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Orlando City vs. D.C. United: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s 4-1 victory over D.C. United?

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3 months ago

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Orlando City took it to D.C. United at Inter&Co Stadium, decimating the visitors 4-1 on Saturday night. It was the Lions’ best defensive effort of the season, and the offense matched its best total to boot. All three of Orlando City’s Designated Players scored in one match for the first time in club history. I’m saying it was a good night.

Let’s look at the Lions’ individual performances to see who made the grade and who needs to step it up.

Starters

GK, Javier Otero, 6.5 — Otero may have been a bit nervous in his first MLS start, but he grew more comfortable as the match progressed. In the end he made six saves, including a very difficult diving effort in the 77th minute. There wasn’t anything Otero could do about the consolation goal Lukas MacNaughton scored in second half stoppage time. His distribution was good, and he had a 76.5% passing rate. You really can’t ask much more from a keeper in his first start.

D, Rafael Santos, 5.5 — Santos had a rough start to the match. Initially, he went too fast giving the ball away when he tried to move into the offensive half. Then he was too slow on the ball, nearly giving it away in the defensive half. He eventually settled in a little better, providing one key pass, two crosses, and a passing rate of 72.9%. Defensively, he provided three tackles and one interception. It may not have been a great night for the defender, but it was certainly better than other matches this season.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 7 — Schlegel had a productive evening for the Lions. Defensively, he contributed three tackles, one interception, one blocked shot, and a team-high 11 clearances. He passed at a 92.6% rate, completed five long balls, and drew two fouls. He didn’t play much of a role offensively, but it’s probably better that way, given how the Lions had shipped goals prior to this match. Schlegel was a “right place, right time” type of defender on the night.

D, Robin Jansson, 6.5 — The captain was dealt a difficult hand on the night by having to deal with D.C. United’s Christian Benteke all evening. Jansson probably should have received more foul calls but referee Tori Penso wasn’t interested in calling them for the Beefy Swede. Like Schlegel, he didn’t contribute much offensively, but he passed at an 82.4% rate. Defensively, he contributed one tackle, one interception, one blocked shot, and eight clearances.

D, Alex Freeman, 7.5 — Freeman had his best night of his young career, scoring a goal and providing an assist. It was his cross to Luis Muriel in the 21st minute that gave Orlando City the first goal of the match. He did well to create some space in the box, allowing him to get his head on Martin Ojeda’s free kick to score his second goal of the season in the 50th minute. It was his only shot of the night, and his assist was his one successful cross. He recorded five clearances, drew three fouls, and completed 84.4% of his passes.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6.5 — Araujo returned to the lineup after missing Orlando City’s last match. He looked as though he hadn’t sat out a week, contributing on both sides of the pitch. Offensively, he provided one key pass, drew three fouls, and passed at a team-high 95.9% rate. Defensively, he finished with one tackle, one interception, and two clearances, and he committed three fouls. It was good to have his experience back on the pitch.

MF, Eduard Atuesta, 6.5 — Atuesta quietly had another good match. He was active in both halves of the field. Offensively, he attempted one shot, made three key passes, and suffered one foul. Defensively, he contributed three tackles, one interception, and two clearances. The midfielder passed at a 90.9% rate and put in one cross. It was the type of workman effort that is becoming a regular shift from Atuesta for the Lions.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 5 — If not for his assist on Ojeda’s goal (and to a lesser extent, his secondary assist on Muriel’s opener), Angulo’s grade would be lower because of how his time on the pitch ended. When he was subbed off, the referee told him to head to the closest sideline, and he did not. Because he did not leave the pitch in the required time under new MLS substitution rules, he earned a yellow card, and it meant Dagur Dan Thorhallsson had to wait over two minutes to enter the pitch, leaving the Lions shorthanded. It was a selfish move by Angulo. He did his usual good job getting back on defense, providing three tackles and one blocked shot. On offense, he took three shots, none on target, and provided two key passes including the aforementioned assists.

MF, Martin Ojeda, 8 (MotM) — Ojeda had an excellent night, scoring a goal and providing two assists. That type of offensive production earns him our Man of the Match. His goal may have deflected off a defender’s rear end, but it still counted. His first assist came from a free kick he delivered onto the head of Alex Freeman at the back post to give Orlando City a three-goal lead. He added the second assist when he moved the ball through the middle of the field and passed to Marco Pasalic, who scored the team’s fourth goal. Offensively, Ojeda took six shots, put three on target, and stuck one in the back of the net. He drew one foul, passed at a 93.8% rate, and provided three crosses. Defensively, he contributed on tackle and one interception. He subbed off in the 83rd minute for Joran Gerbet.

MF, Marco Pasalic, 6.5 — Pasalic showed his speed and willingness to take on players during this match. Sometimes that was a good thing, like when he sped past defenders with the ball at his feet. Sometimes it was a bad thing, like when he dribbled into traffic and gave the ball away. Fortunately, he made me forget some of it with his absolute golazo in the 56th minute to give Orlando the fourth goal of the match. He completed four key passes, three crosses, and an 80.8% passing rate. Defensively, he recorded one interception and two clearances. If he made more passes like the one to Muriel in the 22nd minute, rather than dribbling into the opposition, he’d have a higher grade. He came off in the 88th minute for Duncan McGuire.

F, Luis Muriel, 7 — Muriel did well on the night, taking six shots, with three on target and one in the back of the net. He provided two key passes, one cross, and a 68.8% passing rate. Had he dialed in his shots, he may have scored a hat trick. As it was, we’ll have to be happy with his excellent header to get Orlando City started on the night. His flicked pass to Ojeda was a vital touch on the play that turned into Pasalic’s goal, giving the Colombian a secondary assist. Muriel is gaining in confidence in this league, which is a good thing for Orlando City. He came off in the 83rd minute for Ramiro Enrique.

Substitutes

MF, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson (72’), 6 — Thorhallson was subbed into the match in the 72nd minute, but Angulo took too long to come off, meaning Thorhallsson had to wait before he could actually enter the field in the 74th minute. Once on, he managed 11 touches, three tackles, one interception, one blocked shot, one clearance, and a 100% passing rate, completing all four of his passes.

F, Ramiro Enrique (83’), N/A — Enrique came on late for Muriel to see the match out. He only managed five total touches, including one pass. He contributed two clearances on defense. He might have been able to set up a McGuire goal but he opted to try to go through two defenders and had a late effort blocked.

MF, Joran Gerbet (83′), N/A — Gerbet came on at the same time as Enrique, though for Ojeda. His contributions nearly matched Enrique’s effort. He also had five total touches and one pass, but made two tackles rather than clearances.

F, Duncan McGuire (88′), N/A — McGuire only managed two touches in his limited time on the pitch. One of those touches was his one pass, which he completed.

D, Gustavo Caraballo (88′), N/A — Orlando City’s youngest player came on in the waning minutes for Santos but managed to have a bigger impact as a defender than many of the other substitutes. He had 11 touches, managed an 85.7% passing rate on seven passes, and made one tackle.

That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s decisive win over D.C. United. Let us know how you saw the game in the comments below, and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match.

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/23/25

Pride fall to Racing Louisville, Seb Hines and Giles Barnes share insight on path to success in Orlando, USMNT defeats Haiti, and more.

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4 hours ago

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June 23, 2025

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Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

Hello, Mane Landers! I hope all is well with you down in Florida. I’ve been busy working and catching up with friends over the past week. Before we get started, let’s wish a belated happy birthday to Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and Sporting Director Haley Carter, who turned 41 on Saturday. The Pride was the lone team in action over the weekend, while the Lions and OCB were off. We’ve got plenty to cover today, so let’s get to the links.

Pride Fall at Racing Louisville

The Orlando Pride fell to Racing Louisville 2-0 Friday at Lynn Family Stadium. Arin Wright scored the opening goal in the first half, and former Pride midfielder Taylor Flint converted a penalty kick for Racing Louisville. The Pride struggled offensively and failed to capitalize on their scoring chances. Orlando’s struggles in Louisville continue, as the club is winless in five matches at Lynn Family Stadium. The Pride will be on a long break, and their next match will be Aug. 3, taking on the Utah Royals at Inter&Co Stadium.

Seb Hines, Giles Barnes Share Insight on Path to Success in Orlando

Orlando Pride Head Coach Seb Hines and Assistant Coach Giles Barnes were featured in an interview in The Guardian. Both Hines and Barnes shared insight into their longtime friendship, which began with playing in English youth international camps, their different paths to playing in Major League Soccer, and how they became involved in coaching. Hines discussed his time as interim manager of the Pride in 2022 and how he brought in Barnes to help change the club’s culture. Hines and Barnes helped change the perception of the club and led the Pride to winning both the NWSL Shield and NWSL Championship last season.

USMNT Defeats Haiti to Win Group D in Gold Cup

The U.S. Men’s National Team defeated Haiti 2-1 Sunday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, in their final match in the group stage of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup. The USMNT finished atop its group with three wins and nine points. Orlando City defender Alex Freeman made his third consecutive start and played 90 minutes.

Malik Tillman scored the opening goal 10 minutes into the match to give the USMNT the early lead. Haiti tied the match not long after Tillman’s goal. In the second half, Patrick Agyemang pulled the USMNT back in front. The USMNT advances to the quarterfinals as the group winner and will play its next match Sunday against the Group A runner-up which was the late game Sunday night and had yet to conclude as of this writing.

Club World Cup Weekend Recap

Another weekend of matches from the FIFA Club World Cup is in the books. On Friday, Benfica crushed Auckland City FC 6-0, while Flamengo beat Chelsea 3-1. LAFC was eliminated from advancing to the knockout round after a 1-0 defeat to ES Tunis. Bayern Munich edged Boca Juniors 2-1. On Saturday, Borussia Dortmund defeated Mamelodi Sundowns 4-3. Inter Milan needed a late stoppage-time winning goal from Valentin Carboni to edge Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1. Fluminense beat Ulsan HD 4-2, and River Plate and Monterrey ended in a scoreless draw. On Sunday, Juventus cruised to a 4-1 win over Wydad Casablanca. Xabi Alonso secured his first win as manager of Real Madrid with a 3-1 victory against Pachuca. Red Bull Salzburg and Al-Hilal played to a scoreless draw, with Manchester City playing Al-Ain in the late match Sunday. Today’s matches feature Atletico Madrid facing Botafogo, the Seattle Sounders hosting Paris Saint-Germain, FC Porto vs. Al Ahly, and Inter Miami taking on Palmeiras.

Free Kicks

  • Orlando Pride midfielder Ally Lemos and forward Simone Jackson have been called-up to the U-23 U.S. Women’s National Team. The U-23 camp will be led by Orlando Pride Assistant Coach Yolanda Thomas.

USL Championship side San Antonio FC has signed former Orlando City defender Abdi Salim to a 25-day contract.

San Diego Wave winger Maria Sanchez has reportedly reach an agreement to return to her former club, Tigres of Liga MX Femenil, on a four-year contract.

Paul Pogba is reportedly set to return to playing soccer and has signed a two-year contract with Ligue 1 side AS Monaco.

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

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Opinion

Orlando City Has Been Better than Expected Halfway Through the Season

While there was plenty to worry about at the start of the season, Orlando has had a good first half of 2025.

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3 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

With 18 matches in the books, we’ve moved just past the halfway point of the 2025 Major League Soccer season, and based off my feelings before Orlando City played its opening game of the season, the Lions have performed above expectations so far. There were plenty of valid reasons to be concerned heading into the year. Orlando had sold its all-time leading goal scorer, and there were questions about whether he’d been adequately replaced. There were worries about depth at multiple positions, and the defense was coming off an uncharacteristically poor year. Here we are though, with the Lions sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference, just three points out of second place and seven points out of first. So how did we get to this point?

For one thing, Marco Pasalic has been much better than I (and I think a lot of other people) expected him to be. The Croatian has six goals and four assists across 18 matches, and is second on the team in both categories. He scored 10 goals in 49 appearances in the Croatian first division before coming to Orlando and was extremely one-footed, which was enough evidence to sow real doubt about whether he could adequately replace the impact of Facundo Torres.

So far, it’s mostly been so good. His direct style of play is a good complement to the styles of Martin Ojeda and Luis Muriel, and he’s largely hit the ground running in a league that can be difficult to adapt to. It hasn’t been perfect, as he’s still very one-footed, and can sometimes disappear if he’s stringently man marked, but on the whole there’s been much more good than bad.

Speaking of Ojeda and Muriel, they’ve also had strong years. Ojeda in particular has continued his great second half of the 2024 season and has nine goals and five assists in 18 games to show for it. He looks fast, confident, and decisive and is a far cry from the player who struggled frequently during his first year as a Lion. Muriel has cooled off a little after a scorching start to 2025, but he still has six goals and three assists in 18 matches. He looks vastly improved from last year, when he looked a little off the pace of play and quickly lost the starting striker role. He still has a tendency to not be as selfish as he needs to be in front of goal, but he’s been much better than 2024.

I mentioned depth being a big concern, and not just at one position. At the beginning of the season Orlando City was, and arguably still is, thin at striker, center back, defensive midfield, and fullback. Duncan McGuire was injured to start the year and is now injured again, leaving Orlando with two true strikers in Muriel and Ramiro Enrique. There was no true backup left back, only one reliable backup center back, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson starting at right back meant that defensive midfield depth consisted of rookie Joran Gerbet and the Swiss army knife that is Kyle Smith.

Things have mostly worked out though. David Brekalo has supplanted Rafael Santos, meaning the Brazilian is now a proven backup option at the position, and Smith has filled in there as well. That means that in games in which Rodrigo Schlegel or Robin Jansson are unavailable, Brekalo fills in at center back, Santos starts at left back, and Smith is the backup for both positions, so it isn’t a flawless system. Gerbet has been playing better and better and got some valuable minutes when Eduard Atuesta and Cesar Araujo were unavailable. His emergence has been a crucial piece of the puzzle this year. So too has the rise of Alex Freeman, as his locking down the right back role has allowed Thorhallsson to fill in at defensive midfield, attacking midfield, and right back. The situation isn’t perfect, as a couple untimely injuries to the wrong guys would leave the Lions looking pretty threadbare, but so far it’s just about worked.

Another big concern was the defense. The Lions conceded 50 goals in the regular season last year, which was tied for the second-most of any Eastern Conference playoff team and fourth-most of any playoff team. With no defensive signings and the aforementioned depth concerns, there were plenty of reasons to worry about Orlando’s ability to keep the ball out of the back of the net.

Things have looked much better in 2025, though. The 22 goals OCSC has conceded are the fifth-fewest in the league, and Pedro Gallese’s eight clean sheets are tied for most in the league. Aside from a few egregious defensive performances against the Philadelphia Union, Atlanta United, and the Chicago Fire, things have mostly been tidy at the back, and when they haven’t been, El Pulpo has been around to pick up the slack. Again, things haven’t been perfect, as there have been moments where individual and collective errors have hurt the team, but it’s been better.

I thought the Lions would struggle this year. Going into the start of the season, we were talking about a team that lost Torres, arguably didn’t do enough to strengthen the team across the board, was facing depth issues, and was dealing with a leaky defense — all while pretty much every other contender in the East got stronger on paper. Instead, OCSC tied a club-best unbeaten streak and is just three points out of second place.

That being said, the East is so tight that Orlando is only five points above the playoff line, and injuries to the wrong guys could easily topple the fragile ecosystem that is the depth chart, but so far things are going better than I thought they would be. There are still a lot of matches to play, but this isn’t a bad position to be in at the halfway mark.

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 6/20/25

Orlando Pride take on Racing Louisville FC tonight, Orlando Pride players called up by Zambia, USMNT beats Saudi Arabia, and more.

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3 days ago

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June 20, 2025

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Happy Friday! June continues to fly by as we enjoy the buffet of soccer here in the U.S. this month. I’ll be spending most of the weekend working, but I am hoping to get some reading done after being gifted some books for my birthday. But enough about me, let’s jump right into today’s links!

Orlando Pride Face Racing Louisville Tonight

The Orlando Pride are on the road tonight for a match against Racing Louisville FC at 8 p.m. in the final game before a league break until August. Going into the break with four straight wins would be nice for the Pride, but they’ve struggled at Lynn Family Stadium over the years. Louisville enters this match following a 4-2 loss to the league-leading Kansas City Current and has scored eight goals over the past three games. Orlando’s defense has been phenomenal this year, conceding just eight goals this season and only one during this win streak. Midfielder Cori Dyke spoke on how the team is finding its groove and shutting out opponents.

Zambia Calls Up Orlando Pride Trio

Barbra Banda, Grace Chanda, and Prisca Chilufya were all called up for Zambia’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations roster ahead of this summer’s tournament. Banda has eight goals this season with the Pride and had four goals at last year’s Olympics, including a hat trick against Australia. The Copper Queens claimed third place in the 2022 edition of this tournament, and they’ll need to be at their best to win this summer against tough opponents like South Africa and Nigeria. Zambia’s tournament campaign will kick off on July 5 against the host nation, Morocco.

USMNT Beats Saudi Arabia to Qualify for Quarterfinals

The United States Men’s National Team won 1-0 against Saudi Arabia to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of this year’s Concacaf Gold Cup. After a scoreless first half, the Yanks broke through in the 63rd minute thanks to a free kick. Sebastian Berhalter served the ball on a silver platter to Chris Richards, who buried it for the crucial goal. The defense did well to secure its second shutout of the tournament, with Orlando City’s Alex Freeman starting at right back yet again. The USMNT will play Haiti on Sunday and should be able to win the group for a smoother path in the knockout stage.

FIFA Club World Cup Roundup

An MLS club finally won a game during this year’s FIFA Club World Cup, with Inter Miami beating Porto 2-1 in Atlanta. Lionel Messi scored the winner from a free kick to complete the comeback after conceding an early goal. The Seattle Sounders had a rougher day, falling 3-1 to Atletico Madrid, with Pablo Barrios scoring a brace. Former Lion Facundo Torres started for Palmeiras in the Brazilian club’s 2-0 win over Egypt’s Al Ahly.

Today’s action features more soccer at Inter&Co Stadium, with Benfica and Auckland City squaring off in the City Beautiful. Our Michael Citro will be on hand to report on it. Elsewhere in the U.S., Chelsea will take on Flamengo, LAFC will face ES Tunis, and Bayern Munich will play Boca Juniors.

Free Kicks

  • Canada Head Coach Jesse Marsch, who is already serving a suspension for misconduct during the Nations League, is under investigation by Concacaf for incidents during this Gold Cup. Reports detail that Marsch disregarded regulations and used offensive language toward match officials.
  • Kylian Mbappe was discharged from the hospital after suffering from a case of gastroenteritis. It’s unclear if or when he’ll play for Real Madrid during the Club World Cup.
  • Carlos Cuesta was hired as Parma’s next head coach after five years with Arsenal as an assistant coach. The 29-year-old becomes the second-youngest coach in Serie A history.
  • Manchester City was fined over $1 million by the English Premier League for repeated delays regarding kickoff times.

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

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