Orlando City got the job done in the U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday, as a mixture of starters and backups managed to eke out a late 4-3 victory over the New England Revolution. All eyes now return to league play, where the Lions will hit the road once again, albeit in a much shorter trip to South Florida to face Inter Miami. What follows are my three keys to Orlando leaving Miami-Dade County with all three points.

Win the Midfield Battle

In the first meeting between the two teams, the game changed after halftime when Miami made substitutions, tweaked its formation to get more bodies into the midfield, and started controlling the match as a result. Colin Guske and Braian Ojeda did what they could, but Orlando City ultimately ceded too much control in the middle of the field, and Miami did a much better job at possessing the ball in dangerous central areas than it did in the first half. Plain and simple, that can’t happen on Saturday. Luis Otavio will likely start in the heart of midfield and if he can have the sort of game he did against Charlotte FC, it should help the Lions immensely. Otavio was key in that 4-1 win, as he recorded three tackles, one clearance, four interceptions, and eight recoveries, while winning five of his seven ground duels, and scoring an outstanding goal. Even if the goal isn’t replicated, having a repeat defensive performance would be huge.

Find the Release Valve

Teams that play Inter Miami tend to not have a lot of the ball. That’s simply a fact of facing off against the Herons, and it’s a fact that the Lions will be will acquainted with, given that Miami had 61% possession in the first meeting of the season between the two teams. When playing against teams that have high possession numbers, it’s important to make the most of the limited time that you get with the ball, especially if you win the ball in your own half while the opposition has numbers pushed upfield. Miami has shown itself to be vulnerable on the counterattack due to the number of players it gets into the attack, but Orlando needs to be precise with the ball after winning it in order to take advantage. That means getting the ball to a teammate further up the field, most likely Justin Ellis, and him holding up play successfully until other players can forward to provide support and options. If Orlando simply clears the ball to Miami’s defenders, or the Lion furthest upfield can’t hold up the ball well, pressure on the defense will slowly build while the team can’t generate looks at the other end.

Keep the Goals Coming

Following a positively barren start to the season in front of goal, the Lions have found their shooting boots and scored 10 goals in their last three games across all competitions. It probably isn’t an accident that Orlando has won two of those three games and should have taken at least a point from the other one. Soccer games are simply easier to win when you’re scoring, and doing so more than once, although it’s certainly no guarantee of success. Miami has scored at least twice in five of its last six games and has three wins and three draws in those contests. Against OCSC’s shaky defense, the Herons’ tendency to score multiple goals probably isn’t going to change, and that means the Lions are going to need to compensate at the other end of the field if they want to pick up a result.

There you have it, folks. As in life, there are no guarantees in soccer, but if the Lions can win the battle in midfield, find players up the field who can then hold up play after winning possession in their own defensive third, and continue the recent trend of scoring multiple goals, then it should put them in good position to come away from their trip to South Florida with all three points. Vamos Orlando!

Welcome to May, Mane Landers! April flew by in the blink of an eye for me and I’m hoping May goes a little slower so that I can enjoy being outside before the Florida heat really sets in. Then again, I can’t wait until the World Cup arrives in June. But for now, let’s dive into today’s links from around the soccer world.

Orlando City Will Host Atlanta United in U.S. Open Cup

The draw for the rest of the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is complete and Orlando City is set to host Atlanta United in the quarterfinals on either May 19 or 20. That match will take place just a few days after the two rivals square off in Orlando in league play on May 16. Hopefully the Lions can get the job done against an Atlanta side that has also struggled this season.

Should the Lions advance to the semifinals, they’ll go on the road to face the winner between the Columbus Crew and New York City FC. Whichever team wins that semifinal would have hosting rights in the final. On the other side of the bracket, the Houston Dynamo will play St. Louis City while the Colorado Rapids will host the San Jose Earthquakes.

Lions Prepare for Tropic Thunder Match

Orlando City will play against Inter Miami on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. in the first Tropic Thunder match at Nu Stadium. It’s already the second meeting between the two rivals this season, with Orlando falling 4-2 at home to Miami on March 1. Hopefully having Robin Jansson available this time around will help keep Miami’s offense in check, although the Lions are still struggling to reach full health. Although Orlando has yet to win a road game in MLS play this season, Miami has yet to win at home, so we’ll see if either trend comes to an end or if a draw is in store for us on Saturday.

Orlando Pride Host Washington Spirit Saturday

The Orlando Pride will also be in action on Saturday when they play the Washington Spirit at 4 p.m. at Inter&Co Stadium. The Spirit are coming off of a 1-0 win at home against Racing Louisville on Wednesday, while the Pride haven’t played since losing 3-2 on the road to Louisville last Friday. While I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call these two teams rivals, they’ve played some notable games against each other in recent years and it should be a great game. Head Coach Seb Hines and midfielder Summer Yates both spoke on the matchup against one of the league’s top teams.

Las Vegas Group Bids On Vancouver Whitecaps

An investor group by Grant Gustavson made an offer to buy the Vancouver Whitecaps and move the team to Las Vegas. Gustavson, who is the grandson of the founder of Public Storage, is a Vegas resident and the offer includes a plan to build a stadium. The club has been up for sale since December of 2024 and the club released a statement on Monday that there has not been a viable offer that would keep the team in Vancouver despite talks with over 100 interested parties. Any offer would need to be accepted by the owners and approved by the MLS Board of Governors. Hopefully a better solution than moving the team to the middle of the desert presents itself.

Free Kicks

• The Pride remained in fifth in the CBS Sports’NWSL power rankings following the midweek matches. The Portland Thorns moved into first place after beating the San Diego Wave 2-0, while the Kansas City Current continue to drop like a stone.
• San Jose forward Timo Werner was named MLS Player of the Month after recording four goals and three assists in April.
• The United States Men’s National Team’s 26-player roster for the World Cup will be revealed on May 26.
• The vote next March to determine FIFA’s president will be hosted in Morocco, with Gianni Infantino expected to be re-elected for a final four-year term.
• English midfielder Kobbie Mainoo signed a five-year contract with Manchester United.
• Ipswich Town defender Ashley Young announced that he will retire at the end of the season after a career that included playing for Manchester United, Inter Milan, and Aston Villa.
• A crisis involving passports and dual nationality could result in a nightmare for the Eredivisie in the Netherlands due to ineligible players. The story is an illuminating dive into just how complicated the legal side of soccer can get.

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

Orlando City defeated the New England Revolution 4-3 to advance to the quarterfinal round of the U.S. Open Cup. Both teams played a lot of younger players, but Orlando City showed a lot of maturity coming back three times in the match before finally taking the lead in second-half stoppage time. Here are my five takeaways from a pleasantly surprising result in the midweek match.

Welcome Back, Griffin Dorsey

When Alex Freeman left, there was a sense of dread given the options available to replace him. That dread faded when Orlando City brought in MLS veteran right back Griffin Dorsey. The former Houston Dynamo fullback recently came back from injury and got the start in Wednesday’s match. He played well throughout the game, but his best moment came in the 40th minute. Dorsey combined with Justin Ellis on a nifty give-and-go before smashing the ball into the back of the net to draw the Lions even a second time in the match.

Defense? Never Heard of It.

What happens when you have Colin Guske start at center back? You give up three goals. To be clear, I’m not solely blaming Guske, especially since he is less of a center back than Kyle Smith was in his time with Orlando City. Any time a team gives up three goals you have to assume the defense was not up to par, and that was the case against a New England squad that played even more youngsters than Orlando City. Luckily, it didn’t matter in the end since, it was mostly Orlando’s kids that won the match.

Take a Bow, Justin Ellis

The lack of veteran depth, combined with various injuries, has provided the opportunity for youngsters to get some minutes. No player has made more of that opportunity than Justin Ellis. The striker had an assist and a goal in the previous two MLS matches, and matched that output against New England. He was a part of the pretty give-and-go on Dorsey’s goal, and then scored a poacher’s goal to draw Orlando even for the third time in the match. It really should have been two goals, as Ellis put the ball in the net again a few minutes after the one that counted, but either Tyrese Spicer or Ellis was called offside when neither was offside.

Spicer was Spicy

Tyrese Spicer was a literal game changer in this match. He set up two of the four goals on the night, and as I mentioned above, it should have been three if not for the ridiculously bad offside call. He was a holy terror on the left side of the attack and may have actually injured a defender’s ankles with some of his moves. He wasn’t able to score a goal himself, but he was a crucial part of Orlando City’s ability to keep coming back and ultimately win the match.

Goals on Goals

I have not yet mentioned Orlando City’s first or fourth goal. Center back Iago flew above everyone on the pitch to put a beautiful header in the back of the goal. It was the type of goal we were told to expect from the young defender, and all I can say is “thank you sir, may we have another?” The winning goal came once again from a Spicer cross, which second-half sub Zakaria Taifi finished. Taifi made a well-timed back-post run to beat his defender and score the go-ahead goal. I don’t think anyone had the Lions scoring four goals to advance, with three of those goals coming from the back line.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I did not expect Orlando City to win this match, let alone score four goals while doing so. As such, I’m happy that this was able to be a positive article. Now, the Lions turn their attention to an MLS away match against rival Inter Miami. Vamos Orlando!