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Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Final Score 4-2 as Lions Lose Stajduhar to Injury in Road Loss

It was yet another night to forget at Yankee Stadium for the Lions as a terrible first half made the mountain too steep to climb.

Published

10 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City lost Mason Stajduhar to injury and ultimately lost the game 4-2 to New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. The Lions (5-9-6, 21 points) never play well on the baseball diamond, but it was egregiously bad on this night as they turned the ball over in dangerous areas, failed to cover defensively, got out-hustled often, and mounted almost no threat whatsoever in the first half of a thorough beat down at the hands of the Pigeons (10-8-2, 32 points), who had scored only one goal all month and hadn’t won a game in June. The second half was better, but ultimately it was not enough to get a result.

Santiago Rodriguez, Hannes Wolf, and Augustin Ojeda put the hosts up at halftime and NYCFC got a late insurance goal from Mounsef Bakrar when the Lions tried to make things interesting in the final minutes. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Duncan McGuire pulled the Lions within a goal in stoppage time, but couldn’t fashion a final chance before the game was put to bed.

Stajduhar had to leave on a stretcher early in the game after a horrible collision that could have been prevented by an offside flag on an easy call, but assistant referees today are asked to let an attack play out, just in case. In this case, it hurt two players and changed the game.

“A game with two different halves,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “It was unacceptable the way we played in the first half and just me taking that responsibility first for the way we came (out), especially in those first 30 minutes. Second half, much better. I thought it was the team that we want to see. The reaction was very good from our players. We could have tied the game, and then on that last play they scored the fourth goal.”

Pareja switched back to a 4-2-3-1 and replaced Luis Muriel in the lineup with Martin Ojeda. Stajduhar started in goal behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Rodrigo Schlegel, Robin Jansson, and Thorhallsson. Cesar Araujo and Nico Lodeiro started in central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Ojeda, and Facundo Torres with McGuire up top.

The Lions created a great chance almost immediately. Angulo took the ball away at midfield and sent it left for Martin Ojeda. The Argentine sent in a cross that ended up finding its way back to Angulo inside the box, but the Colombian fired his shot right at goalkeeper Matt Freese for an easy save.

It’s impossible to say where the game may have gone from there had Angulo been any kind of clinical on the shot, but it may have lifted Orlando and weighed heavily on an NYCFC team that hadn’t scored in its last two games. Instead, the hosts came into the game largely on Orlando mistakes in possession and coverage failures.

Before the New York City onslaught started, Martin Ojeda found himself with the ball outside the area in the 11th minute. The Designated Player telegraphed his impatient shot attempt, so it was not surprising to see it blocked.

The first warning sign came in the 13th minute when Orlando turned the ball over on an obviously telegraphed pass and ignited the break. Martinez broke in behind and Stajduhar made the save to keep it scoreless. Stajduhar made an even bigger save two minutes later when Martinez blazed past an inattentive Jansson and fired.

Orlando paid no heed to the warning signs, as once again the Lions turned the ball over just after Stajduhar’s big stop. New York City struck in the 15th minute as Lodeiro was caught in possession by Alonso Martinez and turned it over. The ball moved from the left to the middle to Rodriguez, and since no one closed him down, he smashed a shot from distance just inside the left post to make it 1-0.

“I think we conceded that goal and it knocks us out, which is not acceptable,” Thorhallsson said. “It’s up to us, the team, to help each other to bounce back, and I felt like we were just knocked out completely the first half. It’s something we need to work out and find out why it happens because it’s not acceptable.”

Disaster struck in the 17th minute when a ball was played forward for Malachi Jones, who was a good couple of yards offside. The flag stayed down, as is the current practice, and Jones and Stajduhar collided just outside the box with their legs coming together. Both players were injured in the crash and then the flag came up. Stajduhar was in obvious distress immediately and spent several minutes lying on the pitch with the trainers working on him before he was stretchered off. Javier Otero was forced into his MLS debut in a less-than-ideal situation — on the road and on the small Yankee Stadium pitch. Jones was also injured and was replaced by Augustin Ojeda.

Thorhallsson was close to the play when the injury to Stajduhar happened.

“The ball came in behind me, and then I see Mason run out,” he said. “I think he kicks the ball and the other guy comes, and I just hear a loud, basically like a click. He’s screaming and I didn’t know what it was. And then I look at his leg, and his leg was dangling, and I just looked away and basically just wanted to go, so I went to the stands, and just stood there with my eyes closed.”

The injury was preventable, said Pareja.

“They need to get better at this ruling of just allowing (play to continue) when the offside is very obvious,” Pareja said. “I think they need to flag the play. This is a very unnecessary play just to let it go, and we can avoid a lot of injuries. Today is a demonstration that we can do better.”

Lodeiro conceded a dangerous free kick near the left corner of the box in the 37th minute when he was called for a handball, but Rodriquez fizzed his shot over the crossbar.

Schlegel made a good play in the 41st minute to keep the deficit at one. He did well to clear a dangerous cross from the left side.

Martin Ojeda sent a back-post cross for Torres in the 45th minute that went just over the Uruguayan’s head. The fourth official showed 13 minutes of stoppage time, owing to the lengthy delay for Stajduhar’s injury. That turned out to be the difference between having a shot in the second half and being blown out.

Schlegel did well again to snuff out a dangerous attack and win a goal kick in the second minute of injury time.

Two minutes later, the Pigeons doubled their lead on a preventable goal. Angulo did well to track back and beat Tayvon Gray to the ball on a forward ball from Thiago Martins. Angulo tried to shepherd the ball out but made a mess of it. Gray tapped the ball into the middle and Wolf was the first to it, hitting a shot that deflected inside the far post off Jansson. Otero had no shot at stopping it, and NYCFC led 2-0.

“There was a bunch of plays in the first half that we did not recognize ourselves, especially in the moments that we needed to defend much better than that and make better decisions,” Pareja said. “It was disappointing for ourselves. And this is me taking that responsibility first.”

Orlando survived a couple more turnovers and finally found an attacking movement, sending Santos down the left flank. However, despite having tons of space and time, the Brazilian defender sent his cross straight to the goalkeeper with teammates breaking to the top of the six.

The defense was nowhere to be seen on New York City’s third goal. Martins played a simple through ball and no one was anywhere close to Gray, who simply crossed it through the area to a wide-open Augustin Ojeda to tap in late in stoppage time.

“The first half, we just committed those mistakes that just put us in a very, very difficult position,” Pareja said.

Thorhallsson made a good play to track back and prevent a fourth goal and then the halftime whistle mercifully ended the Lions’ misery.

The halftime statistics were indicative of the performance. NYCFC had the advantage in possession (57%-43%), shots (10-2), shots on target (5-1), corners (1-0), and passing accuracy (88.8%-82.6%). A team that hadn’t produced much in the way of scoring chances all month long had zero trouble accepting the many Orlando turnovers and cutting through a passive City defense that looked like it was still asleep at the team hotel.

“The first half we just didn’t show up,” Thorhallsson said. “We were losing first balls, losing second balls, getting easy goals (against).”

Lodeiro came off at halftime for rookie Jeorgio Kocevski after a poor night for the Uruguayan veteran.

To Orlando’s credit, the Lions kept battling, despite the long odds. Torres took the first shot of the second half after receiving it with his back to goal and spinning, but his effort bounced weakly wide of the net.

A minute later, Otero nearly had a collision of his own when he came out to knock the ball away from an obviously offside Martinez. Martin Ojeda then blasted a shot on target off a Torres pass sent him down the left channel. The shot had a lot of pace but was at the perfect height for Freese to get a hand on it and he made the save.

McGuire set up Angulo in the 59th minute but the Colombian hit the post and the flag came up for the striker being offside on the long ball anyway. Two minutes later, Torres cut into the middle but slipped while shooting and sent it right at Freese. Orlando then won its first corner of the game but Araujo got well under the service on his header.

Second-half sub Luis Muriel had a go from distance in the 71st minute but got well under his shot and sent it high over the bar. A minute later, the Lions finally spoiled the shutout.

Kocevski started the play in the middle, spraying the ball left for Martin Ojeda, who found himself in space. Ojeda sent his cross toward the penalty spot and Thorhallsson got his head to it. Although he didn’t get much pace on the shot, the Icelandic fullback placed it perfectly inside the left post to make it 3-1 in the 72nd minute.

Muriel again found himself in space in the 74th minute, and once again he skied his shot way over the bar from outside the box.

NYCFC finally broke up the Orlando attack and had one of its own in the 76th minute, but Martinez sent a weak header wide of the left post.

Torres had a good opportunity to close the gap to one goal a minute later. Left in space, the winger smashed a shot that might have changed things had he not sent it too close to Freese. The goalkeeper made the save.

The teams exchanged unsuccessful corners down the stretch and Ojeda sent a good, right-footed effort that was again too close to Freese in the 89th minute.

Only three minutes of stoppage time were added at the end, and Orlando used the first of those to make things interesting for a few seconds. Thorhallsson cut into the box and appeared to make one pass too many with an opportunity to shoot. The ball ended up at the back post and Wolf tried to knock it back to Freese, who couldn’t pick it up and struggled with his clearance. Muriel knocked it back into the keeper and it bounced to McGuire, who poked it in to make it 3-2 in the 91st minute.

The last gasp chance for the Lions turned into NYCFC’s fourth goal. With only seconds remaining, Thorhallsson had a chance to send the ball forward but opted to try to work it short to Kocevski. The turnover ended up with second-half sub Bakrar, who was easily able to blow past Araujo and curl in a perfect back-post shot that Otero couldn’t reach, making it 4-2 with the last kick of the game.

“I felt like we came out really strong and scored two goals,” Thorhallsson said about the second half. “And then it’s on me that I lose the ball on the fourth goal when we’re trying to go forward, and I take full responsibility for that.”

NYCFC finished with the edge in possession (54.3%-45.7%), corners (3-2), and passing accuracy (85.6%-81.9%). Orlando City ended up with more shots (15-14) and shots on target (8-6). In the end, the Lions were simply too poor in the first half to keep the game within reach, and despite a good second-half showing, it was all for nothing in the end, with more dropped points in a tight battle for the bottom playoff places.

“It’s about finding the balance like we have done before, and we know how to do it,” Thorhallsson said about the team’s leaky defense at a time when the offense has scored eight goals in three games. “I feel like the balance isn’t quite there and that’s something that we need to look at. It’s good that we started scoring, but now we need to find the solution for not conceding so many goals.”

The Lions go from a normal week to a short turnaround as they’ll travel to Canada for a Wednesday night clash with Toronto FC.

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Opinion

Pedro Gallese’s Recent Form No Surprise

Pedro Gallese’s recent solid form isn’t anything new, you just need to know where to look.

Published

16 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

One of the more frustrating narratives surrounding Orlando City at the beginning of the season was the assertion that goalkeeper Pedro Gallese was playing poorly and was costing the Lions points. The main point of emphasis from the detractors was the Lions’ 4-2 opening day loss to the Philadelphia Union, although he also got a lot of flak for his performances against Toronto FC, and during the 2-1 loss to New York City FC. That criticism has started to get quieter in recent weeks, particularly after he made the bench of the most recent MLS Team of the Matchday, but I don’t think he was playing nearly as poorly as some people made him out to be at the start of the season, and his recent performances haven’t come out of nowhere.

So let’s talk about those two big supposed “black marks” on his 2025 resume. Most of the chatter came from the opening game against the Union, with him coming in for criticism in two instances here, and here. I want to specifically address the mention of Gallese allowing six goals on 2.9 post-shot expected goals. Listen, I don’t actually have a problem with the xG stat the way some people do, and I truly think it can be incredibly useful when used properly in certain contexts. I just don’t think the numbers tell the full story here.

Against the Union, three goals came from inside or on the edge of the six-yard box, and were one-touch finishes. Gallese realistically had no chance on two of them (the first and fourth goals), and while the other one came from an acute angle and was mostly right at him, the ball is still coming so fast and from such a short distance that it still feels a bit nitpicky to place the blame entirely on him. Yes, he arguably could have done better, but there are plenty of goalkeepers in this league that aren’t saving that.

The other goal of the night came from a Rodrigo Schlegel error and a first touch shot from the edge of the box that came as El Pulpo was already moving laterally across his goal to shift with the rest of his defense, only for the shot to be heading for the opposite side of the net. Despite the distance the shot is coming from, that one also feels harsh to blame him for in my book. Again, I love xG when it’s used properly, but I just don’t think this is a fair application, as it doesn’t take into account where Gallese is at the time of the turnover-produced shot — only the shooter’s location. I find it pretty hard to look at each one of those goals and honestly say that he should save them. To me, there’s a big difference between something a goalkeeper could do more to save and something they should do more to save.

The other two goals out of the aforementioned six came against Toronto FC, and honestly it’s hard for me to put a ton of blame on him for either of them. The first came off a corner and was a header from inside the six-yard box, and although he should maybe do better considering the angle of the shot and his placement in the goal, the final shot comes from about three yards away. I’m sorry, but that just requires excellent reaction time, and while it’s the sort of shot that we do see saved in MLS sometimes, I’m not sure it’s one that we should expect to see saved. TFC’s final goal of the night was a great strike from distance in the bottom corner that also came through a few bodies, which meant Gallese didn’t see it until fairly late on. Again, to me this is a shot that he could do more to save, but not one that he should do more to save, and that’s an important distinction.

Honestly, the most justified criticism I’ve seen probably comes from here, when speaking about the 2-1 loss to NYCFC. Gallese gave up a huge rebound for the hosts’ second and eventual game-winning goal. Frankly, it wasn’t great at all and it ended up costing Orlando City a point. That being said, he did still make seven saves in that game and kept the Lions in it with a chance to salvage a late point.

Aside from the error against NYCFC though, El Pulpo has largely been mistake free and pretty blameless for the three goals he’s conceded. One was a penalty kick against the New York Red Bulls, and the second was a one-touch finish from about three yards away which also came against the Red Bulls. Go back and watch the film, and you won’t be shocked to hear that I hold him blameless for both. The goal he surrendered against the LA Galaxy wasn’t great, as Christian Ramirez’s flick isn’t exactly traveling at light speed. But, the shot also goes the opposite way of which Gallese’s momentum is already carrying him, so that’s something to consider. Aside from the rebound against NYCFC, this is the one goal he’s given up in 2025 that I really think he should have done better with.

The Peruvian has gotten a lot of praise (and rightly so) for the three straight clean sheets he’s kept in Orlando’s last three games. He’s made 11 saves during that time and got absolutely peppered late against Montreal, when Orlando went down to 10 men (again!). But he’s been making saves all year long, and the one game he didn’t register any (the season opener), was also a game where you can make a real argument that he couldn’t have done a better job of attempting to stop the ball going in than he already did. His save percentage of 73% is 19th out of 33, which is close to bang average; and his clean sheet percentage of 37.5% is tied for ninth.

Oh, and if we want to bring post-shot expected goals back into this, then let’s look at his post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed (PSxG-GA). PSxG-GA uses expected goals to provide a stat that is based on how likely a goalkeeper is to save a shot. The number can be either positive or negative, with a positive number suggesting either a better-than-average shot-stopping ability, or a goalkeeper that’s been luckier than most. Gallese’s PSxG-GA of 1.7 is tied for 13th out of 49 goalkeepers, which ain’t half bad, is it? It’s worth mentioning that some of the rankings are skewed by keepers who only spent a small amount of time on the field and either let in a ton of goals or very few, but that’s the funny thing about raw stats — they need context.

At the end of the day, I’m not trying to sit here and say that Gallese has been flawless this season, is completely blameless for each and every one of the goals he’s conceded, and that every ounce of criticism that’s come his way has been unfair. There are absolutely goals that he should have done a better job on, but even at the time they were written, I think some of the assertions that he was a massive weak point for the Lions were overblown and not properly justified. He’s had a few shaky moments, like any keeper, but the defense in front of him wasn’t doing him any favors at times, and he was still regularly making saves to keep Orlando City in games. While it’s nice that he’s finally getting some plaudits, he’s had himself a perfectly fine 2025 season for the most part. You just have to take the time to look.

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 4/25/25

Orlando City gets ready for Atlanta United, Luiz Muzzi and Ricardo Moreira promoted, NWSL MVP candidates, and more.

Published

19 hours ago

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April 25, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Happy Friday! Today starts three straight days of Orlando soccer to enjoy, so make sure to plan your weekend accordingly. It was a fairly fast week for me, and I was able to read three books somehow. Before we dive into today’s links, let’s all wish a very happy 21st birthday to Orlando City winger Nicolas Rodriguez!

Orlando City Gets Ready for Rivalry Match

The Lions are back in action Saturday night against rival Atlanta United in what should be one of the more interesting matchups of the weekend. Both teams are looking for answers on offense heading into this match, as Orlando is coming off of three straight scoreless draws and Atlanta hasn’t won since March. Taking on a rival at home could be just what’s needed for the Lions to jumpstart their attack and return to the form they had earlier this season. Head Coach Oscar Pareja spoke on how it’s an important game to win for Orlando, as well as how the offense needs to exercise some calmness to finish its chances.

Orlando City Promotes Luiz Muzzi and Ricardo Moreira

Luiz Muzzi and Ricardo Moreira were both promoted by Orlando City, with Moreira taking over as the club’s general manager and sporting director and Muzzi becoming senior advisor to ownership, global soccer ventures. It’s a natural step up for Moreira, who joined the club in 2018 and has helped build a competitive roster that’s made the playoffs for the past five seasons. Muzzi’s new role is a bit of a mouthful, but he’ll be taking on an advisory role focused on the growth of the club while working closely with ownership.

“I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as Orlando City Soccer Club’s EVP of Soccer Operations and General Manager for seven seasons, and I am excited to continue my journey with the club in this new role,” said Luiz Muzzi. “I look forward to working alongside the Wilf family and the leadership team to help shape the future of the club and its continued success, both on and off the field, and I know Orlando City’s Soccer Operations will be in great hands under Ricardo’s leadership.”

Orlando Pride Players in the NWSL MVP Hunt

Now that we’re over a month into the NWSL season, ESPN‘s Jeff Kassouf highlighted the league’s early MVP candidates, and there are a couple of familiar faces in his rankings. Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda is predictably in the mix in sixth on the list, as she has three goals and an assist to her name so far. But a surprise inclusion is midfielder Haley McCutcheon, who has impressed on both sides of the ball to earn ninth place in the rankings. While I think the MVP race will ultimately be between scorers like Banda, Temwa Chawinga, Ashley Hatch, and Debinha, it’s pretty great to see McCutcheon receive deserved praise for her performance this year.

MLS Transfer News Roundup

The transfer deadline may be over for MLS clubs, but deals that crossed the finish line are still coming in. The Columbus Crew added yet another forward by sending up to $1.2 million to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for Aliyu Ibrahim. The 23-year-old will maintain his U22 Initiative Player status in Columbus and recorded 12 goals and nine assists across 90 appearances for Houston. LAFC signed 26-year-old midfielder Ryan Raposo, who spent the past five seasons with the Vancouver Whitecaps and was a free agent this year. St. Louis City also made things official with Simon Becher by making his loan move a permanent one so that he stays with the club.

Free Kicks

That’s all I have for you this time around. Mother’s Day is less than a month away, just as a warning. If the mothers in your life like romance books and you’re looking for a gift, I can’t recommend The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center enough. Have a great Friday!

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Orlando City

Orlando City Was Hot, But Now Is Not — An Explanation

A comparison of the Lions’ start to the season vs. recent form.

Published

2 days ago

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April 24, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Years ago, back during the early days of the new millennium, one of the first websites to ever “go viral” was the matchmaking site AmIHotOrNot.com. I, of course, never visited this site, as I had access to a mirror on the wall and already knew who was the fairest of them all (not me, the mirror was pretty clear about that). But as a college student during those years, I knew of the site and how it quickly was getting millions of views per day. Today’s topic is related to hot and not, but it is the significantly more important topic of Orlando City’s performance on the field during the 2025 season.

During the first six games of the season, the Lions looked better than any previous Orlando City team in the club’s MLS era in terms of early season offensive prowess. The squad led the league in goals scored, the Designated Players were scoring or contributing to nearly every goal, and with Duncan McGuire still to return to add even more firepower, it seemed like there might be the possibility of running out of purple smoke to shoot off in front of The Wall with how many goals Orlando City was scoring.

And then, with apologies to Prince, purple flames were doused by purple rain, and we found out what it sounds like when Lions fans cry. To understand why the offense went from 2.5 goals scored per game to being shut out in three straight matches for the first time since 2018 we need to first consider whether the start to the season was an aberration itself, and had our expectations misaligned for how this team would perform for the rest of the season. Let’s take a look at how the first six games of 2025 compared with the second half of the 2024 regular season (17 games):

Metric2024 Final 172025 First 6
Goals per Game2.52.5
Shots on Target per Game5.65.5
Shots on Target %40%35%
Goal Conversions per Shot on Target44%45%
Medium + Long Passes Completed per Game215208
Medium + Long Pass Completion %81%80%
Completed Crosses + Switches per Game21.421.0
Progressive Carries + Passes per Game64.657.3
Points Earned per Game2.061.67

For the most part it looks like the beginning of the 2025 season picked right up where the 2024 regular season ended (I intentionally excluded the 2024 playoffs from the data because playoff games tend to be played differently than regular-season games). There were some major changes in personnel from 2024 to 2025, but even with the changes in players, the style of play and the formation used by Orlando City remained the same, and most of the offensive stats are nearly exactly the same. Six games is a decent enough sample size to say that those stats from 2025 were not a fluke, and the offensive output that we saw in the second half of the 2024 season could be reasonably expected to continue at a similar pace.

But then it did not. Oh boy has it not. Looking at the same chart, but comparing the 2025 first six games to the 2025 most recent three matches gets an immediate “not hot” vote and is as ugly as a Bubba Sparxxx song.

Metric2025 First 62025 Last 3
Goals per Game2.50.0
Shots on Target per Game5.53.0
Shots on Target %35%31%
Goal Conversions per Shot on Target45%0%
Medium + Long Passes Completed per Game208171
Medium + Long Pass Completion %80%74%
Completed Crosses + Switches per Game21.012.6
Progressive Carries + Passes per Game57.342.0
Points Earned per Game1.671.0

The sharp-eyed observer will note that red cards are not noted anywhere above, and in those last three games Orlando City played nearly 50 minutes with only 10 players. In both of the games when a red card (the ultimate sum of two yellow cards by the same player) was given, Orlando City was ahead in expected goals at the moment the red card was issued, and while those do not count for anything officially, they indicate who was getting shots off from more dangerous locations. I thought Orlando City seemed more likely to score and take all three points in both games up until the dismissal of a player. Instead, of course, the Lions went down a player and immediately had to pivot to a more defensive posture, and with one fewer player on the field, they could not play (or at least maintain) the same style as they had been.

In addition to playing far more conservatively, in both games Orlando City substituted on a defender for a key attacking player within four minutes of the red card, removing Marco Pašalić in the game against New York and Luis Muriel in the game against Montréal. This was effectively a double negative, and not in the way that turns two negatives into a positive. It was more like f(x) = -2x, a function with a slope of -2 and…let me stop right there. It was bad, and hurt the offense to remove a key playmaker and goal scorer.

Another major issue is that the midfield engine of César Araújo and Eduard Atuesta have played a combined 11 minutes in the last three games, and all 11 of those minutes were played by Atuesta in the game against New York and after the red card. Araújo’s absence has definitely been felt, but as he is more of a deep-lying player and defensive destroyer, the team has been able to adequately replace him, but Atuesta’s offensive talents have been sorely missed. Atuesta may not have many goal contributions, but he is second on the team in shot-creating actions per 90 minutes (4.62) and first on the team in goal-creating actions per 90 minutes (1.20). That 1.20 is the highest in club history (fbref.com only has tracking back to 2018, so apologies to the legend Kaká) among players who played at least 500 minutes in a season, and it is nearly 50% higher than the player in second place in that stat, Mauricio Pereyra in 2020, when he averaged 0.82.

Might it be nice to be able to play a player who is creating a goal every 90 minutes? I think so. Joran Gerbet has played well, especially for a rookie, and specially especially (just go with it) for a rookie in the mentally and physically demanding role of a central midfielder. He has a ton of potential, but he is not yet as productive a player as Atuesta and when the Colombian playmaker returns the offense will get back a key cog that will help to create good shots, and in a game like soccer the difference between a goal and a miss is often a matter of inches, and a slightly better delivery on the pass can turn a shot into a shot on target and a shot on target into a goal.

Is it really as simple as just red cards and injuries, and that if Orlando City can keep its full complement of players on the field and get back some injured players, everything will go from not hot to hot again? Perhaps, but I think there is a style of play change that has also been causing some of the recent issues. I included rows on the charts above on the aggregation of completed crosses and switches (as in switches of the field) per game and medium and long passes completed per game, and from that chart you can see that the numbers are much lower in the last three games as compared to the beginning of this season and the final half of last season.

Those drops coincide with Rafael Santos playing only 59 minutes in the last three games, and with Alex Freeman not being able to get into the attack in the same way as he was in the season-opening games. There definitely is some overlap here with playing down a player and needing to keep defensive players back, but Santos’ offensive contributions (he is currently 20th in MLS in completed crosses + switches per 90 minutes), and even just the threat of him playing a long ball across the field to change the point of attack, have been missed by the Orlando City offense with him off the field. David Brekalo is an excellent defender, but his offensive contributions are more tied to his ability to win balls in the air, whereas Santos is among the league leaders in crosses and switches per 90 minutes, with Freeman one of his primary targets.

Brekalo playing left back certainly helped shore up a defense that had been leaking goals, and Santos was a major contributor to that with some poor defensive performances, but that tradeoff has removed a major threat to the Orlando City offense. Freeman’s reduction in offensive contributions has not helped, but I think the loss of Santos’ early crosses, long switches, and overlapping runs contributed more to the nearly 400-minute dry spell without a goal from open play. The Lions need him to find his form again, though he will not be able to do it against Atlanta, as he will be suspended.

Three games without a goal is unpleasant as a fan, but Orlando City battled in all three games and at least came away with a point. The defense is playing well, and despite many injuries, the Lions are still very much in the playoff hunt as the season approaches the one-third mark. There are legitimate reasons for the recent offensive swoon, and Araújo and Atuesta will likely be back shortly, and McGuire also may soon be able to start a game and offer a different offensive look. Ramiro Enrique heated up once spring turned to summer in 2024, and when all four of those players are back to full health, the team will once again have a deep roster full of players aggressively competing for minutes.

Óscar Pareja historically has used the first half of a season to find his preferred lineup for the stretch run of the season, and I believe this is another season when he will be playing the long game and seeing what he has at his disposal. The red cards and injuries provided short-term pain in terms of points dropped, but they will likely also provide long-term gain with the view into how the players play in different positions and combinations.

It is a long season, with two cup competitions still to start, in addition to 25 more regular-season games, and summer does not even start until June. I expect that a lot of the issues from the recent run of games will work themselves out with time. We just need to keep our cool and wait for the inevitable Orlando City late season hot streak.

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