Orlando City vs. D.C. United: Player Grades and Man of the Match

Orlando City was scheduled to play on Saturday night but the offense decided not to show up, leading to another incredibly disappointing 1-1 draw against one of the weakest teams in the entire league. The Lions dominated possession and played with an extra player for more than 30 minutes, but the offense could not take advantage and the team dropped another two points that it should have easily taken.

I have my purple pen out and I am ready to issue some grades, so here we go. Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated individually in their matchup with an Eastern Conference opponent.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6 — Orlando City’s No. 1 had little to do during this game, especially after the D.C. United red card early in the second half, but he was unable to prevent United’s one big chance, and once again the Lions did not keep a clean sheet. It would have taken an incredible save for Gallese to keep Jackson Hopkins’ shot out of the net, as it was ripped from close range, but El Pulpo had saved shots like that in the past. Alas he could not predict near post vs. far post in that split second, and did not make the save on Saturday night. He subsequently played about 60 more minutes but was not called into action to do much more than play a few passes. He finished the game with two saves and a 93.3% completion percentage on his passes.

D, David Brekalo, 6 — D.C. United’s one goal came on Brekalo’s side, and twice he came close to breaking up the play but he could not get his foot on either pass, and then D.C. scored seconds later. The Lions spent most the rest of the game with the ball and attacking up their right side, opposite of Brekalo, so he did not have much to offer other than serving as a release valve as Orlando City tried to swing the ball back and forth while looking to create an opening. He made one tackle, had two clearances, and completed 93.2% of his passes.

D, Robin Jansson, 6 — Saturday night’s game was uncharacteristically poor from Jansson, both in his defensive play and also due to misplays out of the back. D.C.’s goal was not solely his fault, but the Beefy Swede had a chance to close down Hopkins and was not able to get to him in time to prevent his shot. Additionally, in the second half, once via the pass and the other time on the dribble, he gave away the ball far too easily, and both times D.C. had the opportunity to create an attack out of seemingly nothing. D.C. did not create a real threat either time, but the hosts never should have even had those two opportunities. The rest of his night was rather quiet, with one interception and two clearances on defense and simple passes to his back line teammates or defensive midfielders, which helped him finish with a game-high (among starters) 97.7% completion percentage.

D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 6.5 — Jansson’s center back partner almost opened the scoring with a diving header in the game’s first 10 minutes, but he hit the ball a little too close to Luis Barraza and the United goalkeeper palmed the shot away. Schlegel ended with with a career-high three shot attempts, putting two on target, and also finished just behind Jansson with a 96.2% completion rate on his passes. D.C. did not have much of the ball, so the Argentine had little to do defensively, but he also had one tackle, one clearance, and one blocked shot.

D, Alex Freeman, 7 (MotM) — There should be a catchy name or acronym for when a player scores a goal and an opposing player receives a red card on the same play, as there are hardly any more devastating occurrences than giving up a goal and having to play the rest of the game down a player. Freeman achieved this against D.C. United, nearly giving up his head (perhaps we could have called him the Headless Freeman?) in order to score the tying goal and get Orlando City back level. The USMNT player came just inches away from winning the game in the dying minutes as well, volleying a Martín Ojeda free kick just wide after getting himself open on the right side of the box. Orlando City played 42% of its attacks down the right third of the field and Freeman was in attack mode, taking four shots and playing two key passes, and finally scoring a goal after a summer-long drought that went back to May 31. He completed 86.7% of his passes, and he added two tackles and one interception on defense.

MF, Iván Angulo, 6 — Hindsight is of course 20/20, but this game was not one that necessitated a left side pairing of the defense-first Brekalo and Angulo. From the opening minute, D.C. was lying deep and bunkering in, and what Orlando City needed was a left wing player who could attack and unlock the defense. Once D.C. went a man down, the need was even more pronounced as the hosts sat back even deeper, and that is what led to Tyrese Spicer being the first sub off the bench to replace Angulo. Disappointingly for the defense-first Angulo, it was his overrun of Conner Antley that allowed Antley to cut inside and play the pass that assisted the D.C. goal, and even though the Colombian ended the game with a team-high five tackles, it is the one tackle that he missed that will be remembered the most. Angulo completed 92.1% of his passes and nearly assisted Ojeda in the fourth minute, but Barraza made a great save to keep it out.

MF, Joran Gerbet, 6.5 — Gerbet deputized for the injured César Araújo and played a cool, calm, and collected defensive midfield for the full 90 minutes. The rookie is not the agitator that Araújo is, and he did not suffer or commit the amount of fouls that his teammate usually does, but he was a solid complement to Eduard Atuesta in the middle of the field, helping Orlando City dominate possession and the middle third. Gerbet completed 72 passes at a 90% completion rate, and on the defensive side he recorded two tackles, one interception, and one clearance.

MF, Eduard Atuesta, 6 — Freeman’s goal is officially unassisted, since it came off of a rebound, but Freeman and Atuesta initiated that goal by combining on a pass before the Colombian found Marco Pašalić, and the Croatian’s shot turned into the rebound that Freeman headed into the net. Atuesta had four key passes and completed the third-most passes on the team, going 58/64 (90.6%) while pulling the strings for an offense that racked up 25 shots. He added two tackles and one interception on defense before making way for Dagur Dan Thórhallsson in the final minute of regulation time.

MF, Marco Pašalić, 6.5 — The Croatian’s lethal left foot created Orlando City’s only goal by being too hot to handle for Barraza, and Pašalić was as engaged as he had been in any game this season on Saturday night, taking a game-high seven shots and delivering a game-high five key passes. He completed 81.6% of his passes, including three successful crosses, and he and Freeman partnered together well on the right side of the attack. Unfortunately for Orlando City and Pašalić, all that volume he created resulted in only one goal and the Lions leaving the nation’s capital with only one point.

F, Martín Ojeda, 6.5 — All streaks eventually come to an end, and Ojeda’s goal contribution streak ended on Saturday night after he was unable to score or assist on a goal. It was not for lack of effort, as the Argentine took three shots and had four key passes, and both he and his teammates came within inches of keeping that streak alive. Ojeda left it all on the field, creating chances from the first few minutes through the last, and on another night he might have had a goal and an assist, or more. He completed 84.3% of his passes and added one tackle and two interceptions on defense.

F, Duncan McGuire, 6 — Big Dunc played more minutes than I thought he would, as even with a two-week break prior to Saturday’s game, I figured he would not extend past 60 minutes. Instead he played nearly the full 90, and while his two most impressive plays were wiped away by foul calls (he was just offside before playing a great pass to Ojeda for a point-blank shot attempt and the ball just grazed his arm before he smoked a shot into the net), he started to look more like the McGuire from last season in this game, just in time for the stretch run. There were still hiccups, and despite playing 87 minutes, he only was able to get 19 touches, but he had three key passes with those touches, completed 91.7% of his passes and came agonizingly close to scoring the game-winning goal.

Substitutes

MF, Tyrese Spicer (71′), 5.5 — Spicer entered the game for Angulo in an offense-for-defense switch, but his offensive contribution was minimal. He completed only five of his nine pass attempts, and he did not put either of his two shot attempts on goal. The Trinidad & Tobago international had several opportunities to put in dangerous crosses, but the quality was not there, and while he gave a maximum effort, the production was minimal.

F, Shak Mohammed, (87′), NA — The young striker made his 2025 debut in the final minutes of regular time, coming on for a clearly exhausted McGuire. He completed both of his pass attempts and won one aerial, and had Freeman hit more of a cross than a shot off of Ojeda’s late free kick, he might have scored the game-winner, as he was in position to connect with the ball but it was too high for him.

MF, Dagur Dan Thórhallsson, (90′), NA — The Icelandic utility man came on in the dying minutes of the game for Atuesta, but with so few minutes on the field, he did not contribute very much. He completed all four of his passes and hustled throughout his minutes on the field, but he was unable to help the team get a last-gasp winner.

That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s wasteful 1-1 draw with D.C. Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below, and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match.