s Gold Cup, with Panama advancing on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw. The Yanks will need to be efficient on both sides of the ball to avoid a similar fate against a Panama side that knows how to grind out results.

Euro 2024 Round of 16 is Set

Georgia needed a win to advance in its first major tournament and got just that in a huge 2-0 win over a heavily rotated Portugal side. Portugal still ended up winning the group, while Turkey also advanced after a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic. Group E wrapped up with a tense pair of draws, as Belgium and Ukraine battled to a scoreless result while Romania and Slovakia drew 1-1. All four teams finished the group with four points, with Romania topping the group and Belgium and Slovakia also moving on. It’s an unfortunate end of the tournament for Ukraine, which did not lose a game but came in last in the group due to goal differential.

The knockout stage begins on Saturday, with Italy taking on Switzerland and Germany playing against Denmark. France’s match with Belgium on July 1 should be another great game to keep an eye out for. Orlando City’s David Brekalo and Slovenia will take on Portugal on July 1 as well.

Free Kicks

That’s all I have for you today. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

Continue Reading

Trending