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

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s 3-1 victory over FC Dallas?

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9 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

James Brown once sang, “wow, I feel good, I knew that I would,” and while I feel good (duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh) after watching that 3-1 Orlando City win over FC Dallas Saturday night, I definitely cannot say that I knew that I would.

Going into that match, Orlando City had never even scored a single solitary goal in Dallas, but the Lions came out firing and put three in the net in the first 55 minutes, and then took three points after 90 minutes to get their first-ever win in Dallas. Hey Jimmy Johnson, how ’bout them Lions?

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 matchup with a Western Conference opponent.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7 — El Pulpo will probably feel hard done by that he did not pick up another clean sheet in this match, as Dallas’ one goal came on a penalty kick and the hosts were not even threatening when that foul occurred. Gallese also made several excellent saves during this match, including one on a crazy sequence, when he came way outside of the box to try to clear a ball over the top, and he then had to scramble back into the 18 and make a diving save when Dallas tried a long-range shot into what they thought was an open net. Dallas did have a goal called back during the match, as well as another ball that went in after a foul was whistled, which cannot be held against Gallese, but they are reminders of the fine line between a great night and a tough night for any goalkeeper. On this night, Gallese was more towards the great night with five saves and confident command of the box. 

D, Rafael Santos, 7.5 — Santos once again demonstrated his lethal left foot in this match, as his picture-perfect cross was headed in by Ramiro Enrique to give the Lions their first-ever goal in Dallas. The Brazilian defender led the Lions in touches (82) and was second in completed passes (53), completing those passes at an 86.9% rate. He completed five of his nine long passes and was a threat down the left side all game long. Orlando City attacked down the left side on 47% of its possessions (27% middle and 26% right made up the other two channels), and a primary reason for the left side dominance was Santos and the runs he was making up the field. Dallas countered this by attacking up its right side on 42% of its possessions, and there were some nervy moments late as the hosts did get by Santos and created some chances in his area. On this day though, Dallas did not convert any of those chances, and the overall contributions by Santos were a major reason why the Lions took all three points.

D, Robin Jansson, 7 — The Orlando City captain played his normal solid and composed match in the back on Saturday night, and the Beefy Swede should have had his first MLS assist of the season on a beautiful cross in the second half that Duncan McGuire was unable to finish. Jansson had five clearances, three recoveries, two interceptions, and one tackle, and he completed 43 passes at a 97.7% rate. Through much of the game he stayed home in the center of the field so that Rodrigo Schlegel could roam a little more forward, which was successful for the Lions in helping them own the middle horizontally and vertically.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 8 — Schlegel was everywhere during this match, and a serious contender for Man of the Match. His bullet header that doubled the lead for the Lions will be what is remembered most, but he also had three tackles, two clearances, and one interception, and his partnership with Jansson was excellent in keeping FC Dallas’ pairing of Jesus Ferreira and Petar Musa off the scoresheet. I thought Schlegel was excellent throughout the match, and his right side pairing with Kyle Smith was effective in limiting Dallas’ attacks down their left channel.

D, Kyle Smith, 6.5 — Smith once again demonstrated his trademark Kyle-of-all-trades abilities, as after a season of primarily playing left back, he stepped in at right back with Dagur Dan Thórhallsson out and delivered a solid performance. Smith was second on the team with four clearances and had one tackle, and he also completed 87.8% of his passes on the night while going the full 90 minutes. He did get turned around on during the buildup to the Dallas goal that was called back in the 90th minute, but that goal was called back, so that will not be held against him. The Accountant delivered the results in this match, and they were favorable for Orlando City.

MF, César Araujo, 7 — No offense to Jeorgio Kocevski, but having Araujo back in the lineup made a massive difference for Orlando City. The Uruguayan midfielder helped secure the middle of the field throughout the match, completing 50 passes at a 92.6% rate as a midfield fulcrum on offense and helping to force Dallas to push the ball out wide to attack rather than attempt to come down the middle on defense. Araujo did pick up another yellow card trying to slow down a Dallas counterattack in the 67th minute. That foul may have been unnecessary with multiple defenders already behind the ball, however, he was put in a bad spot by Facundo Torres’ wayward pass and decided to take no chances with the lead on the road. On the whole, Araujo showed why the Lions are a better team when he is on the field, and he was a major reason why Orlando City picked up three points in Dallas.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 7 — Sometimes I think I should just write one grade for César Wilder Cartaraujo, as there are games when the two holding midfielders play quite similarly, just on slightly different sides of the field. The FC Dallas match was close to one of those games, but I thought Cartagena was slightly better than his midfield partner, even though he only played 73 minutes. The Peruvian led the team in completed passes, with 55, completing them at a 94.8% rate, with two of them being key passes. Cartagena also had three tackles and one interception, and unlike his midfield partner, he did not pick up a(nother) yellow card. With a midweek game coming up on Wednesday, Cartagena made way for Nico Lodeiro in the 73rd minute, but he was excellent during his time on the field and was a major reason why the Lions owned the center of the field.

MF, Iván Angulo, 6.5 — Despite Orlando City’s focus on attacking down the left side of the field, Angulo did not really contribute to any of the three goals or other big scoring opportunities, though he did track back well on defense and gave his trademark full effort throughout his 90 minutes. Angulo completed 41 passes at an 89.1% rate and had three interceptions, two tackles, one clearance, and one block. His contributions were more on the defensive side than the offensive side against Dallas, especially with Dallas attacking down the right more often than the left. And while the Colombian winger may not have been involved in any of the goals I do think it was one of his better recent games overall.

MF, Martín Ojeda, 7 — I have long been a fan of how hockey includes secondary and primary assists in assist totals, and although most of soccer doesn’t follow suit, MLS does. As such, Ojeda finished with two assists on the night in Dallas. His perfect pass to Santos led to the cross that produced Orlando City’s first goal, giving the Argentine a secondary assist, and his corner kick early in the second half was headed in by Schlegel for the second goal, providing him with a primary assist. What mattered most is that both goals were scored and Ojeda played a major role in each, and those passes, in addition to his skillful and creative play to hit a well-struck volley on goal in the first half, were three major highlights for the Lions in this match. Ojeda completed 32 passes on the night, with two key passes, and he was involved and dangerous on offense throughout his 65 minutes on the field.

MF, Facundo Torres, 7.5 — The hot streak continued for Torres, as he made it five goals in his last five MLS games with his well-placed finish off a through ball from Enrique to make the score 3-0 for Orlando City. Just a few minutes earlier, I will admit that I was muttering words of frustration when he had a similar breakaway opportunity on a through ball but chose to slow down to get it onto his left foot, and subsequently had his shot saved, but he took full advantage of his second chance and gave the Lions an even bigger cushion. Orlando City attacked down the left side far more often than Torres’ right side on Saturday night, but he was still able to be involved in the offense, completing 90.2% of his passes and taking 24 touches in the attacking third of the field. Torres made way for Felipe in the 81st minute in a defense-for-offense substitution, but it was another excellent match for the Uruguayan Designated Player, who is now the Orlando City record holder for career MLS goal contributions, with 50.

F, Ramiro Enrique, 8.5 (MotM) — Enrique is back in form again, and it is a wonderful thing to watch. Despite being short in stature as compared to the FC Dallas back line, it was he who opened the scoring with a header on a cross from Santos, and then later it was his tackle and steal that turned into his through ball assist to Torres for the third Orlando City goal. He also played another key pass and drew four fouls and was generally a menace all over the attacking third of the field for his entire 65-minute shift. I thought Enrique was outstanding, and despite a challenge from his fellow Argentinean Schlegel, I thought he was the Man of the Match.

Substitutes

F, Duncan McGuire (65′), 6 — On another Saturday night Big Dunc could have had multiple goals and been in contention for Man of the Match, but he was just off ever so much with his finishing touch and was unable to get any of his shots into the net. His work rate was tremendous and he put Dallas under major pressure after subbing in for Enrique, but he missed a massive chance on a ball from Jansson that was perfectly set up for him to put the game away by making it 4-0, and on two other breakaway opportunities he had a shot saved and blocked. The effort was there, the final touch just let him down during this match.

MF, Luis Muriel (65′), 6.5 — Muriel was once again excellent off the bench on Saturday night after subbing in for Ojeda, and could have had multiple assists if his teammates could have finished a little better. He was involved in three plays that McGuire didn’t finish, giving Jansson a seeing-eye pass in the 66th minute and sending McGuire behind the back line in the 71st and 97th minutes. As I was making notes on the match I was thinking about a comparison to NBA player Chris Paul, as Muriel, who was a usual starter earlier in his career, seems to have embraced a role off the bench and comes in delivering perfect passes all over the field when he does sub into the game. Muriel had two key passes and completed 92% of all of his passes, and looked dangerous every time he had the ball.

MF, Nico Lodeiro, (73’), N/A — This will not be a game that Lodeiro looks fondly upon when he reflects on the 2024 season. The headline for him will be that he gave away a penalty, and although I do believe it was a foul, I think it was harsh since the attacking player was moving away from goal in the far corner of the box, but it was a deserved penalty and it did breathe some life back into FC Dallas. He uncharacteristically only completed 75% of his passes, and did not bring his steady and positive presence off the bench as he usually has done this season.

MF, Felipe, (81’), N/A — Felipe came on as a late defensive replacement for Torres to help see the game out. He only had three touches but did complete both of his passes, and because he is Felipe and this is what he does, he also committed one foul.

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

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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2 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/20/25

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

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2 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

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

Orlando Pride Face Racing Louisville Tonight

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

Zambia Calls Up Orlando Pride Trio

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

USMNT Beats Saudi Arabia to Qualify for Quarterfinals

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

FIFA Club World Cup Roundup

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

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

Free Kicks

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

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

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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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3 days ago

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June 19, 2025

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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.

PlayerSeasonSeason Game ScoreRank in MLSMLS Best that Season
Nani201922.0850.7
Facundo Torres202320.91031.1
Facundo Torres202420.02132.6
Facundo Torres202217.42533.7
Duncan McGuire202316.32631.1
Nani202116.22626.6
Sacha Kljestan201815.64638.0
Chris Mueller2020*14.81121.8
Yoshimar Yotún201814.75338.0
Dom Dwyer201814.35838.0
Martín Ojeda2025**14.1416.8
  • * 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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