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Orlando City’s Most Successful Offensive and Defensive Lineups

An analysis of the best offensive and defensive groupings for Orlando City this season across all competitions.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Soccer is a game that has cheer leaders but not cheerleaders, so there is usually no opportunity to hear people chanting out “two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?” at soccer matches. In this article, however, we are going to offer some appreciation, and look back at a two, a four, a six and….an 11 that we appreciate.

Let’s start with the two, and take a look at midfield tandem of César Araújo and Wilder Cartagena. Orlando City’s preferred partnership started 23 games alongside one another in all competitions in 2024, and in those games Orlando City went 13-4-6.

CompetitionWinsLossesDrawsPoints per GameGoal Differential
Concacaf Champions Cup1012.00+3
Leagues Cup1021.67+3
MLS11432.00+13
Total13461.96+19

Taking a quick look at the final MLS standings, the 2.00 points per game in MLS play that Orlando City averaged when Araújo and Cartagena started together in the midfield would have ranked only behind Inter Miami’s 2.18 points per game across all 29 MLS teams and was 31% better than Orlando City’s actual final tally of 1.53 points per game (15-12-7). Doing the math, if the Lions were 11-4-3 with Araújo and Cartagena starting together (including six straight wins in their most recent six starts) and 15-12-7 overall, then they must have been 4-8-4 when it was a different starting midfield two, and 4-8-4 is a paltry 1.00 points per game, something closer to a team in the bottom third of the league. Orlando City’s lineup with their top midfield partnership was equivalent to a team on a top-two pace, a one-two punch that was frequently too powerful for an opponent to handle.

Moving on from two to four, let’s take a look at Orlando City’s back lines throughout the season to see which combination of four performed the foremost (ok, I’ll stop) throughout the season. There was a period of time early in the season when the Lions deployed a three-man back line with two wingbacks for a few games, but once they got everyone back from international matches and back to health they have rolled with the four-man back line ever since.

On the season Orlando City has played 41 games (34 in MLS, four in Concacaf Champions Cup, and three in Leagues Cup), so there have been 3,690 total minutes played by defensive groupings so far. Here are the six groupings that played at least 5% of the minutes, and how they have performed this season (own goals scored by Orlando City’s opponents have been excluded, players listed left to right on how they played positionally):

Back LineMinutes% of MinutesGoals AgainstGoals Against per 90 MinsGoal Differential
Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, Thorhallsson1,22733.3%231.69+1
Smith, Jansson, Brekalo, Thorhallsson49613.4%91.63+3
Schlegel, Cartagena, Brekalo38610.5%40.93-3
Smith, Jansson, Schlegel, Thorhallsson37910.3%71.66+4
Santos, Jansson, Brekalo, Thorhallsson3679.9%51.23-2
Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, Smith2627.1%31.03+6

Interestingly, the three-man back line of Rodrigo Schlegel, Cartagena, and David Brekalo has the best goals against per 90 minutes rating, giving up less than one goal per game, but the team struggled to score while in this lineup — odd since a three-man back line allows for seven players to play higher up the field, as opposed to only six when in the standard four-man back line. I chalk a lot of this up to it being an unfamiliar formation and one that was played early in the season when the team was trying to figure out how to mix the attacking players together, rather than an issue caused by a three-man back line.

We are focusing on the fours here though, and while the teams preferred back line clearly appears to be Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thórhallsson, the data points to two other groupings as ones that played at least 250 minutes together and had better goal differentials. The Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, and Kyle Smith back line did not debut until September, but it was effective against Charlotte (late game), Dallas (starting four), Philadelphia (starting four), and Cincinnati (starting four), and had the second-best goals against per 90 minutes rating of the most used lineups.

The Smith, Jansson, Schlegel, and Thórhallsson back line played together in nine different games — a mix of four starts and five games where they subbed into that grouping. While it was not a grouping that was difficult to break down and score against, as evidenced by the 1.66 goals against per 90 minutes, they were +4 in only 379 minutes together, so the Lions were banging in the goals at a rate of 2.61 goals scored per 90 minutes.

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, but when we are trying to find the best defensive group of four, we want the best defense to be the best defense, so it looks like it would be either Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, and Smith or Santos, Jansson, Brekalo, and Thórhallsson. Alas, we never saw Santos, Jansson, Brekalo, and Smith together during the season, so there is no data around that grouping, and with Brekalo being seemingly the forgotten man in recent weeks, I do not think we are going to see that lineup in the playoffs either, unless there is an injury or a card situation.

For my four I’m going to go with the data, and while I expect that Thórhallsson will probably start over Smith in the next match, the data says the lineup should read Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, and Smith, with their low goals against and high goal differential.

We will yell out fore and drive our way over to six, and move from the defensive grouping to the offensive one. It is rather amazing how many different offensive combinations have played at least one minute this season. By my count, there were 107 unique offensive groupings that the Lions utilized throughout the 41 games.

While on the defensive side, Orlando City settled into a lineup that ended up playing almost exactly one-third of all minutes, on the offensive side, the most common lineup just barely reached half that number, and the six lineups that played the most together did not even play half of the total minutes available this season (players listed alphabetically, as I could not come up with an easy way to depict the offensive formation in a table).

Attacking GroupMinutes% of MinutesGoals ScoredGoals per 90 MinutesGoal Differential
Angulo, Araujo, Cartagena, Enrique, Ojeda, Torres61516.7%111.61+7
Angulo, Araujo, Cartagena, McGuire, Ojeda, Torres3399.2%82.12+3
Angulo, Araujo, Lodeiro, McGuire, Muriel, Ojeda, Torres1774.8%52.54+3
Angulo, Araujo, Lodeiro, McGuire, Muriel, Torres1644.4%21.10-1
Angulo, Araujo, Lodeiro, McGuire, Muriel, Torres1484.0%42.43+1
Angulo, Araujo, Cartagena, Lodeiro, McGuire, Torres1273.4%10.71+1

No other attacking grouping even played one game’s worth of minutes together all season, but I do want to include the statistics from three additional groupings, because as you see here they were prolific, albeit in small samples:

Attacking GroupMinutes% of MinutesGoals ScoredGoals per 90 MinutesGoal Differential
Angulo, Araujo, Cartagena, Enrique, Muriel, Torres722.0%33.75+2
Araujo, Cartagena, Enrique, Lodeiro, Ojeda, Torres641.7%45.63+4
Angulo, Cartagena, Enrique, Lodeiro, Muriel, Torres381.0%37.11+2

I do not expect that any of these groupings would actually continue to score at this rate if they played more minutes together, but the two lineups with Araújo and Cartagena seem like lineups that the Lions could use if trailing, and even the bottom row where Nico Lodeiro would be in for Araújo could be possible as well, since Cartagena is generally more of an offensive threat than Araújo if the coaching staff decided to move to one holding midfielder or if they needed to choose one of the two to sub out.

Going back to the commonly used lineups, the question still remains on whether the group of five (Ivan Angulo, Araújo, Cartagena, Martin Ojeda and Facundo Torres) should play more minutes with Ramiro Enrique or Duncan McGuire. The data says they are more efficient with McGuire, to the tune of an additional half a goal per 90 minutes, but most of the McGuire minutes with this group have been played later in the match, when Orlando City was already ahead and the opposition was tired and chasing an equalizer. Enrique’s minutes have nearly all been as a starter since mid-summer, so he generally faces a fresh defense and an even scoreline, so the defenders are not taking as many risks.

Two lineups that are not in either of these tables, because they were each used for only 30 minutes this season, are Araújo, Cartagena, Enrique, Luis Muriel, Ojeda, and Torres and Araújo, Cartagena, Enrique, McGuire, Muriel, and Torres, and they each scored one goal in their time together for a goals-per-90-minutes average of 3.00. Both of those lineups do not contain Angulo, which sacrifices his speed and recovery ability to get back on defense, but they do include every primary creative attacking player except Lodeiro. The samples are too small to be quantitatively confident in their success, but the qualitative side of looking at those names and thinking about how they could line up is one that is exciting to consider with the wealth of attacking talent that they possess.

All of that said, I am going to to cheat a little bit and choose for my six to be Angulo, Araújo, Cartagena, Duncmiro Enriguire, Ojeda, and Torres, a grouping that is +10 for the season in goal differential and averages 1.79 goals scored per 90 minutes while only giving up 0.85 goals scored per 90 minutes. The group with Enrique is better defensively, giving up 0.59 goals per 90 minutes, as compared to 1.33 for the group with McGuire, while the group with McGuire is better offensively, scoring 2.12 goals per 90 minutes, as compared to 1.61 with Enrique.

Alright, so we have our two, our four and our six, and as promised we are going to skip the eight and go to the 11. If we look at the full 11-player lineup that we chose (using Pedro Gallese as the goalkeeper), we had a back line of Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, and Smith; holding midfielders Araújo and Cartagena; attacking midfielders Angulo, Ojeda, and Torres; and Enrique or McGuire at striker. That lineup played together only twice all season, both with Enrique as the striker, and they were +3 during the 110 minutes that they were on the field together, scoring three goals and giving up zero.

It is hard to lose when you give up zero goals, though Orlando City did manage to do so against Cruz Azul (kind of, it was a shootout loss after a draw), but when you average scoring 2.45 goals per 90 minutes and give up 0.00 goals per 90 minutes, that sounds like a winning lineup.

In fact, of all the lineups that played together for more than 75 minutes this season, that lineup does have the best goal differential per 90 minutes. Just as with some of the attacking groupings, there were some lineups that had better goal differentials per 90 minutes in a limited sample size of minutes, but in looking at the groups that played the most minutes, it is the 11-man group from the previous paragraph that performed the best per 90 minutes.

The 11-man lineup that was used the most was Gallese as goalkeeper; a back line of Santos, Jansson, Schlegel, and Thórhallsson; holding midfielders Araújo and Cartagena; attacking midfielders Angulo, Ojeda, and Torres; and Enrique as striker. That group was +7 for the season in nearly 300 minutes together, a goal differential of +2.17 per 90 minutes, which is also Borat-level very nice.

While it was a rough beginning to the season for Orlando City, as the year went on the Lions settled into lineups and rotations that maximized their abilities, as evidenced by their season-ending run of 11-3-3 in all competitions since the calendar turned to July. Óscar Pareja has identified his preferred lineup, and the data and the gut feelings he has around who to play are nearly exactly matched in terms of playing the right players in combination with one another.

Whether it is the two, the four, the six or the 11, Pareja knows who to play, I reckon.

Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 11/5/24

Orlando City announces preseason match, how the Orlando Pride turned things around, Americans in midweek action, and more.

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Happy Tuesday, everyone. We have a massive week ahead of us, as the Orlando Pride take on the Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL playoffs on Friday. That will be followed up by a pivotal Game 3 for Orlando City against Charlotte FC on Saturday. Both matches will be at home, so suffice it to say we have a lot going on around these parts. As usual, we have lots to talk through today, so let’s get into the links.

Orlando City Announces Friendly

Orlando City has announced that the club will play a preseason match against Inter Miami in Tampa on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. The game will take place at Raymond James Stadium at 7:30 p.m., with tickets going on sale to the general public on Nov. 14. There will also be a pregame fan festival set up outside the stadium, which is free if you have a ticket. The decision to play Miami in a preseason game isn’t a surprising one, as it involves minimal travel for both clubs, and a chance to capitalize on the box office draw of Lionel Messi. It is a little surprising that the decision was made to host the game at Raymond James Stadium rather than Orlando’s Camping World Stadium, but it’s possible that the latter wasn’t available, or that there was a desire to capitalize on the additional gate money from the extra 15,000 seats at Raymond James.

How the Pride Escaped the Cellar

In a season that featured several teams who played outstanding campaigns, the Orlando Pride still managed to finish first in the National Women’s Soccer League. It’s a feat made even more impressive when considering how the club has historically struggled, but the change didn’t happen overnight. The rebuild really got underway in 2021, which was when a series of high profile exits and trades began to take place, which would eventually allow the Pride to do a lot of maneuvering in the transfer market. It was a long process though, and it took the arrival of Haley Carter in the front office and Seb Hines as the head coach for things to really start coming together. It’s been an all-around effort, but one that paid off with a first-place finish this season.

Americans in Midweek Action

There are a number of Americans playing this week, so make sure you’ve got everything marked down on your calendar. UEFA Champions League action returns tomorrow, as Malik Tillman, Ricardo Pepi, and Richie Ledezma will take on Girona with PSV Eindhoven. Christian Pulisic, Yunus Musah, and AC Milan face Real Madrid, and Tim Weah, Weston McKennie, and Juventus hit the road to take on Weah’s former club, Lille. European action then continues on Thursday as Tanner Tessmann and Lyon face Hoffenheim on the road in the Europa League, and Johnny Cardoso and Real Betis host Celje in the Conference League.

Transfer Rumor Roundup

As always seems to be the case, there are a number of transfer rumors floating around. First up, Spanish outlet Marca says that if Vinicius Jr. becomes available then Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain would be interested in signing him. This comes amid reports that the Brazilian is considering a move to Saudi Arabia. Speaking of Chelsea, Enzo Fernandez could seek an exit from the Blues reportedly due to not being favored by boss Enzo Maresca, with Barcelona and Inter Milan as possible destinations. Finally, Eintracht Frankfurt star Omar Marmoush is reportedly attracting interest from some of Europe’s big clubs, with Bayern Munich and Liverpool both interested in signing him.

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That’s all I have for you this morning. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 11/4/24

Orlando City falls to Charlotte FC in penalty shootout, Orlando Pride defeat the Seattle Reign, Megan Montefusco retires and more.

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

Hello, Mane Landers! I hope all is well with you down in Florida. I covered high school cross country state semifinals over the weekend, and I’m getting ready to cover a high school soccer playoff match later this week. We have plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links.

Lions Lose Penalty Shootout to Charlotte FC

Orlando City fell 3-1 on penalties to Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium on Friday night after playing to a scoreless draw in Game 2 of the MLS Cup playoffs. Orlando’s offense struggled to create anything throughout the match in the attack. The best chance came late in the second half when Facundo Torres thought he had scored the game-winner for Orlando, but the assistant referee deemed him to be offside. In the penalty shootout, Luis Muriel was the only Lion to find the back of the net. Nico Lodeiro and Duncan McGuire had their penalty kicks saved by Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, while Robin Jansson’s kick sailed over the net. The Lions will host Charlotte FC in Game 3 at Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday with a spot in the Eastern Conference semifinals on the line.

Orlando Pride Defeat the Seattle Reign in Regular Season Finale

The Orlando Pride snapped their two-match losing streak and defeated the Seattle Reign 3-2 to close out the 2024 NWSL regular season. Ally Watt, Kerry Abello, and Marta all scored for the Pride. Even though the Reign fought back to keep it close, Orlando held on for the win. The Pride finished the regular season first in the NWSL standings with 60 points. The Pride will take on the Chicago Red Stars in the quarterfinals of the 2024 NWSL playoffs on Friday in their first home playoff match ever. The match will kick off at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.

Megan Montefusco Announces Retirement

Orlando Pride defender Megan Montefusco will retire from professional soccer following the 2024 season. She’s played in the NWSL since 2015 and joined the Pride prior to the 2022 season. In her time in Orlando, Montefusco made 45 appearances for Orlando and scored in a 2023 Challenge Cup match against NJ/NY Gotham FC. She did not play in any matches in the 2024 season after undergoing foot surgery during the off-season and was placed on the season-ending injury list. Montefusco finishes her career with 179 appearances, scoring three goals and adding four assists across all competitions.

MLS Playoff Roundup

The first round of the MLS Cup playoffs continued over the weekend, with a few teams booking their spot in the next round. The Columbus Crew’s title defense ended after they lost 5-4 on penalties to the New York Red Bulls after a 2-2 draw. The LA Galaxy dominated the Colorado Rapids 4-1 on the road to advance to the Western Conference semifinals. Minnesota United also moved on, defeating Real Salt Lake in a shootout after a 1-1 draw and the Loons will face the Galaxy. The Seattle Sounders edged past the Houston Dynamo 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 draw to advance to the Western Conference semifinals as well.

New York City FC bounced back with a 3-1 win over FC Cincinnati, while Atlanta United did the same with a 2-1 victory over Inter Miami as both teams stayed alive to force a third game in their series. LAFC fell 3-0 on the road to the Vancouver Whitecaps in a match that included two own goals.

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That will do it for me today, Mane Landers. Enjoy your Monday and I’ll see you next time.

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Orlando City

Orlando City at Charlotte FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s road shootout loss to Charlotte FC?

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City was offensively challenged in a 0-0 road draw at Charlotte FC and the ensuing penalties that decide who “wins” best-of-three, first-round playoff games. Those challenges included the shootout, in which the Lions made one measly spot kick on four attempts.

Let’s take a look at the individual performances in this disappointing penalty kick loss.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 7 (MotM) — Orlando City might have lost in penalty kicks, but it only got that far thanks to a good night from Gallese. El Pulpo made three huge saves in the match to keep the Lions in the game. In addition to the saves, he did well in owning the box and distributing the ball. Gallese passed at a 76.5% rate on 17 passes with 27 touches. He was successful on four of his eight long balls. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to stop any of Charlotte’s three shots during penalties, guessing correctly once.

D, Rafael Santos, 5.5 — It was a mostly “blah” night for Santos. He was as anemic as the rest of the team in the first half, and most of the second half. He had the most touches of any player with 76, but only managed a 79.4% passing rate on 63 passes and struggled to get through balls to their intended targets to break lines. Santos was accurate on five of his 11 long balls and provided one cross. Defensively, he made two clearances and committed one foul. Santos came off for Kyle Smith in the 74th minute.

D, Robin Jansson, 5.5— I know that Jansson is the captain, but perhaps having a center back go second during penalty kicks isn’t the best decision. When Jansson sent his kick well over the crossbar, he all but guaranteed the return match at Inter&Co Stadium next weekend, as Nico Lodeiro had already seen his attempt saved. He also earned a yellow card for a foul against Patrick Agyemang in the 34th minute. That was the bad stuff. On the good side of the ledger, Jansson had 68 touches, passed at 91.7% rate on 60 passes, and connected on one of his five long balls. Defensively, he recorded two tackles, two clearances, and two interceptions.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6 — Schlegel put in a decent shift on the back line. Defensively, he made three clearances, including one in the 26th minute to keep the ball away from Agyemang, and he made a crucial block in the box. Schlegel touched the ball 69 times with a passing rate of 91.4% on 58 passes, completing one of six long balls. He picked up a yellow card in second-half stoppage time which was his only foul committed.

D, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, 5.5 — It was a mixed bag for Thorhallsson in this match. He had one of the few shots taken by Orlando City, though it was not on target. He touched the ball 49 times and passed at an 88.6% rate on 35 passes. Thorhallsson had a few giveaways, although he also contributed two clearances on defense. He made way for David Brekalo in the 84th minute.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 6.5 — Cartagena was his usual good self. He patrolled the defensive midfield, stopping potential attacks throughout the match. The Peruvian touched the ball 59 times and passed at an 88.5% rate on 52 passes. More importantly, he finished with four tackles and three clearances defensively. He was a big reason that Charlotte didn’t put the ball in the back of the net before the penalties.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6 — Araujo put in a solid shift alongside Cartagena. Overall, he was good on the night, though he wasn’t as clean as he usually is, coughing up the ball occasionally. Araujo is also good at earning fouls, drawing three in the match. He managed 67 touches, passed at an 88.1% rate on 59 passes, and was successful on four of his five long balls. Defensively, he recorded one tackle and three clearances.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 5.5 — Angulo had the only shot attempt on target for the Lions in the match, coming on his only shot of the night. Frankly, there wasn’t much behind it, though. He managed 37 touches and passed at an 87.5% rate on 24 passes. He had the same problem that most of the offense had in this game. That problem was a lack of urgency in getting into the attack. It’s pretty telling that he didn’t manage to contribute any crosses. Angulo came off for Luis Muriel in the 88th minute.

MF, Martin Ojeda, 5.5 —  Ojeda was excellent in the first match against Charlotte, but he wasn’t really able to make a big difference in this one. It’s not that he was bad, as he passed at a 93.8% rate on 32 passes with a total of 40 touches. He connected on three of his four long balls and made three crosses. However, he did not take any shots nor provide any assists. Ojeda came off for Lodeiro in the 75th minute.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6.5 — Torres was average for most of the match. It wasn’t until Oscar Pareja made the late second-half substitutions that Torres really opened up. He didn’t manage to take a shot or provide an assist, though he did have one key pass. He passed at an 85.4% rate on 48 passes and connected on one of his four long balls. He was successful on one of his six crosses, most of which came late in the match. Torres had a bad giveaway in 49th minute that resulted in a chance for Agyemang, but it was saved by Gallese. Defensively, he contributed three clearances. Had the assistant referee’s flag stayed down for Lodeiro’s run, he would have scored a goal that likely would have pushed Orlando through to the next round, and although it was a well-struck shot, it ultimately doesn’t count.

F, Ramiro Enrique, 4.5 — Given how little offense Orlando City generated, it’s not surprising that Enrique didn’t do much in this match. The striker registered no shots or assists and only touched the ball 17 times. His passing rate wasn’t great at 44.4%, but to be fair, he only made nine passes. He managed to make one tackle and provide two clearances, committing one foul and drawing one foul. If you thought he was quiet in the previous match, he was practically invisible in this one. He was replaced by Duncan McGuire in the 56th minute.

Substitutes

F, Duncan McGuire (56’), 5 — McGuire provided a different look for Orlando City’s offense after coming on for Enrique, and he managed to get a shot off, though it wasn’t on target. He finished with just 15 touches, passing at a 55.6% rate on only nine passes. He contributed one clearance and one blocked shot on defense. Most importantly, his penalty kick was saved by Kristijan Kahlina to end the match. Overall, it was a forgettable performance, but his was by no means the only one.

D, Kyle Smith (75’), 5 — Smith came on in the 75th minute for Thorhallsson for defensive help. He seemed somewhat out of sync with his teammates, though he wasn’t horrible. He touched the ball 30 times and completed 78.3% of his 23 passes. Smith completed all three of his attempted long balls and had one key pass. He also didn’t record any defensive statistics in his time on the field. He did, however, help keep Charlotte off the board through the end of the match to send it to penalty kicks.

MF, Nico Lodeiro (75’), 5 — When Lodeiro replaced Ojeda, he was one of the subs that sparked the Lions’ offensive efforts. Though they didn’t get a goal, at least they looked dangerous in Charlotte’s half of the field. Lodeiro attempted four crosses, made one key pass, and was offside three times — this included the play that could have resulted in a late Torres goal. He touched the ball 20 times and completed 68.2% of his 22 passes. On the other hand, he got Orlando City off on the wrong foot in the penalty shootout when he left his shot too close to Kahlina and at a favorable height for the goalkeeper, who guessed correctly and made a good save.

D, David Brekalo (84’), N/A — Brekalo came on in the 88th minute for Thorhallsson as the Lions went to three center backs to see out the game. He only managed six touches, completing one of his two passes. However, he made two clearances, so that’s good.

F, Luis Muriel (88’), N/A — Muriel’s entrance was definitely too little, too late. He came on to help with penalty kicks, and he was the only one to score his attempt. He managed 10 touches and completed 100% of his seven passes.


That’s how I saw the individual performances in Friday’s loss for the Lions. Let us know how you saw the game in the comments and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match.

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