Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls: Five Takeaways

After capturing four out of six points during a modest, two-game road swing, Orlando City returned home riding a four-game unbeaten streak. Entering Saturday afternoon’s match even on points and record with the New York Red Bulls, it was a chance for the Lions to get a leg up on one of their Eastern Conference competitors and extend the streak to five.

Things changed early in the second half that left Orlando with a tall order just to scratch and claw for a single point, which the Lions did, making it a five-game unbeaten run (2-0-3) with a 0-0 home draw against New York.

What follows are my five takeaways from the match.

Improved Midfield Engine

Although Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta were upgraded to questionable after missing last week’s match, both starting central midfielders were on the bench at the start of Saturday’s game. Joran Gerbet and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson started together for the second straight game. Their growing comfort level showed against the Red Bulls, as they not only helped the Lions lock things down on the back line, but they also did a far better job of turning takeaways into transition opportunities than they had at Philadelphia a week ago. Finding ways to turn defense into offense is crucial to Oscar Pareja’s system, and while the young duo were understandably defense-first-minded against the Union, they showed more confidence against New York. Orlando finished with more possession, shots, shots on target, and corners won, despite being down a man for almost the entire second half. That’s a good sign, even if the team ultimately didn’t win.

Lions Lack Lethality

Carlos Coronel is a difficult goalkeeper to beat for a goal, but (like any goalkeeper) he’s impossible to beat if your shots aren’t on target. The Lions generated a few top-notch scoring chances against the Red Bulls — far more than they typically have over the past few years. Marco Pasalic, Luis Muriel, and Ivan Angulo all had good looks at goal in the first half from in and around the box, only to miss the target. Martin Ojeda put his best chance on frame, but he unwisely tried to beat Coronel from the left with a near-post shot with far more room to put it inside the far post. That lack of precision was costly, as when the game changed early in the second half, the Lions were even instead of leading.

Schlegel Gonna Schlegel

Whether Orlando City would have eventually found a way to put the ball in the net, we’ll never know. Rodrigo Schlegel saw to that when he took a second unnecessary yellow card in the 56th minute. The Lions had been dominating territorially and conceding almost no space at all for New York’s attack to work in to that point in the match. Orlando City had come close to opening the scoring several times, and it seemed to be one of those nights when either the Lions would eventually get that all-important goal or the Red Bulls would find a way to eke out a smash-and-grab a road victory. But this night ended differently when Schlegel was booked for a high boot early in the second half on a routine throw-in. It did not seem like referee Chris Penso was initially going to book him for it, but when he examined Eric Choupo-Moting, he pulled out his cards and the Lions had to play a man down for about 40 minutes.

There was no reason for Schlegel to be so aggressive that far from goal on a throw-in, especially when he was already on a yellow from an unnecessary pull-back of Emil Forsberg in the 31st minute. That foul was let go by Penso to see who gained advantage, but when Schlegel made a good, clean, sliding tackle to break up New York’s attack seconds later, Penso halted play, gave Schlegel his first yellow card, and awarded a free kick. Neither foul was necessary in the moment, and while the sending off didn’t prevent Orlando from having a few moments of attacking promise, it severely crippled the Lions’ momentum and chances of taking all three points. Schlegel is a capable defender, but even in the midst of a good run, such as the 2023 MLS playoffs against Columbus, he’s prone to making critical errors that cost his team.

Find the Balance

Orlando City’s offense came out of the gates flying in 2025, but the defense did not look up to snuff. For the second consecutive match, the Lions looked more like themselves defensively against New York. The visitors were frustrated repeatedly into trying hopeful, long-range shots. A single redirect in front of goal that Pedro Gallese saved was the only spot of danger from the Red Bulls all night. However, for the second straight game, a defensive clean sheet was matched by the offense producing no final product. There was the aforementioned improvement, however. The Lions generated shots and chances to the tune of 1.4 expected goals to just 0.7 for New York. Whether intimidated into trying to be too perfect against Coronel or simply a bit off their game, the attacking players failed to show the clinical finishing that helpd the Lions to jump out to a league-best 15 goals scored through the first six games. The return of the starting central midfielders should help create better opportunities for the front four, but the team must also find its balance between offense and defense to take the next step forward.

Getting Something from the Game

Considering the game circumstances — playing a man down for almost the entire second half and still using Pareja’s fourth and fifth choices in central midfield (though Atuesta did come on as a sub in the second half) — it was important for the Lions to take something from the match. Orlando City scratched and clawed for a single point with the odds heavily stacked in New York’s favor. It’s a testament to the recent defensive improvements that the visitors weren’t able to generate much danger either before or after going up a man early in the second half. The back four did just enough to see out the clean sheet, and while things got a little dicey on Rafael Santos’ side once he came on to slide David Brekalo into Schlegel’s hole at center back, the introduction of Kyle Smith helped calm things down a bit. Getting anything from a match in which a player is sent off is just as good as finding a way to eke out a road point was last week. These are the kinds of points that allow the team to progress forward when it’s not the Lions’ best night. As long as the team can take advantage and get all three when the situation is more favorable, Orlando City can continue to make progress as a contender in the Eastern Conference.

Those are my takeaways from Orlando City’s best performance (if not best result) against the New York Red Bulls in quite a while. Keeping all 11 players on the pitch may have yielded a better result, but for now, the Lions will take a point through adversity and try to make up for dropping two points by focusing on a critical away match against CF Montreal on Saturday.

What stood out to you? Let us know in the comments below.