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Orlando City vs. Charlotte FC: Final Score 2-0 as Lions Open 2024 Playoff Run with Home Victory

Facundo Torres and Martin Ojeda provided the offense, leading Orlando City past Charlotte FC in the Lions’ playoff opener.

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5 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Facundo Torres and Martin Ojeda scored on either side of halftime as Orlando City (1-0) defeated Charlotte FC (0-1) in Game 1 of the teams’ first-round, best-of-three series at Inter&Co Stadium tonight. The Lions controlled the game almost from start to finish, allowing the visitors little room to attack and finding spaces to create chances, handing Charlotte its first loss since the team’s last visit to Orlando in September.

Orlando finally scored more than one goal in a playoff game, but the Lions could have had even more had they been just a tad more clinical with the volume of chances they created. In the end, two was enough to open the series with a win, as Pedro Gallese only had to make two saves to earn his third MLS playoff shutout.

“We’re very happy with the result, but much more for the way we did it against a tough rival in a very difficult postseason game, which means a lot for our fans,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said. “First half, we controlled it and we had a lot of volume. We created many chances. We missed a lot of opportunities.”

Pareja’s lineup included Gallese in goal behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. Cesar Araujo and Wilder Cartagena started in central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Ojeda, and Torres, with Ramiro Enrique up top.

Orlando City dominated the first half but was wasteful with its opportunities, especially early. The Lions took the first shot of the game six minutes in as Cartagena sent an attempt from outside the area that was always going wide. Ojeda tried to redirect it in front, but it was just out of his reach. A minute later, Torres fired from the right but his shot was deflected out for a corner by the defense.

On the set piece, the Lions played it short and tried something off the training ground that nearly came off. A ball from the top of the area was sent into the box for Schlegel, who sent his header wide in the eighth minute. Orlando couldn’t pay off another couple of corners just after that opportunity.

Charlotte finally got forward in the 16th minute and a dangerous cross in from the left was just over two attacking players in front, sailing harmlessly out for a goal kick.

Araujo unlocked the defense with a brilliant pass in the 20th minute that sent Enrique in behind. The striker fizzed a shot inches wide of the left post from the right to waste the opportunity. The flag came up on the play, which would likely have been reviewed had Enrique found the net.

In the 22nd minute, the visitors got their best chance of the half as Liel Abada shielded off the defense well on the left and fired on frame, but Gallese was there to make the save. A minute later, Charlotte sent a good cross in from the right to Karol Swiderski, but it was a tad behind the striker and he headed it over the bar.

Orlando’s first shot on target came in the 26th minute when Torres tried his luck from outside the area. He put a lot of power on his shot, but it was right at Kristijan Kahlina, who fought it off.

The Lions broke the scoreless deadlock in the 32nd minute. Angulo sent Santos into the left corner and the fullback sent a dangerous cross into the six. Adilson Malanda tried to head it away but Torres stepped in front of it, chesting it down and firing it off the bottom of the crossbar and in to put Orlando City on top. It was Torres’ 46th career goal across all competitions, tying Dom Dwyer’s career combined (USL and MLS) mark. It also set a new single-season mark with 19 across all competitions, and it was Torres’ third goal against Charlotte in as many meetings in 2024.

“We worked a lot during the week in trying to take it a little bit deeper down the line and hit it back toward the center and back toward that back post, because Charlotte likes to get a lot of guys into the box defensively,” Torres said. “Thankfully, the ball kind of came my way. I just thought, ‘Just hit it on goal and see where it goes.’ And thankfully it went in.”

Orlando kept coming and had a good attacking movement in the 35th minute that appeared would put Enrique in behind. Torres continued his run on the play and the two Lions collided, knocking each other down to end the threat.

Angulo sent a cross in with teammates breaking in the 38th minute but sent it too close to Kahlina. Seconds later, the Lions nearly doubled their lead. Cartagena sent a beautiful through ball that sprung Enrique again. This time, the Argentine got his shot on target, but Kahlina got a piece of the shot with his leg, deflecting it off the right post to keep it a one-goal game.

That was the last good look of the half as the Lions took their slim advantage into the break.

Orlando City held the halftime advantage in possession (61.3%-38.7%), shots (11-3), shots on target (3-1), corners (6-0), and passing accuracy (90.9%-82.4%).

Charlotte came out in the second half and controlled the ball more but Orlando City’s defense kept the visitors from creating many opportunities from that possession. Once Charlotte started pushing up the field, the Lions looked more dangerous on the counter. Charlotte racked up corners and set pieces in the second half but couldn’t make them pay off.

“Second half, we became more tense, and the first 15-20, minutes in the second half, we sensed that we are winning, but this is a dangerous situation, and we started dropping in the zone that we don’t feel comfortable,” Pareja said. “But we just started getting some spaces too. So it was like a trade.”

Enrique missed another opportunity in the 50th when he got down the left side and tried a shot with his off foot, blasting it wide of the near post.

Torres should have doubled the lead in the 54th minute on a great attacking movement. Ojeda got down the left and pulled a pass back through traffic to a wide-open Torres in the box. The Uruguayan had plenty of time and space but he fired the shot too close to Kahlina, who made the save.

The visitors got three corners in quick succession over the next several minutes but the Lions did well to clear the danger, although they could never quite get out in transition off of them.

“I feel like the first half was really good from the team, and in the second we kind of dropped down a little bit, and I feel like we got a little bit sloppy, and that’s something that we can’t do in the playoffs,” Thorhallsson said. “So, we need to go the full 90 minutes with just full effort and full concentration. I feel like we did it. It dropped a little bit, but it’s just something that we need to be careful about.”

Araujo won a corner kick in the 64th minute and the initial ball was cleared. The recycle found Schlegel in front but the center back couldn’t get much on his shot, allowing Kahlina to make another save.

Charlotte nearly tied the match in the 70th minute and it would have been a controversial one. Substitute Patrick Agyemang pulled Jansson down in front as a cross came in from the left, leaving him all alone in front. The big striker’s header was too close to Gallese, who made the save. Jansson wasn’t happy with the lack of a call but managed not to pick up a yellow card for dissent.

Ojeda looked exhausted at that point in the game but it’s a good thing he didn’t get subbed off immediately, because he doubled the lead in the 76th minute, just moments after giving the ball away and conceding a free kick in Orlando’s defensive end.

Araujo sent a good ball forward down the left. Ojeda was offside but made no play on the ball, allowing Angulo to blaze down the left flank and beat Nathan Byrne to the ball . Angulo used his first touch to poke the ball inside to Ojeda. With Charlotte waiting for Ojeda to play the ball across to a teammate, the Argentine instead fired a shot just inside the left post, beating Kahlina to make it 2-0 with his last involvement in the game. It was the first time the Lions have scored twice in an MLS playoff game.

“Martin gave us that bit of peace when we scored a second one,” Pareja said. “In those instances where the other team is just throwing bodies up front, and they had this chance with Agyemang. And we were tense too. We were waiting for that second one. Martin was looking a bit tired but also his intentions were correct all the time too. And Martin has that quality of not just creating dangerous plays but he’s finalizing. His second goal in two games is great for us and a great moment as well.”

The visitors threw some attacking subs on to try to get back into the game but it was Orlando creating more on the counter in the final minutes. However, the Lions left Pep Biel alone outside the box in the 86th minute and it was nearly costly, as the winger smashed a shot just wide of the right post and into the outside netting.

Orlando had a few transition opportunities but couldn’t pick out the correct pass. One of the best chances dissolved when Angulo held the ball too long with second-half substitute Duncan McGuire breaking behind the defense on the right and another was just a tad behind McGuire.

Disaster struck for Charlotte early in stoppage time when Biel tangled with Jansson and kicked out at the Orlando center back, intentionally tripping the Swede. Referee Drew Fischer showed Biel a straight red card, sending him off, meaning he’ll be suspended for Game 2.

McGuire nearly got in behind late in stoppage time, but an untidy touch allowed the defense to recover and knock it out for a late corner. Shortly after the set piece, the game was over.

Orlando City finished with the advantage in possession (55.8%-44.2%), shots (17-9), shots on target (6-2), corners (8-4), and passing accuracy (88.6%-84.2%).

“We came into today looking for that victory, knowing that we were going to be playing in our home, in front of our fans, and we were looking to take advantage of that home-field advantage and carry a win into Charlotte,” Torres said. “We knew that coming into tonight, if we were able to get the win, that that was going to elevate the confidence for us going forward and how we were going to approach the rest of the series. And so, being able to get the win tonight and coming off a really good game, we know that we can go into Charlotte with a little bit more tranquility, but the same level of intensity, and try and go out and repeat and get that win in the series on Friday.”

“The boys were very happy on this first achievement, or this first win in the playoffs. But I noticed as well that they were very committed with just move on and prepare for the next one,” Pareja said. “Their experiences during the playoffs in Major League Soccer tell them, and tell us, this is one game. We need to move on and then prepare with the same intensity and responsibility, because it’s a series that is not done yet.”

These two teams will be back at it Friday night in Charlotte for Game 2 of the series. If Orlando gets a road win, the Lions would advance to the conference semifinals.

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Orlando City’s Designated Players Delightfully Productive to Start the Season

A performance evaluation of Orlando City’s Designated Players through three games and how they compare to the rest of the league.

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13 hours ago

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March 13, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

There will come a point someday in the future when Major League Soccer will stop using all its silly roster rules and allow teams to build their rosters however they would like to à la the rest of the world, but until then we must continue to live in the alphabet soup of acronyms like BAM, GAM, HAM, and TAM (two of those are actual MLS roster-building methods, one is a food often eaten with green eggs — back when eggs were affordable — and the other is onomatopoeia; I am confident you can identify the two acronyms that are MLS allocation money).

The other commonly used term, as it relates to roster-building methods in MLS, is DP, or Designated Player — a player who can be paid any amount as their salary while having a fixed amount that counts against the salary cap. The amount depends on the age of the DP. Players above the age of 24 count as $743,750 against the team’s salary budget; ages 21-23 count as $200,000; and players aged 20 or younger count as $150,000. You can read all you ever wanted to know about this subject and more by checking out the 2025 MLS Roster Rules and Regulations. Bring snacks. And a pillow.

Orlando City has three Designated Players on the 2025 roster: Luis Muriel, Martín Ojeda, and Marco Pašalić. Among the 30 teams in MLS, 11 teams, including Orlando City, have three Designated Players, 17 have two, and two teams only have one, for a total of 69 DPs on rosters as of Week 4 of the 2025 MLS season.

Only 61 of those 69 Designated Players have played thus far this season, however, as five are currently injured (CF Montréal’s Giacomo Vrioni, LA Galaxy’s Joseph Paintsil and Riqui Puig, New England’s Tomás Chancalay, and Portland’s Jonathan Rodríguez). In addition, one is on loan until June (NYCFC’s Talles Magno), one still does not have his paperwork in order to play in MLS (LAFC’s Cengiz Ünder), and one has been a healthy scratch in each game this season, as his team was actively looking to transfer him to another club (Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne).

Most clubs use their Designated Player spots for attacking players, which makes sense considering attacking players tend to command the highest salaries, and with a DP only counting a set amount against the salary cap, teams can afford to pay high salaries to bring in attacking talent without the risk of jamming up their salary cap utilization. Only three of the 69 DPs in MLS this season are primarily defenders — Inter Miami’s Jordi Alba, Nashville SC’s Walker Zimmerman, and NYCFC’s Thiago Martins — and frankly, I am surprised it is even that many.

Orlando City has deployed 16 Designated Players since entering MLS, with all of those players in attacking roles while wearing purple. During some years, the performance by the club’s Designated Players was, shall we say, underwhelming, but through three games in 2025 (I know, I know, it is only three games), Orlando City can make a case that the performance of its DPs has been nearly the best in the league.

Let’s make that case. Right here. Right now. Bonus points if you remember this outstanding adidas commercial using Fatboy Slim’s “Right Here, Right Now.”

Ultimately, soccer matches come down to two measures: goals scored and goals allowed. Being that nearly every Designated Player plays in an attacking position, we can focus more on the goals scored as a measure of comparison. In order to score a goal, you need to create a shot, so I used Opta’s tracking on fbref.com to aggregate every Designated Player’s performance thus far in 2025 and normalize it to a per-90-minute basis.

Every blue circle in the table below is the average performance by a team’s Designated Players per 90 minutes for shot-creating actions and goals scored (example: the Houston Dynamo are the lonely circle closest to the bottom left corner; the Dynamo’s two Designated Players create, average, exactly one shot per 90 minutes and zero goals per 90 minutes, which is not ideal). The purple bullseye is Orlando City, which has DPs averaging 4.73 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes and scoring 0.57 goals per 90 minutes. The orange circle is the MLS average.

The ideal location on a chart like this would be for your team’s circle to be as far to the upper right as possible, with DPs creating lots of shots for their teammates and scoring lots of goals as well. If you had to choose one axis, you would of course prefer to be higher on the y-axis than the x-axis (your seventh grade Algebra teacher promised you that you would use the cartesian plane in real life someday), since goals scored are more important than shots created.

The Mane Land’s Ben Miller wrote a piece in our Monday newsletter, exclusively available to those who subscribe (which you can do by clicking on this hyperlink) about the goal-scoring performances of Orlando City’s three Designated Players thus far this season. Expanding on what Ben wrote, here are the per-90-minute stats for Orlando City’s three DPs thus far:

PlayerMins PlayedSCAGoalsAssistsGoal Contributions
Luis Muriel1513.580.600.601.20
Martín Ojeda2436.670.370.370.74
Marco Pašalić2343.460.770.381.15

The combined averages of these players’ performances are the aforementioned 4.73 shot-creating actions and 0.57 goals scored per 90 minutes. Orlando City’s DPs rank third in the league for shot-creating actions and fifth in goals scored. Seattle’s DPs (Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnák) are the reverse — fifth in shot-creating actions and third in goals scored — tying them with Orlando City at an average of fourth. Both teams trail expansion team San Diego FC, which is off to a strong start with two wins and a draw in its first three matches, and which has DPs (Anders Dreyer and Hirving “Chucky” Lozano) who rank fourth in shot-creating actions and second in goals scored, leading all clubs with an average of third across the two measures.

Looking at this a little differently, we can use standard deviations to compare just how much better or worse each club’s Designated Players compare to the league average. The axes look flipped from the last chart, but they are not. Shot-creating actions are still on the x-axis and goals on the y-axis. In this case, on the x-axis we are comparing a team’s average per 90 minutes in shot-creating actions to the league average, and we can see that Orlando City, again located in the purple bullseye, is 1.33 standard deviations better than league average.

The Lions are also 0.99 standard deviations better than league average in goals per 90 minutes, making them one of only six clubs who have Designated Players performing better than league average in both metrics (positive values are better than league average, negative values are worse than league average), and in a smaller group of three clubs that can claim to have had the best performance in terms of both creating shots and scoring goals.

The two circles located in the vicinity of Orlando City are again Seattle and San Diego, performing better in goals per 90 minutes but not as well in shot-creating actions. The outlier on the y-axis is D.C. United, as that club’s DPs are averaging 1.04 goals per 90 minutes, nearly three standard deviations (read: a lot) more than league average. The outlier on the x-axis is Nashville, which is surprising given that Zimmerman, a central defender, is one of the team’s DPs. Nashville is averaging nearly six shot-creating actions per DP per 90 minutes — almost 2.5 standard deviations more than league average.

If you recall your statistics classes, the general rule is that 95% of data points fall within two standard deviations above or below the average, so when any person or any team is more than two standard deviations better than the average either a) they are doing incredibly well, or b) the sample may not yet be big enough to feel confident in the standard deviations. In this case, it is probably both, as the teams have only played three games.

Even though the samples are small, it is still completely OK to feel great about the initial performances of Orlando City’s three Designated Players. The group has combined for four goals and three assists, and Muriel, Ojeda, and Pašalić have been a driving force behind a strong start to the season on the offensive end of the field.

Here’s to hoping that Orlando’s Designated Players will continue their torrid pace when the club returns back to the New York City metro area to play the Red Bulls on Saturday and their performance evokes a phrase from another Fatboy Slim song, and come Saturday, we find ourselves praising them like we should.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City at New York Red Bulls: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to bounce back on the road and secure a victory against the New York Red Bulls?

Published

15 hours ago

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March 13, 2025

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Orlando City heads north for the second week in a row, but this time to Red Bull…er…Sports Illustrated Stadium to take on the New York Red Bulls. The Lions are coming off a disappointing loss to New York City FC. A win gets Orlando City back to .500 before returning to Inter&Co Stadium next week.

On paper this looks like a low-scoring match, so it will probably be a barn burner. What does Orlando City need to do to earn all three points on the road against the New York Red Bulls?

Oh Captain, My Captain!

Robin Jansson is back, but the defense still gave up two goals against New York City FC. That’s eight goals shipped in three games for those who are counting. It’s not particularly surprising that Orlando City is 1-2-0 given the leaky defense. It doesn’t get any easier this Saturday with yet another road trip to play a New York team, albeit this time in New Jersey. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse, but we do know they will at least be playing on a normal-sized soccer pitch this week.

The Red Bulls aren’t exactly prolific scorers so far this season with only two goals so far — one from Emil Forsberg and one from Mohammed Sofo — but that doesn’t mean they can’t score this weekend. Now that the captain is back, the defense needs to get things sorted out. I’m hoping that the normal spacing of SI Stadium will allow the defense to refocus with Jansson back in charge.

Break on Through

New York may not score a ton of goals, but it gives up even fewer. The Red Bulls have only allowed one goal this season. It came in the match against FC Cincinnati off a long pass and off the head of Kevin Denkey. Even then, there were two defenders on him and it was a race between Denkey and keeper Carlos Coronel to see who would reach the ball first. I’m saying it’s not easy to score against them.

On the flip side, Orlando City has been able to score seven goals in its first three matches. Those goals have come from six different players. I think that there will be two players I’ll be watching in particular in the buildup. Jansson is fairly accurate at delivering long passes like the one on which Cincinnati scored. We also know that one of Eduard Atuesta’s strengths is connecting the defense to the offense. If the two can break the lines of the opposition, then the Lions have enough options up top to spread out the chances.

Use the Space

If Orlando City never plays in Yankee Stadium again it will be too soon. Luckily, the passing lanes and spacing will be back to normal standards this weekend. That should mean better passing from Orlando City, and the ability to run the offense how Oscar Pareja prefers.

As such, I want the Lions to take their time, be methodical, and strike when the time is right. That doesn’t mean they have to build out of the back all night. If the Red Bulls are creeping up, go route one. Use whatever space New York gives, but don’t let up. You can’t win if you don’t score, and one goal may determine this match.

That is what I will be looking for Saturday night. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 3/13/25

Getting to know Robin Jansson, Orlando Pride announce 2025 season roster, Orlando City’s watch party schedule, and more.

Published

19 hours ago

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March 13, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

How’s it going, Mane Landers? Soccer in the City Beautiful is back and in full swing, with another stacked weekend ahead of us. I’ve been spending most of the week working and getting some reading done before the rest of the month really gets busier for me. For those who like contemporary romance and are looking for a recommendation, First-Time Caller has been a fantastic read so far. But enough about what you should be reading, let’s get to the links!

Getting to Know Robin Jansson

Enjoy taking a stroll with Orlando City center back Robin Jansson, who detailed his role on the team and experience in Orlando. The 33-year-old has become an MLS veteran over the years and talked about how his game has developed since moving from Sweden to the U.S., notably how he’s able to play with the ball at his feet a bit more. As the team’s captain, Jansson provides leadership both on and off the pitch and discussed how he’s fit into the verbal and intense South American culture within the club. He also spoke on how he gives back to the community by visiting kids in the hospital to help them on their journeys.

Orlando Pride Announce Roster for 2025 Season

With the NWSL season only a few days away, the Orlando Pride announced their start-of-season roster. There aren’t too many changes from the team that won both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship last year, although Adriana’s transfer to Saudi Arabian club Al Qadsiah FC is notable. New additions acquired this off-season include Zambian forward Prisca Chilufya, World Cup winner Oihane Hernández, and rookie defender Zara Chavoshi. Luana, Simone Charley, and Amanda Allen are the players on the season-ending injury list heading into the 2025 season as well.

Orlando City Reveals 2025 Watch Party Schedule

The schedule for this year’s Orlando City watch parties was announced and fans will be able to watch seven away games at different local pubs. The first will be Saturday at Burton’s Thornton Park for Orlando’s road game against the New York Red Bulls. This should create a nice atmosphere for Orlando’s road rivalry games in May too, as the game against Inter Miami on May 18 will fittingly be watched at Rivals, while the watch party for the game against Atlanta United on May 28 will be at The Hideaway. Orlando’s Decision Day match with Toronto FC will be hosted at Kiwi’s Pub & Grill to close out the regular season. As part of the club’s partnership with the pubs, each one will have access to MLS Season Pass for all of the Lions’ games this year as well.

New NWSL Players to Watch in 2025

Pride fans are well aware that NWSL newcomers played a major role in the league last season, as Barbra Banda was a major reason behind the club’s historic year. This year’s new faces include many players who could impress in their first year in the NWSL, like aforementioned Pride defender Oihane Hernandez. The right back helped Spain win the 2023 Women’s World Cup and bronze at the 2024 Olympics and joined the Pride after two seasons with Real Madrid. She’s skilled on both sides of the ball and gives opponents another obstacle to overcome this season.

OCB Lands in MLS NEXT Pro’s Top 10

The first power rankings of the MLS NEXT Pro season are out and Orlando City B placed sixth. The Young Lions kicked off their season at home on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Columbus Crew 2. A late rally by Columbus nearly spoiled things, but OCB did well to hold onto its lead and secure all three points. Orlando’s next match will be Sunday at Osceola Heritage Park against Atlanta United 2, which lost 1-0 to New York Red Bulls II during the opening weekend.

Free Kicks

  • Chicago Stars forward Mallory Swanson won’t be with the team when it takes on the Pride this Friday due to personal reasons.
  • Although she’s focused on this NWSL season, Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman stated that it’s just a matter of when in regards to her making the move to Europe.
  • Seattle Sounders midfielder Paul Arriola was carted off due to a left knee injury during his team’s 4-1 loss to Cruz Azul. It’s tough news for Arriola, who tore his right ACL in 2020.
  • Charlotte FC bolstered its defense by adding left back Souleyman Doumbia on loan from Standard Liège for the 2025 season.
  • The Kansas City Current signed forward Flora Marta Lacho to a two-year contract, making her the first Angolan player in league history. She heads to the U.S. after helping TP Mazembe win the 2024 CAF Women’s Champions League last year.
  • The UEFA Champions League quarterfinals are set and each matchup looks to be a good one. Arsenal will take on Real Madrid, Bayern Munich will face Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund will play Barcelona, and Aston Villa will square off against Paris Saint-Germain.
  • Bos Nation FC hired Amina Bulman as its chief revenue officer. Bulman led the Washington Commanders’ revamp as the NFL team’s chief brand and strategy officer, so a similar brand reset is hopefully on the horizon for the NWSL club.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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