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Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s 1-0 loss in the Eastern Conference final?

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Every loss stings, but season-ending playoff losses hurt the most, and unfortunately Orlando City felt that deep sting Saturday night, losing 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls and falling one game short of advancing to MLS Cup. The Lions simply did not have it offensively, again, and it led to the Red Bulls celebrating a smash-and-grab victory on the field of Inter&Co Stadium after the final whistle. Ugh, I did not like typing that at all.

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 Eastern Conference final matchup.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6 — There was not a lot for Gallese to do during this match, as while the Red Bulls did pose a threat offensively, they only managed seven shots and just one shot on goal, a well placed header off the post that no goalkeeper would have saved. Gallese made a great play to snuff out a late breakaway, coming well out of his box and making a sliding block with his body to keep the score 1-0, but aside from that, most of his game contributions were in distribution, and he did not have his finest game in that area, connecting on only 61.5% of his passes and only six of his 16 long-ball attempts.

D, Rafael Santos, 6 — The Brazilian left back gave a strong effort, but was just was unable to make a major impact on the game. Orlando City attacked up the left side 45% of the time, but despite having so much possession and so many touches (a team-leading 88, 21 more than the next highest player), Santos passed at just a 68.8% rate, only completed one long ball and did not have any successful crosses in seven attempts. Some of those crosses were good, but New York kept them from reaching their targets. Defensively, he chipped in four clearances. In the attacking end, Santos fired one of Orlando City’s nine shots and registered one of the team’s meager three shots on target and drew two fouls without committing any.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — Jansson was solid in the back, providing his standard steady defending in partnership with Rodrigo Schlegel, and helping to limit the Red Bulls from getting any shots on target during the run of play. As the Lions began to chase the game in the second half and found themselves stretched, he made several excellent defensive recovery runs to track back and win it back, though when he did get the ball back I thought too often he settled for just launching the ball forward instead of trying to work the ball up the field out of the back. He blocked two shots and finished with two clearances. He completed 78.3% of his passes, a number which was limited by connecting on just six of 15 long balls.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — As is his trademark, Schlegel was intense and engaged for the full 90 minutes and left everything on the field. He and Jansson did an excellent job protecting the center of the box, limiting the Red Bulls to very few scoring opportunities through the middle of the field. Schlegel picked up a yellow card for a professional foul late in the game, but at that time the Lions were stretched and chasing the game and if not for his foul New York may have put the game away. The Argentine was the best passer of the back four (89.7% and 1/1 on long balls) and provided three clearances.

D, Dagur Dan Thórhallson, 6 — Orlando City played primarily down the left side of the field during the Icelandic defender’s time on the field, and so despite playing 60 minutes, he only had 24 touches and did not contribute much offensively with those touches. Thorhallsson passed at a 75% rate without attempting a long ball or creating a scoring chance. On the defensive side he led the team with five clearances, but overall it was a quiet night for Thórhallson, and he was removed in an offense for defense substitution in the 61st minute.

MF, César Araujo, 6.5 —Araujo played a solid match in the middle of the field, completing 94.2% of his passes, winning a team-leading four aerial duels, drawing two fouls, blocking one shot, and making one interception. I thought he was far closer to his usual standard than his midfield partner Wilder Cartagena, but despite his work rate and contributions, he was removed late in the game for Jack Lynn, as the Lions needed to throw all of their attacking players onto the field to try to find an equalizer.

MF, Wilder Cartagena, 5 — Cartagena picked the worst night to have perhaps his poorest performance of the season, as he was not the dominant player in the middle of the field that we saw in nearly every game. Everything seemed a step slow for the Peruvian midfielder and his touch was off as well, he only completed 79.4% of his passes, only the fourth time all season he was under 80%. The goal scored by the Red Bulls happened right behind him, and it appeared to me that it was his man who came in unmarked while he was watching the ball instead seeing both ball and man. Cartagena was subbed off in the 71st minute for Nico Lodeiro in a like for like substitution. His best moment was sending a great ball down the left for Martin Ojeda, setting up a golden opportunity for Facundo Torres. It was one of the Peruvian’s three successful long balls on six attempts. Defensively, he blocked a shot and had one interception.

MF, Iván Angulo, 5.5 — I don’t want to overly castigate Angulo for his foul that led to the game’s only goal, but it was a completely unnecessary one, and in a game against a team that struggles to score from open play, there was no excuse for giving the Red Bulls a cheaply earned set piece opportunity. That said, it is not Angulo’s fault that Cartagena did not stay with his man on the free kick (or perhaps got confused about whether someone behind him was supposed to pick up that runner — only the Lions know for sure), but without that foul, there would have been no dangerous cross in the first place. That was the moment of the match, but it was only one moment, and Angulo brought a lot to the table during the rest of that match. His speed up the left side created chances, he completed 90.5% of his passes, and the Colombian also showed his versatility by stepping back into a right back/right wingback role late in the match as Orlando City tried everything to get as many attacking players on the field as possible. I think he left everything on the field before being subbed out in the 88th minute for Kyle Smith, but I wish he had also left his hands down when trying to double the ball in the 47th minute. Angulo attempted one shot that was just wide, registered one key pass, and recorded one clearance.

MF, Martín Ojeda, 7 (MotM) — Ojeda made the offensive play of the game for Orlando City, making a great run up the left side to get onto Cartagena’s well-placed pass, drawing two defenders out of the middle, and playing a perfect cross to a wide-open Facundo Torres. On another night he would have added an assist to his ledger and the rest of the game could have played out completely differently. Ojeda was all over the field for the Lions, making plays all across the attacking third and leading the team with three chances created. In a departure from the normal substitution pattern, he stayed on the field when Luis Muriel entered the game and deservedly so, as I felt he was Orlando City’s most impactful player throughout the match. Ojeda passed at a 77.8% clip, including the aforementioned three key passes, two of his three long balls, and three successful crosses on 15 attempts. His lone shot attempt wasn’t on frame. The Argentine added a clearance on the defensive end.

MF, Facundo Torres, 6 — Torres was active, but he did not have the precision that he showed during the late summer run and will rue the huge chance he missed in the 32nd minute, one that certainly would have changed the entire tenor of the game. I was surprised he chose to shoot to his right instead of his left, as Torres is an outstanding shooter to his left when attacking from the right, and he left his shot far too close to Carlos Coronel for an easy save. The Uruguayan did get another shot on goal on a header late in the match, but it also did not trouble Coronel, and though he drew a team-leading three fouls, none of them led to any great chances for Orlando City. The Lions attacked down the right side on only 24% of their possessions, and with their focus on going left, Torres had few chances on his preferred right side to cut back into the middle to cause havoc. The enduring memory from this game for Torres will be that missed opportunity, one that I think he generally scores for more often than not, but alas on this night it was not to be. Aside from that, he passed at a 78.2% rate, completing one of his two crosses and one of his two long balls, but he surprisingly did not register a key pass. Torres also didn’t register any defensive stats.

F, Ramiro Enrique, 7 — Orlando City followed its usual substitution pattern and removed Enrique after 61 minutes for Duncan McGuire, but I wish Oscar Pareja had found a way to keep him on the field instead, because I thought he was one of the two Lions (along with Ojeda) playing the best during his minutes on the field. He drew a team-leading three fouls to match Torres in that department and was constantly making darting runs all over the attacking third of the field. He made a great hustle play to create one of Orlando City’s best opportunities, but rather than shooting, he tried to finesse past a defender to get a better angle and the chance fell apart. Enrique’s only shot attempt was not on target, and he passed at 77.8% accuracy on just nine attempts without a key pass or attempting a long ball or a cross. He won three aerials and chipped in defensively with a team-high two tackles and an interception.

Substitutes

MF, Luis Muriel (61′), 6.5 — Muriel once again changed the game once he stepped on the field, helping to ratchet up Orlando City’s attack, but despite playing several high-level passes, nothing ended up coming from any the plays he initiated. Muriel also had a half-chance late in the game that he badly mishit, skying a ball high and to the right, so much so that it actually stayed in bounds due to all the back and sidespin on the ball. Even though Orlando City’s best chance came before Muriel entered the game I thought the offense looked better when he was on the field, and I walked out of the stadium wishing that he had come on right after New York had scored, as he clearly grasped the urgency and played like it throughout his time on the field. Muriel completed 90% of his 20 passes, including a key pass and a completed long ball on his lone attempt, but his one cross attempt did not meet the target. Neither of his two shots hit the target either, but he added a tackle on the defensive side.

F, Duncan McGuire (61′), 6 — The most impressive play McGuire made while on the field was a full-field sprint back on defense to break up a counterattack, and while that was a big play to prevent a possible doubling of the lead, you generally want a striker’s most impressive play to come while attacking the opponent’s goal, not defending their own. McGuire got one shot off, attempting to finish on a ball played beautifully over the top by Muriel, but he could not get his body turned enough and the ball went harmlessly into the stands off his weaker left foot. The effort was there on Saturday night, but the final product was not. He completed six of his nine passes (66.7%) without a key pass, long ball, or cross. He won an aerial but contributed no defensive statistics.

MF, Nico Lodeiro, (71’), 6.5 — The Uruguayan came on around his usual time, but with the Lions playing from behind, he was asked to play differently than he has in recent appearances off the bench. By the end of the game he was playing as the sole defensive midfielder, with Orlando City throwing everyone forwards in hopes of tying the game. I thought he was excellent off the bench and that he outplayed Cartagena, the man he replaced in the lineup, completing 84.9% of his 33 passes, including his only long-ball attempt, however, he did not create a scoring chance or complete a cross. He added a tackle on the defensive side.

MF, Kyle Smith, (88’), N/A — By the time Smith entered, Orlando City was no longer in a standard formation, so Smith debatably came in as a right back or possibly as a right midfielder when he entered the game in the 88th minute. It really did not matter though, as he only had time for four touches and two attempted crosses, neither of which led to significant opportunities for the offense, and he didn’t play long enough to fairly warrant a grade.

F, Jack Lynn, (88’), N/A — Lynn made his first appearance of the playoffs as Orlando City was desperately chasing the game, but only had one touch and really did not have the opportunity to influence the game at all.

That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s 1-0 playoff loss. Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below and don’t forget to vote on the Man of the Match.

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Lion Links: 1/3/25

Philadelphia Union hire Bradley Carnell, Americans abroad this weekend, New England Revolution transfer Esmir Bajraktarevic, and more.

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January 3, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Happy first Friday of 2025! I don’t have too many plans for the weekend beyond brunch with friends, so it should be a relaxing couple of days. Before we dive into today’s links, we here at The Mane Land want to give a special shout out to Michael Garvey for signing up for a Homegrown Player-level membership on our Buy Me a Coffee page. By signing up at one of our three levels of support, our readers and podcast listeners can enjoy added benefits in addition to keeping our bills paid so we can continue doing what we do. Let’s get to today’s soccer news!

Philadelphia Union Hire Bradley Carnell

The Philadelphia Union have hired Bradley Carnell as their fourth head coach in franchise history. He has tough shoes to fill in Philadelphia, as Jim Curtin led the Union to plenty of success since joining in 2014 and was named MLS Coach of the Year twice in that span. Carnell coached St. Louis City through a stellar inaugural season in 2023 that included finishing atop the Western Conference standings, but he was fired by the club last summer. We’ll see if Carnell can get the Union back to the postseason after they missed out on the playoffs for the first time since 2017 last season.

Americans in Action This Weekend

While we endure the off-season here in the U.S., there are thankfully plenty of Americans playing abroad for us to root for this weekend. Ligue 1 soccer is back, and defender Mark McKenzie could continue building his case to make the Concacaf Nations League roster when Toulouse plays Lens on Sunday. Johnny Cardoso, who has been excelling amid transfer interest from clubs across Europe, will have a chance to impress when Real Betis takes on Huesca on Saturday in the Copa del Rey. Christian Pulisic may return from injury today when AC Milan faces off against Juventus in an Italian Super Cup semifinal that could also feature Yunus Musah, Weston McKennie, and Tim Weah.

Injuries have dampened what was set to be a fun EFL Championship season for American fans, but Leeds United’s Brenden Aaronson and Burnley’s Luca Koleosho are helping their teams lead the promotion race. We may get to see Antonee Robinson, Tyler Adams, and Chris Richards in the English Premier League as well.

Esmir Bajraktarevic Transferred to Europe

The New England Revolution transferred 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarević to PSV Eindhoven for a reported fee of up to $6 million. It’s a hefty sum for the Homegrown Player and the Revolution retain a sell-on fee as part of the deal as well. Bajraktarevic has spent the past three seasons with New England’s first team and was 10th on the 2024 MLS 22 Under 22 rankings. He joins a PSV side that sits atop the Eredivisie and has experience developing players coming from America. As for the Revolution, they helped fill the void left by Bajraktarevic’s exit by signing winger Luis Diaz, who previously played for Caleb Porter in Columbus for a few years.

Denver Reportedly Lands NWSL Team

For a reported expansion fee of $110 million, the NWSL has reportedly chosen Denver as the home of its 16th franchise. That fee is more than double the $53 million expansion fee both BOS Nation FC and Bay FC paid to join the league, and it would also be the highest expansion fee in U.S. women’s sports history. The group behind Denver’s bid, which is led by IMA Financial Group CEO Robert Cohen, reportedly submitted its first payment to the league earlier this week. It’s all tough news for Ohio, as both Cleveland and Cincinnati were finalists to become the 16th team in the league.

Free Kicks

That’s all I have for you this time around. Thanks again to Michael for the support! I hope you all have a fantastic Friday.

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Orlando City

Lions, Pride Show Orlando is a Leading U.S. Soccer City

A ranking of cities in the United States by the performances of their men’s and women’s pro soccer teams during the 2020s.

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January 2, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

The 2025 calendar year is upon us, and after an exhaustive recounting of the 2024 season through our Top 10 Moments and our Season in Review articles on every Orlando City and Orlando Pride player, it is time to expand our thoughts to look back not just on the 2024 season, but on the full decade of the 2020s, which is somehow now halfway over. American soccer teams do not operate in the same manner as clubs do in Europe, where a club like Arsenal has both a men’s and women’s soccer team under the same moniker and ownership, but we do have cities, like Orlando, that have men’s and/or women’s teams. What if we looked at American cities to see which cities have produced the best professional soccer results thus far this decade, and looked to see how Orlando compares? What if, indeed. Let’s go.

When I started pulling together all the data for this, I thought it was going to be pretty simple, and I would just use the MLS and NWSL standings and playoff results and then start writing. Easy, like Sunday morning. But then I thought about the U.S. Open Cup, which, in case you forgot (let’s be honest, there is no way you forgot), Orlando City won in 2022. And then I thought that if I was including the U.S. Open Cup, I should also include the Leagues Cup, since every MLS team participated in that competition. And that reminded me of the NWSL x Liga MX Feminil Summer Cup, which then reminded me of other international competitions like the Concacaf Champions Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, and last but not least, the Concacaf W Champions Cup.

Funny story about that Concacaf W Champions Cup though, it is a brand new competition and it is actually a 2024-2025 tournament, so it will not conclude until later this year. Teams qualified in 2023 to play in a tournament in 2024 that finishes in 2025. Ah FIFA, how I enjoy thee. The Pride will play in the second edition of this cup later this year, by virtue of WINNING ALL THE 2024 NWSL THINGS, but for now I was not able to include the results of the first edition since it still ongoing. My apologies to the two NWSL clubs (Gotham and Portland) still alive in this cup.

Back to all the competitions, here is the official list of competitions that I included (M = men’s competitions and W = women’s competitions)

  • M: MLS regular season (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
  • M: MLS playoffs (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
  • M: Concacaf Champions Cup (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
  • M: U.S. Open Cup (2022, 2023, 2024) [2020 and 2021 were not played due to COVID-19]
  • M: Leagues Cup (2023, 2024)
  • M: FIFA Club World Cup (played every year, Seattle qualified in 2022)
  • W: NWSL regular season (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) [2020 was not played due to COVID-19]
  • W: NWSL playoffs (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024)
  • W: NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup (2024)
  • W: NWSL Challenge Cup (2020)
  • W: NWSL Fall Series (2020)

I used a pretty simple scoring rubric to allocate points to those teams who did well in each competition — six points to the winner, four for second place, three for third place, two for fourth place, and one for fifth place. Teams could share points, and often did, since in many knockout competitions there would not be a third-place game, so I would assign both teams that lost in a semifinal as the third-place winners and recipients of three points.

For the regular seasons in MLS and in the NWSL I used the league table, and so while for playoff seeding the leagues would use tiebreakers to differentiate among teams, I did not, meaning that the 2023 Pride, for example, tied for fifth place in the NWSL regular season and earned one point for the city of Orlando, even though they ended up seventh overall and out of the playoffs once the league tiebreakers were evaluated. MLS and NWSL use different setups, so I thought that was a fair way to do it. Feel free to disagree with me in the comments. Or, and I like this idea a little better, laud me and write thousands dozens of words of praise for my innovative and creative (read: not really that innovative or creative) method of assigning points.

Enough preamble, it is time to see which cities racked up the points in the 2020s based on the performances by the men’s and women’s teams who play there. Without any further ado:

CityMen’s PointsWomen’s PointsClubsTotal Points
Los Angeles514355
New York City2524349
Seattle2323246
Portland736243
Philadelphia330133
Columbus330133
Orlando1813231
Kansas City1317230
Houston914223
Washington, D.C.021221

Now, I can already hear the grumbling, “…but Los Angeles and New York City each have three teams, so of course they have the most points.” I mean, yes, but also no. While New York City has had three teams (New York Red Bulls, New York City FC, and Gotham FC/Sky Blue) for all five years of this decade, Los Angeles only added Angel City during the 2022 season. Additionally, of the 27 cities that had at least one team in MLS or NWSL, eight scored five or fewer points during the first five years of this decade, so while it certainly does help to have three teams, having more teams is not guaranteed to generate success.

The city of Chicago is a great example, the Chicago Fire and Chicago Red Stars both played all five seasons in the 2020s but their combined points (13) rank 14th overall, and behind four cities that only had one club each (Philadelphia, Columbus, Miami and Cincinnati).

I would also like to spend a moment to point out that in recent years there has been great debate about who the current “soccer city of the south” is. MLS and FIFA would love you to believe it is Miami, with how far back they bend to help out that club, but the results on the field do not make that case (Miami ranked 11th by my scoring), though certainly Miami has done much better in the last two years. Atlanta won an MLS Cup in 2018, but during this decade they have done very little, earning only four points. Nashville scored seven points, and Charlotte, which entered MLS in 2022, has only earned one point in three seasons. Houston is probably the city that has the best argument, as the Dash and Dynamo have both had some success, but not to the degree of, you were waiting for it, the City Beautiful.

While Orlando City has now had several years of sustained success under Head Coach Óscar Pareja, including the U.S. Open Cup title in 2022, top-five finishes in the league table in 2020 and 2023, and making the Eastern Conference final in 2024, the Pride’s successes were only really in this past season, but they were massive, as the team claimed both of The Mane Land’s No. 2 and No. 1 moments of 2024 by winning the NWSL Shield and NWSL Cup, respectively. Those two titles account for 12 points by my scoring rubric, two-thirds of the total number of points that Orlando City scored over five seasons. A monster season will do that for you, and in this case it is not a competition between the two teams but a symbiotic relationship, with those points going towards Orlando’s overall totals. That total placed them seventh overall and fifth among cities that have both a men’s and women’s team.

In future years, I expect that there will be more competitions for the women’s teams in the United States to enter, as the entertainment world and FIFA are slowly waking up to the idea that there is an audience for elite soccer played by both men and women, and I hope that it is sooner rather than later that we see a similar number of domestic and international club competitions for both Orlando City and the Orlando Pride to qualify for and compete in.

In 2025, we should see Orlando City in MLS, hopefully the MLS playoffs, Leagues Cup, and possibly the U.S. Open Cup. The Lions did not qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup or the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (I would like to point out that Inter Miami did not really qualify for this tournament either, but is in because it has Lionel Messi on the roster). We should see the Pride in the NWSL, hopefully the NWSL playoffs, Concacaf W Champions Cup, and possibly another tournament still to be determined.

There will be ample opportunities for both clubs to add points to my theoretical city rankings for the decade of the 2020s, and possibly even vault up to top-five-city status. I look forward to watching and writing about it whether they do or not, but it will be whole lot more fun if they add some more banners and hardware to the trophy collection.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

New Year’s Resolutions for Orlando Players and Staff

What resolutions are we looking for from some of Orlando’s finest?

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2 days ago

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January 2, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

New Year’s resolutions are a common way for many to get back on track or to continue progress already made. While I don’t personally make such resolutions, I can see how committing to bettering one’s self can provide motivation heading into a new year. That got me thinking about what resolutions some Orlando City and Orlando Pride players and staff might make at the start of 2025.

Most of these are tongue in cheek, so take these resolutions with the mirth and amusement with which they are given.

Seb Hines

What could the 2024 NWSL Coach of the Year possibly improve upon in 2025? It can’t be to smile more. I think I’ve literally only seen him not smiling on the sidelines one time. That’s it. Even when he’s having words with the officials he’s got a grin on his face. I certainly don’t want him to change that positive attitude since it’s what helped build the culture of a winning Pride. Instead, I want Hines to take a little credit for himself, even if just in his own heart.

Oscar Pareja

Oscar Pareja has taken Orlando City to five straight playoff appearances, won the 2022 U.S. Open Cup, and proven the early season doubters wrong time and again. It would be easy to say he should resolve to win the whole flipping thing, but I’m certain that is already his goal. Instead, I want him to resolve to be a little more flexible in his starting lineups. Pareja has a tendency to stick with a lineup match after match if he thinks it’s working. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the opponent, a change at say, striker, might be a good idea. You can do it, Papi!

Rodrigo Schlegel

You may not have noticed, but Rodrigo Schlegel has grown mentally and emotionally over the last few seasons. He has always had a bit of hot headedness in his play. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you can focus that passion so you don’t get as many fouls, that’s even better. He has done that the last two seasons. He’ll be fighting for a starting spot yet again this off-season, and I think he should continue to grow in his ability to employ the dark arts without losing that fire he has in his belly.

Julie Doyle

Julie Doyle brings a lot of things to the pitch. She can contribute goals and assists, she brings fire and attitude, and she has bought into the Pride culture. What I want from her in 2025 is to bring back the Doyle Buns. I have absolutely no stats to back this up, but I feel she plays better when her hair is in double Doyle Buns formation (see picture below). It doesn’t have to be every match, but it’s been a while since we’ve seen them.

Image of Julie Doyle with her hair in matching pigtails at the back.
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

It should be obvious that Doyle’s hairstyle has nothing to do with how she plays, but since that is the case, why not bring back the buns?

Cesar Araujo/Wilder Cartagena

Orlando City’s colors are purple and gold. I feel that Cesar Araujo and Wilder Cartagena might think they are purple and yellow with as many yellow cards they’ve earned. In 2024, the pair earned 18 yellow cards between them, which was two more than the 16 in 2023. While defensive midfielders are the most prone to be booked, given their role on the pitch, perhaps they could resolve to limit that number to avoid suspensions.

Haley McCutcheon

Haley McCutcheon was the “I didn’t see that coming” goal scorer for the Pride in the playoffs. She scored the first goal of the playoffs to give Orlando the lead in the 4-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars.

She then scored the Pride’s first goal in the 3-2 victory over the Kansas City Current to get the Orlando offense started.

If it’s not too much to ask, perhaps McCutcheon could resolve to start scoring goals earlier in the year? I don’t see the need for her to wait until the playoffs.

Luis Muriel

Luis Muriel is one of those players who needed more time to adapt to MLS. Based on his play down the stretch, it seems he’s finally comfortable with the league and his team, and he has settled in to his new home in Orlando. His resolution should be to break into the starting lineup for Orlando City. As a Designated Player, he garners a hefty paycheck, and I want the goal contributions to be commensurate with his contract.

Marta

Does anyone know where the Fountain of Youth is? I want nothing more for Marta than to stop time and keep her energy, pace, and health at 2024 levels. She was a critical component in the Pride’s historical season. As such, whatever she needs to do to bring it all again in 2025 is what she should resolve to do. Actually, I think everyone else should resolve to do whatever they can to help Marta. All of the coaches, trainers, teammates, and the front office should make her their resolution.

Obviously, I’ve only scratched the surface of the possibilities here. Now, I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below. Happy New Year!

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