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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. NYCFC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s 1-1 draw with NYCFC?

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2 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Sometimes a draw can feel like a win and sometimes it can feel like a loss. On Saturday night, the draw felt like a draw, pronounced in a southern drawl to really draw out the effect. Each team had its moments, but in the end neither really felt like they deserved all three points, and as they say, ball don’t lie. So, in the end, the final score was 1-1, and both teams took home one point.

Orlando City probably should feel more disappointed since the Lions were playing at home, but the offense just looked out of sync all evening, and in some ways they are lucky they even earned their one point. That they did though, and now the MLS season takes a break for the Leagues Cup, which starts Friday.

I have my purple pen out, and I am ready to issue some grades, so here we go. Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated individually in their Eastern Conference matchup.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6 — NYCFC only managed eight shots on the night, so Pedro was not called on to make a lot of saves, but he did make a few on well-struck balls from NYCFC attackers — in particular, one from Hannes Wolf in the 34th minute that was headed for the lower corner before El Pulpo pushed the ball out wide with his gloves. Unfortunately, Wolf got the better of Gallese later in the match on a shot from close range that left the Peruvian with very little chance to save the ball, though on the angle from inside the goal it did look like he was a little too far to his left when he came out and perhaps had he taken a better line he might have gotten a hand on it. However, I think that goal is tough to pin on Gallese, and aside from that, he was solid in the back, though he did only complete 56% of his passes.

D, Rafael Santos, 5.5 — Saturday night was not one of the Brazilian’s better games, as while he did mix in a few dangerous crosses, I thought on the whole he was lacking some precision offensively, and defensively there were several plays down NYCFC’s attacking right side that were scary and left him scrambling to recover. I do not think the goal was his fault. Though it did happen on his side of the box, it came off a completely unexpected turnover from Wilder Cartagena, and Santos was caught pushing up the field and could not recover in time. He made a huge block on a shot from Santiago Rodriguez in the 75th minute, but that block came because he had given the ball away moments earlier, so he had darn well better have hustled to block the shot that came from his turnover. He also committed an unnecessary foul in a dangerous area late in the match, though thankfully nothing came of the resulting free kick. Santos completed 82.5% of his passes on the night, including three accurate long balls on five attempts. None of his three crosses found their targets and his lone shot was blocked. Defensively, he finished with two tackles, two interceptions, the aforementioned block, and one clearance. He made way for Kyle Smith in stoppage time.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — Orlando City’s captain had a quiet match. Though he was second on the team in completed passes, with 48 (at 87.8%, including completing four of seven long balls), he had zero tackles, which now makes three consecutive games where that has been the case. Just because you make zero tackles does not mean you had a bad game, and Jansson did not, but it does mean that when you are a center back and the other team does not run at you that there are not a lot of highlights to write about in your player grades. The Beefy Swede won one aerial ball and had one interception and one clearance, and he drew three fouls on the opposition. But NYCFC did not have a lot of the ball (45% possession) and did not really tread aggressively near Jansson’s area.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — I could copy and paste most of Jansson’s comments and apply them to Schlegel, but of course I will so no such thing. Besides, Rodri was first on the team in completed passes, with 51, and completed them at a 92.7% rate, so that is a differentiator worth noting, and unlike Jansson he did have one tackle to go with two clearances. NYCFC’s heatmap from Saturday night, courtesy of whoscored.com, is instructive in evaluating the performance of both of Orlando City’s center backs, because you can see that NYCFC tried to attack down the sides much more than in the middle. That indent right above the top of the 18 yard box on the left (NYCFC is attacking right to left in this heatmap) is where Jansson and Schlegel patrol, and NYCFC just stops cold and gets very few touches in the middle of the field from about 35 yards out all the way to the goal. Schlegel and Jansson really locked down the center of the field, and while they did not generate a lot of stats on the night I thought both were solid.

D, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, 6 — As it always is, Dagur Dan’s work rate was extremely high Saturday night, but the finishing touch just eluded the Icelandic right back during this game. Orlando City struggled to create chances all game long and Thorhallsson was complicit in some of that, as he was unable to open up the defense with one of his trademark cutbacks and he was unable to get on the end of any of the many crosses that came from left to right. He did complete 91.2% of his passes and had one successful take-on, and might have had two had he not been fouled toward the end of the first half. Defensively, he had two interceptions and two clearances, and unlike his counterpart on the other side of the defense, he did not cause me to pound my couch in frustration at any point during the match, which was good for the Lions and good for my upholstery.

MF, César Araujo, 7 — I was a little concerned when Araujo earned a yellow card in the 13th minute, knowing that he was now one foul away from putting Orlando City down a man for the rest of the match, but he played a clean game the rest of the way, and what a strong defensive game it was. He had nine loose ball recoveries, five tackles, four interceptions, three wins on take-on attempts by NYCFC, and he won two aerial balls. On the offensive side, he led the team in touches with 70, completed 46 passes at an 80.7% completion rate (including three of his six long balls) and drew two fouls. Araujo also contributed to the heatmap I shared above, as his presence also helped Orlando City to stop NYCYC from progressing the ball through the middle of the attacking third of the field.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 6.5 — If there was a stat for goal culpability then Cartagena would definitely have earned the highest percentage for NYCFC’s one goal on Saturday night, as his misplay of a ball led directly to a counterattack and NYCFC scoring the equalizer. I do not want one misplay to completely overshadow the whole of the match for Wilder though, because aside from that he did contribute throughout the match, and his low rocket from 31 yards out in the 83rd minute nearly beat NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese to give the Lions back the lead. He also led the team in tackles with six, made four recoveries of loose balls, and won four of the five take-on attempts tried against him. He completed 34 passes at a 79.1% completion rate and had the aforementioned shot on target, one of only five shots on target for Orlando City. Goals change games, and Wilder definitely cost the Lions with his misplay, but on the whole I thought he played well, though not as well as his midfield partner Araujo did.

MF, Iván Angulo, 6 — Angulo worked hard in the heat on Saturday night, making runs up and down the field and coming achingly close to turning the corner or unlocking the defense with a pass several times but to no avail. He made a darting run in the 35th minute that led to his only shot on target, but he did not get a ton on it, and it was saved rather comfortably at the near post. The Colombian completed 93.5% of his passes, including one key pass, made one tackle, and he went the full 90 on a hot and humid night, running at full acceleration deep into stoppage time as the Lions chased a winner.

MF, Martín Ojeda, 7 — We will never know if Ojeda’s shot in the 52nd minute would have gone in, but we do know that it turned into an unlikely assist by deflecting off Ramiro Enrique and going straight into the back of the net to give Orlando City a 1-0 lead. It was another solid, but not spectacular, offensive performance by Ojeda against NYCFC, as he led the Lions in crosses (11), progressive carries (4) and key passes (3); won both of his take-on attempts on the dribble; and completed 22 passes, though at only a 78.6% completion rate. His work rate was excellent, and he left it all on the field, departing in stoppage time for Jeorgio Kocevski.

MF, Nico Lodeiro, 6 — Lodeiro was the one change from Wednesday night at Nashville, as he started instead of Facundo Torres. Orlando City’s offense did not create a lot of chances in the first half and Nico did play a part in that, but it took Orlando a period of time to figure out NYCFC’s game plan. I did not think it was a poor performance, just more of a quiet one devoid of any major moments. He completed 19 passes at a 82.6% completion rate, with one key pass among those completions. Lodeiro connected on one of two crosses and one of three long balls. Defensively, he chipped in two tackles. He was subbed out at halftime for Torres. 

F, Ramiro Enrique, 7.5 (MotM)— The scoring streak continues, and now there is a dance! Enrique scored in his fourth straight game on a goal that I am not sure if he ever saw, but without his deflection it may not have gone into the net. Whether he saw it or not does not matter. What matters is it gave Orlando City a 1-0 lead and then Ramiro and Angulo participated in a slightly out of sync, but still enjoyable, celebratory dance — one that I look forward to seeing again, hopefully as soon as in the next match. Enrique completed 11 passes, created two chances, and got both of his shots on target, with NYCFC’s Matt Freese making a nice save on his second attempt. He also recorded an interception. I thought it was another solid start for Enrique, as he contributed all over the field, including with some hold up play, before making way for Luis Muriel in the 73rd minute. 

Substitutes

MF, Facundo Torres (46′), 6 — Facu came on at halftime for Lodeiro, and helped to breathe some life into the Orlando City offense. He did not have his best stuff, and he had the benefit of Oscar Pareja’s halftime tactical adjustments, but he was active and engaged throughout the second half and helped to create some chances. During the pregame show the announcers mentioned he had picked up a bit of a knock during the week, which likely contributed to his coming off the bench and for his decent, but not memorable, performance. He took one shot, which was well struck but ended up far off target, and completed 11 passes at a 78.6% rate with one key pass. He tried several passes that were full of flair, but alas none of them connected, and on the whole things just did not click for him.

F, Luis Muriel (73′), 6 — Muriel came on for Enrique and he was looking to make plays from the moment he stepped on the field. He showed tremendous skill on several dribbles, led the team in aerials won (3), and though he only played five passes, he completed them all, including one key pass and one accurate long ball. The defining moment for Muriel though was on the final attack from Orlando City, and he was able to turn and get a shot off on goal, but there just was very little on it, and Freese easily made the save to his left. I expect that he will see some more minutes in Leagues Cup matches to see if he can get himself going, because thus far he just has not contributed enough to justify his role as a Designated Player.

D, David Brekalo, (85’), N/A — As he has been doing during the last few matches, Brekalo subbed in late, this time coming in for Schlegel and taking over his role as center back. I thought he looked active and strong during his few minutes, but the only play of his that really stood out was when he was a little too strong on an attempt to get his head onto a ball into the box on a cross from Araujo, committing a foul on the play. Brekalo completed both his pass attempts on the night, but he did not have the opportunity for much else.

D, Kyle Smith (90′ + 3), N/A — Kyle came in on the dying minutes of the game to replace Santos at left back, and in his few minutes he did not have the opportunity to contribute much to the match. He attempted three passes but completed none, and did not have the opportunity to do much else in his few minutes on the field.

MF, Jeorgio Kocevski (90′ +3), N/A — The rookie from Syracuse came on at the same time as Smith, replacing Ojeda, and was able to complete one pass and make one tackle while on the field. That one pass was on the final attack of the game, and it might have earned him a secondary assist had Muriel been able to get a little more on his shot or place it in the corner in the final minute, but alas he did not and the final whistle blew moments later.

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

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Opinion

Martin Ojeda Can Further Build on an Improved 2024

Martin Ojeda has picked things up after a slow start to the season, but he has room to play even better.

Published

3 hours ago

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September 6, 2024

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Argentinian attacking midfielder Martin Ojeda finished his maiden season in an Orlando City uniform with six goals and 10 assists. While 16 goal contributions in his first year in a new league with unfamiliar surroundings isn’t a terrible return, there was a widespread sense that he didn’t perform at the level the Lions needed from a Designated Player. He improved the deeper Orlando got into the year though, and coming into the 2024 season, a lot of the projections involving OCSC being one of the best teams in the league were predicated on him taking the next step and becoming a true force in Major League Soccer. So, has that happened?

The broad numbers say that it hasn’t. Through 27 appearances and 1,582 minutes, Ojeda has three goals and eight assists, compared to six goals and 10 assists in 34 appearances and 1,751 minutes in 2023. The Argentine still has time to eclipse his totals from last year, but barring a positively explosive run of form, it’ll take him more minutes to do so. For my money, it isn’t quite that simple though.

For one thing, Ojeda has shown improvement in two key areas: passing accuracy and key passes. His accuracy is up to 84% in 2024, while it was 79% last season. He’s also already eclipsed his total for key passes in 2023, currently sitting on 45, compared to the 42 he finished with in his debut season in purple. That suggests that not only is he passing the ball better, but he’s also putting it in more dangerous areas than previously. Some of that is to be expected, considering his shift into the center of the field to play the no. 10, but he’s still had to adapt to the new position, and he’s looked more and more comfortable as the year has continued.

Let’s talk about that positional change a little. The first few months of the season were ugly for just about everyone wearing an Orlando City jersey. Guys were hurt, off on international duty, or suspended, and many of the ones who could play were forced to do so in positions that weren’t natural for them. At various points throughout the early months of 2024, he found himself playing in the hole behind two strikers, as a deep-lying playmaker, deputizing at striker himself, or dropped from the starting XI entirely.

It was hard to argue with him coming off the bench, as he had just three assists in the 16 games prior to the LAFC match on June 15. He got his first league goal of the year in that match though, and in the 11 games since then, he’s recorded two goals and four assists. While not a staggering return, he’s trending in the right direction. Outside of the numbers, he looks capable of being able to produce at a higher level.

Saturday’s match against Nashville SC provided two specific instances which I found encouraging. The first was his assist on Ivan Angulo’s opening goal, specifically the way in which Ojeda created the goal.

Everything about that is fantastic. The anticipation and work rate to get into a position to intercept the wayward pass, the vision to see Angulo’s position, the quick decision to play the one-touch pass, and the execution to deliver that pass squarely on the money. One of the knocks on Ojeda in an OCSC shirt has been his decision making and execution in the final third, as at times he’s settled for long potshots or held onto the ball too long before trying to find a teammate. None of that was on display here, and the speed of thought, coupled with the execution, meant that Orlando grabbed an early lead.

Let’s then talk about the turn he executed at midfield during the buildup to Facundo Torres’ first goal. Ojeda receives the ball, takes a touch, neatly slips it through a defender’s legs, and then immediately drives hard at the Nashville defense before releasing the ball and finding Torres in space. It’s one moment of skill, but it’s something that happens when you have a guy who’s playing with confidence, and the fact that he then made the right pass at the right time makes it even better.

Those are the moments that we’ve started to see more of from the Designated Player as the year has gone on, and we’ll need to continue seeing more of if Orlando City wants to keep pushing up the table.

Ojeda has a chance to improve on his debut season and really make an impact for the Lions down the stretch. If he keeps playing with confidence, making the correct decisions, and executing in the way that he’s shown this summer, it should bode well for OCSC. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 9/6/24

Amanda Allen loaned to Lexington SC, Alex Morgan announces retirement, USMNT prepares for Canada, and more.

Published

8 hours ago

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September 6, 2024

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Image courtesy of Victor Tan / New Day Review

Happy Friday! I don’t have many plans this weekend, but am still looking forward to the next few days after a hectic week. When not working, I plan on finally starting Book of Night by Holly Black and figuring out how to make the most out of some dark rum I was gifted. For now though, let’s get to today’s links from around the soccer world!

Amanda Allen Loaned to Lexington SC

The Orlando Pride have loaned forward Amanda Allen to Lexington SC for the remainder of the USL Super League season. This decision should give Allen some valuable minutes, and the loan includes a right to recall as well. The 19-year-old has made 17 appearances since joining the Pride and had an assist in this year’s season opener. She is also currently in Colombia for the U-20 Women’s World Cup and her Canada squad takes on Brazil tonight. Hopefully she’s able to tear it up in the USL Super League’s inaugural season.

Alex Morgan Announces Her Retirement

American forward Alex Morgan has announced that she will retire after the San Diego Wave’s match on Sunday. She also announced that she is pregnant with her second child.

In her 224 international appearances, Morgan scored 123 goals and was a major force behind the USWNT’s back-to-back World Cup victories in 2015 and 2019. At the club level, she has played in every year of the NWSL’s existence and joined the Orlando Pride ahead of their inaugural season in 2016. In her six years in Orlando, Morgan recorded 23 goals and 10 assists in 69 appearances. Off the field, she’s been an outspoken supporter of equality and increased investment in women’s sports. We wish her the best of luck after a legendary career.

USMNT Faces Canada on Saturday

The United States Men’s National Team will take on Canada on Saturday in Kansas City in the first of two friendlies this month. Plenty has changed since the U.S. beat Canada in a penalty shootout in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinals, particularly on the sideline. American coach Jesse Marsch was hired by Canada in May, while the U.S. will be led by Mikey Varas in an interim capacity amid buzz that Mauricio Pochettino will take over. The U.S. is without Giovanni Reyna for these friendlies due to injury, with Cade Cowell replacing him. Canada boasts a talented roster that includes a trio of former Lions in Cyle Larin, Richie Laryea, and Kamal Miller. After this match, the USMNT will take on New Zealand on Tuesday.

Keeping Up With International Soccer

San Marino may be one of the smallest countries in the world, but it arguably had the biggest win of a busy day of international soccer after beating Liechtenstein 1-0 for its first competitive victory. Elsewhere in the UEFA Nations League, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 900th career goal in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Croatia, while Spain was held to a scoreless draw in Serbia.

The third round of AFC World Cup qualifying is underway and Australia was upset 1-0 at home by Bahrain. Japan suffered no such setback though, dominating China in a 7-0 home win. Palestine drew 0-0 against South Korea in Seoul, which is no easy task.

CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifiers have also resumed, and Bolivia came up with a huge 4-0 win in high altitude against Venezuela to move up the table. We may see some Lions in action today. Facundo Torres and Uruguay take on Paraguay, while Pedro Gallese, Wilder Cartagena, and Peru host Colombia.

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

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Orlando City

Predictions for Orlando City’s Remaining Games of the 2024 Season

A deep dive into Orlando City’s final seven opponents and predictions on the Lions will do in those matchups.

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1 day ago

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September 5, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

We do not often write about National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell at The Mane Land, but it is clear that the NFL was intentional about scheduling its season-opening weekend on a bye weekend for Orlando City, lest they lose all of their viewers to watching the team that you know and I know is the most exciting team to watch in all of sports. Fittingly for the city of Orlando, that excitement has been similar to a roller coaster this season, with ups and downs throughout, but with positive results in eight of the last 10 matches and wins in six of those matches, the team is clearly now heading in the right direction. The question remains whether the Lions will continue this climb or if they are just leading up to a sudden drop.

The Lions have seven games remaining on their regular-reason schedule, and at a quick glance it would appear like they have an excellent chance of continuing their hot streak and picking up points in more than half of those games. The next games in order are:

  • Home vs. New England (1.04 points/game this season, 23rd in MLS)
  • Home vs. Charlotte (1.41, 14th)
  • At Columbus (1.96, second)
  • At Dallas (1.22, 18th)
  • Home vs. Philadelphia (1.11, 21st)
  • At Cincinnati (1.89, fourth)
  • Home vs. Atlanta (1.15, 20th)

As Orlando City is currently on a pace of 1.37 points per game, which is 15th in MLS, the Lions are playing four teams with lower points per game this season, one that is nearly the same, and two that have been performing better thus far this season.

In looking a little deeper at the seven remaining opponents, however, that schedule actually starts to look a little more difficult. If you look at the results from the most recent five matches instead of the season as a whole, Orlando City is playing four teams (Columbus, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta) that are performing better recently than they had been for all games prior to their most recent five games. Two of those teams (Columbus and Dallas) are tied with Orlando City for second in MLS, with 10 points from their last five games. Unfortunately for Orlando City, both of those games against Columbus and Dallas will be on the road, but then again, Orlando’s road record of 6-3-5 (1.50 points/game) is better than its home record of 4-4-5 (1.23 points/game), so perhaps that is actually fortunate.

In looking even deeper, well, this chart will help show how all over the place Orlando City’s opponents really are when you look at their full season performance and also their more recent performance. (PPG = points per game and GDG = goal differential per game, which I needed to use instead of just plain goal differential, since the teams have not all played the same amount of games.)

New England’s -0.84 under Full Season GDG means that for the full season the Revolution have been losing games by an average of 0.84 goals per game.

A few takeaways from this chart:

  • I mentioned earlier that four teams are getting better results recently than they had been before the most recent five matches, but Dallas and Philadelphia are both playing significantly better than they had before, while Atlanta and Columbus are only playing slightly better than they had before.
  • That said, Columbus was playing really well and is still playing really well, so that lack of improvement is relative, since the Crew did not have a lot of room to improve and yet they still did.
  • Cincinnati is a stunning case, since the club had only lost four of its first 22 matches before losing four of its next five. And in those four losses, Cincinnati was outscored 9-2, leading to that big drop in GDG. Even with that swoon, Cincinnati is still ranked fourth overall in MLS and third in the Eastern Conference in points per game.
  • Lastly, the section on the far right shows how each team has performed at home or on the road this season. The Match Location is for Orlando City, and the Opponent PPG shows, for example, that Philadelphia averages 1.31 points on the road this season. Orlando City has a better location-based PPG than its opponent in only three (New England, Charlotte, Atlanta) of the final seven games.

During each of the last three seasons, Orlando City earned at least 48 points during the regular season, and to make it four years in a row, the Lions will need to pick up at least 11 points from these final seven games. Here are the possible points the Lions can still earn, based on the number of wins they could have in those seven games:

Just looking at the math, it is possible that they could get to 11 points with only two wins, but that would require no losses in the other five games, and I think that is asking a lot for a team that has lost 37% of its games thus far this season. I think the most likely way that Orlando City gets to at least 11 points is three wins and two draws or four wins and any number of draws, so we need to rank the final seven opponents based on the likelihood of an Orlando City win.

Before we do that, however, we should note that Orlando City’s only MLS loss in its last seven MLS matches was at Sporting Kansas City, a team that is among the hottest in MLS, with results in four of its last five matches. Even though SKC lost, it played some close matches with several of the top teams in the league (LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, Colorado, Vancouver) before that. Perhaps Orlando City’s loss away in Kansas City was not as bad as it seemed at the time.

No, that loss still stunk.

Coming back to our ranking, I got out my mathematics degree, shined it up, blew it a kiss, and then put together a very fancy (read: very simple) algorithm using standard deviations to determine the order of most to least likely for Orlando City to get a win, with a formula that went:

That formula produced the list below, ranked in order of the upcoming schedule, accompanied by the team’s rank in order of likelihood of Orlando City getting a win (higher numbers mean Orlando City is more likely to win):

Whether this algorithm is correct or not, there is no doubt that the next two games for Orlando City are absolutely critical in both the made-up pursuit of a fourth straight season of at least 48 points and the more important push to secure a playoff berth and the opportunity to win MLS Cup. The next game (New England) is always the most important game, and after that, Orlando City could have an opportunity to pass Charlotte and move up the table, depending on how the Lions do against New England and how Charlotte does in its Sept. 14 match against CF Montréal. Both matches are at home, and despite their poor overall home record the Lions have three wins and one draw in their last four home MLS games. It would be quite nice to extend that to five wins in their last six before going on the road to Columbus.

I am going to predict that Orlando City does indeed win against New England and Charlotte, loses on the road at Columbus, ties at Dallas, ties Philadelphia, loses at Cincinnati, and closes with a home win over Atlanta for a final record of 3-2-2 during those last seven matches. The mathematically inclined will quickly recognize that a 3-2-2 record adds up to the 11 points the Lions needed to get to 48 points, but leaves them short of getting to 50 for the third time in the last four years. They would secure a playoff position, but they would also be on the road for the first game, and a third game as well if the series goes to three games.

While the team has definitely been playing a lot better as of late, I think this last seven-match run is a difficult one and the Lions will have to really push to do even as well as I predicted, which is only earning 11 of a possible 21 points. They have it in them to make a run. Let’s hope they come back from this bye week ready to roar and rub my prediction right in my face.

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