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Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Final Score 3-0 as Lions Sweep Revs for First Time Ever

The Lions got their second consecutive 3-0 home victory and swept the Revolution for the first time in club history.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The Lions’ latest match went a lot like their last, as Orlando City defeated the New England Revolution 3-0 at Inter&Co Stadium. Two weeks removed from a 3-0 win over Nashville SC, Orlando (11-10-7, 40 points) got goals from Rafael Santos, Facundo Torres, and Duncan McGuire and two big saves from Pedro Gallese to shut out the Revs (8-16-3, 27 points), sweeping the season series from New England for the first time in club history.

With the win, the Lions finally climbed over the .500 mark on the season and also broke even at home (5-5-4).

“It seems like we were precise in the moments that we needed the most,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “But the discipline and the commitment that we all have with the structure of the team just allow us to survive in moments where New England as well had their chances. So, while we’re growing collectively, the team will have a better chances to have performances like this and winning more points. So we’re happy with it.”

Pareja’s lineup included goalkeeper Gallese behind a back line of Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. David Brekalo was held out of the lineup for precautionary reasons after experiencing muscle discomfort prior to the match. Cesar Araujo — who it turns out did not get booked in the last game, as the yellow card he was shown by the referee was actually for McGuire — and Wilder Cartagena started in the central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, and Torres with Ramiro Enrique up top.

The first half was played evenly in terms of territory, but the Lions created the most danger from their possession. It started early with a good ball across from the left that Torres volleyed just over the net in the 15th minute. Two minutes later, Enrique tried to pick out a streaking Ojeda in front of goal but the pass was too close to Revs goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic, who collected.

New England couldn’t do anything with a series of early set pieces, including two corners and a free kick from near the right corner.

A good buildup in the 20th minute ended up crossed from left to right and Thorhallsson sent a good ball back across for Enrique, who went for a spectacular volley but sent it well wide to the right. Thorhallsson was a problem for New England left back Peyton Miller throughout the half, and only a last-second intercession by Tim Parker prevented a good cross from getting through for a tap-in in the 22nd minute. However, the ensuing corner produced a spectacular goal for Orlando.

Ojeda played the ball short to Angulo on the end line. The Colombian turned and fired a pass to Santos outside the box. The Brazilian fullback wasn’t closed down and blasted a curling shot from 25 yards out that found the top left corner, beating Ivacic and making it 1-0. It’s sure to be an MLS Goal of the Matchday candidate.

“We’ve been working on that play for a while now, so you were attentive to the ball that was coming, and thankfully had the opportunity to score,” Santos said through a club interpreter.

“For me, it wasn’t surprising at all,” McGuire said of Santos’ blast. “We play two-touch every day after practice and he scores that goal 15 times a day. And it’s annoying because he always beats all of us. So, I’m honestly not surprised he scored that. When I saw him with that much space, I knew it was going to be a goal. And all the guys behind me (on the bench) were like, ‘That’s nothing we haven’t seen before.’ So yeah, it was definitely sick and I’m happy for him and hopefully he can keep that going as well.”

Cartagena tried to double the lead in the 28th minute after a quick steal in New England’s third, but he hit his shot off target to the left.

New England’s best chance came a minute later. The Lions were caught a bit disorganized on a Revolution attack, allowing space above the box. Ian Harkes ran onto a pass and blasted a shot high over the net from the top of the area.

The game was played in the middle third for the next 15 minutes but then Orlando found some space. Torres sent Enrique behind on the right, but the Argentine needed an extra touch to control the ball, and by the time he shot it, Dave Romney arrived to block it out of play for a corner in the 44th minute. Nothing came from the set piece, but the Lions struck again moments later.

A ball in the box hit the outstretched arm of Carles Gil and referee Tori Penso immediately signaled for a penalty. Torres stood over the spot kick and crushed it into the upper right corner to make it 2-0 in the second added minute. It was Torres’ 11th goal of the season. For Santos, it was his first goal of the season but just his second MLS goal.

“Taking a PK brings a lot of elements — confidence, talent, preparation, the mental part, in that moment, in that part of the game,” Pareja said. “But Facu’s attitude when the PKs come, including one that he lost, he’s very confident. He wants to do it. So, that mental part, we have a good option to score with him. And also he’s training. They spend time on that part.”

Ojeda nearly made it 3-0 in the final minute of first-half stoppage time, but his blast toward the near post was saved by Ivacic. The ball recycled to Araujo, who found Cartagena wide open, but the Peruvian’s shot was into the upper deck on the south end of the stadium. That was the last sight of goal for either side before the halftime whistle.

At the break, Orlando City held the edge in possession (50.5%-49.5%), shots (9-3), and shots on target (3-0). Both teams won two corners, and the Revolution passed more accurately (88.2%-85.9%).

The first part of the second half belonged to Orlando as well, with the Lions trying to fire through a crowd from the top of the box. Araujo’s shot deflected out for a corner in the 50th minute but the Lions couldn’t pay it off.

Torres blasted a shot from the top of the area off the right post five minutes later, as the Lions came forward in transition.

New England got on the front foot for a while starting in the hour mark. Araujo fouled Gil from behind unnecessarily, giving the Revs a free kick from 25 yards out. Gil hit the free kick well, but Gallese came across to his right with a huge save to keep it out of the net.

“When we were two zero, that was my main concern,” Pareja said about keeping New England from clawing back into the game. “I said, ‘We cannot let them believe in the game, and we need the third goal. If not, it will be complicated.’ And then comes that free kick. Pedro saved us, and they had a couple (more) chances too. It was a big challenge today. It was not easy.”

That set piece fired up the Revolution and they had the better of the play for a spell. Jansson did well to make a sliding block of a Giacomo Vrioni shot in the 62nd minute.

After Cartagena fired wide of goal in the 65th minute on a recycled corner kick, the Lions dodged a bullet. Gil’s hard cross through the area found its way to Vrioni on the left side of the box, but his redirect went just inches wide of the post in the 67th minute.

Orlando was able to regain control of the match for the final stretch. Torres was set up on the left in the 70th minute but fired just wide of the near post off a nice pass from Cartagena. A minute later, Thorhallsson fired wide and high from a tight angle on the right, which was probably the wrong choice as second-half sub McGuire was wide open in front of goal.

McGuire scored moments later anyway to put the game to bed. Torres played the ball wide right to sub Nico Lodeiro, who played McGuire in behind from the right with a lovely ball. McGuire had Torres streaking down the left but blasted a shot that Ivacic got a piece of but couldn’t keep out. The Lions led 3-0 in the 74th minute. It was McGuire’s eighth goal of the season but his first since June 28 against New York City FC.

“I saw a lot of space in the back line,” McGuire said. “I saw Nico had a lot of space as well. So I didn’t think he get pressed for a little bit. So, I had time to make a run and and Nico got his head up and played a great ball through, and fell a little lucky with the finish, but, you know, I’ll take it. It has been a while since I’ve scored. It’s been a bit annoying for my standard, so yeah, definitely glad to be back on the score sheet, but at the end of the day, if we’re winning as a team, then that’s all that matters.”

Lodeiro tried to make it 4-0 in the 79th minute on a free kick won by Thorhallsson just inches to the right of the penalty area. The Uruguayan went for goal but fizzed his shot just over the bar and onto the roof of the net.

Gallese made another big save in the 83rd minute to deny Emmanuel Boateng, who had slipped in behind the right side of Orlando’s defense. The Peruvian came off his line to make the stop.

Each team had a good opportunity to score in stoppage time. Thorhallsson made yet another good pass to set up Cartagena at the top of the area in the second added minute but the Peruvian hit his shot straight at Ivacic, which left him talking to himself as he retreated back to his defensive position.

Moments later, Vrioni missed an open header just wide of the left post. That was the final opportunity of the match, and the Lions had their second consecutive 3-0 victory.

Orlando City finished with the advantage in possession (54.4%-45.6%), shots (20-9), and shots on target (5-2). New England won more corners (7-5) and passed more accurately (89.1% 86.4%).

“Within the game, I thought we had control, and when we had the chances, that is something that just made me very optimistic,” said Pareja, who won his 170th MLS regular-season game to pull into a tie for fifth all-time with Dominc Kinnear. “We’re scoring goals again and that makes it look like we’re in a good place.”

Offense aside, the Lions haven’t conceded in two games, and kept Gil quiet most of the night.

“MLS has quality players at all times, so we knew what we had to concentrate and focus on,” Santos said. “And at the end of the day, it’s just not giving the opponent the opportunity, and that’s what we tried to do.”


Orlando City is back in action at home on Wednesday against Charlotte FC.

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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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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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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Orlando City

In 2025, OCSC Stands for Orlando City Scorers Club

How Orlando City’s top offensive performers this season compare to the rest of MLS…and the Premier League.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Last week, I wrote about the state of Orlando City at the halfway point of the season, focusing mostly on the team’s accomplishments on offense and defense through 17 games. For this week, let’s look at some of the top performing Lions, because it’s always fun to talk about offensive success. I do not apologize if you take offense to my desire to only focus on offense, because that would be defensive, and there is no place in this article for defense.

Many moons ago, back in January during the preseason, I wrote an article looking at the best offensive seasons in Orlando City’s MLS history. I used a derived metric called game score to rank the seasons, and I’ll quickly explain again how that is calculated:

Goals Scored + Expected Assists + 0.0113 (Progressive Carries + Progressive Passes)

I went into much more detail about why that is the calculation in the original article, but the quick and dirty version is that scoring goals, completing passes to players in dangerous scoring areas, and progressing the ball by dribbling and passing are core components of a strong offensive player. Think of the game score as an offensive value calculation, and think of it simply as a value for which more is better and the most is best.

Opta only tracked the last three contributing statistics (expected assists, progressive carries, and progressive passes) from 2018 onwards, and the chart below shows Orlando City’s 10 best MLS regular seasons since 2018. It also shows the season that currently ranks 11th — Martín Ojeda’s 2025 season, which, as a reminder, is only in game 18 of a 34-game regular season. This means, if you get the extrapolation machine out, Ojeda is on pace for a season-long game score of 26.5, which would rank as the highest full season game score in Orlando City history.

  • * The 2020 season contained only 23 games due to COVID-19
  • ** Ojeda’s stats are through 18 matches; MLS teams have played between 16-19 matches

Ojeda’s 14.1 currently ranks only behind Sam Surridge of Nashville (15.7), Anders Dreyer of San Diego (16.6), and some player from Miami who clearly wants to play for Orlando since he has lion as part of his first name (Messi, 16.8). During Ojeda’s first two seasons, he only accumulated 12.1 and 12.5, respectively, so this is already by far his best season in purple and it is just barely halfway complete.

Ojeda is not the only Orlando City player who is on pace to jump into the club’s all-time top 10 by the end of the season, as teammates Luis Muriel (10.76, on pace for 20.3) and Marco Pašalić (10.46, on pace for 19.8) are both in the top 30 in MLS this season. Muriel is 24th, and Pašalić is 27th. Orlando City is the only team in the league with three players in the top 30, or really the top 27 (shout out to my son, for whom 27 is his favorite number).

One last point on Ojeda: if we were to extrapolate his performance through 18 games to 38 games, his season game score would bump up to 29.6. Why did I choose 38? Well, 38 happens to be the number of games played in the world’s most popular league, England’s Premier League. I am well aware that the Premier League is a different level of competition than MLS, but just for fun I ran the numbers on the 2024-2025 Premier League season, and a season-long game score of 29.6 would coincidentally also rank Ojeda fourth in England, right behind Cole Palmer (29.7) and in front of Alexander Isak (29.2). I do not think Ojeda would actually finish fourth if he was in the Premier League, but my point is more that the frequency of Ojeda’s contributions for Orlando City thus far this season have been similar to that of Palmer for Chelsea and Isak for Newcastle, which is pretty heady company.

Speaking of heady, we also need to talk about the player who is leading Orlando City in aerial duel wins, Alex Freeman. Heady, aerial duels…you got the segue, right? Don’t answer that.

Freeman has been on a rocket ship in the last year, going from Orlando City B starter to Orlando City starter to U.S. Men’s National Team starter, and he likely will also be the MLS All-Star Game starter, too. My mention of his leading the team in aerial duel wins, while noteworthy, was really just a convenient way to cut over to talking about him and his season-long game score of 8.1.

According to Opta’s positional tracking, only two MLS defenders have accumulated game scores of more than six thus far this season — Philadelphia’s Kai Wagner at 6.88 and Freeman’s 8.1. The extrapolation machine says 8.1 through 18 games puts Freeman on pace for a final score of 15.2, which would be the second best performance by an MLS defender since tracking began in 2018. Freeman is going to miss at least a few more games due to being with the U.S. team during the Gold Cup, so that 15.2 will likely not happen, but wow, what a great first half of a season for Orlando City’s right back.

Going back to the Premier League for comparative context…actually, please sit down and buckle up first. Are you good? Ok.

Going back to the Premier League for comparative context, there is none. Freeman’s performance blows away every defender’s from that league. It will likely surprise few that the defender with the best season game score in the Premier League this season was Trent Alexander-Arnold, who accumulated a score of 13.5 during Liverpool’s championship run. That 13.5 was 15% better than the defender who finished in second place, and yet, if we extrapolate Freeman to 38 games, he would be on pace for 17.0, which is 26% better than Alexander-Arnold. Mind the gap.

Once again, I do not mean to say that Freeman is as skilled or would contribute like Alexander-Arnold did in the Premier League. It is instead that Freeman’s contributions to Orlando City’s offense are unlike that from any defenders in the Premier League. Freeman’s performance thus far this season places him 43rd in the overall MLS rankings, first among defenders, and ahead of strikers such as Christian Benteke, Emmanuel Latte Lath, and Brandon Vazquez. He ranks fourth on Orlando City, and the Lions are not only the only club with three players in the top 30, but also the only club with four players in the top 45.

Two teams had four players in the top 45 during the 2024 MLS season, and one of them was the LA Galaxy, the eventual MLS Cup champions. I am not saying that Orlando City having four players in the top 45 this season means they will win MLS Cup, but I am not not saying it either. I am saying I would like it to happen though, and saying that loudly and clearly.

The game score metric is not the be-all, end-all of measuring offensive prowess, but I think it does a good job of creating a ranking system where the eye test matches the math. Most fans would point to Ojeda as the player who has driven Orlando City’s offense more than any other this season, and being that the team is on pace to have one of the best, if not the best, goal-scoring seasons in the club’s MLS history, it should track that Ojeda is also on pace to have one of the best, if not the best, individual offensive seasons in the club’s MLS history as well.

There are 16 more MLS games to go, and the great thing about sports is that in any game anything can happen, and that is why we love to watch. It is awesome that all three Designated Players and Freeman are off to great starts, but nothing is guaranteed for the back half of the season. That’s why they play the games, as the saying goes. For all we know, Ramiro Enrique could come on like gangbusters in the final games and rip off double-digit goals to end as the team’s leading scorer.

Ramiro, this is a bold strategy, and I am on board for it. The more goals the merrier. Feel free to bring us fans some goals for Christmas in July.

Orlando City does not have a game this weekend, with next match coming June 25 on the road in St. Louis. Winning that game would give the Lions their third winning streak of the season and would be something I would very much like, since I will be doling out the grades for that game. And since I have been writing about the offense this week, how about three goals and three points?

Vamos Orlando!

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