2024 Orlando City Season in Review: Michael Halliday

Orlando City inked fullback Michael Halliday to a Homegrown Player deal back on July 15, 2020. Halliday spent time with Orlando City B before moving up to the first team in 2021. He really started to come on during the 2023 season, when he earned the starting spot before suffering an injury during the summer, which allowed Dagur Dan Thorhallsson to supplant him.

Let’s take a look back at Halliday’s 2024 season.

Statistical Breakdown

Halliday saw time in two of the four competitions that Orlando City took part in during the 2024 season, appearing in the MLS regular-season and Concacaf Champions Cup, but not being used in Leagues Cup or in the MLS Cup playoffs.

He appeared in six MLS games with all of those appearances coming as a substitute for a total of 102 minutes. He recorded five tackles, one interception, one aerial duel won, and two clearances, committing two fouls without drawing one, and picking up one yellow card. Offensively, he didn’t have a goal contribution or key passes, but he took three shots (one on target), completed two long balls, and passed with 76.1% accuracy.

He made one appearance as a starter in the Concacaf Champions Cup during the 3-1 home win against Cavalry FC. He completed 68.8% of his passes, accurately delivered one of his three crosses, and also provided a key pass, but did not record any defensive statistics.

Best Game

Halliday’s best game came in the 1-0 home loss to FC Cincinnati back on May 5. He entered the fray just before the halftime break when Dagur Dan Thorhallsson went down injured off the ball. He played 42 minutes, which was his longest time on the field aside from his Champions Cup start, and had a pretty involved night. He took one shot (on target), made one tackle, recorded one interception, committed two fouls, picked up a yellow card, completed two long balls, and passed with 80% accuracy.

He had a decent chance to score in first-half stoppage time, but was tangled up on the ground with a defender and couldn’t cleanly hit a shot towards goal. Halliday then narrowly missed on getting on the end of an Ivan Angulo cross in the 56th minute, and his 82nd minute shot deflected off a defender and forced Roman Celentano into a good save to keep the Lions off the board.

2024 Final Grade

With just 192 minutes played for the Lions across all competitions, Halliday did not play enough minutes to receive a grade for the 2024 season, so he gets an incomplete from The Mane Land staff. He received a grade of 5.5 out of 10 last year, the first time that he had played enough minutes to be graded.

2025 Outlook

It’s been a strange couple of seasons for the young defender. It seemed like he was poised to break out in 2023, particularly when he began the season as the starter. The emergence of Thorhallsson meant that he faced an uphill battle to regain that position, particularly given the Icelandic utility man’s ability going forward, which is something that Oscar Pareja emphasizes in his fullbacks.

In 2024, he was making some substitute appearances to start the year, but suffered several injuries over the course of the season that prevented him from really building on those early season appearances. That’s largely been the story of his Orlando City career so far, with injuries making it difficult for him to get consistent minutes on the field, as once he was available down the stretch, Kyle Smith was often the man being brought on to substitute Thorhallsson.

Still, Halliday is only 21 years old and has time to continue developing. He signed a new contract back in January that runs through 2025, so barring a trade, a loan, or another club coming in for him, he’ll be developing right here with Orlando City. The most important thing for him in 2025 is to stay healthy and get plenty of minutes so he can keep growing his game.

Previous Season in Review Articles (Date Posted)

• Alex Freeman: (12/5/24)