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Top 10 Moments of 2024: Orlando City Wins Tight Best-of-Three Playoff Series against Charlotte FC

In our No. 6 moment of the year, Orlando City made the fans sweat it out but eventually advanced past Charlotte in the best-of-three series.

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5 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

As we count down to the new year of 2025 — which will be Orlando City’s 11th in MLS, the Orlando Pride’s 10th in the NWSL, and OCB’s third in MLS NEXT Pro — and say goodbye to 2024, it’s time to look back at the club’s 10 best moments of the year as selected by The Mane Land staff via vote.

I believe Major League Soccer is unique among the world’s leagues in using a best-of-three series to determine a winner in the knockout round of a tournament, and while I do not like it, I did like the result from Orlando City’s three-game series against Charlotte FC during the opening round of the 2024 MLS playoffs, because the Lions advanced by winning games one and three, eliminating Charlotte and moving on to the conference semifinals.

Orlando City entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in MLS, having won 10 of its last 14 games and vaulting all the way up to fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Charlotte had been hot as well, but not for as long, as the North Carolina-based club had only won five of its last 14 games, but four of those wins were in the team’s most recent five games. However, Charlotte had scored an impressive 13 goals during those four wins. On the season, the teams ended up separated by only one point, as Orlando City ended with 52 and Charlotte finished with 51. The teams met twice during the regular season, drawing 2-2 on June 19 in Charlotte and Orlando City winning 2-0 at home on Sept. 18.

As with any series between the two teams closest in seed, analysts were split on who they thought would advance, but with home field advantage in two of the three games, including the tone-setting game one, the Lions held the advantage in the betting markets, with better odds to advance than their opponents from North Carolina.

Those in favor of Orlando City pointed to the recent hot form, the consistent starting lineup with players who knew their roles coming in off the bench, the recent win head-to-head, the advantage in goals scored (+13 for the season), and the aforementioned home-field advantage. Those who favored Charlotte pointed to the even more recent hot form; the team’s stingy defense, which had conceded the second-fewest goals in MLS; its counterattacking style that was a good antidote to Orlando City’s penchant for winning the possession battle; and a recent 1-1 draw against MLS Shield winners Inter Miami, showing that Charlotte could hold even the best offenses to very little.

As a fan of several other sports that employ best-of-[insert odd number here] playoff rules, I felt confident in Orlando City advancing, because the history of playoff series’ is that the team with the better seed, and therefore the team that has home-field advantage, wins most often. There is a reason the Lions had the better seed, and it is that they had a better regular season. As is seen in college basketball every March, in one game, anything can happen, but over time in a series, the better team usually wins, and I thought that Orlando City was a much better team.

The opening game of the series went much as I had expected it to, and I felt even more confident in my thought that Orlando City would advance. The Lions came out and really took it to Charlotte from the opening whistle, dominating possession, peppering the Charlotte goal with shots, and only allowing two shots on goal all game long for Pedro Gallese to save, earning a comfortable 2-0 victory and placing themselves one win from advancing to the conference semifinals.

Facundo Torres opened the scoring in the first half with a spectacular volley in the 32nd minute, and that early goal forced Charlotte to have to play differently for the final two-thirds of the game, because now the visitors had to engage and could not just sit back and hope for a smash-and-grab win.

Fellow Designated Player Martín Ojeda put the game to bed with his goal nearly 32 minutes into the second half, almost perfect symmetry with the first goal in terms of minutes after the beginning of the half.

Orlando City’s performance looked a lot like we had seen during the final few months of the season, and while any game on the road is always difficult, it seemed like the Lions had found an excellent game plan to defeat Charlotte and should go with something similar on the road for game two.

They most certainly did not do this.

Orlando City’s offensive performance on Nov. 1 was one of the worst I have ever seen by the club, and the data backs it up. I am not a member of the cult of xG (expected goals), who thinks it is the be-all, end-all of statistics, but I do think xG is a good indicator of the health of a team’s offense and whether it was getting shots in good locations. Orlando City’s xG in Game 2 was 0.3, the team’s worst of the season and tied for eighth worst since Opta started tracking xG in MLS games in 2018. For context, Orlando City has played more than 230 MLS games since the beginning of the 2018 season, so Game 2’s xG is in the bottom 4%.

(For the masochists out there, April 24, 2022 and July 18, 2019 are the club’s two worst offensive performances in the xG tracking era, both with 0.1 xG. The less said about those games the better. I have already said too much.)

Back to Game 2, Orlando City just did not seem to bring any energy to the game, even knowing that a win would push the team through to the next round, and earn a bye week with no need to play a Game 3. With the huge safety net of a guaranteed home game if they lost, the Lions should have played freely and openly, but instead they played defensively, almost as if they were playing more so to keep Charlotte from scoring than to actually go out and win the game themselves.

Even the team’s substitution patterns seemed off, as while the usual Duncan McGuire-for-Ramiro Enrique swap took place around the normal time of 60 minutes (specifically the 56th minute in this game), Oscar Pareja subbed Nico Lodeiro, and not Luis Muriel, for Ojeda in the 74th minute, and he brought Muriel in for Iván Angulo in the 88th minute. Muriel had been one of the team’s most dangerous players in recent months, a supersub off the bench who unlocked defenses with his vision and passing ability, but Pareja only gave him three minutes and stoppage time in this game, despite knowing that Charlotte was not much of a threat offensively and that one goal would likely be too much for hosts to overcome.

Even with their seemingly defensive focused performance, Orlando City almost managed to get a late winner anyway, but a tight offside call nullified a brilliant strike by Torres in second half stoppage time, wiping out what likely would have been the series-deciding goal. On replay review it looked incredibly tight, so the call on the field would likely have stood had they called it a goal, but they called it offside, and with that, it was wiped off the board, and the game went to penalties.

Historically Orlando City had been great in penalty shootouts, but the same team that showed up disinterested in scoring goals during open play also showed up during the penalty kicks, with Lodeiro getting his shot saved, Robin Jansson missing his kick over the bar, Muriel scoring (maybe should have brought him in sooner, just saying), but then McGuire getting saved, and since Charlotte did not miss any kicks, that was that, and the Lions lost 0-0 (3-1 on penalties). The loss wiped out the second straight shutout by the defense, including several outstanding saves by Gallese, as the Lions demonstrated that in MLS the old axiom of you can’t lose if they don’t score does not always apply.

Orlando City returned home for the winner-take-all Game 3, but although the Lions were far more lively on offense (19 shots, much better than that putrid three from the prior game) they could not get anything past Charlotte’s Kristijan Kahlina. An unexpectedly high bounce on a clearance by Charlotte went over Jansson’s head, and Charlotte took advantage with a quick counter, ending with a cross and a goal by Karol Swiderski on a shot that deflected in off of Rodrigo Schlegel. It is hard to tell if Gallese would have been able to save the ball if not for the deflection. He did seem to be well-placed to at least have a chance, but that did not matter as the deflection went away from where he was and went into the back of the net.

The Lions then started getting even more aggressive and pushing everyone forward, but to no avail. They used their final substitution to bring on David Brekalo for Schlegel, seemingly a like-for-like substitution instead of offense-for-defenese, but with Brekalo’s technical ability and ability to win aerial duels, he was probably the best option to try to get a goal, despite being a central defender given the bench options available.

As the game went to the dying minutes, Cesar Araujo just missed with a rocket from 28 yards, but then the offensive push paid off, as Wilder Cartagena put a cross into the danger zone right in the center of the box, and Charlotte defender Djibril Diani pulled McGuire down as he went to try to win the cross, earning Orlando City a penalty after an excruciatingly long video review delay and due to the fact that McGuire dislocated his shoulder on the foul.

The penalty was (finally) given, but after the poor performance in the shootout the game prior, there was a sense of excitement but concern, and it was warranted as Kahlina made yet another huge save, diving low to his right to block Torres’ penalty. Thankfully for the good guys in purple, the rebound went right back to Torres, and he made no mistake on his second shot, tying the game at 1-1 and sending it to another penalty shootout moments later when the full time whistle blew.

Both teams probably felt good going into the penalty shootout — Charlotte due to its dominant penalty performance in Game 2 and Orlando City due to the momentum of having found an equalizing lifeline just moments earlier. History does not always repeat itself, but it does often rhyme, and just as Kahlina was on fire with two saves in the previous shootout, Gallese was up to the task in Game 3, saving penalties one and two in front of The Wall.

His offensive partners also delivered, as Muriel was again unflappable scoring the first, and then unexpectedly it was Kyle Smith who stepped up for the second. If he shoots all his penalties as he did the one he took in this game, he should be in contention to take them all the time, because he put that ball in an unstoppable location at pace. Torres made up for his miss during regulation by making his shot in the shootout, but Charlotte answered, though Gallese again went the correct direction and nearly made it three straight saves.

Up 3-1 and with the ability to win the game and move Orlando City to the conference semifinals, it was another defender, Rafael Santos, who stepped up to the ball. After a routine that involved moving backwards, sideways, jumping and nearly stopping, Santos ripped a shot to the lower corner, and though Kahlina went the correct way, the ball was hit with too much pace, and Orlando City had won and advanced to the next round.

This series will not be one that is fondly recalled as the years go by, especially the strangely poor performance in Game 2, but there were moments of greatness that will go down in Orlando City lore. The dominant Game 1 victory, McGuire suffering a dislocated shoulder to earn a penalty (and then getting it popped back in in the locker room and sprinting to try to get back onto the field during the shootout), the last-gasp goal to put Game 3 into a shootout in the most Cardiac Cats way possible, Gallese’s shootout heroics, Muriel’s unflappability, and the left back and right back hitting perhaps the best penalties of the season are all moments I will definitely remember from this series. It’s also a big part of why winning that playoff series finished at No. 6 on our list of top 10 moments of 2024.

Come back through New Year’s Eve as we count down the remainder of the top 10 moments of 2024 for Orlando City, the Orlando Pride, and OCB.

Previous Top Moments of 2024

10. Orlando City’s massive second-half surge clinches top-four spot in Eastern Conference.

9. The Orlando Pride sign Zambian international striker Barbra Banda ahead of the 2024 season.

8. Facundo Torres scores his 47th goal for Orlando City, breaking the Lions’ all-time goal record.

7. Marta’s magical goal pushes the Orlando Pride past Kansas City and into the NWSL Championship.

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    Orlando City

    Orlando City Showing Signs of Adjusting to Eduard Atuesta’s Absence

    The Lions have looked much better on offense the last two games, and there’s a couple of reasons why.

    Published

    16 hours ago

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    May 16, 2025

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    Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

    Much has been made of Orlando City’s difficulties in creating chances and scoring goals when Eduard Atuesta has been unavailable due to injury. It’s not hard to understand why either. The Colombian was unavailable for three of Orlando’s four scoreless draws this year, and he only played nine minutes as a substitute in the stalemate against the New York Red Bulls on April 12.

    When he was healthy and got the start against Atlanta United two games later, the Lions won 3-0 and he created the most chances of anyone in the game with three. Orlando then promptly reverted to being offensively stunted in the following game against the Chicago Fire, and was only able to manage its fourth scoreless draw of the year, despite playing over a half the game with a man advantage.

    There certainly seemed to be plenty of evidence pointing towards Atuesta being the missing cog in Orlando City’s offense. While he only has two assists in eight games, he does a ton of work in linking the defense to the attack and is great at finding attacking players in dangerous areas, as evidenced by his 17 key passes. In the 0-0 draws with the Philadelphia Union, CF Montreal, and the Fire, Orlando just didn’t look right without him, although the Red Bulls game was a much better performance that was ultimately derailed by Rodrigo Schlegel’s sending off.

    While he hasn’t played in either of Orlando’s last two league matches, a 3-3 draw against the New England Revolution, and a 3-1 win against Charlotte FC, the offense clearly hasn’t had any problem creating chances. If anything, the Lions should have scored more goals if not for a couple instances of less-than-crisp finishing in each match.

    So, why the sudden change?

    Well for one thing, the Designated Players are firing on all cylinders again. Martin Ojeda scored a hat trick against New England, and he and Luis Muriel scored Orlando’s first two goals against Charlotte. Ojeda didn’t start either of the two games against Atlanta and Chicago because he was dealing with a minor injury, but now that it’s in the rearview mirror, he’s been a man possessed. Muriel probably should have had at least one goal of his own against the Revs but seemed oddly reluctant to shoot, although he still completed three dribbles and delivered three key passes. The Charlotte game was then his turn to come out of the gate swinging, as he narrowly had a goal ruled out for offside just two minutes in, before hammering a venomous shot from distance just six minutes later that gave Kristijan Kahlina all sorts of trouble and opened the scoring.

    It isn’t just getting contributions from the big guns though, because we need to acknowledge the play of rookie Joran Gerbet in these last two games. He’s the man who’s been asked to fill in for Atuesta next to Cesar Araujo, and he’s getting more and more comfortable in that role. Against the Revs he had an interception, a key pass and an assist, and completed a long ball and a through ball while recording a passing accuracy of 86.5%. Against Charlotte, he recorded an interception, three clearances, a completed dribble, and two successful long balls, and he had an outstanding passing accuracy of 98%. They weren’t all simply backwards or sideways passes either. There were plenty of times when he progressed the ball upfield to an attacking player and helped keep the Lions moving forward, and that’s exactly what you want out of the guy playing that position.

    He still has a way to go before reaching Atuesta’s level, but that’s to be expected for a guy that’s playing the first professional season of his career. What’s most important is that he’s getting more comfortable, contributing, and proving that he can be a legitimate option to rotate into the starting XI when Atuesta is unavailable or when fixture congestion dictates changes to the lineup.

    It’s worth mentioning the caveat that the last two games haven’t been against the strongest opposition the league has to offer. The Revs were on a four-game winning streak before playing Orlando, but three of those four wins were against weak or shaky teams in Atlanta, Toronto FC, and Charlotte, while the fourth team (NYCFC) has been difficult to get a read on. I’m not saying the Revs are a paper tiger, but it’s tough to know how good they really are despite a good run of recent form. Then you have Charlotte, which was above the playoff line but also on a three-game losing streak coming into the match that has now been convincingly extended to four.

    At the end of the day, you can only beat who’s in front of you, but I’d encourage us all to not get too carried away until we see the same results against sterner opposition. For better or worse, that’s exactly what we’ll get in the Lions’ next three matches, which will be against a capable, albeit flawed, Inter Miami side on the road, at home in the U.S. Open Cup against a Nashville SC team that’s fourth in the East, and at home against the Portland Timbers, who are currently fourth in the West.

    Ultimately, we can only judge this team on what we’ve seen from it, and over the last two games we’ve seen a side that’s had no trouble creating chances. Despite the continued absence of the important Atuesta, the Lions are adjusting thanks to contributions from their heavy hitters and the improving play of the rookie Gerbet. Only time will tell if those improvements are sustainable, but for now its a hell of a lot of fun to enjoy.

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    Lion Links

    Lion Links: 5/16/25

    Orlando City players make MLS Team of the Matchday, Luis Muriel focused, Orlando Pride plays tonight, and more.

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    20 hours ago

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    May 16, 2025

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    Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

    Happy Friday! I’ve had a pretty good week so far and am looking forward to three straight days of Orlando soccer. The Orlando Pride will get us started tonight and then we have Orlando City B on Saturday before Orlando City plays on Sunday. It should be a fun next few days, and hopefully one filled with celebrations too. Let’s dive into today’s links!

    Lions Make MLS Team of the Matchday

    There’s plenty of purple in the latest MLS Team of the Matchday following Orlando City’s 3-1 win over Charlotte FC. Martin Ojeda and David Brekalo were both selected, while Oscar Pareja was chosen as the top coach from the midweek slate. Ojeda’s strike in the first half is also up for Goal of the Matchday as his strong run of form continues. The only outfield player on this Team of the Matchday that didn’t score is Brekalo, who had two assists, so it’s nice to see him receive deserved recognition for an excellent performance that included a great setup on Orlando’s third goal. Pareja has the Lions on an 11-game unbeaten streak across all competitions and is managing things well so far during this busy May.

    Luis Muriel Staying Focused in Sophomore Season

    With five goals so far this season, Orlando City forward Luis Muriel has already mirrored his scoring total from all of last season. Staying mentally prepared has been key for the 34-year-old in his second year with Orlando, and he spoke about what’s changed for him after not quite reaching expectations in his first year.

    “Coming to a league like this isn’t easy. A lot of times from the outside, you aren’t able to measure up or really see what the league is. Sometimes you can underestimate things, thinking it’s easy,” Muriel said. “That leads you to take things on in a different way, the work, the matches.

    “When you go into ‘MLS Mode’ you realize how good the league is, how competitive it is, how demanding the league is to be able to do things well. That’s when things start to flow, to go well. I think that’s the difference between this year and last.”

    He’s finding his footing in the league now and was a force to be reckoned with against Charlotte on Wednesday. Muriel is aware that the Lions will need him to be at his best when they travel to take on Inter Miami on Sunday for an important rivalry clash.

    Diving Into Justin Ellis’s Ascent

    Victor Olorunfemi of Top Drawer Soccer gave a great profile on Orlando City B forward Justin Ellis and his growth with the club. Ellis, who just celebrated his 18th birthday on Wednesday with his MLS debut, is having a great year after a solid season with OCB last year. The high school senior was the top scorer at this year’s Generation Adidas Cup with six goals to help Orlando’s U-18 team win the tournament. He can create chances just as well as he can convert them and is quick to give credit to the coaches and staff that have helped him develop. The U.S. youth pool is deep, but Ellis could be a name to keep an eye out for ahead of the U-20 World Cup in September.

    Orlando Pride Match Headlines NWSL Weekend

    The Orlando Pride’s match tonight against the Kansas City Current is the premier matchup this week in the NWSL. While I wouldn’t call it a rivalry just yet, these two teams had great games last year. The Current are still out for revenge after Orlando beat them while shorthanded last summer and won again in the NWSL playoffs in Orlando before winning the NWSL Championship in Kansas City. First place in the league is on the line and it should be a thrilling match featuring the league’s top two defenses and attacking threats like Barbra Banda, Temwa Chawinga, Marta, and Debinha.

    NWSL Contenders and Underperformers

    We’re about a third of the way into the NWSL season and ESPN‘s Jeff Kassouf dove into how each team is meeting its expectations so far. Despite their stumbles in recent weeks, the Pride are near the top of the table and have plenty of time to get things firing on all cylinders. Two of the California teams are enjoying surprising success so far, with the San Diego Wave up in fourth while Angel City FC is in fifth and could become a real contender once Alexander Straus takes over as head coach. NJ/NY Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage are sleeping giants of sorts, so it will be interesting to see when they start climbing up the table.

    Free Kicks

    • You’ll need a paid subscription for the full details, but Orlando City right back Alex Freeman continues to impress this season. Freeman is finding success in a way different from his father Antonio Freeman, who led the NFL in receiving yards for the Green Bay Packers in 1998.
    • This year’s MLS pre-match jerseys to celebrate Pride month are out and they’re a vibrant and funky design.

    Love lifts us up 💜The new 2025 Pride Pre-Match Jerseys are here!🛒 orlsoccer.co/fbpri

    — Orlando City SC (@orlandocitysc.com) 2025-05-15T18:56:08.764Z
    • Esther Gonzalez leads the NWSL with seven goals this season and has agreed to a contract extension with Gotham FC that will last through 2027.
    • FIFA representatives, including FA Chair Debbie Hewitt and UEFA President Alexander Ceferin, walked out of FIFA’s annual congress in protest of FIFA President Gianni Infantino arriving three hours late. Infantino has spent this week in the Middle East visiting leaders in Saudi Arabia and Qatar with Donald Trump.
    • FC Barcelona officially won this year’s La Liga title after a 2-0 win over Espanyol. Phenom Lamine Yamal scored a sensational goal in the match, which is fitting considering how crucial he was to Barcelona winning the league this year.
    • Predictable names like Luis Enrique and Antonio Conte are on the list of top European coaches this year, but this article also shines a light on coaches who navigated tough waters in small boats. Alexander Blessin has St. Pauli on the verge of survival in the Bundesliga and Filippo Inzaghi improved Pisa by 30 points in Serie B to secure promotion.

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

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    Orlando City

    Orlando City vs. Inter Miami: Three Keys to Victory

    What do the Lions need to do to secure a victory in Sunday’s edition of Tropic Thunder?

    Published

    2 days ago

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    May 15, 2025

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    Image courtesy of Orlando City / Mark Thor

    The first Tropic Thunder match of the season is here. As I recently said on The Mane Land PawedCast, I am both looking forward to and dreading this match. I think that is an appropriate feeling. Orlando City is in the midst of a congested May schedule, but every match matters.

    Inter Miami tops my list of hated teams at this point. As such, I very much want the Lions to win and for Florida to be purple. What does Orlando City need to do to earn all three points on the road against their in-state rivals?

    Pocket Messi

    Orlando City must keep Lionel Messi from having too big of an impact on the match. There are plenty of other players that the defense will need to worry about, and I’ll get to them. What I’m looking for is a frustrated Messi — Messi that feels he should be getting calls on the lightest of touches but is not.

    The pair of players that I’m expecting to keep an eye on Messi are Cesar Araujo and Rodrigo Schlegel. The lion’s share of that burden will fall to Araujo. I want him to be hounding Messi every time he gets the ball. If Messi is able to get past Araujo, I want Schlegel to be right in his face. We’re all sick of MLS and Apple TV putting his smug mug in our faces at every opportunity. It’s time for two of Orlando’s defenders to take the shine off of Messi.

    Deal with the Rest

    Assuming Araujo can limit Messi, Orlando City still has to deal with Miami’s talented attacking players not named Messi. Miami and Orlando entered Wednesday night’s game with the same number of goals scored (21) and allowed (15) this season, although the Herons conceded more at San Jose (3) than the Lions (1) did at home against Charlotte. Each scored three times on Wednesday. However, the memory of the last time the Lions faced Miami at Chase Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale is a 5-0 loss. That isn’t something we want to see again.

    Theoretically, no match is more important than another, although an argument could be made that Tropic Thunder is no mere match. I fully expect a starting back line of Alex Freeman, Schlegel, Robin Jansson, and David Brekalo in front of Pedro Gallese to stop Miami’s attack. A clean sheet is the objective.

    Alex vs. Alba

    As you can tell, this is a very defensive heavy Three Keys, but given what happened in this fixture last year, I don’t think it’s out of line. Alex Freeman has been good this season. He has secured the starting spot at right back and seems unlikely to give it back. One of the things he is good at is getting into the attack with Marco Pasalic. That isn’t what I’m looking for from him this weekend.

    Miami’s Jordi Alba is a dangerous player that Freeman will be expected to help contain. Alba has five assists, seven successful crosses, and 13 key passes so far this season. If Freeman is still getting up the pitch to assist in the attack, he will need to make sure he isn’t allowing Alba free rein to get behind him and serve as a provider in Orlando’s half of the field.

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

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