Orlando City at New York Red Bulls: Five Takeaways

Orlando City traveled to New Jersey to take on the New York Red Bulls. Who cares if names and places don’t match? With the Lions coming off a loss to New York City FC the week before, getting points on the road was crucial. Orlando City earned a point away from home thanks to a 2-2 draw, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t frustrating at times. Here are my five takeaways from the match.

Designated Players Score Again

The 2025 theme of Orlando City’s Designated Players scoring continued in this match. Martin Ojeda got things going early with an absolute beauty of a goal. He brought the ball up the left himself, lifted his head as he approached the box, and let one rip into the upper right corner. A perfect way to start the match.

Marco Pasalic also scored a stunner. Orlando City’s newest DP made a perfectly timed run to get on the end of a long pass from Eduard Atuesta. Once he had the ball, he easily beat Carlos Coronel to give the Lions the lead once more. That is three goals for Pasalic in four matches. If he, Ojeda, and Luis Muriel can continue to provide goal contributions at this rate, good things will happen.

Hot-Headed Jansson

It wasn’t a great night for Orlando City’s captain. Robin Jansson was frustrated, angry, and I assume yelling at the refs in Swedish except for the one time he got booked for dissent. That time was probably in English. In the 72nd minute, Jansson had the ball taken off his foot at midfield, and if not for an excellent save by Pedro Gallese, the Lions would have headed home with a loss.

The Beefy Swede took some chances that perhaps he didn’t need to take. Usually it is Rodrigo Schlegel that is the hot head, but against the Red Bulls it was Jansson seeing red. Of course, the worst thing that happened — the penalty — was certainly debatable.

Penalty Kills

Jansson was called for a penalty in the 26th minute. He was running alongside Eric Choupo-Moting as the ball came in from the right. Jansson stuck his foot out at the ball, but unfortunately Choupo-Moting got his foot in front of Jansson’s and drew a foul that wasn’t initially called. The video assistant referee had referee Armando Villarreal go to the monitor. Villarreal overturned his inital no-call and awarded the penalty.

This was the type of foul that could go either way. It wasn’t initially called, and was iffy at best, in my opinion. If the roles were reversed, it was the type of call that Orlando City doesn’t get, but the Red Bulls did. On the resulting penalty kick, Pedro Gallese guessed correctly, but Choupo-Moting put it low and hard into the bottom left corner to equalize the match. If not for that call, Orlando City may have won.

A Start and a Return

If you thought it wasn’t great when Wilder Cartagena went out for the season, then Cesar Araujo being held out as a precautionary measure didn’t make things any easier. Fortunately, Araujo isn’t out for the season, but Orlando City still missed his presence in this match. Since Araujo didn’t make the trip, rookie Joran Gerbet got his first MLS start. Honestly, Gerbet played well. Both he and Atuesta were harassed and fouled regularly by the Red Bulls, especially in the first half. Gerbet’s passing was good (96.4%), and I think he acquitted himself well in his first start.

We also saw the return of Duncan McGuire, not just to the bench but to the field, as the striker came on in the 87th minute. He almost gave the Lions a late lead, but one shot was blocked, and his pass to Rafael Santos for a chance by the left back was also saved. Regardless, it’s good to have Big Dunc back. I’m certain he’ll need more time to get match fit, but his return is a big boost to Orlando City’s attack.

Mistakes Continue to Haunt

Once again there were way too many giveaways by Orlando City to give the opposition easy opportunities. The second goal saw Dennis Gjengaar unmarked on the near post for an easy goal. That type of defensive mistake has happened far too often this season, and it bit Orlando City again against the Red Bulls.

On the other end, Orlando City took 15 shots, put seven on target, and put two in the back of the goal. That’s a lot of missed opportunities. To be fair, Carlos Coronel was very good on the night, but I still think either Ramiro Enrique or McGuire should have scored the winning goal.

That is what I saw in Orlando City’s 2-2 draw against the New York Red Bulls. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.