Hello, Mane Landers! I hope all is well with you down in Florida. It’s just been another busy week for me working at Under Armour, and I covered some high school basketball. Later this week, I’ll be working at the Chicago Cubs Convention. Let’s all wish Orlando City goalkeeper coach Cesar Baena a happy birthday, and also a happy belated birthday to Orlando City forward Jack Lynn, who turned 25 on Sunday. There’s plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links.

Orlando City Preseason Training Camp Starts Today

Orlando City players completed their medicals over the weekend to get ready to kick off their 2025 preseason camp.

Robin Jansson and Ramiro Enrique discussed the benefit of working with Orlando Health and the team’s athletic trainers and medical staff to ensure the players are fit and ready to play. The Lions also had their sports science and performance testing on Sunday.

Jaedyn Shaw Will Reportedly Join the North Carolina Courage

The San Diego Wave are reportedly trading forward Jaedyn Shaw to the North Carolina Courage for an undisclosed amount of Allocation Money. Shaw had reportedly been seeking a trade from the Wave for the past year. For the Courage, this move would bolster their attack after they only scored 34 goals last season. Shaw spent three seasons in San Diego, recording 14 goals in 61 appearances across all competitions. She has also made 21 appearances for the United States Women’s National Team, scoring eight goals, and was part of the squad that won a gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

MLS Transfer Roundup

Major League Soccer had another busy weekend with some notable transfer moves. The San Jose Earthquakes acquired forward Cristian Arango from Real Salt Lake in exchange for $700,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money (GAM), $700,000 in 2026 GAM, and a 2026 international roster slot. Arango will be a Designated Player in San Jose. The Quakes appear not to be done yet, as the club is reportedly close to a deal to add forward Josef Martinez.

The Seattle Sounders have re-signed midfielder Joao Paulo through 2025, with an option for the 2026 season. Lastly, Atlanta United has reportedly submitted a bid to EFL Championship side Middlesbrough for forward Emmanuel Latte Lath.

English FA Cup Weekend Recap

The third round of the FA Cup continued over the weekend in England with some notable results and plenty of drama. On Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur needed to go to extra time to defeat National League side Tamworth 3-0. Despite playing the second half with 10 men, Manchester United defeated Arsenal 5-3 on penalties following a thrilling 1-1 draw. Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir stopped a penalty in the second half and made a clutch save on Arsenal’s Kai Havertz in the penalty shootout, while Joshua Zirkzee scored the winning penalty for Manchester United to advance.

On Saturday, Liverpool shut out Accrington Stanley 4-0, Manchester City defeated Salford City 8-0, and Wolverhampton edged Bristol City 2-1. We did get one upset, as Plymouth Argyle defeated Brentford 1-0.

The draw results for the fourth round were announced and there are some intriguing matchups. Manchester United faces Leicester City, Plymouth Argyle hosts Liverpool, and Aston Villa takes on Tottenham.

Free Kicks

• Former Orlando Pride defender Ali Riley lost her home in the Los Angeles wildfires. We here at The Mane Land extend our thoughts and best wishes to all those affected by the wildfires in Southern California.

• Former Orlando Pride goalkeeper Carly Nelson spoke up about her experience dealing with physical and emotional abuse with the Utah Royals on social media .

• The USWNT’s January training camp has been moved to Florida due to the Los Angeles wildfires. The USWNT will train at Inter Miami’s Florida Blue Training Center in Ft. Lauderdale.
• Forward Matthew Hoppe and Middlesbrough have reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract, and he will leave the club as a free agent.

• Toronto FC named Robin Fraser as its next head coach. Fraser was previously the head coach for the Colorado Rapids and returns to Toronto after serving as an assistant coach under Greg Vanney from 2015 through 2019.
• After informing the club he wants to leave, Manchester City defender Kyle Walker has reportedly been linked to a move to Italy as AC Milan has expressed interest.
• Everton named David Moyes as its new manager over the weekend. Moyes returns to his former club for a second stint as manager. Everton is 16th in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone.
• Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 5-2 to win the Spanish Super Cup.

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

The 2025 Major League Soccer season is fast approaching which still feels like a wild sentence to type as the 2024 Orlando City campaign finished just days before the holiday season swung into full gear. Nevertheless, the 2025 version of Orlando City will report for training camp Monday, and we will soon get a clearer picture of what the Lions will look like. Here are three thoughts on the club heading into training camp and beginning a new season.

Will Gallese Start the Year Strong?

During the 2024 year, goalkeeper Pedro Gallese made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the first few months of the campaign that Orlando City fans had not witnessed much throughout his time in the City Beautiful. Gallese allowed 24 goals over his first 15 regular-season matches, though he was by no means culpable on all of them. Over the final 14 games of the regular season, Gallese only allowed 14 goals and looked far more composed in the net, which reflected a stronger City defense overall. Some of his highlights later in the year include his heroic efforts on Charlotte penalty kicks in the MLS Cup playoffs and one of my favorite moments of the year, when he stuffed Josef Martinez’s attempt from the spot during a 4-1 drubbing of CF Montreal in Leagues Cup play.

The big question surrounding the Peruvian is, can the 35-year-old Gallese start the 2025 season in the same form in which he finished 2024?

It is unlikely the back line will change drastically in front of him and, at least for now, the central midfield looks the same, despite some internet reports of interest in Cesar Araujo from Uruguayan side Nacional. Last year’s start shows that chemistry isn’t always automatic from one season to the next. Orlando starts the 2025 MLS season with a winnable month of matches, as the Lions will face only two 2024 playoff teams in New York City FC and the New York Red Bulls over their first five matches. If Gallese is able to start the year in the form that he ended 2024, the Lions will be in every match, and if the offense does its part, Orlando should be near the top of the table come the end of March.

What Will Orlando City’s Depth Look Like?

Good teams win the games they are supposed to win with a healthy roster, while great teams find ways to not drop points when members of the starting 11 are out with injury or on international duty. Look no further than a few hours south for an example of what depth can provide for a squad that throughout much of the season was predicted to stumble when Lionel Messi left for international duty and then missed extended time with an injury. Instead, Inter Miami kept winning en route to setting the MLS regular-season points record. Orlando City enters 2025 more or less with an established roster. The starting lineup currently has a Facundo Torres-shaped hole in it, and the Uruguayan’s goals will need to be accounted for, but my main concern with the current makeup of the roster is quality depth.

Outside of the back line, which I feel has sufficient depth if everyone is healthy, the wingers and attacking midfield could use more depth. Starters Martin Ojeda and Ivan Angulo return, but who will join them in the starting 11? Nico Lodeiro and Luis Muriel would seem to be the leading candidates given the current roster, while Yutaro Tsukada and Shak Mohammed provide depth but little experience. Without any signings yet this off-season, it’s probably safe to say that group will be addressed during camp.

Up top, Orlando City will be without the services of USMNT striker Duncan McGuire for at least the first third of the season. Ramiro Enrique is the presumptive starter as camp opens, with Jack Lynn and Muriel as potential cover, but this group likely also needs a signing prior to opening day.

The club’s early season record may come down to how well depth and role players can integrate into matches, as bumps, bruises, and international duty can keep starters out at times in the first few months of the MLS season.

Where Will the Goals Come From?

Perhaps the largest question mark as camp opens is who will score goals to start the season. Torres and McGuire combined for 24 goals last season. The Lions have started slowly on offense the last few years, and Orlando players scored only four goals through the first six games last season. Those 24 lost goals feel like an astronomical number to make up, placing signficant pressure on Enrique, Angulo, and Designated Players Ojeda and Muriel to produce.

Some of that lost production must come from Muriel, who scored just five goals and added five assists during the 2025 regular season — much of that in the second half of the year. The reassuring part is that it seemed Muriel finally started to settle into the MLS style of soccer down the stretch of last season. The question remains though if he will be up to the task of carrying more weight in the scoring department.

The two most likely players to show an improvement in the scoring department would be Ojeda and Enrique. Ojeda was a difference maker in the second half of the 2024 season and finally looked like he felt comfortable both on the pitch and in his own boots. Enrique has a knack for scoring and can get into positions between defenders. If both players can increase their goals scored into double digits, Orlando City may be able to compensate for what it lost from the 2024 roster. But, again, there should be new arrivals, and hopefully they will be able to contribute in that area.

Those are what I see as the three largest looming questions as training camp is set to start in just hours. What questions are you most concerned with as the 2025 Lions begin to assemble? Let us know in the comments below and as always, vamos Orlando!

Sometimes in order to admit to yourself that something is true you have to say the words out loud, or in the case of a website contributor, you have to write the words out, and so therefore I must disappointedly say the following: Facundo Torres will not play for Orlando City in 2025.

Sigh.

I guess there is a chance, however slight, that he could transfer back from Palmeiras, but as a mathematician, I would not advise anyone to place any bets on seeing Torres playing for the Lions this season. I would also advise you not to place any bets in general and to remember the quote from the legend Danny Ocean that “the house always wins, you play long enough and you never change the stakes and the house takes you.”

You did not come here for gambling advice, so we will dispense with that part of the quote, but I want to go a little deeper on the concept of changing the stakes. During the last three seasons, Orlando City has steadily improved from losing in the conference quarterfinals to losing in the conference semifinals to losing in the conference final. The Lions played in the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2023 and 2024 and won the U.S. Open Cup in 2022. As I wrote last week, Orlando is now one of leading soccer cities in the country, and that is because of the accomplishments of both Orlando City and the Orlando Pride.

Orlando City Head Coach Óscar Pareja has led the Lions to the playoffs in each of the past five seasons, and in doing so has raised the expectations for the club higher, as while the Lions are not considered one of the league’s glamor teams by MLS leadership, the performance on the field says that they should be. Their 71 MLS regular-season wins during this decade ranks second only to LAFC’s 75.

This brings us back to Torres and the decision that Orlando City’s leadership will need to make about how to replace him. His departure opens up a Designated Player spot, allowing the Lions free rein to bring in anyone they want, since there are no restrictions on salary. The question that I am sure that the front office is grappling with, however, is whether to use that spot on the 2025 version of Torres, a young rising star who they hope to sell in a few years for a profit, or go with an established player who is ready to come in now but may not be someone that the club can profit off of in the future.

The history of Orlando City and Designated Players is more the latter than the former, despite the club-record sale of Torres a few weeks ago. The club has had 15 Designated Players and 33 seasons from those players during its 10 seasons in MLS, and using the age of every player as of Feb. 1 during the year they were a Designated Player, this is how Orlando City has deployed that designation:

Slightly more than 60% of those player-seasons have been played by players 27 years of age or older, headlined by Kaká, Mauricio Pereyra, and Nani, but at the same time, more than 25% of the seasons were by players in the “we project them to be a young rising star” age group of 19-23. Torres clearly showed that he was, but the other young Designated Players — Bryan Róchez, Carlos Rivas, and Josué Colmán — did not produce on the field or generate a major financial return when they departed the club. Rivas, at least, is enduring, as every time a shot is skied high over the net at home games, you can always count on hearing someone in the crowd shout out his name.

During the last three seasons, the club has skewed younger with regard to Designated Players, with the average ages being 26 in 2022 [Pereyra (31), Ercan Kara (26), Torres (21)]; 24 in 2023 [Kara (27), Martin Ojeda (24), Torres (22)]; and 27 in 2024 [Luis Muriel (32), Ojeda (25), Torres (23)]. Torres’ departure means that remaining Designated Players Muriel (33) and Ojeda (26) will average out at 29.5 years old, with Muriel’s window to generate a future transfer fee of any significance nearly shut and Ojeda’s closing, unless he makes a leap in 2025. Both players contributed to the club’s success on the field in 2024, but the front office is always trying to balance the business and the team’s performance, and with this third open Designated Player spot those in charge of personnel will show their hand on where they believe they need to focus.

The hard part for the front office is that, as of today, the team is bringing back every key player except for Torres from a team that has used a pretty consistent set of players for the past two seasons. This group is very familiar with Pareja’s style of play and expectations, and nine of the returning players played more than 3,600 (out of a possible 6,120) MLS regular-season minutes during the last two seasons.

This team is built to win now, and while the Lions have the personnel to replace Torres with existing players (move Ojeda to right wing while starting Nico Lodeiro or Muriel in the middle, starting Lodeiro or Muriel on the wing, start Duncan McGuire at striker and move Ramiro Enrique to the wing, etc.), with an open Designated Player spot and Torres’ transfer fee money sitting in an Inter&Co digital vault, I think the team should be looking for someone to come in directly into the starting 11 and aggressively make a play to win the title in 2025, joining the battle-hardened group of returning players, many of whom are in their prime right now.

There are rumors that a signing is imminent for a left-footed winger who likes to play on the right side of the field, but it would be using an MLS U22 Initiative spot and not a Designated Player spot. Rumo(u)rs are second-hand news and may end up only being dreams (some of you will see the chain connecting what I did there, others will tell me to go my own way…away), but those currently reporting on Orlando City’s negotiations for this winger, Fabrizio Romano and Tom Bogert, are well sourced, increasing the likelihood that the club is closing in on bringing in a player who is similar to the 2022 version of Torres — young, skilled, and someone who could bring the club a profit in the future.

This does not preclude the team from looking for a Designated Player who is also a wing player on the right side of the field, but it changes the calculus (and as all of you certainly remember from math class, calculus is all about change) for what the team may want to do with its third Designated Player spot, probably making a little more likely that that spot would be used on a more established (read: older) player — reports have already indicated a bid was made to Liga MX side Club America, which was rejected, for 26-year-old winger Alex Zendejas.

Orlando City, like most MLS clubs, has rarely used a Designated Player spot on a defender. Yoshimar Yotún is the closest case, but while he played left back for Peru and other clubs, for Orlando City he played primarily in the midfield. The team could look for an upgrade on the left wing, which could also involve moving Angulo to the right wing or dropping him into a competition for a right- or left-back spot, as a player with a similar profile to former right back Ruan. McGuire will be out for a few months to start the season, and so the club could bring in an elite striker to complement Enrique to fill the 90 minutes up top. OCSC could also go find a central attacking midfield Designated Player and move Ojeda back out to the wing.

Or…City could do none of these and take an existing player who makes more than the Designated Player amount ($683,750) and turn him into a Designated Player, saving salary cap money. It is not as exciting to do something like this, but one of the benefits of being a good team with youth and depth is that there are already players ready to take on some of the minutes made available by Torres’ departure. It is not always beneficial to add players just because you can, as players want to play and team chemistry can be just as important as the total top end talent on a roster.

Decisions like these in a league with a salary cap can make or break a team, especially a team with so many players returning from a successful season the year prior. Should the Lions acquire one player to slot right into Torres’ spot, and leave everyone else as is? Do they actually need a big shake-up and change at multiple positions, as while they were successful, they struggled to score late in the season, and came up short on the ultimate goal? I am excited by all of the possibilities, look forward to seeing the moves the team makes, and am thinking about how the Lions will line up in the season opener on Feb. 22.

Vamos Orlando!