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Orlando City vs. FC Cincinnati: Final Score 2-1 as Lions Fall at Home Again

The Lions looked lethargic and sloppy in a home loss to FC Cincinnati.

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12 months ago

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Image of Martin Ojeda taking a shot.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

Orlando City fell behind in first-half stoppage time on an easily preventable goal and couldn’t break down FC Cincinnati to climb back into it in a 2-1 loss at Inter&Co Stadium. It wasn’t a great advertisement for the beautiful game, as the two teams looked every bit the part of sides that had played in the midweek on the road. Cincinnati (12-5-3, 39 points) was the more precise team, getting two goals from Evander to snap the two-game winning streak by Orlando City (9-5-6, 33 points).

Marco Pasalic scored a late goal to spoil the shutout, and the Lions pushed hard to try to find an equalizer, but the hole was too deep to climb out of. There was one late chance to tie it up in front of goal that was wasted, but other than that, Cincinnati kept the Lions quiet.

“It was a game that represents the efforts and the protagonism and the confidence with Cincinnati and Orlando,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “We’re going to take our responsibilities on the goals that we conceded and the goals that we couldn’t score, but a game that was well played for both teams. Very, very level.”

Pareja’s lineup featured goalkeeper Pedro Gallese behind a back line of David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta started in central midfield between wingers Ivan Angulo and Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Ramiro Enrique up top.

The first half was a tactical affair without many chances for either side. The game’s first shot didn’t happen until the 15th minute, with Araujo firing way off target from long range. Pasalic forced Roman Celentano into a scrambling save moments later.

Ojeda had a go from just outside the box on the left in the 19th minute. Celentano dove to make a good save to keep the game scoreless. Gilberto Flores blocked another Ojeda attempt a minute later.

Cincinnati’s first shot had to wait until the 25th minute. Angulo tried to pass the ball to a teammate surrounded by three Cincinnati players, and Kevin Denkey easily took the ball away in the heavy traffic. Denkey turned and fired, trying to catch Gallese off guard, but the effort was well off target. Atuesta blocked Evander’s shot four minutes later, as the visitors started settling more into the game.

Matt Miazga blocked a Pasalic shot in the 38th just inside the box.

The decisive play of the half came late in stoppage time when Araujo was called for fouling Gerardo Valenzuela. Araujo was incensed, as he obviously thought he’d gotten the ball cleanly, but referee Marco de Oliveira disagreed, giving FC Cincinnati a late free kick from long range.

Lukas Engel faked the left footed delivery. Gallese was cheating toward his right post and Evander took advantage, smashing a shot to the right. Gallese tried to recover, but there was too much pace on the shot and by the time he caught it, it had already crossed the goal line.

While it wasn’t as big a howler as the Philip Zinckernagel goal in the team’s most recent home game prior to tonight, it was a costly mistake.

Orlando City led in most of the statistical categories at halftime, finishing with more possession (53.8%-46.2%), shots (6-5), and passing accuracy (89.3%-87.9%). Each team put two shots on target and won one corner. But it was Cincinnati leading on Gallese’s gaffe.

“I thought it was very tentative for both teams,” Pareja said about the opening half. “I think both (teams) looked like we respect each other a lot, and except for the error that we had on the goal, it could end up the first half just level, and then we can reshape for the second half.”

Luis Muriel subbed on for Angulo at the half, but the first quarter of an hour of the second half was about as plodding as the bulk of the first period. Orlando had the first two looks at goal, but Pasalic and Enrique each missed the target to the left and right, respectively in the 51st and 52nd minutes.

Gallese made a terrific save in the 64th minute when Thorhallsson’s header misfired and Cincinnati broke in transition. Evander brought the ball down the left and found second-half sub Kei Kamara breaking on the right. Kamara fired from close range but Gallese fought it off to keep it a one-goal game for the moment.

Thorhallsson had an opportunity in the 68th minute, cutting inside from right to left and hitting it with his weaker left foot, but the shot didn’t curl and drifted well wide.

The Icelandic fullback again got in that position a few minutes later, but this time it was costly. The shot not only didn’t find the target, but Cincinnati broke the other way in transition with numbers. Denkey had it in the middle 3-v-1 and sent it left to Evander. Brekalo peeled off of Evander as Jansson caught up with the play, but Evander had just enough space to cut inside and beat Gallese with a curling effort just inside the right post to make it 2-0 in the 74th minute.

“I think first you have to say congratulations to to the rivals tonight. They were able to score and able to take the three points from us tonight,” Ojeda said. “They were really good in in those three or four chances that they had. They had patience. They were able to finish their chances and be dangerous in those moments.”

Orlando won a couple of corners in the minutes after the second goal, but the closest the Lions came to scoring from them was a clearance that Enrique deflected back toward goal. However, it was popped up for an easy catch for Celentano.

The Lions finally found the net in the 87th minute. Enrique hustled to keep a ball in play that was headed for the end line. Ojeda tracked the aerial ball and made a sliding effort to get a foot to it, sending it to the top of the box in the middle. Pasalic picked it up there and smashed a first-touch shot inside the left post to make it 2-1.

“I think it’s important that we occupy the box with a lot of players,” Pasalic said. “The connection is there in the offense. We play really good. It’s a question of time, when we shoot at the goal.”

“As a goal scorer, you always want to score goals. So, as soon as I saw Ramiro sending the ball back into the area, that was my first thought,” said Ojeda, who got an assist on the play, with Enrique getting a secondary assist. “So, when I saw him head the ball back my way, I wanted to move a little bit further in, but the ball was just a little bit far. And so, I had to stretch, and I was able to get my get my foot on it, but it was a little far for me to control. But thankfully, Marco was running onto it from a little deeper. And thankfully he was able to strike and score.”

Orlando must have felt fortunate when 10 minutes of injury time went up on the board, giving them time to find an equalizer. Cincinnati slowed things down whenever possible, including Corey Baird tackling Brekalo in the open field. Both players earned a yellow card after tangling up, but the Lions had a free kick from distance.

The set piece didn’t pay off, but in the aftermath, the ball was cycled in from the left to Enrique at the near post. The Argentine got his head to it but caught it a bit too flush, sending it wide of goal in the 97th minute.

Two minutes later, the Lions should have tied it up. A great buildup down the left ended up with Muriel on the ball deep in the box. The Colombian sent it in front to a wide-open Brekalo. The Slovenian defender needed only to deflect it on goal, but the ball popped up off his foot and sailed over the bar.

“It’s bad luck at the end, the miss,” Pasalic said.

The referee blew the game dead at exactly 10 minutes of stoppage time, despite a lengthy stoppage when Baird fouled Brekalo and another delay for an injury to Cincinnati.

At the end of the match, Orlando had the advantage in possession (59%-41%), shots (17-9), corners (4-2), and passing accuracy (88.3%-81.5%). Cincinnati put more attempts on target (4-3) and found the net twice. The needless goal conceded in first-half stoppage was the difference.

“I’m sad that we lost, angry, also, because we did really good the last weeks, and this game, especially at the end,” Pasalic said. “And we deserved the draw at the end, in my opinion. But it is what it is.”

Orlando City’s stay at home was a short one, as the Lions will visit Charlotte FC.

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Flashback Friday: June 10, 2023 vs. Colorado Rapids

Let’s take a trip down memory lane to a booking-laden match at home that took place a little less than three years ago.

Published

11 hours ago

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June 12, 2026

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

The World Cup is now officially underway, and while that means Orlando City is on break, we can’t have you forgetting about the Lions while all the international action is taking place. That means its time for another edition of Flashback Friday, where we hop in the trusty time machine and reminisce on OCSC matches of yesteryear.

Last week we relived a rousing road win over the New York Red Bulls from June, 3 2023, and this week, we actually pick up right where we left off, on June 10, 2023 as the Lions returned home to take on the Colorado Rapids.

Coming off a 3-0 win over the Red Bulls in the previous match, Oscar Pareja decided to not mess with a good thing, and kept Orlando City’s same starting XI from that victory. Pedro Gallese was in net behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Kyle Smith. Wilder Cartagena and Cesar Araujo played the double pivot; Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres were the attacking midfielders, and Ercan Kara was deployed as the striker.

In typical June fashion for the City Beautiful, kickoff was delayed by just under an hour as the stadium was pounded by storms, and the delay did not look to have done any favors for Orlando’s sharpness. That said, OCSC did win a corner kick less than a minute into the game, and Torres had a tame shot saved in the eighth minute, but the Lions weren’t consistently sharp with their passing in the early moments of the contest.

The teams traded chances just before the 15-minute mark, with Kara sending a header too high before Cole Bassett sent a shot straight to Gallese. Carlos then picked up a yellow card in the 24th minute, which evened things out between the two teams after Lalas Abubakar was cautioned for the Rapids after just six minutes. Those two bookings proved to be a harbinger of things to come, because Colorado went down to 10 men in the 39th minute after midfielder Braian Galvan caught Angulo with a high boot while his studs were showing.

Pereyra had Orlando’s best chance of the opening 45 minutes in stoppage time but could only send his effort right at goalkeeper Marko Ilic, and that was the last significant action of the half. The Lions ended the half with an edge in possession (59.7%-40.3%), shots (7-2), shots on target (2-1), and passing accuracy (85.3%-79.4%), while both teams won two corners.

Pareja made two moves at halftime, bringing on Rodrigo Schlegel for the once-booked Carlos, and Martin Ojeda for Cartagena in an effort to go more offensive against a shorthanded Rapids side. The Lions certainly looked brighter going forward as the second half got underway and had a few dangerous moments before finally breaking the deadlock in the 55th minute.

Pereyra played a ball across the top of the box for Torres, who took a couple of touches before sending a ball to the net that took a wicked deflection off Andreas Maxsø that carried it past Ilic.

It wasn’t the prettiest goal the Lions have ever scored, but for a team that was guilty at times of passing up good shots in favor of the perfect look at goal, it was proof that sometimes you just need to take shots in dangerous areas.

Fortunately, Orlando seemed to take that lesson to heart. Kara went close in the 65th minute despite shooting through traffic, Angulo had a shot deflected by Abubakar three minutes later, and Torres had another deflected effort go just wide of the post four minutes after that.

The game changed again in the 75th minute, when the Rapids had another player sent off. Abubakar lasted for 69 minutes on a yellow card but got burned by Angulo in midfield and hauled him down in order to prevent the Lions from potentially working a transition opportunity. He had some teammates behind him, but the referee showed him a second yellow card. Pareja smelled blood in the water and just three minutes later he brought on Ramiro Enrique for Smith, who had been given a yellow card in the 52nd minute.

Ilic made a great save on Pereyra in the 81st minute to keep the score at 1-0 and keep the Rapids in the game, but Orlando got its second goal just two minutes later. Torres had the ball on the right side of the box with a Colorado player backing off him, and that gave him ample time to get his head up and pick out a man. He played a ball to Enrique at the top of the box, who had plenty of time to take a couple of touches and send a low shot into the bottom corner past a diving Ilic for his first goal as an Orlando City player.

Somewhat surprisingly, the game started to get a little stretched after the Lions doubled their advantage. Colorado had a shot blocked in the 81st minute, Kara sent a shot very close to the post six minutes after that, and Gallese saved a Darren Yapi attempt in the 88th minute to keep his clean sheet alive. Aside from Pareja handing Alejandro Granados his MLS debut, that was the last significant action of the match, which finished 2-0 to the good guys.

Unsurprisingly, considering Colorado’s deficit in players, the Lions dominated all of the game’s most important statistics. OCSC finished with the advantage in possession (65%-35%), shots (15-4), shots on goal (6-2), corners (5-3), and passing accuracy (89.4%-81.5%).

The victory made it back-to-back wins for the first time in 2023, stretched Orlando’s unbeaten run to six, and gave El Pulpo his 100th clean sheet for the team in all competitions.

Marcus Mitchell had the helm for Player Grades in this one, and Torres got his nod for Man of the Match with a goal, an assist, and a grade of 7.5 out of 10. Several other Lions graded out at 7 out of 10, with only one player grading below a 6.

While it was a weird win, it unfortunately was the final game of the unbeaten streak, as the Lions fell to a familiar defeat at Gillette Stadium the following week, although things got back on track soon afterward. I’ll see you back here in a week for another trip down memory lane. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 6/12/26

USMNT plays Paraguay tonight, red cards rain down in World Cup opener, Sporting Kansas City linked with Yann Gboho, and more.

Published

14 hours ago

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June 12, 2026

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Image of Alex Freeman sliding in celebration of a goal.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! The World Cup is in full swing and the U.S. will play today, so it’s a pretty exciting Friday to say the least. I’m a bit of a bundle of nerves about how the team will do, but I’m still looking forward to catching the game. If you have any gameday rituals, be sure to share, so that we can conjure up enough luck and support for the team tonight. Let’s get to the links!

USMNT’s World Cup Campaign Begins Today

The United States Men’s National Team will take on Paraguay at 9 p.m. tonight in its first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There’s plenty of pressure on the U.S. to perform well as one of the host nations, and this will also be Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino’s first time coaching at a World Cup. Pochettino stated that all 26 players are available for selection, including center back Chris Richards, although he may not necessarily start. Former Orlando City defender Alex Freeman, who is the youngest player on the U.S. roster, could make his World Cup debut tonight, so be sure to root for our hometown hero should he take the field. Hopefully, the Yanks can start this tournament off on the right foot with a big win in California.

World Cup Opener Features Three Red Cards

This year’s World Cup began in Mexico City, with Mexico beating South Africa 2-0 in a match that included three red cards. All three were straight red cards given in the second half in separate incidents, as Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off for South Africa before Mexico’s Cesar Montes was shown red in stoppage time. There hasn’t been a World Cup match with that many red cards since the record of four was set in 2006 in a match between Portugal and the Netherlands. As for the game’s goals, Julian Quinones pounced on a mistake by South Africa to give Mexico an early lead and Raul Jimenez doubled that lead while South Africa was reduced to 10 men.

Sporting Kansas City Linked With Yann Gboho

While the World Cup roars on, the rumor mill is in full force as clubs make plans for summer reinforcements. Sporting Kansas City is reportedly pushing to sign Toulouse winger Yann Gboho, who recorded 10 goals and three assists across all competitions this past season. The surprising aspect of this pursuit would be that Toulouse values Gboho at an eye-watering $20 million transfer fee, which would be a club record by a country mile. Kansas City needs all the help it can get on offense, as it has scored just 14 goals in 14 games so far this season.

Jose Mourinho Officially Returns to Real Madrid

It’s been a bit of an open secret over the past few weeks that Jose Mourinho would become Real Madrid’s next manager and it’s now official, with the 63-year-old signing a three-year contract with the Spanish club. Mourinho helped Real Madrid win a La Liga title and the Copa del Rey over a decade ago before his departure in 2013 after three seasons with the club. Now, he joins a Real Madrid side that has finished second in the league standings and been eliminated in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League the past two seasons. I, for one, can’t wait to see how one of the biggest personalities in soccer works alongside a locker room of star players that seemed in disarray this past season.

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

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Lion Links: 6/11/26

Wilder Cartagena linked with move to Sporting Cristal, Orlando Pride hire Dr. Nicole Surdyka, Barbra Banda injury update, and more.

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2 days ago

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June 11, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jermey Reper

The World Cup is finally here! Today starts what should be an exciting month of international soccer featuring more teams than ever before. While I wasn’t able to part with the arm and leg necessary to afford a ticket to one of the games, I’m still looking forward to watching along when I can with the rest of the world. Let’s get to the links!

Wilder Cartagena Linked With Move to Peruvian Club

You’ll need a translation tool to check out the full details unless you are fluent in Spanish, but Sporting Cristal of Peru’s top flight is reportedly interested in signing Orlando City midfielder Wilder Cartagena. The 31-year-old is currently under contract with Orlando through 2026, with the contact also including a club option for 2027. He was a crucial part to Orlando’s success in 2024, but he missed all of last year and has only started one game so far this season due to injuries. It’s not much more than a rumor as of now, but it’ll be something to keep an eye on during this break in the league schedule.

Barbra Banda Sustained a Hamstring Injury

Zambia Head Coach Nora Hauptle stated that Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda is dealing with a hamstring strain. Banda didn’t play in either of Zambia’s matches during this international break, but Hauptle also noted that she should recover in the next week or two and will be fine for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations at the end of July. Banda was injured late in the Pride’s 3-1 win against Bay FC on May 29 and it was unclear how severe the injury was. Hopefully she’ll be good to go before the Pride’s match against Angel City FC on July 3.

Dr. Nicole Surdyka Named Orlando Pride Director of Medical & Performance

The Orlando Pride have hired Dr. Nicole Surdyka as their new director of medical and performance. She’ll oversee the Pride’s medical operations, nutrition, and more while also working with Orlando Health. Dr. Surdyka has over a decade of experience that included leadership roles with OL Reign and the LA Galaxy and has studied extensively into developing frameworks for health and performance in women’s soccer.

“Nicole is one of the most respected practitioners in our field, and her expertise in women’s football, return‑to‑play, and high‑performance systems will elevate every aspect of our medical and performance environment,” said Caitlin Carducci, Orlando Pride VP of Soccer Operations & General Manager. “Her leadership, her commitment to evidence‑based practice and her passion for supporting athletes make her an exceptional addition to the Pride.”

Analyzing Paraguay Ahead of USMNT World Cup Match

The United States Men’s National Team will play its World Cup opener on Friday when it hosts Paraguay at SoFi Stadium. It will be the 10th match between the two nations, with the USMNT most recently winning 2-1 against Paraguay in November of last year. There’s a familiar face on Paraguay’s roster in Orlando City midfielder Braian Ojeda, with Miguel Almiron and Andres Cubas as other MLS midfielders called up. Paraguay’s defense is anchored by center back Gustavo Gomez, who you may remember as the player who put former Lion Alex Freeman in a headlock during that aforementioned November friendly. As for Paraguay’s attack, the Yanks will need to keep Julio Enciso and Antonio Sanabria from wreaking havoc. Paraguay is a physical team that’s also strong in the air, so we’ll see how the USMNT deals with that on Friday.

England Beats Costa Rica 3-0 at Inter&Co Stadium

Orlando City’s Inter&Co Stadium hosted a friendly between England and Costa Rica on Wednesday, with England winning 3-0. Declan Rice gave England an early lead, but Costa Rica kept the Three Lions off the scoresheet until the substitutes came on for England in the second half, with Anthony Gordon and Ollie Watkins both scoring. England got the full Orlando experience due to a heavy storm that delayed kickoff, but Inter&Co Stadium earned praise for its drainage system that had the pitch ready to roll in no time. Enjoy this satisfying time-lapse video of the transformation provided by the stadium.

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That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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