Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: Final Score 4-2 as Facundo Torres Leads Lions to Home Win
The Lions woke up offensively and goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar made up for a leaky defense in a much-needed home win.

Orlando City’s offense exploded for a season-high four goals and Mason Stajduhar made several critical saves as the Lions defeated the Chicago Fire 4-2 in front of an announced crowd of 22,038 at Inter&Co Stadium. Facundo Torres’ brace paced Orlando (5-8-6, 21 points), which also got goals from Luis Muriel and Ivan Angulo to offset scores by Maren Haile-Selassie and Hugo Cuypers for Chicago (4-9-6, 18 points). It was just the second home win for the Lions this season (2-5-3), and a much-needed one.
While a leaky defense was a concern, forcing Stajduhar to make 10 saves — several of the spectacular variety — the Lions will take the home win after struggling at Inter&Co Stadium all season. The 10 saves equals Joe Bendik’s single-game club record set against Sporting Kansas City on May 15, 2016.
“We feel very happy with the result, winning at home in front of our fans,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “Despite the difficult moments, they came and supported us and I wanted to spread our message to them. That energy that they brought to us in a game that needed an extra push from us…a difficult week playing on turf three days ago. We knew that today was going to be a big challenge on (us physically) with the humidity and all those things. But we had a lot of positive things. We scored four goals. We started seeing individuals improve their performances. The collective obviously looks much better.”
Pareja started nearly the identical lineup that started Wednesday’s match in Charlotte, with the exception of Cesar Araujo stepping back into the XI in place of Felipe. Stajduhar started in goal behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. The midfield consisted of Torres, Araujo, Nico Lodeiro, and Angulo, with Muriel and Duncan McGuire leading the attack up top.
Orlando started quickly in this game and had a shout for an early penalty when Torres was knocked down from behind in the box in just the second minute. Referee Natalie Simon saw nothing wrong with the play and the video assistant referee determined no obvious error had been made without her going to the monitor herself.
It didn’t matter as much two minutes later when Torres opened the scoring. Taking a pass from Thorhallsson, the Uruguayan cut inside and smashed the ball into the far corner to make it 1-0. It was his second goal in the fourth minute against Chicago this season and his fifth strike against the Fire in the last four meetings.
“I think the first (goal) was a play that’s just very typical of me,” Torres said. “When I receive it outside like that on the wing, I like to bring it inside to try to give myself a better chance to finish and to find the goal. So, when I took it inside, I was one-on-one with the defender, and thankfully I was able to cut it just one more time and give myself an even better opportunity, which was just really typical of me and the way I like to play.”
Chicago nearly tied the match in the 11th minute. Stajduhar made a huge stop to deny Cuypers after a turnover by McGuire gifted the ball back to the visitors. After the save, Haile-Selassie put the rebound over the net.
Angulo blazed through the Chicago defense in the 19th minute and was pulled back by Allan Arigoni in the box. This time, Simon immediately pointed to the spot. Muriel took the penalty and sent a shot right with Chris Brady diving the other way in the 20th minute.
The Fire came within inches of pulling the goal right back in the 24th minute. Brian Gutierrez, who was given too much space multiple times in the first half, cut inside from the left and smashed a shot that crashed off the right post and stayed out. Two minutes later, he was left alone about 25 yards out from goal and sent a shot at Stajduhar from distance.
Orlando tripled the lead in the 29th minute. Thorhallsson whipped in a good cross for McGuire that was redirected on goal but saved by Brady. Angulo swooped in and picked up the loose change, putting the ball into the empty net to make it 3-0.
“The play was a situation where Dagur was bringing it in from the right and he was trying to cross it over to get it to Duncan in the center,” Angulo said. “When the deflection happened, it just kind of bounced to me and all I had to do was push it into the goal.”
Haile-Selassie was left alone in the box in the 40th minute and fired a shot that Jansson got a piece of, slowing it enough for Stajduhar to make the save. Two minutes later, the Homegrown goalkeeper made a much more difficult stop when the ball pinged around the box and was headed on frame by Cuypers from point-blank range.
McGuire got in alone on goal late in the half but his shot was saved and he was offside anyway. Arnaud Souquet then was left in too much space and sent a shot just wide of the target deep in stoppage time on the final look for either team.
With some long spells of possession late in the half, the Fire took a halftime edge (55%-45%) into the break in that category, as well as in shots (8-3), shots on target (4-3), and passing accuracy (93%-88.3%). Each team earned one corner.
Stajduhar was once again called upon to stop Gutierrez in the 47th minute and once again the keeper made the save.
A minute later, McGuire was nearly sent in behind by Santos but Brady was quickly off his line and got there just ahead of the Orlando striker.
The shutout was spoiled moments later. Schlegel and Jansson got switched up and each was on the other’s side. Schlegel went to ground to block a cross that hit the arm he was putting down to arrest his fall. Simon ruled that his arm was not yet supporting his body and therefore it was a penalty, and the call on the field was upheld. Haile-Selassie sent Stajduhar the wrong way and put the Fire on the board in the 53rd minute.
McGuire won a free kick near the left corner of the box after the restart and Muriel went for goal on the set piece. Brady got over to make the save in the 55th minute. That was one of the final actions for the Colombian, who was subbed off a few minutes later for Martin Ojeda.
Torres scored a fourth Orlando goal in the 60th minute, cutting across the top of the area and smashing a shot from distance that beat Brady. The four goals represents a season high for the Lions.
“The second one, when I receive it on the outside like that, I do like to hit it when I’ve got the opportunity,” Torres said. “Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t.”
His second of the night was a milestone goal for Torres, who scored his 28th league goal in two-and-a-half seasons to tie Nani for second on Orlando’s all-time, goal-scoring list in MLS matches.
Orlando’s defense was visibly tired in the final half hour. Just after the second Torres goal, a series of defensive turnovers kept Chicago on the attack for about a minute but it broke down on an offside.
The Lions gifted Chicago a second goal in the 69th minute. A routine cross into the box should have been dealt with by Jansson. The Swede swung and missed at the ball, which hit the back of Santos’ leg and bounced toward goal, where only Cuypers was waiting. He swept it past Stajduhar to make it 4-2.
From that point, it was a matter of Orlando managing the game, and the Lions did so, but not without a few more nervy moments in the defensive end.
Substitute Kyle Smith turned the ball over in his defensive third in the 79th minute, leading to another Gutierrez effort from long range. This one had a lot of movement on it and Stajduhar punched it away. A minute later, Gaston Gimenez sent a shot through traffic. Stajduhar didn’t see it until it was almost on top of him and he had to make a sprawling save to knock away what might ordinarily be a routine stop.
Former Lion Chris Mueller sent a long-range effort right at Stajduhar in the 83rd minute as the Chicago pressure continued. One of the goalkeeper’s best saves came in the 86th minute. An aerial ball cleared the defense and found Georgios Koutsias, who tried to head it over Stajduhar, but he was able to get a hand up quickly to reject the shot with an athletic save.
“I think tonight we saw the best of Mason, and I know he has more than that,” Pareja said. “He has been very patient in waiting for his opportunity. And in this moment when we needed that position to step up, he did and provided us a lot of security. We were drained at the end and Chicago was taking shots, but Mason provided us a lot of security and we felt safe. So, congratulations to Mason. We’re very proud of him and his performance. He deserves it because he works tremendously hard.”
Orlando nearly added an insurance strike in the 88th minute. Brady came out of his box to beat Angulo to a ball over the top, but he could not touch it and could only knock it to OJeda, who volleyed it inches over the crossbar from distance.
The game entered nine minutes of stoppage time and Chicago kept coming. Carlos Teran had a free header right in front on a corner kick but sent a powerful shot at Stajduhar’s feet and the keeper was able to trap it. He made a long throw to set up the counterattack, which ended up with Angulo down the left channel. The winger tried to pick out the far post but missed the target in transition in the 95th minute.
Stajduhar did well to punch away a couple of threatening crosses in the final minutes of injury time and the final whistle ended the proceedings without another goal.
Chicago finished with the advantage in possession (59.7%-40.3%), shots (18-8), shots on target (12-6), corners (3-1), and passing accuracy (90.3%-82.2%), but it was Orlando that was more clinical in front of goal and Stajduhar was a difference maker.
“It was a difficult game,” Pareja said. “Chicago pushed a lot and they had a lot of sequences, and we had to defend lower than we wanted, but it’s a good result, especially in front of our fans. And hopefully we can continue adding points because we need to find our way to turn these things around.”
“It’s a great feeling tonight to get the victory,” Angulo said. “That was the form that we had been looking for, and it was nice tonight to finally see it come to fruition on the field and together as a team.”
Torres has come on this week, not only scoring three goals and adding an assist across the two most recent matches, but also putting all six of his shot attempts on frame. If the old adage that your best players have to play well for the team to find success, Torres is doing that now after a difficult first half of the season.
“(The game) gives us and gives myself a lot of confidence, especially for when you’re going through a period where you’re working so hard and things just don’t seem to come off,” Torres said. “It can get really frustrating. It can be really difficult to get through, especially a couple of weeks ago, getting left off the Copa America roster. It hurts, but the only thing you can do is pick your head up and go back to it and just work even harder. So, that way you can find those successes that are yet to come.”
The Lions go back on the road Friday when they’ll play at New York City FC.
Lion Links
Lion Links: 3/14/25
Orlando Pride face the Chicago Stars tonight, 2025 NWSL season set to kick off, San Diego FC’s plan to stop discriminatory chant, and more.

Happy Friday! The Orlando Pride’s season starts today to kick off another three straight days of Orlando soccer. Orlando City is in action on Saturday, and then we have Orlando City B to enjoy on Sunday. Before we jump into today’s links, let’s all wish a happy birthday to Executive OCSC Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Luiz Muzzi!
Orlando Pride Take On Chicago Stars FC Tonight
The Orlando Pride’s first game of the 2025 NWSL season is finally here, with the team set to begin its title defense at home tonight at 8 p.m. against the Chicago Stars. Before the match, the club will raise banners to celebrate a historic season last year that included winning the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship. It’s an unfamiliar position for the Pride to start a season from, as the club has undergone quite the transformation in both culture and expectations in recent years.
“It’s going to be such a special moment,” defender and vice-captain Kylie Nadaner said. “I got here when things weren’t great in this club, and there were times where I don’t think that I would ever have predicted that this would be possible. So when that banner is raised, it’s going to be such a special moment, and to see this star on our chest—every time I see it, I’m just so proud and honored to be a part of it.”
The Pride’s season will start with a matchup against a Chicago team they eliminated in the first round of last year’s playoffs. The Stars won’t be the only team with revenge on their mind when facing the Pride, and Orlando will have to navigate the season with a large target on its back. It’s still a bit surreal to acknowledge that considering where this club was only a few years ago.
2025 NWSL Season Kicks Off Tonight
Tonight’s matches are just the first in what should be an exciting start to the NWSL season across the country. While most of us will likely be watching the Pride, the Washington Spirit are also in action at 8 p.m. tonight when they face the Houston Dash. Saturday’s slate features four games with staggered start times for a nice day of soccer, including an intriguing late match pitting NJ/NY Gotham FC against the Seattle Reign. The weekend wraps up on Sunday night with a Cali clash between Angel City FC and the San Diego Wave. If in need of a refresher on each team after a busy off-season, ESPN provided a nice guide heading into this season.
San Diego FC Launches Plan to Stop Anti-Gay Chant
After the use of a homophobic chant in its inaugural home game earlier this month, San Diego FC has announced a plan for addressing it. Starting as soon as Saturday’s home game against the Columbus Crew, there will be increased communication to fans reinforcing that the chant has no place at the stadium. There will be increased security measures as well, with the plan noting that offenders will be identified and ejected. FIFA’s protocol to abandon the match if the behavior persists is also part of the club’s announced plan. Hopefully this all will help nip the problem in the bud.
Europa League Quarterfinals Are Set
Only eight teams remain in this year’s Europa League after some exciting round of 16 matchups. A hat trick by Bruno Fernandes lifted Manchester United to a 4-1 win over Real Sociedad at Old Trafford, while fellow English club Tottenham also advanced after a 3-1 home victory against AZ Alkmaar. As for the Italian clubs, an early red card to Mats Hummels doomed AS Roma in its 3-1 loss to Athletic Club and Lazio’s 1-1 draw with Viktoria Plzen was enough to advance. Fenerbahce beat Rangers 2-0, but Rangers ultimately came out on top in the penalty shootout.
In the quarterfinals, Manchester United faces a Lyon side that breezed through the round of 16, and Rangers will battle Athletic Club. On the other side of the bracket, Tottenham plays Eintracht Frankfurt and Lazio is matched up against Bodo/Glimt.
Free Kicks
- Enjoy this look into the Pride’s history of home openers over the past nine years in the NWSL.
- NWSL players will be able to decrease their yellow card accumulation through good behavior this season.
- The first two rounds of the 2025 U.S. Open Cup will exclusively be broadcast on U.S. Soccer’s YouTube channel.
- UEFA will reportedly reach out to FIFA and the International Football Association Board over changing the rule that disallowed Julian Alvarez’s penalty in the Champions League after a slip of his plant foot caused him to brush the ball before he struck it, resulting in a double kick.
- In a bizarre bit of scheduling, Chelsea and Manchester City’s women’s soccer teams will face each other four times over the course of 12 days across all competitions.
That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend. Go Orlando!
Orlando City
Orlando City’s Designated Players Delightfully Productive to Start the Season
A performance evaluation of Orlando City’s Designated Players through three games and how they compare to the rest of the league.

There will come a point someday in the future when Major League Soccer will stop using all its silly roster rules and allow teams to build their rosters however they would like to à la the rest of the world, but until then we must continue to live in the alphabet soup of acronyms like BAM, GAM, HAM, and TAM (two of those are actual MLS roster-building methods, one is a food often eaten with green eggs — back when eggs were affordable — and the other is onomatopoeia; I am confident you can identify the two acronyms that are MLS allocation money).
The other commonly used term, as it relates to roster-building methods in MLS, is DP, or Designated Player — a player who can be paid any amount as their salary while having a fixed amount that counts against the salary cap. The amount depends on the age of the DP. Players above the age of 24 count as $743,750 against the team’s salary budget; ages 21-23 count as $200,000; and players aged 20 or younger count as $150,000. You can read all you ever wanted to know about this subject and more by checking out the 2025 MLS Roster Rules and Regulations. Bring snacks. And a pillow.
Orlando City has three Designated Players on the 2025 roster: Luis Muriel, Martín Ojeda, and Marco Pašalić. Among the 30 teams in MLS, 11 teams, including Orlando City, have three Designated Players, 17 have two, and two teams only have one, for a total of 69 DPs on rosters as of Week 4 of the 2025 MLS season.
Only 61 of those 69 Designated Players have played thus far this season, however, as five are currently injured (CF Montréal’s Giacomo Vrioni, LA Galaxy’s Joseph Paintsil and Riqui Puig, New England’s Tomás Chancalay, and Portland’s Jonathan Rodríguez). In addition, one is on loan until June (NYCFC’s Talles Magno), one still does not have his paperwork in order to play in MLS (LAFC’s Cengiz Ünder), and one has been a healthy scratch in each game this season, as his team was actively looking to transfer him to another club (Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne).
Most clubs use their Designated Player spots for attacking players, which makes sense considering attacking players tend to command the highest salaries, and with a DP only counting a set amount against the salary cap, teams can afford to pay high salaries to bring in attacking talent without the risk of jamming up their salary cap utilization. Only three of the 69 DPs in MLS this season are primarily defenders — Inter Miami’s Jordi Alba, Nashville SC’s Walker Zimmerman, and NYCFC’s Thiago Martins — and frankly, I am surprised it is even that many.
Orlando City has deployed 16 Designated Players since entering MLS, with all of those players in attacking roles while wearing purple. During some years, the performance by the club’s Designated Players was, shall we say, underwhelming, but through three games in 2025 (I know, I know, it is only three games), Orlando City can make a case that the performance of its DPs has been nearly the best in the league.
Let’s make that case. Right here. Right now. Bonus points if you remember this outstanding adidas commercial using Fatboy Slim’s “Right Here, Right Now.”
Ultimately, soccer matches come down to two measures: goals scored and goals allowed. Being that nearly every Designated Player plays in an attacking position, we can focus more on the goals scored as a measure of comparison. In order to score a goal, you need to create a shot, so I used Opta’s tracking on fbref.com to aggregate every Designated Player’s performance thus far in 2025 and normalize it to a per-90-minute basis.
Every blue circle in the table below is the average performance by a team’s Designated Players per 90 minutes for shot-creating actions and goals scored (example: the Houston Dynamo are the lonely circle closest to the bottom left corner; the Dynamo’s two Designated Players create, average, exactly one shot per 90 minutes and zero goals per 90 minutes, which is not ideal). The purple bullseye is Orlando City, which has DPs averaging 4.73 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes and scoring 0.57 goals per 90 minutes. The orange circle is the MLS average.

The ideal location on a chart like this would be for your team’s circle to be as far to the upper right as possible, with DPs creating lots of shots for their teammates and scoring lots of goals as well. If you had to choose one axis, you would of course prefer to be higher on the y-axis than the x-axis (your seventh grade Algebra teacher promised you that you would use the cartesian plane in real life someday), since goals scored are more important than shots created.
The Mane Land’s Ben Miller wrote a piece in our Monday newsletter, exclusively available to those who subscribe (which you can do by clicking on this hyperlink) about the goal-scoring performances of Orlando City’s three Designated Players thus far this season. Expanding on what Ben wrote, here are the per-90-minute stats for Orlando City’s three DPs thus far:
Player | Mins Played | SCA | Goals | Assists | Goal Contributions |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Luis Muriel | 151 | 3.58 | 0.60 | 0.60 | 1.20 |
Martín Ojeda | 243 | 6.67 | 0.37 | 0.37 | 0.74 |
Marco Pašalić | 234 | 3.46 | 0.77 | 0.38 | 1.15 |
The combined averages of these players’ performances are the aforementioned 4.73 shot-creating actions and 0.57 goals scored per 90 minutes. Orlando City’s DPs rank third in the league for shot-creating actions and fifth in goals scored. Seattle’s DPs (Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnák) are the reverse — fifth in shot-creating actions and third in goals scored — tying them with Orlando City at an average of fourth. Both teams trail expansion team San Diego FC, which is off to a strong start with two wins and a draw in its first three matches, and which has DPs (Anders Dreyer and Hirving “Chucky” Lozano) who rank fourth in shot-creating actions and second in goals scored, leading all clubs with an average of third across the two measures.
Looking at this a little differently, we can use standard deviations to compare just how much better or worse each club’s Designated Players compare to the league average. The axes look flipped from the last chart, but they are not. Shot-creating actions are still on the x-axis and goals on the y-axis. In this case, on the x-axis we are comparing a team’s average per 90 minutes in shot-creating actions to the league average, and we can see that Orlando City, again located in the purple bullseye, is 1.33 standard deviations better than league average.
The Lions are also 0.99 standard deviations better than league average in goals per 90 minutes, making them one of only six clubs who have Designated Players performing better than league average in both metrics (positive values are better than league average, negative values are worse than league average), and in a smaller group of three clubs that can claim to have had the best performance in terms of both creating shots and scoring goals.

The two circles located in the vicinity of Orlando City are again Seattle and San Diego, performing better in goals per 90 minutes but not as well in shot-creating actions. The outlier on the y-axis is D.C. United, as that club’s DPs are averaging 1.04 goals per 90 minutes, nearly three standard deviations (read: a lot) more than league average. The outlier on the x-axis is Nashville, which is surprising given that Zimmerman, a central defender, is one of the team’s DPs. Nashville is averaging nearly six shot-creating actions per DP per 90 minutes — almost 2.5 standard deviations more than league average.
If you recall your statistics classes, the general rule is that 95% of data points fall within two standard deviations above or below the average, so when any person or any team is more than two standard deviations better than the average either a) they are doing incredibly well, or b) the sample may not yet be big enough to feel confident in the standard deviations. In this case, it is probably both, as the teams have only played three games.
Even though the samples are small, it is still completely OK to feel great about the initial performances of Orlando City’s three Designated Players. The group has combined for four goals and three assists, and Muriel, Ojeda, and Pašalić have been a driving force behind a strong start to the season on the offensive end of the field.
Here’s to hoping that Orlando’s Designated Players will continue their torrid pace when the club returns back to the New York City metro area to play the Red Bulls on Saturday and their performance evokes a phrase from another Fatboy Slim song, and come Saturday, we find ourselves praising them like we should.
Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City
Orlando City at New York Red Bulls: Three Keys to Victory
What do the Lions need to do to bounce back on the road and secure a victory against the New York Red Bulls?

Orlando City heads north for the second week in a row, but this time to Red Bull…er…Sports Illustrated Stadium to take on the New York Red Bulls. The Lions are coming off a disappointing loss to New York City FC. A win gets Orlando City back to .500 before returning to Inter&Co Stadium next week.
On paper this looks like a low-scoring match, so it will probably be a barn burner. What does Orlando City need to do to earn all three points on the road against the New York Red Bulls?
Oh Captain, My Captain!
Robin Jansson is back, but the defense still gave up two goals against New York City FC. That’s eight goals shipped in three games for those who are counting. It’s not particularly surprising that Orlando City is 1-2-0 given the leaky defense. It doesn’t get any easier this Saturday with yet another road trip to play a New York team, albeit this time in New Jersey. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse, but we do know they will at least be playing on a normal-sized soccer pitch this week.
The Red Bulls aren’t exactly prolific scorers so far this season with only two goals so far — one from Emil Forsberg and one from Mohammed Sofo — but that doesn’t mean they can’t score this weekend. Now that the captain is back, the defense needs to get things sorted out. I’m hoping that the normal spacing of SI Stadium will allow the defense to refocus with Jansson back in charge.
Break on Through
New York may not score a ton of goals, but it gives up even fewer. The Red Bulls have only allowed one goal this season. It came in the match against FC Cincinnati off a long pass and off the head of Kevin Denkey. Even then, there were two defenders on him and it was a race between Denkey and keeper Carlos Coronel to see who would reach the ball first. I’m saying it’s not easy to score against them.
On the flip side, Orlando City has been able to score seven goals in its first three matches. Those goals have come from six different players. I think that there will be two players I’ll be watching in particular in the buildup. Jansson is fairly accurate at delivering long passes like the one on which Cincinnati scored. We also know that one of Eduard Atuesta’s strengths is connecting the defense to the offense. If the two can break the lines of the opposition, then the Lions have enough options up top to spread out the chances.
Use the Space
If Orlando City never plays in Yankee Stadium again it will be too soon. Luckily, the passing lanes and spacing will be back to normal standards this weekend. That should mean better passing from Orlando City, and the ability to run the offense how Oscar Pareja prefers.
As such, I want the Lions to take their time, be methodical, and strike when the time is right. That doesn’t mean they have to build out of the back all night. If the Red Bulls are creeping up, go route one. Use whatever space New York gives, but don’t let up. You can’t win if you don’t score, and one goal may determine this match.
That is what I will be looking for Saturday night. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!
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