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Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s win at home against the New England Revolution?

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5 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City hosted the New England Revolution and won 3-0 to claim its 11th victory of the season. Rafael Santos, Facundo Torres, and Duncan McGuire all found the back of the net, and the defense did its part to secure a shutout in front of the home fans.

It was definitely a team effort, but let’s take a look at how each Lion individually performed in another dominant win at home.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6.5 — The Peruvian goalkeeper didn’t have to come up with a save until Carles Gil tested him in the 60th minute from a free kick. Gallese was up to the task and made a phenomenal save to his right after Gil bent his shot around the wall. He also made a big stop late on Emmanuel Boateng, who got behind the defense. It was otherwise a pretty quiet night for Gallese, as he finished the match with 26 touches and just two saves, albeit very good ones. As for his distribution, he completed 89.5% of his 19 passes and two of his four long balls were successful. A clean sheet was a nice cherry on top for El Pulpo’s night.

D, Rafael Santos, 7 — The left back scored one of the best goals of Orlando’s season, curling a shot into the top left corner from distance. The opportunity came from a short corner, with Angulo teeing him up in a well-worked set piece that left him with time and space to pick out his target and beat Aljaz Ivacic. Defensively, he had two tackles and two clearances to limit New England’s attack on his side of the field for the most part. His only cross was inaccurate, two of his six long balls found their mark, and he had 46 passes at a 73.9% success rate. His goal was a game changer and future opponents will have to take him into account moving forward.

D, Robin Jansson, 7 — The Beefy Swede put out fires when needed to help secure Orlando’s clean sheet, contributing a clearance and blocking a shot. He only had 32 touches in the match, anchoring the defense while his teammates built momentum through possession. His presence kept New England from developing anything in terms of transition. Jansson attempted six long balls, completing three of them, and he was successful on 85.7% of his 28 passes overall. It wasn’t the busiest night for Jansson, but he excelled when called upon and stayed home when Orlando was on the attack, allowing his central defense partner to join in the possession higher up the pitch.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6 — Schlegel had two clearances in this one and often cleanly got the ball out of danger without allowing rebound opportunities. There were a couple of instances in which he didn’t close down Giacomo Vrioni quickly enough, but Schlegel helped manage to keep the Italian-Albanian forward from causing too much trouble. The Argentine center back also allowed Boateng to get in behind on goal late, so it wasn’t a perfect night by any means. However, he led the Lions with eight long balls and five of them were successful, sparking some opportunities for the offense. Schlegel’s 52 passes were also the most on the team and he completed a strong 90.4% of them. It was a good overall outing for the center back, but there were a couple of lapses.

D, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, 7 — Thorhallsson was a force up and down the wing, coming up with important stops on defense and giving the Revolution headaches when he went on the attack. He provided three key passes, including a nice lob into the box in the first half that Ramiro Enrique couldn’t bury. Defensively, he had two tackles, an interception, and a clearance. While none of his three crosses found their target, he attempted 43 passes at an excellent 95.4% success rate and one of his two long balls was accurate as well. Thorhallsson also won a foul from a good position late in the match. Neither of his two shots were on target, but it was still a dynamic performance from the right back.

MF, César Araujo, 6.5 — Araujo also had three key passes in this match, doing his part to set up opportunities for the team’s attackers to work their magic. The Uruguayan midfielder’s only attempted cross was successful, three of his six long balls found their mark, and he was successful on 87.2% of his 47 passes. His only shot in the match was deflected, but went out for a corner kick. Araujo also helped out on the defensive side of things with a pair of tackles and helped keep Gil quiet. It’s worth noting that Araujo avoided a yellow card that would have suspended him for Orlando’s next match as well.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 6.5 — Returning from international duty with Peru, Cartagena had a strong defensive performance and rotated well to provide coverage when the team’s fullbacks joined the attack. The 29-year-old led the Lions with five tackles and had an interception as well. Cartagena had four shots, but only one of them ended up on target and it didn’t trouble Ivacic. All four of his long balls were successful and he completed 85.1% of his 47 passes. He also had a lovely key pass to slip the ball past defenders and give Torres a great opportunity in the box. Although he picked up a yellow card, it was a professional foul to cut off a potentially dangerous counterattack.

MF, Iván Angulo, 6 — Angulo earned his ninth assist of the season by setting up Santos in space off of a corner kick. He didn’t attempt any crosses or shots, but he did have two key passes in the match. His speed was most useful at stretching New England’s defense and then chasing down opposing players to win the ball back. Before coming off in the 74th minute, he had three tackles and 26 passes, but at just a 69.2% success rate. It wasn’t his best performance, but he played his role in the designed set piece and kept the Revolution on their toes with his threat on the counter.

MF, Martín Ojeda, 6.5 — Ojeda was credited with a secondary assist for his minor role in the short corner that led to Orlando’s first goal. The Designated Player played a part in Orlando’s second goal as well, with Gil committing a handball in the box while trying to defend Ojeda. He had a phenomenal switch in play that ignited the break on which Torres hit the post. He had three shots in the match, putting one of them on target and forcing a good save by Ivacic at the near post, and he also had a key pass. Ojeda led the team with six crosses, but only one of them was successful. He was accurate on two of his three long balls though, and attempted 29 passes at an 82.8% success rate. Ojeda was better in the second half and forced both attention and quick decisions from the Revolution’s defense before being subbed out in the 68th minute.

MF, Facundo Torres, 7.5 (MotM) — Torres scored his 11th goal of the season with a powerful penalty kick that Ivacic had little chance of stopping even if he didn’t guess the wrong way. He had a few other chances to score, but hit the post and just missed the target twice. Neither of his two crosses were successful. However, he still had two key passes, all three of his long balls were successful, and he completed 94.6% of his 37 passes. His role in Orlando’s third goal will be overshadowed by McGuire and Nico Lodeiro’s magic, but Torres deserves some recognition for his lobbed pass out wide for Lodeiro to get the ball in space away from the Revolution’s defense. He also made a lungbusting run on the play to provide McGuire a passing option and pull some of the defense’s attention away. Orlando looked dangerous whenever Torres was involved in the attack, but he also did well when pressing and made himself available all over the pitch for his teammates.

F, Ramiro Enrique, 6 — Enrique earned another start up top and did fairly well. He almost squeezed a ball in to Martin Ojeda at the near post early on after making a nice run on a break, but Ivacic snuffed it out. His first shot of the night was an audacious and acrobatic effort on the volley that went off target. Chesting the ball into the path of Facundo Torres was likely the smarter play, but it’s hard to put too much blame on a striker for trying his luck. His only other shot of the match was blocked. Although he didn’t win either of his two aerial duels, his hold-up play was decent and he completed 81.3% of his 16 passes. Enrique may not have scored, but he injected plenty of energy into the attack and had two key passes to go with a successful long ball.

Substitutes

F, Duncan McGuire (68’), 6.5 — McGuire scored his first goal since June in fantastic fashion. While his powerful strike that wound up in the net despite Ivacic getting contact on it was great, the most impressive part of his goal was his run from his own box that included staying onside and slipping between defenders for Lodeiro to find him. It was his only shot and he only had three touches, completing both of his attempted passes as well. He made some good runs here and there after his goal, but didn’t receive much service while the Lions enjoyed a three-goal lead.

MF, Nico Lodeiro (69’), 6.5 — Lodeiro put in a great shift off the bench, assisting on McGuire’s goal with a nice pass that slipped between defenders on a counter. His only shot was from a free kick and he sent it over the bar. The 35-year-old could have had another assist in the 85th minute, but his pass across the front of goal was deflected out for a corner before it could reach McGuire or Yutaro Tsukada. Lodeiro finished the match with 22 touches and 17 passes at an 88.2% success rate.

MF, Luis Muriel (75′), 6 — The Colombian forward’s only shot came in the final moment of the game, as he sent a free kick into the stands after he was fouled by the Revolution in what looked like a promising attack. He had a terrific switch of play to Thorhallsson that ended in Cartagena’s shot right at Ivacic in the second minute of stoppage time. Muriel had 14 touches and both of his attempted long balls found their target. He completed all but one of his 10 passes and did well carving out open space on offense.

MF, Felipe (79′) N/A — Felipe picked up where Cesar Araujo left off in the midfield, putting in a gritty performance to help see out the game. He had 21 touches in a short amount of time on the pitch and completed 94.7% of his 19 passes. The Brazilian also had a tackle to help out defensively and worked himself into good areas when the Lions went on the attack for more goals.

MF, Yutaro Tsukada (79′), N/A — The young winger only had six touches, but he completed all four of his passes and contributed on defense with a tackle. Tsukada didn’t have any shots or key passes, but found decent areas when the Lions went on the offensive. It was a bit disappointing that he wasn’t given a crack at one of the team’s late free kicks, though it was still nice to see the rookie get some valuable minutes with the first team.

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

Likes and Dislikes from this Week of Orlando City’s Preseason

Orlando City’s third week of preparation had some good things and some not so good things.

Published

7 hours ago

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January 31, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

We have another week of Orlando City’s preseason in the books, and while it seems hard to believe, it’s been almost three weeks since the Lions got back in the lab and started preparing for the 2025 campaign. There have been lots of new talking points this week too, and its been a bit of a mixed bag. Let’s have a look at some of the good and bad from this past week.

Likes

Victory (Kind of) vs. Atletico Mineiro

Okay, so it technically wasn’t a victory since the game ended in a scoreless draw. The Lions did get the job done from the penalty spot though, as they won the shootout 6-5 to claim whatever the Inter&Co Trophy is. More important than the result though, was the fact that OCSC played pretty well. Orlando created a good amount of opportunities, but as seems to be the fatal flaw with this team, the finishing was definitely on the rusty side. It was perhaps unlucky that some of the Lions’ best chances fell to youngsters, but the good news is that the chances were being created. It was a positive first showing that the team can hopefully build on.

Back in the U.S. Open Cup

A lot of fans, myself included, had big issues with the Lions not being a participant in the U.S. Open Cup last year. It’s a tournament that is near and dear to a lot of Orlando fans, given that OCSC has won the whole damn thing once, had other special moments like The Running of the Wall, and has generally made decent runs in the competition. It was welcome news to hear that Orlando will be back in the competition this year, along with 15 other MLS teams that will enter the competition during the Round of 32. The tournament has a charm and a special place in my heart, and it’s exactly where the Lions should be.

Two Games, Two Clean Sheets

Nic Josey has gone on the record stating that Orlando City will need strong, steady performances from its defense if the team wants to avoid a slow start to the season like we saw in 2024. It’s only preseason, and we shouldn’t get too carried away, but so far so good, as the Lions have recorded a clean sheet in each of their two preseason games. Whether that will mean a damn thing once the regular season starts is anyone’s guess, but it’s a hell of a lot better than giving up buckets of goals in the preseason.

Dislikes

Wilder Cartagena’s Injury

We still don’t have official confirmation on the injury that Wilder Cartagena suffered during Saturday’s preseason match, but all the reports point to an Achilles Tendon injury, with ESPN’s Diego Montalvan going as far to say that he’ll be undergoing surgery. If that proves to be the case then it’s a doomsday scenario indeed for the Lions, as Cartagena could miss anywhere from six months to a whole year. He’s proven to be a vital part of what makes Orlando City tick, and replacing him is going to be far from an easy task.

Summer Fixture Frenzy

Along with the U.S. Open Cup, the Lions will once again be participating in Leagues Cup, and that’s presented them with a hellish slate of matches to finish out the summer. In a stretch from mid-July to mid-August OCSC will play a positively hellish eight games in 29 days, with that number potentially rising even higher if the club goes deep in the Open Cup (unless the two competitions decide to play nice and work with each other on scheduling). Not to mention that six of those eight games will take place at home in the punishing Florida heat and humidity. Either some guys are going to need to get signed, the kids are going to get some good experience, or something is going to give. Speaking of…

The Continued Wait for Reinforcements

Orlando City has made a couple signings in the last two weeks, with the most notable of those being winger Nicolas Rodriguez, with goalkeeper Carlos Mercado getting re-signed on Thursday. That’s a start, but Cartagena needs to be replaced, Jack Lynn’s retirement and Duncan McGuire’s shoulder injury mean the striker corps is dangerously thin, and the team could use help with depth at midfield and fullback. That’s a hell of a lot of business that needs to get done, and there hasn’t been much in the way of substantive chatter in the transfer rumor mill lately. The sooner signings are made, the more time they have to get integrated with their new surroundings before the season starts, but time is fast running out for that to happen.

There you have it folks. Life is full of peaks and valleys, and this week for Orlando City was a good reflection of that. What things jumped out to you this week, and what are you hoping to see as we move into the fourth week of preseason? Be sure to have your say down in the comments. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 1/31/25

Orlando Pride transfer Adriana for record fee, Orlando City re-signs Carlos Mercado, new Leagues Cup format revealed, and more.

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10 hours ago

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January 31, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! Today ends the first month of 2025 and my resolutions are mostly intact. I’d like to walk a bit more in the afternoons than I currently am, but I’ll take what I can get. I don’t have too many plans lined up this weekend beyond working, catching some sports, and board games with friends. But for now, let’s dive into today’s links from around the soccer world.

Adriana Transferred For Orlando Pride Record Fee

The Orlando Pride have transferred Adriana to Al Qadsiah FC in the Saudi Women’s Premier League for a club record fee of reportedly $500,000. Adriana requested the move after two seasons with the Pride since joining in January of 2023. The versatile attacker recorded 12 goals and five assists in 46 regular-season appearances with the Pride. This move opens up an opportunity for more minutes for the team’s young players, and that transfer fee should help improve the Pride’s roster.

Carlos Mercado Re-Signs With Orlando City

Orlando City signed goalkeeper Carlos Mercado to a new contract through the upcoming 2025 season, with club options for 2026 and 2027. The club declined the option on his previous contract following the 2024 season, but he’s back in purple after Mason Stajduhar’s trade to Real Salt Lake. The 25-year-old will likely feature as Orlando City B’s starting goalkeeper this season, with Javier Otero backing up Pedro Gallese on the first team. Mercado started 20 games for the Young Lions last season, so he has some playing time and familiarity with the team under his belt ahead of the 2025 MLS NEXT Pro season.

Leagues Cup Reveals New Format for 2025

Orlando City was one of only 18 MLS clubs to qualify for this summer’s Leagues Cup and we now know what the new format for the tournament will be. The group stage is gone and in its place is a convoluted first phase that can be simplified as there being six sets of six teams —three from MLS and three from Liga MX. Each team will play one match against the three teams from the opposing league, and then only the top four teams overall from each league will advance to the quarterfinals. This means that there will be MLS vs. Liga MX matchups every game until possibly the semifinals. One rule that stuck around though is that there will still be a penalty shootout for an additional point if two teams draw.

NWSL Awards Franchise to Denver

The NWSL officially announced that the league’s 16th franchise will be in Denver. The new club will take the field in 2026 and is finalizing plans to build a stadium for the team. Rob Cohen, who founded the Denver Sports Commission to help bring major sporting events to the city, will serve as the club’s controlling owner and governor, while Mellody Hobson will be the alternate governor. Denver’s team doesn’t have a name, colors, or a logo just yet, but I think anything other than DEN Nation FC would be a good idea.

Free Kicks

  • Former Pride player Emily van Egmond joined Birmingham City on a two-and-a-half-year contract after three years with the San Diego Wave. Birmingham is at the top of the Women’s Championship in a tight race for promotion to the Women’s Super League.
  • Manuel Cocca, whose contract with Orlando City B expired after last season, has joined Arsenal de Sarandi in Argentina’s second division.

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

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Opinion

Orlando City’s Lack of Off-Season Signings Starting to Become a Concern

The Lions’ roster hasn’t gotten any bigger in the last few weeks, so it’s understandable if fans are getting a bit antsy.

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1 day ago

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January 30, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Three weeks ago I wrote that there was no reason to panic about Orlando City’s lack of off-season signings. It was early in January, and the club typically does a lot of its business throughout the first month of the year. Since then, the club signed Nicolas Rodriguez, but the Lions also traded Mason Stajduhar, and forward Jack Lynn retired. That is more subtraction than addition for a team looking to make it to the next level. Is it now time to panic?

The departure of Stajduhar hits Orlando City supporters in the feels given how long he was with the club, but one may assume the coaches have seen enough from Javier Otero to be confident in his ability to back up Pedro Gallese. The club still needs to bring in another keeper [Editor’s note: this story was written prior to the club signing Carlos Mercado this morning], but Stajduhar’s departure isn’t as big of a problem as it might first seem.

We don’t know how long Duncan McGuire will be unavailable once the season starts. Even if he’s back sooner than expected, Orlando City will still be lacking at the striker position. Ramiro Enrique has proven he can be a starter, but with Jack Lynn’s departure, there isn’t anyone behind him. While Luis Muriel is technically a striker, he tends to play further back in a facilitator role rather than as an actual No. 9. We haven’t seen any transfer moves for a new striker.

The Lions got a big influx of cash, thanks to the Facundo Torres deal. Replacing the goal production of Orlando City’s all-time leading goal scorer is a priority. So far, the club has brought in Rodriguez as an MLS U22 Initiative player. Despite the similarities between the two, Rodriguez is not a replacement for Torres. It is unrealistic to expect the young man to score double-digit goals his first year in MLS.

I’m not even worried about the attacking midfield. As I mentioned above, Muriel is best as a facilitator, Martin Ojeda is now wearing the No. 10 jersey, and Ivan Angulo can play on either side. It’s Torres’ goal contributions I’m worried about missing. Orlando City needs to replace that production sooner rather than later or another slow start seems certain.

I’m not going to address the Wilder Cartagena injury until we know more, but that is also potentially very bad news. That brings us to today. The team is already deep into its preseason trip to Mexico. This is the trip that in the past has been the time when the team truly bonds. Any players brought in at this point will obviously miss that valuable time.

Additionally, unless a signing is someone who has already played in MLS — which is incredibly rare for this front office — it is going to take them time to adapt to the league as well as the club and their new teammates. That brings us back to the real potential for another slow start to the season.

When you have roster turnover, the idea is to bring in players that are better than the players that departed. We know that the ownership is serious about winning. The 2022 Open Cup victory and the Orlando Pride’s two 2024 trophies are a testament to that. Now, it’s time to see that commitment with some substantial signings for City. In some ways, I feel the club has left it a little late, but I’ll take what I can get at this point.

I’m not saying it’s time to panic — though I won’t tell you not to do so — but I’m definitely getting a bit concerned. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

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