Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Inter Miami, Leagues Cup: Final Score 3-1 as Controversial Calls Help Herons Come from Behind
At the risk of being unprofessional…man, that was some bullshit.
An obvious penalty at one end not given and one given at the other end helped turn a 1-0 Orlando City lead into a 3-1 Inter Miami win at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale in the 2025 Leagues Cup semifinals. A second yellow to David Brekalo on the late penalty that was given Miami’s way put Orlando down to 10 men and allowed Lionel Messi to tie the match from the penalty spot late.
The extra man then helped the Herons find a go-ahead goal and an insurance marker in a game that will long be remembered more for the officiating than the performances of the Lions or Herons.
An obvious foul on Sergio Busquets in the box on Ivan Angulo on a 2-v-2 counter was ignored by referee Walter Lopez and incorrectly not overturned by video assistant referee Armando Villarreal in the 56th minute. Messi scored the winner and Telasco Segovia added a third in stoppage time in a bitter loss in the Tropic Thunder rivalry.
After an earlier botched breakaway by Angulo, Marco Pasalic scored Orlando’s lone goal late in the first half, and that looked for the longest time like it might hold up.
“I think that we weren’t able to defend as much in the second half as we should have,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “We should have had a bit more control in our sequences, in our positions, to perhaps hold longer possession. And then, of course, it became tougher (after going down a man and conceding a penalty).”
Pareja started his usual first-choice starting lineup for this season, with Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Alex Freeman. Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta started in central midfield between wingers Ivan Angulo and Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Luis Muriel up top.
The opening moments were tentative and probing from both teams, with neither side willing to get stretched. It wasn’t until the fifth minute that either side got into the opposing team’s final third. Freeman sent in a good cross for Angulo, but it was just a bit too tall for the diminutive Colombian winger. Two minutes later, Ojeda’s cross in was partially blocked and spun out just inches too far in front of Muriel’s sliding effort.
Miami’s first good look came off of a bad giveaway by Angulo in his own defensive third. The Herons cycled the ball from the left side to Rodrigo De Paul on the right. The midfielder fired a blast just wide of the left post in the eighth minute.
The game opened up for a spell and Orlando fashioned a good opportunity in the ninth minute. Ojeda made a wonderful backheel flick to himself to maintain possession and beat his defender down the left. He fired from a tight angle but Oscar Ustari made a good save, helped by the shot coming in at the perfect height for him to get his hand to. A minute later, Muriel took a pass in the box but perhaps took one touch too many before shooting, getting it blocked behind for a corner.
Brekalo was booked in the 18th minute when his flailing arm appeared to catch De Paul high on the chest, but the Miami midfielder crumpled to the ground holding his face, and the defender was cautioned on a play that had serious ramifications later in the match. The Herons went down easily throughout the match, looking for calls, and although they didn’t often get them, that one ended up making a difference. Brekalo, however, should not have been so loose with the arm.
De Paul fired a dangerously swerving shot in the 22nd minute from range, but Gallese did well to stop it and keep the game scoreless.
Just one minute later, the Lions should have taken the lead. A fantastic ball from Ojeda sent Angulo blazing in behind the last defender. The winger had so much time in behind that he was able to set himself up for the shot. He beat Ustari, but sent his shot skipping just wide of the right post, wasting a golden opportunity in the 23rd minute.
Miami came closest in the 31st minute. Luis Suarez took the ball on the right side, cut in on his left to lose Brekalo, and smashed a curling shot that fizzed just wide of the left post.
Angulo had a better effort on goal in the 33rd minute, firing a shot on the left side that forced a diving save from Ustari. Four minutes later, Pasalic tried an ambitious volley off a cross-field pass by Ojeda, but the Croatian got well under his shot and sent it high into the seats.
Miami won a corner moments later but the Lions cleared and went on the break. Angulo was taken down cleanly in transition, but Ian Fray reached out and grabbed him to prevent him from quickly getting back on the ball. There was no yellow card for Fray or even a foul given.
Pasalic got a shot on target from outside the box in the 42nd minute, but he sent it straight into Ustari’s chest for an easy save.
Miami got a chance on the recycle of a corner kick a minute later, with a ball sent back into the box. Maxi Falcon got to the ball and took it from Messi, firing a weak shot at Gallese.
Pasalic broke the deadlock just seconds into stoppage time. Falcon tried to clear a ball into the box but it hit Pasalic in the chest and stayed at the Croatian’s feet, so he smashed it under the bar to make it 1-0. There was a check to see if it hit his arm, but it came off his chest and shoulder area, and the goal stood. It was Pasalic’s 14th goal across all competitions this season and gave him a goal in each of his three matches against Inter Miami in 2025.
Pasalic had one final impatient shot from long range deep in stoppage time on a promising counterattack, but he sent it well off target on the last look at goal of the opening period.
At the break, the Lions held the advantage in possession (51.8%-48.3%), shots (8-5), shots on target (4-2), and passing accuracy (90.9%-88.6%). Both teams won three corners in the first half.
“I think we had a pretty good first half. We were able to control very well, and we came here to provide a proposal which actually compelled us to go look for goals,” Pareja said.
The second half offered few surprises, with Miami pushing numbers forward and Orlando looking to exploit those spaces left in the back. The Lions’ lack of precision and composure prevented numerous opportunities to get forward and test that back line in transition, but the chances were there to be taken. Orlando simply didn’t take them, and then seemingly did enough on a 2-v-2 to win a penalty, only for the ref to swallow the whistle and the video assistant referee to ignore video evidence of the contact on a play that Angulo could have regathered the ball in a shooting position.
Schlegel gave up a free kick in a dangerous spot near the left corner of the box four minutes into the second half, but the wall did its job, and Muriel blocked Messi’s free kick. Moments later, Schlegel did well to partially block a Suarez shot that popped up into the air for Gallese to catch. Suarez took a dive in the box moments later but was not booked for embellishment. That was an important decision, because Suarez was booked later for a high boot with 10 minutes remaining in normal time — eight minutes before Miami’s second goal.
Jansson made a vital clearance in the 55th minute on a good headed ball toward the back post that might have found a player in pink without the captain’s intercession.
Moments later, the Lions should have had a chance to double the lead from the spot. Orlando broke in transition with Angulo and Muriel on two Miami defenders. Angulo dribbled into the corner of the box and touched the ball quickly to his right. Busquets cut off his progress — a play extremely similar to the one at the start of the half that got Schlegel booked and another play that saw Araujo cautioned in the 69th minute — keeping the winger from regathering the ball and shooting or finding an outlet. Instead of a foul, Lopez waved play on, and the video check from Villarreal was apparently quick, because there was no real stoppage at all for it.
“I don’t want to come here and cry about all the things that happened. That’s the least of my wishes here, because the team of players that I coach does not deserve that,” Pareja said. “Ivan’s penalty was very clear.”
Miami had a golden chance to tie the game just moments after the no-call. Jordi Alba sent in a great cross for a charging Suarez, who somehow missed making contact with the ball in the air, allowing it to get through and skip out of play.
Araujo stepped in front of Messi to cut off his run in the 69th minute and was booked, handing Miami a dangerous free kick. Messi left his set piece shot high, sending it over the bar in the 71st minute.
Two minutes later, Freeman made a nice play to take the ball, going on a run up the right sideline. He was pulled down in transition but there was no card shown to Yannick Bright for the tactical foul.
Miami came the other way and sent a good ball into the box. Brekalo got beat on the far side by Tadeo Allende. Both players had a hold of the other’s shirts, and Allende lifted his feet off the ground. If pulled back, the feet would go forward. They stayed behind. But Lopez bought it and awarded the penalty, sending Brekalo off with a second yellow in the process. Based on what had happened earlier with Angulo and Busquets, it was a bitter decision for the Lions. Messi beat Gallese on the spot kick, despite the Peruvian guessing correctly, and the match was tied in the 77th minute with the Herons up a man.
“The yellow card to Brekalo was unbelievable,” Pareja said.
Orlando was still in position to get a draw in the game and go to penalties, and the Lions nearly got there.
However, Miami still had a numbers advantage and was going for the win. Allende sent a header over the bar in the 84th minute. Three minutes later, Alba got outside of Freeman and sent a shot off the outside of the left post.
Orlando was done in seconds later. Freeman got under a chipped pass into the box, but instead of nodding it back for Gallese or playing it safely out for a corner, the young fullback tried to clear the soft floater out of the area. Without any speed on the ball, he could get no power on it, turning it over just outside the area. Inter Miami regathered, broke forward quickly and Messi worked a give-and-go with Alba, getting in behind on the left, and beating Gallese to the open right side of the goal. The Herons led 2-1 with just about 61 seconds remaining in normal time, effectively ending the game.
“I cannot say that such an extraordinary player as Messi was not doing things well, of course, not,” Pareja said. “But we also need to mention other things which happened. And I’m not here to mention all of these things, of course, because I think that we also must be brave enough and admit that perhaps we didn’t do things as well as we could. But you will be able to be the judges.”
With nothing to lose, Pareja sent on attackers Tyrese Spicer and Duncan McGuire — making his first appearance since shoulder surgery three months ago. However, they’d only been on the pitch for a few seconds when Miami regained possession and broke with numbers, resulting in an insurance goal for Segovia in the first added minute.
Though the game was all but over, Ojeda did have an opportunity with a free kick from about 25 yards away in the fourth extra minute. He sent his set piece delivery straight into the wall, perhaps trying to thread the shot through a hole between two players that never materialized. The rebound came back to him, and although he got his shot through the second time, it bounced wide of the right post.
The whistle blew moments later to end one of the most maddening second halves in Orlando City history.
In the end, the hosts finished with the advantage in possession (55.3%-44.7%), shots (14-11), shots on target (6-4), corners (4-3), and passing accuracy (89.3%-86.6%). They also led in game-changing decisions by those charged with applying the rules of the game accurately and consistently.
Although the Lions could have put themselves in a more secure position through Angulo’s first-half breakaway, Orlando’s tactics and performance were good enough on the night to get a result had every meaningful call down the stretch not gone the other way. Brekalo’s foul in the box was understandable. The one Busquets committed was an egregious officiating error by both the man on the field and the one in the booth.
After the match, Pareja did a masterful job of tap dancing around the controversial decisions to avoid a fine and to show respect to his opponents. His feelings, however, were plain to see in the postgame press conference.
“I want to just (leave) it to you guys (the media) to judge and evaluate that performance, those actions that were very precise that changed the game. And you guys know which actions,” he said. “The thing is, I cannot say what I have to say here, actually I cannot. I cannot say that, because there’s a lot of respect due to the match, to the game, and the actions that were assigned actually changed the direction of the game.”
The Lions will travel west for their final match of the competition on Sunday, playing the loser of tonight’s late matchup between the LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders for third place and a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Orlando City
Orlando City Has Chance to Finish Strong Before World Cup Break
The Lions have an opportunity to make up some ground in the Eastern Conference before the World Cup break.
Orlando City only has four more league games to play before Major League Soccer takes a break until late July to accommodate the World Cup. While the Lions have started to move in the right direction with two wins in their last three league games, the good guys still sit 13th in the Eastern Conference table. Fortunately, Orlando has a good opportunity to make up some ground in the standings before the league goes on its summer sabbatical. Let’s take a look at why.
For one thing, despite the rough start to Orlando’s season, the Eastern Conference as a whole hasn’t had a particularly strong go of things either. Nashville SC is atop the standings with 23 points, but no other team has eclipsed the 20-point mark, and Orlando is just five points behind fifth place D.C. United. Contrast that to the Western Conference, where the San Jose Earthquakes have 28 points at the top of the table, five teams have 20 or more points, and Orlando would be 10 points out of fifth place.
Another factor in OCSC’s favor is who it’ll play in its next four games. The Lions will only face one team currently above the playoff line, while they’ll also take on the two teams directly below them, and the team directly above them in the standings.
First up is Saturday”s road match against CF Montreal — a team the Lions have beaten already this year — which currently sits one point and one place below Orlando in the table. After that, Orlando gets a midweek game on Wednesday when it hosts the Philadelphia Union. Philly is currently last in the East with six points, and while the Union’s 17 goals conceded is actually sixth best in the conference, the total of nine goals the team has scored is comfortably the worst.
A few days after hosting Philly at home, Orlando will welcome Atlanta United to Inter&Co Stadium on Saturday, May16. The Five Stripes are currently level with OCSC on points but sit one spot ahead of the Lions in the standings due to a superior goal difference. The toughest test, at least on paper, will come in the final game before the break when the Lions travel to face sixth-place FC Cincinnati. Anything can obviously happen once the games are being played, but in theory this stretch of the schedule is a more welcoming one than the period that saw Orlando play New York City FC, Nashville, and LAFC on the road in quick succession.
Then there’s the state of the Lions themselves. The defense admittedly still needs some work, as Orlando is yet to keep a clean sheet in the league and has conceded fewer than two goals in only four of its 11 games. Thankfully, the offense is improving though. Orlando has scored 10 goals in its last three league games, and bagged an additional four against a heavily rotated New England Revolution side in the U.S. Open Cup.
Outside of the actual product on the field, OCSC is slowly but surely starting to get healthier. Eduard Atuesta and Wilder Cartagena have both made returns from injury, Robin Jansson has been back in the starting lineup for a few games now, and Duncan McGuire also made an appearance from the bench in the 4-3 win over Inter Miami. Injuries haven’t been the only thing that have hampered Orlando this year, but they certainly haven’t made life any easier either, and having key players back is never going to be a bad thing.
Given how topsy turvy this season has been so far, it’s anyone’s guess as to how these next four games will play out on the field. But given the middling state of the Eastern Conference, the quality of the upcoming opponents, Orlando’s improved offense, and an increasing pool of healthy players, the Lions have a good opportunity to start digging themselves out of the hole they find themselves in at the bottom of the standings. The games still need to be played, but given how hopeless things looked in March, it’s just nice to have some reasons to be hopeful. Now all the Lions need to do is take advantage of the chance in front of them. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links
Lion Links: 5/8/26
Orlando City prepares for CF Montreal, Pride host North Carolina tonight, Johnny Cardoso injured, and more.
Happy Friday, Mane Landers! We have some exciting games ahead of us over the next few days, with three straight days of Orlando soccer to enjoy. It all starts with the Orlando Pride’s game tonight, with Orlando City playing Saturday afternoon, and Orlando City B wrapping things up on Sunday. Make sure to plan your weekend accordingly! Let’s get to the links.
Orlando City Gets Ready for Road Match
The Lions are on the road this weekend for a game in Canada against CF Montreal on Saturday. Orlando is coming off of a dramatic 4-3 win over rival Inter Miami, with Martin Ojeda scoring a hat trick. Ojeda has had Montreal’s number in recent years, scoring at least once against the Canadian club each year for the past three years. Orlando hasn’t lost to Montreal since 2023, but it also hasn’t won on the road against Montreal since 2021. Saturday’s match will also be a reunion of sorts for goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, who joined Montreal’s academy at age 15 and played there for nine years. He was excellent in Orlando’s win in Miami, so hopefully he can keep it up in his home country.
Orlando Pride Host North Carolina Courage Tonight
The Orlando Pride are back in action tonight with a home game against the North Carolina Courage. Both teams are coming off of losses last week, with the Pride falling 4-2 to the Washington Spirit. Tonight’s match will pit the league’s top two scorers against each other, with Barbra Banda scoring seven so far while Ashley Sanchez has scored five. The Pride will play three consecutive road games after tonight, putting an emphasis on a strong showing at home. It’s also Survivor Night at the stadium, so make sure to bring any immunity idols if you’ll be in attendance. The Pride could use any advantage they can get.
Johnny Cardoso Injured Ahead of World Cup
Atletico Madrid announced that American midfielder Johnny Cardoso was diagnosed with an ankle sprain he sustained in training, casting doubt on his availability for the World Cup next month. He’ll now work on rehabilitation before the club provides a timetable for his return. The 24-year-old started in the United States Men’s National Team’s game against Belgium in March, but he had to exit that camp due to injury as well. Hopefully he has a smooth and successful recovery from this.
English Clubs Reach European Finals
Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 in the Europa League, overcoming a loss in the first leg to secure a spot in the final. John McGinn scored twice to help his team reach its first major European final since 1982. Villa will play in the final on May 20 against SC Freiburg, which also bounced back from a loss in the first leg by beating Braga 3-1 in Germany. A red card to Mario Dorgeles in the sixth minute reduced Braga to 10 men early on and Lukas Kubler bagged a brace for Freiburg.
In the Europa Conference League, Crystal Palace won 2-1 against Shakhtar Donetsk to advance to the final on May 27 against Rayo Vallecano. As a result of this week’s semifinals across the continent, English clubs are in contention to win the Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League.
Free Kicks
- The World Cup trophy will be on display for public viewing at Universal Orlando Resort on May 11 and 12.
- Nashville SC forward Sam Surridge topped the MLS MVP rankings at this point of the season, with the Chicago Fire’s Hugo Cuypers in second. Martin Ojeda wasn’t listed, but we know he can go on a hot streak and last week’s hat trick might’ve been the spark.
- Barcelona can clinch the La Liga title with a win or a draw at home against Real Madrid on Sunday.
- As for how Real Madrid’s preparations for El Clasico are going, Federico Valverde suffered a head injury after an altercation with teammate Aurelien Tchouameni.
- ESPN detailed the multitude of pain points fans could deal with during the upcoming World Cup, as well as exploring at what point is it too much of a hassle to attend the world’s best sporting event.
- Darwin Nunez is reportedly leaving Al-Hilal this summer, making him an interesting name to keep an eye out for over the next few months.
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
Justin Ellis Off to Hot Start in 2026 on Multiple Levels
Homegrown forward Justin Ellis is off to a strong early start to the season for both Orlando City and OCB.
May is a big month for graduations, as students of all ages are wrapping up their school years and preparing to move up to the next level. Some graduations are bigger deals than others, but it is a big deal for every student that they accomplished everything required of them during the school year and should be celebrated thusly. Dr. Seuss’s book Oh The Places You’ll Go is commonly gifted to graduates in honor of their accomplishments, as the famous author writes about soaring to great heights and overcoming obstacles while on the journey of life.
That book is great and one I highly recommend that everyone, not just graduating students, read every year. I do not know if Orlando City’s Justin Ellis has read that book recently, but he is certainly going places with how he has played in 2026. Ellis started the year primarily playing with Orlando City B (OCB), but his last six games in all competitions have all been with Orlando City. In those games he started five of them, playing a total of 443 minutes, and he scored two goals while adding three assists. For the season Ellis now has one goal and two assists in MLS play, one goal and one assist in U.S. Open Cup play, and three goals and two assists in MLS NEXT Pro play for a total of five goals and five assists in all competitions. He is the leading scorer among all three Orlando teams, as you can see in the chart below.
I was a mathematics major, but you do not have to be one to notice that the chart below will only list eight goal contributions for Ellis, rather than the 10 I just mentioned. The chart below comes from Opta’s tracking on the American Soccer Analysis website, and they only track data from games in league play (a cool feature of theirs is that they track stoppage time minutes, so the per 90-minutes-values are far more accurate than on other websites). Even so, Ellis still leads all three teams in total goal contributions and also goal contributions per 90 minutes played.
All three leagues are at different parts of their season, but the per-90-minutes data normalizes it for all players. In the chart you will see two numbers in each category, the raw number for that category, and then the per-90-minutes number inside of the parentheses. The overall rank is as compared to every player who has at least three goal contributions (there are 218 as of Wednesday) across MLS, MLS NEXT Pro, and the NWSL.
| Player | Goals | Assists* | Goal Contributions | Overall Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Ellis | 4 (0.52) | 4 (0.52) | 8 (1.04) | T-12 (17) |
| Barbra Banda | 7 (0.92) | 0 (0.00) | 7 (0.92) | T-19 (26) |
| Martín Ojeda | 7 (0.58) | 0 (0.00) | 7 (0.58) | T-19 (120) |
| Harvey Sarajian | 4 (0.57) | 2 (0.28) | 6 (0.85) | T-41 (32) |
| Gustavo Caraballo | 3 (0.41) | 2 (0.28) | 5 (0.69) | 74 (72) |
- * This dataset only includes primary assists, though MLS counts both primary and secondary assists in the league’s official tracking. None of the players in the chart have accumulated any secondary assists thus far, though Banda and Ojeda certainly should have accumulated at least one assist somehow by now with how well they have set their teammates up. Sigh.
If we take a look at the two individual per-90-minutes categories of goals per 90 minutes and assists per 90 minutes, a player who contributes equally in all facets of the offense would be one who has pretty similar numbers in each, as that would make them just as proficient in setting up their teammates as they are in scoring goals. Most players tend towards being goal scorers or distributors, but very few players are adept at being both. In his short professional career Ellis is one of the rare players who scores and assists at nearly even quantities, as he has scored 14 goals and assisted on 11 while playing for Orlando City and OCB.
Looking at his 2026 performance alone, Ellis is in the top 17 among all players in both total goal contributions and goal contributions per 90 minutes during league play, with a perfectly even four goals and four assists and 0.52 per 90 minutes for each. That puts him right on the f(x) = x line (real ones know), and he, St. Louis 2’s Palmer Ault, and San Diego’s Anders Dreyer are the only players with at least eight goal contributions (Ault has eight and Dreyer has 10) to have the same number of assists as goals thus far this season.
The scatterplot below shows all 218 players with at least three goal contributions and their associated goals and assists per 90 minutes, and you can see that Ellis is one of only a few players to be strongly positive on both measures.
Ellis’ excellent stats are combined between the two leagues, but based on how well he has played for Orlando City recently it is quite possible that (oh) the places that he will go in 2026 will no longer include any OCB games, unless it is to watch from the stands. After last year’s great year — what a season, in fact! — Ellis is rolling along on the Alex Freeman track.
The senior Lions’ next three games are against teams that are all right next to them at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings (Montreal, Philadelphia, and Atlanta), meaning that all three games are winnable, especially considering that two of the three will be at home. Results have been better recently, especially after the injection of Ellis into the lineup, and thanks to his contributions I am feeling better about the team’s chances of putting together a good run of form in the upcoming weeks.
Will they succeed? Yes! They will indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
Vamos Orlando!
Orlando Pride vs. North Carolina Courage: Final Score 1-0 as Pride Win on Banda’s Late Goal
Orlando Pride vs. North Carolina Courage: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
Orlando City Has Chance to Finish Strong Before World Cup Break
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