Orlando City B (7-4-6, 30 points) drew 1-1 tonight with Crown Legacy FC (8-2-6, 34 points) at the Sportsplex at Matthews in North Carolina tonight. Nimfasha Berchimas gave the visitors the lead in the second half before Dylan Judelson equalized just minutes later. The hosts subsequently won the penalty shootout 4-2 to take the extra point.

OCB Head Coach Eddie Wilding made just one change from the team that drew 2-2 with Columbus Crew 2 on June 28 and lost 5-4 on penalties. Ignacio Gomez entered the lineup, replacing Matthew Belgodere, who started on the bench.

The back line in front of goalkeeper Juan Rojas included Bernardo Rhein, Clovis Archange, Titus Sandy, Jr., and Parker Amoo-Mensah. Judelson and Gomez were in the defensive midfield behind Harvey Sarajian, Issah Haruna, and Gustavo Caraballo with Pedro Leao up top.

This was a pretty even game throughout. Both teams squandered plenty of opportunities before Berchimas finally converted in the 66th minute. But that seemed to spark the Young Lions as Judelson equalized just three minutes later. The teams could see three points in their future and pushed for a late winner with neither finding the back of the net.

The hosts had the first chance of the game in the fourth minute when Sandy deflected Berchimas’ cross out of play. The ensuing set piece went short to Berchimas, but Rhein blocked his shot from the top corner of the box.

The Young Lions should have taken the lead in the seventh minute when Haruna and Amoo-Mensah worked together, resulting in the latter sending a low cross across the box. It went through multiple players before landing at Sarajian’s feet at the back post with no defenders near and a gaping net. However, the attacker’s first touch was wide of the post.

OCB nearly had a goal in the 14th minute when Judelson used a nice touch to lose his defender and create space. He sent Haruna into the attacking half with Sarajian and Leao making runs. It looked like Haruna waited too long and then played it too far in front of Leao. But the striker beat Crown Legacy goalkeeper Lazar Kalicanin to the ball, tapping it around him. He had an open goal but hit the outside of the post.

Brian Romero played a great ball behind the OCB back line in the 24th minute when Nathan Richmond made a run between Sandy and Rhein. The attacker was in on goal and sent the ball past Rojas, but it rolled wide of the far post. A minute later, Crown Legacy had a similar attack when Aron John sent Adrian Mendoza between Sandy and Archange. Rojas came out of his goal to cut down the angle, forcing Mendoza to send his shot wide.

OCB tried to play the ball out of the back in the 28th minute, but Daniel Longo blocked Archange’s pass and John collected it. The midfielder played it forward for Mendoza, who sent a low, hard shot that forced Rojas into a quality save.

In the 43rd minute, Gavin Smith played a good ball to the top of the six-yard box where Romero was making a run. Archange did well to get his foot on the ball, clearing it out of play for a throw-in. When the ball was put back in play, Romero received a pass at the top of the OCB box, playing it to Richmond toward the end line. The attacker found Mendoza at the top of the six with some space, but his shot was wide.

Crown Legacy ended the half with more shots (5-3), shots on target (1-0), and corner kicks (2-1). OCB had better passing accuracy (93.4%-91.8%) and both teams completed three crosses. While there were several clear chances on goal, neither team was able to convert.

The Young Lions were the more attacking team to start the second half, with Caraballo creating a pair of early chances. In the 48th minute, Gomez made a run into the opposing third before finding Caraballo at the top of the box. The attacker attempted to curl the ball toward goal, but Wyatt Holt deflected it out of play.

A minute later, Amoo-Mensah made his way to the right side of the field, receiving a pass forward from Rhein. The right back quickly played Caraballo into the Crown Legacy third and the attacker shot from a tight angle before reaching the end line. However, it didn’t cause any trouble for Kalicanin.

The Young Lions broke on a counterattack in the 55th minute when Haruna won the ball from Longo on the opposing side of the field. He played Leao forward and made a run, but Leao’s shot from distance was blocked, ending a promising attack.

The hosts had their first second-half chance in the 59th minute when Sarajian fouled Mendoza near the top of the OCB box. Mendoza took the free kick himself, going directly for goal. Fortunately, he couldn’t keep the free kick down and the shot went over the crossbar.

Holt won Rojas’ punt from just inside his own box in the 66th minute, resulting in a break for the hosts. Mendoza sent the ball out to his right before receiving it back near the top of the six-yard box. Archange blocked Mendoza’s shot, but it went right to Berchimas, who put it in to give Crown Legacy the 1-0 lead.

Immediately after the goal, Wilding made his first two changes, replacing Leao and Gomez with Justin Hylton and Belgodere.

The Young Lions didn’t wait to get back into the game, finding the equalizer shortly after the restart. In the 68th minute, Mikah Thomas blocked Caraballo’s cross out of play. Caraballo and Amoo-Mensah used some quick passing from the short corner to break through the defense, resulting in the latter finding Judelson near the penalty spot. The defensive midfielder finished well, evening the game at 1-1.

In the 75th minute, Longo was sent to the end line and tried to lift a cross into the six-yard box, but Archange blocked it out of play. Richmond’s ensuing set piece found substitute Michael Ayovi’s head. However, Rojas was there to make the catch.

Haruna was dispossessed in the 85th minute and the ball rolled toward Kalicanin. Sarajian attempted to beat Kalicanin to the ball and nearly did, but the goalkeeper got to it first. The clearance went to Gomez, who passed to Caraballo at the top of the box. The attacker tried to create some space but his shot was blocked.

Wilding made his third change and used his second window in the 88th minute, replacing Caraballo with Nicolas Bobea Torres.

Belgodere sent a pass to the top of the box in the 89th minute that bounced off Sarajian, Haruna, and a defender before slipping through. Belgodere continued his run and was in on goal, attempting to beat Kalicanin to the far post. However, the Crown Legacy goalkeeper got a piece of it, tipping it wide.

In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Bobea Torres received a pass from Hylton at the top of the box, dribbling inside to find space for a shot. However, his attempt was deflected into Kalicanin’s arms. The referee blew the final whistle before the goalkeeper released the ball, ending the game.

At full time, OCB had the edge in shots (13-11), shots on target (4-3), corner kicks (5-3), and passing accuracy (90.6%-90.5%). Crown Legacy had more crosses (4-3) and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Per MLS NEXT Pro rules, each team received a point for the draw and the game went to penalties to see which would earn an extra point.

Crown Legacy was the better team in penalties. Rojas guessed correctly on Erik Pena’s penalty, but the substitute put his attempt into the corner. Rhein then stepped up, stutter-stepping as he approached the ball, but Kalicanin was disciplined and dove to his left to make the stop. John, Sarajian, Sebastian Ventura, Hylton, and Ayovi then traded conversions before Judelson stepped up, needing to score. While he had a good strike in regulation, his penalty was taken poorly, providing an easy save by Kalicanin to win the shootout and take the extra point.

The draw sees OCB stay in sixth place, a point behind fourth and two behind third. However, the shootout point saw the Young Lions lose another point to Crown Legacy, so they’re now four points out of second and first in MLS NEXT Pro’s Eastern Conference.

The Young Lions will stay out on the road as they face FC Cincinnati 2 in Kentucky on July 12.

With the flipping of the calendar to July, we are now into the second half of the year, and all across the United States the temperatures are in orange and red as summer time is here. My parents and brother are in New Hampshire, where the summers are usually milder than those here in central Florida, but the temperatures up north have everyone breaking out their record collections to play “Heat Wave” by Martha and the Vandellas, and not just because the pop culture preferences in the Granite State tend to run, oh, a few decades behind those in the rest of the country (I’ve spent many summers in New Hampshire).

On the more contemporary front, the British band Glass Animals released the Billboard chart-topping “Heat Waves” in 2020, with opening lyrics of “sometimes all I think about is you, late nights in the middle of June.” I do not think they were referring to soccer teams in Orlando in that song, but these lyrics often fit for me as it relates to our three professional squads, and on late nights in more months than just June.

Orlando City is back in training but still weeks away from its next match, but the Pride are (finally) back on Friday, and of course, Orlando City B (OCB) and MLS NEXT Pro listened closely to Rihanna and adhered to her request to not stop the music, continuing its season throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

OCB had been on its own heat wave through the end of May and those late nights in the middle of June, but in recent weeks it hit a cold snap, losing to Philadelphia Union II in regulation and then Columbus Crew 2 in penalties. With OCB’s hot and cold performances, plus the recent return of HBO’s House of the Dragon reminding everyone of the incredible writing in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, I thought it would be a good time to look at some heatmaps for the Young Lions, using data from American Soccer Analysis (ASA).

As a quick reminder, ASA uses the following categorizations to create an overall “goals added” per player per game, with some actions adding value and others removing value, with every action throughout the game being assigned a value. The full explanation can be found here, but at a high level, here are the category breakdowns:

• Shooting: Shots
• Receiving: Receptions
• Passing: Passes
• Dribbling: Carries, Take-Ons, Miscontrols, Dispossessions
• Interrupting: Tackles, Interceptions, Blocks, Clearances, Recoveries, Contested Headers
• Fouling: Fouls Committed, Fouls Received

For the heatmap below, I only included field players who have played at least 250 minutes this season, including stoppage time. The players are listed at the position assigned to them by ASA, and the column “Qualified Players” is the count of MLS NEXT Pro players who have played at least 250 minutes at that specific position. The percentages indicate where each player ranks in that category at their position, meaning that center back Landon Okonski’s 92% in the shooting category indicates that his shooting performance this season ranks better than 92% of the 118 center backs who have played at least 250 minutes. Red is good, blue is not. Hopefully no Crips read this article.

CB = center back, FB = fullback, DM = defensive midfielder, W = winger, AM = attacking midfielder, ST = striker; CM is also a possible position but ASA did not assign any OCB players to the central midfielder position.

We do not want to exclude the goalkeepers, so the chart below is a similar one with goalkeeping metrics instead of field player metrics. For this heatmap, there are 73 qualified goalkeepers (I used 195 minutes played as the qualification cutoff, in order to include OCB’s Luca Maxim):

Unsurprisingly for a team that ranks near the top of the league in goals scored and near the bottom in goals allowed, the OCB players playing offensive positions tend to have more items in red (reminder that red is good) than the defenders.

OCB’s players in particular are very good dribblers as compared to others who play the same position, with Harvey Sarajian ranked as the number one dribbler across all 103 wingers (and actually also across all 539 players as a whole), and as a team, OCB ranks number one in the league in ASA’s dribbling metric.

Anyone who has watched OCB play is well aware of this, as while the Young Lions have many excellent dribblers, they turn the ball over often on the dribble by attempting to take on one too many defenders. Still, the team ranks first in dribbling and second in shooting, with Justin Ellis and Ignacio Gómez ranking first and second at their respective positions (Ellis was having a tremendous overall season in MLS NEXT Pro, but we will have to wait and see how he is used after Antoine Griezmann is inserted in the Orlando City lineup to see if the club keeps him solely at the senior level).

On the negative side, the defenders show far more blue than red, especially in the final column of overall goals added, where most of the center backs rank in the bottom 20% and the fullbacks rank in the bottom 33%. The team’s primary goalkeeper, Tristan Himes, is just above the bottom 10% of goalkeepers in his overall goals added performance, and according to ASA’s measures, he has performed significantly worse than OCB’s other two goalkeepers. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that Juan Rojas started the most recent game against Columbus, but Himes will need to perform better if he wants to keep his spot and if the team is going to make a run in the back half of the season.

MLS NEXT Pro is a developmental league, so there are always questions about whether players are being fairly ranked based on if they are making their own playing decisions or if the club is asking them, or the team as a whole, to play a certain way or to try something different to see how they perform. That said, the cream usually rises to the top, and the heatmaps above reveal that the best performances by OCB players this year have been from Ellis, Sarajian, Gómez, and Dylan Judelson, all of whom rank in the top 11% at their respective positions.

The first three players have all played for the senior team this season, with Ellis carving out a starting role, and Judelson is only 18, yet already has appeared eight times for the Canadian U-20 team, including starting and playing the full 90 minutes in its most recent match against Portugal’s U-20 team (Canada was savagely beaten 6-1, but still). Justin Hylton (18), Gustavo Caraballo (17), and Jacob Ramirez (16) also have performed in the top 20% for their respective positions at relatively young ages, and Dominik Baczewski (18) is in the top 30%.

With busy months ahead at the senior level, some of these high performing young players may get a chance to see some minutes for Orlando City, and we will see if they can step up their games from MLS NEXT Pro to the big show.

These players are all young and playing in the south, so hopefully they can take their inspiration from southern rap icon Juvenile and create future heatmaps that look 400 Degreez.

Vamos Orlando!

Orlando City B (7-4-5, 29 points) let a late lead get away, drawing 2-2 with Columbus Crew 2 (9-4-4, 34 points) tonight at Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee. The visitors took the lead in the 37th minute through Johann Chirinos before Justin Hylton scored a second-half brace. But an 89th-minute equalizer by Kevin Gbamble and two balls off the woodwork in the penalty shootout saw OCB drop two points at home.

OCB Head Coach Eddie Wilding made five changes to the team that lost 2-1 to Philadelphia Union II on June 21. Juan Rojas, Titus Sandy, Jr., Clovis Archange, Gustavo Caraballo, and Harvey Sarajian entered the lineup, replacing Tristan Himes, Landon Okonski, Albright Chikamso, Ignacio Gomez, and Hylton.

Rojas started in goal behind a back line of Bernardo Rhein, Archange, Sandy, and Parker Amoo-Mensah. Issah Haruna, Dylan Judelson, Matthew Belgodere, and Gustavo Caraballo were the midfielders behind Pedro Leao and Sarajian.

Lightning in the area put the game into a weather delay that lasted nearly two hours. While the game was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., the kickoff finally occurred at 8:56 p.m.

The Young Lions began the game on the attack, creating the first chance inside the first minute. After forcing a turnover with the high press, Belgodere found Caraballo on the right side of the field. The midfielder’s first touch was a volley to Sarajian near the penalty spot. Unfortunately, Sarajian couldn’t put the ball on target, sending it wide.

A long ball over the midfield stripe in the fifth minute was touched on for Caraballo on the right. The attacker made a long run to the box, dribbling across the top of the 18 before firing on goal. The shot was directed inside the far post, forcing Stanislav Lapkes to dive to his right to tip it wide. Rhein’s ensuing set piece was cleared away and OCB was unable to get a second chance during the attack.

The visitors had their first chance in the 11th minute when Brent Adu-Gyamfi made a run from the right into the OCB box. His low cross was blocked, creating a chaotic scene in front of the goal as the Young Lions were unable to clear. Eventually, Gbamble was able to get a shot off, but Rojas was there to block it.

Chirinos played a lovely ball through the OCB back line for Oneal Taylor making a run behind Rhein in the 13th minute. The attacker had space for a shot, but he let the ball get too far in front of him. As a result, his shot went well wide, causing no concern for Rojas.

A Judelson turnover in his own third resulted in a chance for Columbus in the 18th minute. Crew 2 worked the ball around to the right, resulting in a dangerous pass across the six-yard box by Chirinos. Zachary Zengue was there to touch it in, but he couldn’t get a solid foot on it, allowing the ball to continue rolling through.

Two minutes later, Sandy knocked the ball off of Gbamble’s foot, but it went right to Taylor just inside the box. This time, the attacker put his shot on target, sending it straight at Rojas.

OCB was unable to get the ball out of its own third, allowing Columbus to retain possession. Prince Forfor sent a cross into the box that Sandy cleared over the end line for a corner kick. Zengue played the ensuing set piece short to Taylor, who gave it right back. Sarajian blocked his shot. Zengue retook possession and fired a second shot that Rojas blocked wide.

An excellent ball forward for Gbamble in the 26th minute sent the attacker deep into the OCB half of the field. He dribbled inside to create some space from Sandy before taking a shot toward the near post. However, Sandy was able to get a piece of the ball, deflecting it wide for a corner kick. The set piece was short to Chirinos, but Amoo-Mensah blocked his first cross, then knocked a second cross out of play. The second set piece found Issac Heffess at the near post, but the center back sent his header attempt wide.

Chirinos intercepted a poor pass by Caraballo for Judelson in the 32nd minute. The midfielder’s second touch was a pass to Zengue, who was even with the back line. The striker tried to beat Rojas to his near post but sent the attempt just wide.

Crew 2’s high press caused problems for OCB in the 37th minute, resulting in the game’s first goal. Rojas played the ball to Haruna at the top of the box and the midfielder immediately lost possession to Chirinos. The Columbus midfielder took a shot toward the near post that took a deflection off Archange and rolled softly into the goal.

Haruna turned the ball over again in his own half in the 42nd minute, creating a chance for Columbus to double its lead. Chirinos quickly played it forward to Taylor, who shot from distance. However, this attempt was well over the target.

A Caraballo turnover in his own third in the second minute of stoppage time created one final first-half chance for Crew 2. Forfor dribbled around Caraballo and Amoo-Mensah before lifting a cross towards goal. Fortunately, it landed on top of the net, ending the first 45 minutes.

The visitors dominated the first half with more shots (12-2), shots on target (4-1), and corner kicks (3-1). OCB had slightly better passing accuracy (88.7%-88.2%) and kept the game close, only trailing by one at the break despite repeatedly turning the ball over in its own half.

Wilding made a halftime change. Leao, who went down after a tough challenge late in the first half, was replaced by Hylton.

It didn’t take long for the substitute to get involved. In the 46th minute, he dribbled through Rui Aoki before sending the ball across the field for Caraballo. The young attacker carried the ball to the top corner of the box before sending the ball into Lapkes’ arms.

Crew 2 created its first second-half chance in the 49th minute when Moses Nyeman found Zengue near the top of the OCB box. After a couple of touches, the striker sent a hard, low shot toward the near post that went just wide.

An OCB turnover in the final third was cleared long and nearly resulted in a second goal for Columbus. Zengue got behind Archange, controlling the ball and entering the OCB box. He sent his attempt past Rojas and nearly snuck it inside the near post, but it hit the outside of the net instead.

Judelson turned the ball over to Gbamble off the restart, creating a chance for the visitors. Gbmable played the ball to Chirinos at the top of the box and the midfielder’s shot went wide.

Nyeman lifted the ball to the left for Forfor in the 53rd minute. The attacker dribbled toward the end line before sending the ball on goal from a tight angle. Rojas was forced to block it over the end line for a Columbus corner kick. The Crew played the ensuing short corner to Chirinos approaching the top of the OCB box. The midfielder sent a hard shot on target that forced Rojas to block it away and end the threat.

OCB quickly went the other way and nearly scored an equalizer. Belgodere made a run down the left to get onto a long, cross-field ball. After controlling the ball and taking a touch inside, he backheeled the ball to Hylton at the top of the box. The halftime substitute unleashed a shot that appeared to be heading over the bar. But he kept it down, sending his attempt off the post.

The Young Lions created another chance in the 55th minute when Hylton passed into the path of Caraballo’s overlapping run on the right. The attacker sent the ball to the top of the six for Sarajian, but his attempt was wide of the near post.

Sarajian went down in the 61st minute and required attention, giving Wilding a chance to make three changes. Caleb Trombino, Gomez, and Logan Tsopanoglou came into the game for Judelson, Caraballo, and Sarajian.

Gomez made his presence felt in the 66th minute when he sent a low, hard shot toward goal. Lapkes blocked the attempt, but knocked the rebound into the worst possible spot right in front of the goal. Hylton was trailing the play and knocked it in to even the game at 1-1.

Wilding made his fifth and final change at the center back position in the 71st minute, replacing Archange with Chikamso.

Trombino passed to Tsopanoglou just outside the box in the 73rd minute, shielding his defender and Belgodere on the left. The midfielder dribbled to the end line before finding Tsopanoglou at the top of the six. The substitute’s shot was on target, forcing Lapkes into a diving one-handed save. However, it fell right to Hylton, who scored his second goal of the night and gave his team a 2-1 lead.

Zengue played the ball wide right for Adu-Gyamfi in the 80th minute, continuing his run and receiving it back. His shot was on target and forced Rojas to block the attempt. As the ball went straight up in the air, Gbamble was in position to head it in. But Rojas pushed the ball wide, allowing Rhein to clear.

Crew 2 created a chance in the 83rd minute when Alex Gimple received a pass and turned his defender before finding Zengue near the top of the OCB box. The forward immediately continued the ball wide right for Adu-Gyamfi who shot, forcing Rojas to dive and tip the ball wide.

Christopher Rogers lifted the ball long for Gimple in the 84th minute, putting the second-half substitute in a position for a shot. The attempt was wide of the near post, though Rojas appeared to have it covered.

Zach Lloyd pushed forward from his center back position in the 87th minute, playing a give-and-go with Gimple before sending a shot wide of the near post.

Amoo-Mensah took the ball to his own corner flag in the 89th minute, looking to waste time rather than clearing it when he had the chance. That turned out to be a mistake when he lost possession. Quick passing by Columbus resulted in an unmarked Gbamble receiving the ball with space about eight yards out. The attacker passed the ball into the empty goal to even the game at 2-2.

Having conceded the late lead, OCB now had to go on the attack. Haruna passed to Belgodere on the left and the midfielder took his defender one-on-one before sending a shot over the target.

The final chance came in the third minute of stoppage time when Rhein threw the ball in right to the Crew’s Jamil Danjaji. The substitute found Zengue making a run into the box, but Rojas did well to come out and block the ball out of play. Crew 2 was unable to create anything from the ensuing corner kick and the game ended 2-2.

At full time, Crew 2 had the advantage in shots (24-11), shots on target (10-6), corner kicks (4-1), and passing accuracy (89%-88.1%). But it was OCB that let the late lead get away, dropping points at home.

Per MLS NEXT Pro rules, games tied after 90 minutes go to a penalty shootout to see which team earns a second point.

The shootout started with some excellent penalties. Hylton, Tsopanoglou, and Trombino converted for OCB while Chirinos, Adu-Gyamfi, and Zengue converted for Columbus.

In the fourth round, Gomez sent Lapkes the wrong way but hit the right post. Immanuel Ewing then stepped up and converted to give his team the 4-3 lead heading into the final round.

Rhein calmly put his penalty away and shushed Lapkes. But the visitors still had an opportunity to end it. Nicolas Rincon didn’t appear to be the most confident penalty taker and Rojas guessed correctly, diving to his right to make the stop and keeping his team in it.

Unfortunately, Chikamso was too confident with OCB’s sixth attempt as the shootout entered sudden death. The center back attempted a panenka but hit the crossbar, the second time OCB hit the woodwork in the shootout. Danjaji then stepped up and placed his attempt in the top corner, giving the visitors two points on the night.

It’s a disappointing result for the Young Lions, who were seconds away from claiming all three points. But they remain in fifth in the Eastern Conference with 29 points, two behind third place and three behind Crown Legacy FC for second.

Having ended this two-game homestand, the Young Lions will now head out on the road as they face Crown Legacy FC next Sunday at 7 p.m.