Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union: Final Score 0-0 as Lions Extend Unbeaten Run to Four Games
Lions earn a hard-fought road point in a physical match that felt like a playoff game.
Orlando City’s maligned defense got its first shutout of the season. However, the Lions’ league-best attack was also shut out for the first time in a scoreless draw against the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park in Chester, PA. Orlando (3-2-2, 11 points) finishes the season series winless (0-1-1) but took four of a possible six points on its two-game road swing as the Lions extended their unbeaten run to four games (2-0-2) and handed the Union (4-2-1, 13 points) their first draw of the year.
Pedro Gallese made four saves to keep his first clean sheet of the 2025 season, while Andre Blake stopped all three shots on target he faced, including two of the game’s best chances.
“Good result for us. I think we’ll take this point from a difficult place, Philadelphia, with a lot of intensity,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “We knew that our options would be in behind of their backs, and we had two or three options that could have given us the three points. But at the end, I think it was very level in that end. We will take this game as an improvement of our defensive system. It’s our first clean sheet, and we’re happy, but the boys had a lot of personality to come to this hard place and have that result.”
Pareja was forced into some lineup changes as both starting central midfielders — Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta — picked up tightness late in the week and were held out for precautionary reasons. Gallese started in goal behind a back line of David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Alex Freeman. Joran Gerbet and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson started in central midfield behind the usual attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, Marco Pasalic, with Luis Muriel up top.
“”I have to give a lot of credit to Joran and Dagur,” Pareja said. “They had a lot of personality. We didn’t have too much time or frequency in our trainings with both of them, but they adapted to the possibilities that the game brought. Today they did a good job in trying to keep the lines connected, but they were called to be the ones who can absorb that pressure, that pressing, that way that Philadelphia plays, especially at home. And they did a good job.”
The first half was a chippy, physical 45 minutes with neither side covering itself in glory in terms of precision, but the Lions were second best the entire opening period, passing at a dreadful 60.1% and handing possession to the Union in their own half time after time. Orlando defended well as a team, which is the only reason the Lions didn’t trail at the half.
The game plan was to have Brekalo play a hybrid center back/left back role, winning balls in the air when the Union invariably tried to play into the middle. That would, in theory, allow Freeman to roam forward and join the attack, and although sloppy ball placement limited Orlando’s ability to get forward into the wide spaces behind Philadelphia’s fullbacks, the defensive game plan worked as intended. The Union created a few dangerous chances but the defense frustrated the hosts into settling for several long-range attempts.
“I think David did a good job on that part without the ball,” Pareja said. “We knew that Philadelphia had this centralized game, at once direct. Every ball they play goes toward the center. We thought it was a good idea to have David with his presence. His aerial game that is strong helped us in some occasions as a third central back without being installed as a central back all the game. It was a hybrid assignment for him and I think he did a good job. He provided today solidness on that side.”
After a physical start to the game, with several fouls and most of it played in Orlando’s defensive third, the Lions nearly had something going in the 10th minute when Ojeda got into the box. Jakob Glesnes made a desperation lunge to get a touch on the ball and by the time Ojeda got to it and tried to square it across the box, help had arrived to block the pass.
The Union tried to create chances off long throw-ins in the first half and Glesnes got his head to one in the 11th minute but popped up a soft effort that Gallese caught. The danger bells were ringing, however, and Daniel Gazdag nearly picked out Bruno Damiani in front in the 14th minute at the right post.
Freeman blocked a shot by Ian Glavinovich off a corner kick in the 18th minute. Quinn Sullivan then sent a deflected shot out of play for a corner on the recycle. Gazdag sent a scorching ball on frame off the second corner and Gallese fought it off.
In the 30th minute, Jovan Lukic fired from long range after not being closed down. The ball deflected off Schlegel at the top of the box and nearly caught Gallese wrong-footed. The Peruvian recovered and made a diving save to prevent the goal. Philadelphia kept firing from everywhere, with Sullivan, Lukic, and Tai Baribo all sending efforts from deep various degrees off target.
Orlando finally got its only chance of the half in the 41st minute, and it was the best look at goal for either side. Muriel and Ojeda combined off a long ball out of the back by Jansson to play Pasalic in on the right. The Croatian fired with his first touch and put it on frame, but he left it too close to Blake, who still had to make a good diving save to keep the game scoreless.
“We wanted to have the ball a little longer when we had our sequencing, but it was a very difficult place to have it,” Pareja said. “And I have to admit that they did a good job on their pressing. At the end, we accept that we could have been better with the ball.”
Orlando survived a few more turnovers in the defensive end and the teams went to the break scoreless.
The Union held the halftime advantage in possession (52.9%-47.1%), shots (9-1), shots on target (2-1), corners (4-1), and passing accuracy (71.2%-60.5%).
Looking to keep Philadelphia’s back line a bit more honest in the second period, Pareja introduced Duncan McGuire for Angulo at halftime.
However, Philadelphia created its best chance of the night just momentss after the restart. Gazdag got loose down the right flank and sent a good ball in front for Damiani, who redirected the ball from point-blank range with his first touch. Gallese did well to make himself big and hold his position, making a big stop to open the half in the 47th minute.
“In those moments, I thought we were defending well. We were organized well, and it’s just one of those things where we were solid in front of our own goal and defended it really well,” Gallese said. “Really happy with the shutout today.”
Nathan Harriel sent a soft header directly into Gallese’s arms off a long-range free kick in the 50th minute.
The Lions appeared to have something going when Pasalic broke down the right behind the back line a minute later. Charging hard toward the end line and having a poor angle, Pasalic tried squaring a ball through the six, but he didn’t have any teammates with him and the chance evaporated.
Lukic was left unattended at the top of the box in the 53rd minute. Frankie Westfield beat Ojeda down the line and pulled a good pass back for Lukic, but the midfielder sent his shot just over the crossbar.
Philadelphia kept the pressure on, but could not pay it off. Damiani got under a shot on a training ground set piece in the 58th minutes, sending it high over the crossbar. Two minutes later, a good cross in nearly found Damiani, but Freeman did enough to keep him from making good contact with his header, which sailed over. Fans and Union players wanted a penalty, but referee Ismir Pekmic wasn’t interested and there wasn’t enough contact to warrant a spot kick.
Kyle Smith came on for Pasalic in the 67th minute, stabilizing Orlando’s left side, which the Union were exploiting. After that substitution, the right side of the Union attack was much quieter.
Orlando’s second golden opportunity came in the 70th minute. Ojeda got forward, but didn’t have much help, so he dribbled left to right across the top of the box, waiting for teammates. Muriel arrived and Ojeda slipped him the ball. The Colombian blasted it with his right foot, but again the shot was too central and Blake made another big save.
“We could’ve even had more from the game in the two or three actions that we had with Pasalic, with Martin, and that one with Muriel,” Pareja said.
The Lions had a better spell of possession for a few minutes, including a great turn by Freeman, who sent the ball to Muriel. The Designated Player may have had better options to his right, but he opted to shoot, firing into the defender in front of him in the 75th minute.
Two minutes later, Ojeda looked to have an open shot, but Westfield arrived just in time to deflect it out for a corner. Orlando City couldn’t pay off the set piece, which was initially cleared. The recycled ball in found Smith, who sent a weak header softly into Blake’s hands.
Philadelphia made a late push to find a winner, earning several set pieces — mostly corners — but couldn’t generate much from them. Homegrown midfielder Colin Guske came on for Ojeda just before the end of normal time, making his MLS debut and helping provide fresh legs and another defensive-minded body to see out the road result.
The only late drama was Mikael Uhre feeling contact from Schlegel and going down easily in the box, looking for a penalty call. Again Pekmic wasn’t interested, although between an ensuing scuffle and a yellow card for time wasting on Gallese, the referee allowed the game to go two minutes beyond the four minutes of stoppage time.
It didn’t matter, as neither side could create a chance and the match ended scoreless.
The Union dominated the stat sheet, finishing with the advantage in possession (58.2%-41.8%), shots (20-6), shots on target (4-3), corners (8-2), and passing accuracy (80%-65.9%). Nine yellow cards were dispensed in the match, with the Lions getting five of those and all but one — on Jansson — coming in the second half.
“Very tough game, coming here on the road,” Gallese said. “We know that Philly’s having a good year, but we came here with the the intentions to win, but still a good result from our side. We knew that we couldn’t go through the start of the year like we have in the past years, and that in these moments, we need to start getting points and continuing to push ourselves up the table in this early portion of the season. And I think the team’s good right now. We’re in a spot where we’ve got things that we have to fix, but things that we know we can fix and continue to get better ourselves. And, we’re just in a point where there’s a lot of confidence in this group right now.”
“I’m very pleased to see the boys evolving — the youngsters, Freeman, absorbing these types of games,” Pareja said. “I think his character today raised as well and he understands much better what is this game about. I think the team is developing new ideas. I told them in the locker room that this was really a playoff game. That’s what we felt.”
After four road matches in a five-game span, the Lions will return to Inter&Co Stadium a week from tonight to host the New York Red Bulls, wrapping up a second season series against an Eastern Conference opponent in a two-week span.
Orlando City
Orlando’s Loan Report: More Minutes, More Opportunities
Performances of players from Orlando City and the Pride who are currently out on loan.
With eight games remaining, Orlando City enters the homestretch of its season with a critical Saturday matchup against the surging Philadelphia Union. Philly enters having won its last five games and now sits one spot above the Lions in the Eastern Conference standings. Ugh. Thankfully, the Union will be without rising star Cavan Sullivan (goal contributions in five straight games, I would like him to stop this immediately), but he is out for the same reason that David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena, Justin Ellis, Marco Pašalić, and Tyrese Spicer will be out, as all were called up to their respective national teams for the FIFA international window.
With those five players out, Braian Ojeda still injured, and Griffin Dorsey and Antoine Griezmann’s injury status still to be determined (please get healthy soon, gentlemen), the Lions will likely need to rely on players from OCB in order to fill out their roster for Saturday’s game. Part of the reason they will have to do so is that there are currently two players on the senior roster (Nico Rodriguez and Yutaro Tsukada) and one on the supplemental roster (Colin Guske) out on loan.
The Pride actually one-up the Lions, as they have four players out on loan: Kat Asman, Seven Castain, Simone Jackson, and Anna Moorhouse. Among the seven total loaned-out Orlando players, four are young (Castain, Jackson, Guske, and Rodriguez are 23 or younger), two are mid-20s (Asman is 26 and Tsukada is 25), and Moorhouse is the oldest at 31, which is still a prime age for a goalkeeper.
Emma Hayes, the coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, was recently quoted as saying “I don’t care where you play, but you need to be playing…going into a pro environment is a fabulous situation, but not if you are going to sit on the bench for two or three years.” Excluding Moorhouse, who is in a different situation than the other loaned out players, the six loanees (and really just five of them, since Rodriguez was loaned out before the season) combined for 1,241 minutes and 10 starts for the senior teams in Orlando, with a lot of those minutes coming in the beginning of the season and trailing off as the season went on and the pushes for the playoffs became real.
Those players have already played more than 3,000 minutes with their new clubs, with Castain and Jackson starting eight of their nine games with their new teams and Guske and Tsukada starting eight of their 12. Asman is a goalkeeper, so minutes are harder to come by, but she started three games, and Rodriguez, who is the only one who did not leave mid-season, started 18 of his 24 games before injuring his knee in late August. The table below shows the performance of all of the loanees thus far, using data from Sofascore:
| Player | Loaned To | Mins | Sofascore Rating | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kat Asman | Denver Summit | 270 | 7.10 | 0.67 Goals-against Avg/82% Sv Pct |
| Seven Castain | Dallas Trinity | 475 | 6.73 | Two goals |
| Simone Jackson | FC Rosengård | 247 | 7.20 | 1.7 chances created per 90 |
| Anna Moorhouse | Manchester City | 0 | N/A | N/A |
| Colin Guske | Real Salt Lake | 225 | 6.70 | 90% completion rate |
| Nico Rodriguez | Atlético Nacional | 1,406 | 6.77 | Two goals, four assists |
| Yutaro Tsukada | Rhode Island FC | 451 | 6.90 | Two goals, two assists |
Sofascore ratings are out of 10, with top players in a league generally scoring in the low to mid-sevens and truly elite players scoring closer to, or even above, eight. None of the loanees are dominating their new leagues, but all are playing decent minutes (most of the loans only happened in mid-summer, it is unknown if they happened after Ricardo Moreira or Caitlin Carducci had a midsummer night’s dream) and contributing to their teams.
The one exception to that, as noted earlier, is Moorhouse, the long-time starter for the Pride who was replaced a few weeks ago and then was loaned to Manchester City shortly thereafter. She has yet to play for Manchester City, and considering she was only loaned through January 2027, she may have been loaned out more to provide cover for the WSL team in case of injury as opposed to getting minutes now that Cosette Morché has taken over as the Pride’s starting goalkeeper.
As Hayes mentioned during her interview, playing real minutes in a game with consequences is key for development. On the MLS side, there is MLS NEXT Pro, where an increasing number of Orlando City players are playing thousands of minutes in preparation for a move to the senior team. Rodriguez’s loan to the Colombian league and Tsukada’s to the USL Championship are slightly different pathways but ones that could still bear fruit, though based on the results on the field, neither are dominating in their leagues.
Opta ranks Colombia’s Primera A as the 15th best league in the world and the USA’s USL Championship as 121st, whereas MLS is ranked 19th, so that seems to show better for Rodriguez than Tsukada, as does the fact that Rodriguez was originally signed as an MLS U22 Initiative player, so there was always belief in his potential to develop. Guske is still playing in the same league as the Lions, so viewing his progression is easier, and with Real Salt Lake still fighting for playoff spot in the Western Conference, the young midfielder will play in some high-pressure games as the season winds down.
Back on the women’s side, if Moorhouse gets any minutes, they will be against some of the bets competition in the world, as Manchester City plays in Opta’s second-ranked domestic women’s league and is qualified for the Champions League as well. Her fellow goalkeeper Asman appears to be the backup again in Denver, but she played well in her three appearances against Portland, Chicago, and Gotham, and between Portland and Gotham, she faced two of the top five teams in the NWSL and allowed only one goal across those two games.
Jackson is playing in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, the sixth-best domestic league in the world, and Castain is in the USL Super League, the 18th-best league, so Jackson is facing the better competition and performing better, according to Sofascore’s tracking. The critical piece for both players was getting game minutes, which they are, and would likely not have gotten had they stayed in Orlando, especially without a developmental league like MLS NEXT Pro on the women’s side.
The upshot of all of the loans might not be that any of these seven players ever contribute meaningfully to the Orlando teams in the future, but the alternative was likely that they would play minimal minutes and live out what Hayes said was not recommended: being a pro but sitting on the bench for two or three years.
These loans gave all of the players an opportunity to play and the club a chance to see them under pressure. We will see the impact of those minutes in the off-season — when the loan reports come due, hopefully with interest.
Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union: Three Keys to Victory
What do the Lions need to do to earn all three points on the road against the Philadelphia Union?
The USMNT may be at Inter.co Stadium on Saturday, but Orlando City is headed to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Union in a big Eastern Conference match. The Lions are fighting to stay in the playoff picture down the stretch, and a good result this weekend is crucial. It won’t be easy, as there are plenty of players out due to international duty and injury. What must the Lions do to earn all three points against the Philadelphia Union?
Battle of the Backups (Part 1)
Both Orlando City and the Philadelphia Union will be missing players due to international call-ups. For the Lions, the team will be without Justin Ellis, Wilder Cartagena, David Brekalo, Marco Pasalic, and Tyrese Spicer. Whichever players replace them will need to do as well or better. Fortunately, only two of those players are regular starters. I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt the depth, but it could be worse.
Iago will likely start next to Robin Jansson at center back. In the past, that would worry me — and it still does to an extent — but he played better in his last outing. He will almost certainly get a yellow card in this match, so don’t be surprised when that happens, but I’m hoping he’ll give us at least as good of a performance as his last start.
Battle of the Backups (Part 2)
On the other side, the Union are missing a few key players in Cavan Sullivan and Andre Blake. Even though he is only 16 years old, Sullivan has come on strong of late, scoring seven goals and providing 12 assists. I hope he does some of that against Peru this weekend, but I’m glad he won’t be able to do so against Orlando City. Blake is a very experienced MLS goalkeeper. His backup, Andrew Rick, gave up four goals to the Lions the last time the clubs played, so let’s hope that continues.
Philadelphia is also missing defenders Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield. This may be the most vulnerable the Union have been on defense since the World Cup break. The Lions need to take advantage of that — more on that below. The match is in Philadelphia, and the Union will want revenge for the 4-3 loss earlier this season, so we’ll have to see which set of backups are best able to step up.
Update the Attack
Unfortunately, with Antoine Griezmann still recovering and Ellis with the USMNT, the attack will need to replace their effective partnership. I’m not certain that is entirely possible, but there are several options. Martin Ojeda is rounding back into form and Ivan Angulo has three goals in the last three matches. I don’t think anyone had that on their 2026 Bingo card. These two can be a one-two combo for the Lions in the final third.
Tyrese Spicer is a great super sub, but he’s not always great when he gets the start. Daryl Dike is the other side of that coin. Because of how Martin Perelman has been running the offense, Dike hasn’t gotten many starts, which is unfortunate because I think he’s better when he starts rather than comes off the bench. With the player availability being what it is, I expect he will start against Philadelphia, providing a big problem for the Union to deal with when Ojeda and Angulo are also circling the box.
That is what I will be looking for on Saturday night. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links
Lion Links: 9/24/26
Orlando City prepares for the Philadelphia Union, Angelina called up by Brazil, Parker Amoo-Mensah joins U.S. U-19 camp, and more.
How’s it going, Mane Landers? It’s been a whirlwind of a week for me, but I’m excited for a weekend filled with soccer at both the club and international levels. My fingers will stay crossed until then in hopes that we can see some wins. Until then though, let’s dive into today’s links!
Orlando City Prepares for Philadelphia Union
The Lions are back in action on Saturday with a road game against the Philadelphia Union. The Union have been on an absolute tear of late, winning their past five games and scoring 19 goals during that stretch. Both teams will be without key players away on international duty, so it will be interesting to see how they line up for this Eastern Conference showdown. Interim head coach Martin Perelman spoke on the team’s preparations heading into the match.
Angelina Called Up By Brazil
Orlando Pride midfielder Angelina was called up for Brazil’s pair of friendlies against Argentina next month. These will be Brazil’s first matches since playing the U.S. twice in June. Angelina, Marta, and Rafaelle were all called up for those previous friendlies, but Angelina is the only Pride player headed to Brazil this time around. While the Pride have endured a rough season, hopefully Angelina can impress at the international level as Brazil prepares to host the World Cup next summer.
Parker Amoo-Mensah Heads to Camp
Orlando City B defender Parker Amoo-Mensah was one of 20 players called up for the United States U-19 Men’s National Team training camp in Spain. The 18-year-old made his professional debut this year and signed with OCB in June on a contract through 2028. This will be the first U-19 camp under Head Coach Rob Valentino, who was previously an Orlando City player in the USL days and an assistant coach with OCB.
Getting Ready for the USMNT Friendlies
The United States Men’s National Team will start its series of friendlies in Orlando with a home game against Peru. It will be the first match since the World Cup, and there’s plenty of intrigue over who Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino will choose to start from a roster that includes plenty of new faces, including Orlando City forward Justin Ellis. He’s part of a group of forwards who have nothing but opportunity in front of them to make an impression at the top of the lineup. After matches against Peru and Chile, the U.S. will have a not-so-friendly friendly against Mexico before closing things out against Canada.
Free Kicks
- Orlando City’s Maxime Crepeau and Harvey Sarajian got to show off their bartending skills for patrons at Gnarly Barley last night.
- LAFC forward Son Heung-Min won MLS Goal of the Matchday for his goal in LAFC’s 2-2 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes.
- Federico Higuain was fired as the head coach of Columbus Crew 2 after an incident where he grabbed a female referee and made a sexist comment to her.
- The USMNT’s winter training camp that normally takes place in January and features many MLS players will reportedly take place in December instead.
- Christian Eriksen agreed to terminate his contract with Wolfsburg four months after collapsing on the field for Denmark.
That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!
Orlando’s Loan Report: More Minutes, More Opportunities
Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union: Three Keys to Victory
Lion Links: 9/24/26
Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Final Score 4-2 as Lions Cough Up Two Goals Late in Loss
Orlando Pride vs. Portland Thorns FC: Final Score 4-1 as Pride Get Punished at Home
Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Five Takeaways
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