It’s matchday eve once again, as Orlando City will try to make it three wins in a row after coming back from the World Cup break. Standing between the Lions and three victories on the bounce are the New York Red Bulls, as OCSC will hit the road up to New Jersey on Saturday to try to exact vengeance for an opening day loss.

A match with the Red Bulls means I caught up with Mark Fishkin, who hosts the Seeing Red Podcast — an independent outlet that always provides excellent coverage of New York. As usual, he was kind enough to bring us up to speed on how things have been going for the Red Bulls since the season opener.

With five goals conceded in two post-World Cup games, the defense seems to be a sticky spot for the Red Bulls at the moment. What are you seeing back there that has contributed to the back line’s difficulties?

Mark Fishkin: There’s so much that’s gone into New York’s ineptitude in the back…young, young players still figuring things out on the back line (ages 17, 20, 22) plus a challenge in net with Ethan Horvath. Horvath is usually good for one or two spectacular saves every match, plus a massive howler. Every. Time. Out.

After torturing Orlando in the season opener, Julian Hall has kept on cooking and leads the team with 12 goal contributions. What has made him so effective this season?

MF: Hall is a fantastic finisher who has benefitted from exemplary service, mostly from Cade Cowell (six assists)  on the right but also from Jorge Ruvalcaba (who is out for Saturday on yellow card accumulation), and Emil Forsberg. In the season opener, Hall’s performance opened eyes across the league, and the teenager hasn’t stopped. He’s been a bright spot for the team this season.

Based on what you’ve seen so far, what should the minimum expectation be for Red Bulls fans this year? What needs to happen for those expectations to be exceeded?

MF: Before the season, Red Bulls’ fans would have been happy with returning to the playoffs after the team’s first postseason miss since 2009 last year. However, a quick start, and then a great run before the World Cup Break (10 points over four matches) raised expectations in a big way. Since the break, however, the performances have been terrible. New York allowed three goals at one-win Philadelphia, then conceded twice to Charlotte in the first 12 minutes last week and lost 2-0. It’s been a rollercoaster of emotion for fans, and the car is heading down, down, down.

Will any players be unavailable due to injuries, suspensions, call-ups, etc.? What is your projected starting XI and score prediction?

MF: Key suspensions for the Red Bulls include Adri Mehmeti (red card last week) and the aforementioned Ruvalcaba.  The Red Bulls are close to injury free.
Starting XI (4-3-3) could be: Ethan Horvath; Matthew Dos Santos, Julian Bazan, Justin Che, Dylan Nealis; Emil Forsberg, Gustav Berggren, Ronald Donkor; Mohammed Sofo, Julian Hall, Cade Cowell.

*score prediction not provided

Thank you to Mark for the great update on the Red Bulls. Vamos Orlando!

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! It’s the final day of July, and I’m hoping that the Orlando Pride can close out the month on a positive note tonight. We also have both Orlando City and Orlando City B to look forward to Saturday night. Let’s jump right into today’s links from around the soccer world!

Yutaro Tsukada Loaned to Rhode Island FC

Orlando City loaned forward Yutaro Tsukada to Rhode Island FC in the USL Championship for the remainder of the 2026 season. Selected by Orlando in the first round of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, Tsukada signed a first-team contract that August after impressing with Orlando City B. Unfortunately, he missed all of last season due to a knee injury and has only made two appearances for the Lions this season. Hopefully, he can make the most of his playing time in Rhode Island.

Orlando Pride Visit North Carolina Courage Tonight

The Orlando Pride are on the road tonight for a game against the North Carolina Courage. Road wins have been hard to come by for Orlando this season, as the Pride have only won two games away from the City Beautiful this year. While the Pride have struggled when visiting WakeMed Soccer Park over the years, they did manage to draw 1-1 against the Courage there last year. Orlando generated plenty of opportunities in its 1-0 win over the Chicago Stars, and midfielder Haley McCutcheon spoke on how that’s a positive sign heading into this match.

“I think we can either look at our chances and not converting them as a frustration point, or we can look at it as confidence that we’re creating these chances,” she said. “We’ve taken it into this week as: okay, we’re creating, and now we just need that final piece. Especially without Barbra here, it gives other players an opportunity to step up and be the finisher.”

NWSL Terminates Agreement With Victory+

Starting on Sunday, all NWSL games that were scheduled to stream on Victory+ will instead be streamed for free on NWSL+ after the league terminated its media rights agreement with the broadcast partner. The multi-year agreement lasted less than a year and the termination is reportedly due in part to unfulfilled payments to the NWSL. You can check out games on NWSL+ through the league’s website or its app.

UEFA Agrees to Boycott FIFA Events

In response to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s scheme to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors, UEFA’s 55 member nations convened and agreed to boycott all FIFA competitions. Concacaf also released a statement rejecting Infantino’s proposal, expressing concern over the lack of due process and more. We’ll see where the dominoes fall from here, with the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup set to take place in Poland starting on Sept. 5. While it’s tough seeing women’s soccer events at risk in this game of chicken, it’s nice to see that the confederations aren’t just shaking their heads while going along with the plans.

Free Kicks

• Barbra Banda and Zambia will face off against Nigeria in Casablanca on Saturday in a critical Women’s Africa Cup of Nations match.
• The Philadelphia Union transferred South African defender Olwethu Makhanya to Rangers in the Scottish Premiership for a reported $4.5 million fee. The 22-year-old has been with the Union for three years and was part of South Africa’s World Cup roster.
• FC Cincinnati midfielder Gerardo Valenzuela was suspended for an additional game and fined by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for his violent conduct against the Columbus Crew on July 25. As a result, he’ll miss out on the match against Orlando City on Aug. 15.
• Talks are reportedly taking place for American attacker Giovanni Reyna to move from Borussia Monchengladbach to Strasbourg in France.

• Eddie Howe is reportedly set to exit as Newcastle United’s head coach after nearly five years at the helm.
• English defender John Stones has joined Inter Milan following the expiration of his contract with Manchester City.

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

Orlando City played its first home game in two months Saturday night, and right before kickoff there was a cool moment on the field as the club celebrated the three Lions who played in the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup: Maxime Crépeau, Braian Ojeda, and Marco Pašalić. All three players played on teams that made it out of the group stage, and Crépeau’s Canada and Ojeda’s Paraguay both made it to the Round of 16. I watched all of the games for all three Lions during the World Cup, and it was always fun to hear the announcers mention that those three players represented Orlando City from Major League Soccer.

There is no more soccer to be played in the 2026 World Cup, but FIFA is now getting down to the business of what it really cares about doing — counting up all the money it made and distributing enough of it so that FIFA’s leaders stay in power. Few organizations in the world are as reviled as FIFA, yet we all love soccer so much we just grin and bear it so we can watch the world’s best on the biggest stages. The only positive thing about FIFA President Gianni Infantino is his magnificent bald head (I may be slightly biased due to being not so slightly follicly challenged), and the less time spent on him the better.

I do not want to spend any more time on Infantino and will instead spend time looking at FIFA’s spending — in particular what is coming Orlando City’s way in the upcoming months. The Athletic’s Chris Weatherspoon wrote a great article recently detailing how FIFA will compensate clubs for allowing their players to participate in the World Cup, and he laid out the two ways that clubs will be paid by FIFA post-World Cup:

FIFA pays out on the basis of how many days finals participants are at the competition, between the mandatory release date of May 25 and the day after their national team’s last match in the competition.

(FIFA pays clubs) For any player who was selected in a matchday squad for any of the 905 qualifying games that determined the 48 participating teams this June and July. On top of that, clubs of players who were named in squads for the three host countries in their 10 friendlies before this summer’s finals will also receive payment.

The payment amounts are not fully locked in yet, but the estimates are that clubs will be paid approximately $5,000 per day that their team members were at the World Cup and $2,632 per matchday selection for World Cup qualifiers and/or friendlies for players from the three host nations. Let’s take a look at what Orlando City should be expecting to receive from FIFA, hopefully hand-delivered on an ostentatiously large check.

Pašalić’s Croatia was eliminated by Portugal on July 2, and both Crépeau’s Canada (eliminated by Morocco) and Ojeda’s Parauguay (eliminated by France) went out on July 4. Using FIFA’s parameters of a start date of May 25 running through the day after a team was eliminated and an amount of $5,000 per day yields the payouts below to Orlando City:

Not quite what Noah accomplished in 40 days and nights, but $620,000 is a nice payout from the arc of the World Cup. The Athletic included in its article a list of the 50 clubs that will earn the most from their players participating in the World Cup, and the 50th ranked club (Juventus) is estimated to make $1.2 million, approximately twice what Orlando City will earn. No Major League Soccer teams are in the estimated top 50 clubs, and by my calculations LAFC (the only MLS club that sent four players) led the way at $790,000, with Inter Miami just behind at $780,000.

Looking at which players played in qualifying games was a fun exercise, as qualifying for the 2026 World Cup started way back in September of 2023, so it was a blast from the recent past to look at the rosters from the last few years. The list below contains all players owned by Orlando City (mostly Lions, but some Young Lions) who were called up and dressed for their national teams during their time in Orlando. This list only counts appearances on the gameday roster for World Cup qualifiers and recent friendlies for Canada and USA (it would have counted friendlies for Mexico too, but our southern neighbors continue to be Lion-free). The estimated payout per appearance is $2,632.

Though Ojeda appeared in the World Cup for Paraguay he only joined Orlando City after World Cup qualification was completed in South America, so he did not earn any money for the club in this manner. Had Alex Freeman stayed with the club through the World Cup, as many thought he might, he would have earned the most money for Orlando City as he was called up for all of the 10 most recent friendlies for the U.S. Men’s National Team and he was at the World Cup for 43 days. Alas, only six of his friendly appearances counted, but Orlando City surely enjoyed counting the reportedly $4+ million transfer fee the club received from Villarreal in Spain.

Club legends Pedro Gallese and Facundo Torres ended up contributing the most from their appearances, though neither player ended up actually playing in the World Cup, as Peru did not qualify and Torres was not selected by Uruguay. You should have stayed in Orlando, Facu!

Orlando City B was well represented also, with Abdi Salim and Nabi Kibunguchy participating in African qualifying matches and Wilfredo Rivera in North American qualifying, as even though Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States it is a full FIFA member on its own.

Five current Lions contributed to qualifying, the aforementioned Crépeau and Pašalić as well as David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena, and Tyrese Spicer. Brekalo dressed for all six of Slovenia’s matches , Cartagena was called in for every match for Peru up until he suffered an injury in early 2025, and Spicer dressed in every match for Trinidad & Tobago except for its final qualifier, which took place after it could no longer advance from its group.

The overall tally for Orlando City’s participation in qualifying is an estimated $177,150, which combined with the estimated $620,000 from its players who actually participated in the World Cup means that the club should receive a check for something in the vicinity of $800,000 whenever FIFA distributes its spoils to all of the clubs around the world. FIFA may have no interest in accountability in most matters, but its accounting teams are like a well-oiled machine with collecting and distributing bribes funds, so that check should be coming soon.

That payment will close the door on the 2026 World Cup for Orlando City, one that appears to have been successful for the club as all three players contributed to their national teams, returned healthy (Pašalić has yet to play, but he is training and likely will dress for Saturday’s game), and earned more than half a million dollars for the club. The team has also taken all six points since the World Cup break ended, but two games is still far too small of a sample to say the team is back to being a threat in the Eastern Conference.

Maybe that will be the final payoff, though.

Vamos Orlando!