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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.

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1 year ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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.

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/23/25

Pride fall to Racing Louisville, Seb Hines and Giles Barnes share insight on path to success in Orlando, USMNT defeats Haiti, and more.

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17 hours ago

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June 23, 2025

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Hello, Mane Landers! I hope all is well with you down in Florida. I’ve been busy working and catching up with friends over the past week. Before we get started, let’s wish a belated happy birthday to Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director Haley Carter, who turned 41 on Saturday. The Pride was the lone team in action over the weekend, while the Lions and OCB were off. We’ve got plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links.

Pride Fall at Racing Louisville

The Orlando Pride fell to Racing Louisville 2-0 Friday at Lynn Family Stadium. Arin Wright scored the opening goal in the first half, and former Pride midfielder Taylor Flint converted a penalty kick for Racing Louisville. The Pride struggled offensively and failed to capitalize on their scoring chances. Orlando’s struggles in Louisville continue, as the club is winless in five matches at Lynn Family Stadium. The Pride will be on a long break, and their next match will be Aug. 3, taking on the Utah Royals at Inter&Co Stadium.

Seb Hines, Giles Barnes Share Insight on Path to Success in Orlando

Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines and Assistant Coach Giles Barnes were featured in an interview in The Guardian. Both Hines and Barnes shared insight into their longtime friendship, which began with playing in English youth international camps, their different paths to playing in Major League Soccer, and how they became involved in coaching. Hines discussed his time as interim manager of the Pride in 2022 and how he brought in Barnes to help change the club’s culture. Hines and Barnes helped change the perception of the club and led the Pride to winning both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship last season.

USMNT Defeats Haiti to Win Group D in Gold Cup

The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Haiti 2-1 Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, in their final match in the group stage of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. The USMNT finished atop its group with three wins and nine points. Orlando City defender Alex Freeman made his third consecutive start and played 90 minutes.

Malik Tillman scored the opening goal 10 minutes into the match to give the USMNT the early lead. Haiti tied the match not long after Tillman’s goal. In the second half, Patrick Agyemang pulled the USMNT back in front. The USMNT advances to the quarterfinals as the group winner and will play its next match Sunday against the Group A runner-up which was the late game Sunday night and had yet to conclude as of this writing.

Club World Cup Weekend Recap

Another weekend of matches from the FIFA Club World Cup is in the books. On Friday, Benfica crushed Auckland City FC 6-0, while Flamengo beat Chelsea 3-1. LAFC was eliminated from advancing to the knockout round after a 1-0 defeat to ES Tunis. Bayern Munich edged Boca Juniors 2-1. On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund defeated Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3. Inter Milan needed a late stoppage-time winning goal from Valentin Carboni to edge Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1. Fluminense beat Ulsan HD 4-2, and River Plate and Monterrey ended in a scoreless draw. On Sunday, Juventus cruised to a 4-1 win over Wydad Casablanca. Xabi Alonso secured his first win as manager of Real Madrid with a 3-1 victory against Pachuca. Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Hilal played to a scoreless draw, with Manchester City playing Al-Ain in the late match Sunday. Today’s matches feature Atletico Madrid facing Botafogo, the Seattle Sounders hosting Paris Saint-Germain, FC Porto vs. Al Ahly, and Inter Miami taking on Palmeiras.

Free Kicks

  • Orlando Pride midfielder Ally Lemos and forward Simone Jackson have been called-up to the U-23 U.S. Women’s National Team. The U-23 camp will be led by Orlando Pride Assistant Coach Yolanda Thomas.

USL Championship side San Antonio FC has signed former Orlando City defender Abdi Salim to a 25-day contract.

San Diego Wave winger Maria Sanchez has reportedly reach an agreement to return to her former club, Tigres of Liga MX Femenil, on a four-year contract.

Paul Pogba is reportedly set to return to playing soccer and has signed a two-year contract with Ligue 1 side AS Monaco.

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

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Opinion

Orlando City Has Been Better than Expected Halfway Through the Season

While there was plenty to worry about at the start of the season, Orlando has had a good first half of 2025.

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4 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/20/25

Orlando Pride take on Racing Louisville FC tonight, Orlando Pride players called up by Zambia, USMNT beats Saudi Arabia, and more.

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4 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Happy Friday! June continues to fly by as we enjoy the buffet of soccer here in the U.S. this month. I’ll be spending most of the weekend working, but I am hoping to get some reading done after being gifted some books for my birthday. But enough about me, let’s jump right into today’s links!

Orlando Pride Face Racing Louisville Tonight

The Orlando Pride are on the road tonight for a match against Racing Louisville FC at 8 p.m. in the final game before a league break until August. Going into the break with four straight wins would be nice for the Pride, but they’ve struggled at Lynn Family Stadium over the years. Louisville enters this match following a 4-2 loss to the league-leading Kansas City Current and has scored eight goals over the past three games. Orlando’s defense has been phenomenal this year, conceding just eight goals this season and only one during this win streak. Midfielder Cori Dyke spoke on how the team is finding its groove and shutting out opponents.

Zambia Calls Up Orlando Pride Trio

Barbra Banda, Grace Chanda, and Prisca Chilufya were all called up for Zambia’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations roster ahead of this summer’s tournament. Banda has eight goals this season with the Pride and had four goals at last year’s Olympics, including a hat trick against Australia. The Copper Queens claimed third place in the 2022 edition of this tournament, and they’ll need to be at their best to win this summer against tough opponents like South Africa and Nigeria. Zambia’s tournament campaign will kick off on July 5 against the host nation, Morocco.

USMNT Beats Saudi Arabia to Qualify for Quarterfinals

The United States Men’s National Team won 1-0 against Saudi Arabia to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of this year’s Concacaf Gold Cup. After a scoreless first half, the Yanks broke through in the 63rd minute thanks to a free kick. Sebastian Berhalter served the ball on a silver platter to Chris Richards, who buried it for the crucial goal. The defense did well to secure its second shutout of the tournament, with Orlando City’s Alex Freeman starting at right back yet again. The USMNT will play Haiti on Sunday and should be able to win the group for a smoother path in the knockout stage.

FIFA Club World Cup Roundup

An MLS club finally won a game during this year’s FIFA Club World Cup, with Inter Miami beating Porto 2-1 in Atlanta. Lionel Messi scored the winner from a free kick to complete the comeback after conceding an early goal. The Seattle Sounders had a rougher day, falling 3-1 to Atletico Madrid, with Pablo Barrios scoring a brace. Former Lion Facundo Torres started for Palmeiras in the Brazilian club’s 2-0 win over Egypt’s Al Ahly.

Today’s action features more soccer at Inter&Co Stadium, with Benfica and Auckland City squaring off in the City Beautiful. Our Michael Citro will be on hand to report on it. Elsewhere in the U.S., Chelsea will take on Flamengo, LAFC will face ES Tunis, and Bayern Munich will play Boca Juniors.

Free Kicks

  • Canada Head Coach Jesse Marsch, who is already serving a suspension for misconduct during the Nations League, is under investigation by Concacaf for incidents during this Gold Cup. Reports detail that Marsch disregarded regulations and used offensive language toward match officials.
  • Kylian Mbappe was discharged from the hospital after suffering from a case of gastroenteritis. It’s unclear if or when he’ll play for Real Madrid during the Club World Cup.
  • Carlos Cuesta was hired as Parma’s next head coach after five years with Arsenal as an assistant coach. The 29-year-old becomes the second-youngest coach in Serie A history.
  • Manchester City was fined over $1 million by the English Premier League for repeated delays regarding kickoff times.

That’s all I have for you all today. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!

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