Antoine Griezmann continues to rip up Major League Soccer, as his two goals and an assist led Orlando City to a critical 4-1 home victory over D.C. United on Saturday.

Orlando opened with a couple of early shots from Martin Ojeda and Ivan Angulo. D.C. then created some threats at the other end, as goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau continued shoring up the patchwork defense with a great double save in the eighth minute off a long throw-in in the middle of a series of set pieces to keep the game scoreless.

After that, Orlando got back on the front foot and scored twice in the middle of the half to leap out to the lead. The first goal in the 15th minute was a well-worked team goal full of the kind of brilliant one-touch passing that Griezmann has brought to the team, cycling from Eduard Atuesta to Griezmann to Daryl Dike to Griezmann to Ojeda and back to Griezmann for the goal in the space of about six seconds. Then, in the 22nd minute, Ojeda finished a Griezman lob with a spectacular leaping backheel finish with his right foot.

With two goals in seven minutes, it looked like Orlando was in scoring-for-fun mode, but the game settled down for a bit with D.C. maintaining some possession but not creating much. That is until Atuesta conceded a corner in the last minute of the first half. Wilder Cartegena tackled his mark in the style more common to U.S. football than soccer. Tai Baribo converted the resulting penalty kick, and the game went to halftime with the Lions leading 2-1.

Immediately after the start of the second half, D.C. found the net, but Baribo was clearly offside and the goal disallowed. Shortly after that, Kye Rowles passed the ball directly to Griezmann just outside the D.C. penalty area. Griezmann took two touches before passing it home past Sean Johnson for a 3-1 lead in the 50th minute.

To their credit, the visitors continued to attack in an attempt to fight their way back into the game, and the teams continued a lively back-and-forth as the match went on. Orlando City prevented D.C. from getting many good looks, but protecting a two-goal lead, the Lions didn’t take many changes and only generated a couple good opportunities of their own. Ojeda played Atuesta to the corner of the box in the 59th minute, and the Colombian midfielder shook his defender and provided a great cross to Iván Angulo, but Johnson made a toe save to deny him. Griezmann tried to volley home an audacious shot from a Justin Ellis cross in the 76th minute and got his effort on goal, but the shot didn’t quite have enough power, allowing Johnson time to make the save.

As time wound down in stoppage time, Ellis broke the D.C. lines with a superb diagonal ball to spring fellow substitute Marco Pašalić behind the defense and into a one-on-one with Johnson, which the Croatian calmly finished to stretch the lead to 4-1 on the last play of the game.

The win keeps Orlando in seventh place and combined with other results around MLS to provide a few more points of separation with the teams trying to catch the Lions from behind. We hope you enjoy the photos from the game!

Two teams of vastly differing league results, the Orlando Pride and San Diego Wave, met on Friday night, and it went about as one would expect, given the standings. The Pride spurned an opening look, then the Wave converted theirs and the Pride never got back into the game after that for a 2-1 loss.

Orlando got the first break in the game, with Barbra Banda getting on the run and playing a ball through for Solai Washington on the break in the second minute, but Washington was unable to make the transfer cleanly to her right foot and scuffed the shot. Shortly after that, Cori Dyke cleared a corner kick out the side without pressure, and the Pride were picking the ball out of the back of the net after failing to mark on the resulting throw-in sequence.

After the goal, Orlando continued trying to play the ball through to Banda on the run. San Diego countered by being physical with Banda and the referee was content to facilitate, and San Diego also did a good job of forcing what attack Orlando was able to build into either turnovers or a low-chance shots from distance. Disaster struck for the Pride in the 22nd minute, when Hannah Anderson coughed up the ball in her own box, sending a too-soft back pass between the back line and the well in front of the goalkeeper. Cosette Morche tried her best to clean up the mess, blocking the ball away from Kenza Dali and making a huge save on Trinity Byars, but she was unable to do anything about Gia Corley, who had a wide-open net in the scramble. San Diego took its 2-0 lead into the break.

To open the second half, Orlando teased a breath of life with Banda getting in behind and getting run over in the box by Kennedy Wesley, drawing a penalty kick in the second minute of the half. After getting treatment and the usual penalty delays, Banda placed the spot kick inches inside the right post to draw the game back to 2-1. Unfortunately, the Wave’s dominance on the ball continued after that, with Orlando getting only three additional shots (none on target) for the remainder of the match. Banda’s penalty was the only shot on target after the 13th minute of the game.

The Pride will be back in action on Oct. 18, visiting the Houston Dash after the upcoming FIFA women’s international break.

We hope you enjoy these pictures from the match.

Two of the better offenses and two of the worst defenses in MLS met on Saturday night when Orlando City hosted FC Cincinnati, so logically the final result was a modest 1-1 draw. The Lions looked sharp in their new third kit, and former Orlando City defender Kyle Smith made a return to his former hunting grounds to a warm welcome.

The oppressively hot weather dampened the energy level, but both teams played an entertaining, flowing game. The teams took a few minutes to settle in, then the Lions got on a persistent attack for a while with a Justin Ellis chance in the ninth minute well saved over the bar and a good Tyrese Spicer chance in the 11th minute dragged wide. Cincinnati returned the favor with some sustained pressure of its own, barely missing a good Evander cross in the 20th minute, and finally Pavel Bucha cleaning up a blocked shot (off Joran Gerbet’s face) to break through in the 23rd minute to take the lead.

One of the best chances for the Lions fell for Ellis in the 36th minute. Antoine Griezmann played Griffin Dorsey in behind, and the fullback cut it back to Ellis at penalty spot. Ellis unfortunately left his shot too central and too close to goalkeeper Roman Celentano, who made the save. The Homegrown forward had one more headed chance from around the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time, but he put it straight at Celentano for an easy save.

After halftime, Marco Pašalić came on for Gerbet in a planned substitution. Orlando equalized quickly on the counter. Iván Angulo sprung a transition attack with a good ball to Ellis near midfield, who flicked the ball in behind for Spicer. The speedy winger did well to beat Bucha to the ball and opened space, rounded the keeper, and then finished well to avoid the recovering defender.

The Lions stayed on the front foot, with a series of shots from Spicer and Ellis blocked, with the rebound falling to Griezmann, who fired a nice volley, but right at Celentano from the right. Cincinnati then seized control of the game with Kevin Denkey hitting the post before Evander took a dive in the box trying to get to the rebound. This was initially called a penalty, but upon review, the call was reversed and Evander picked up a yellow card. Orlando spent a fair amount of time defending down the stretch but afforded Cincinnati few dangerous looks, drawing offside calls on those that might have been.

As the game wore on and the heat and short rest set in, the game moved back onto more equal footing, with no great chances for either team until the 87th minute, when Crépeau made a good save on Kenji Mboma Dem. Orlando had three more shots in stoppage time, with the best of those a long-range effort by Wilder Cartagena that just missed, and the match ended level.

We hope you enjoy these photos from a hard-fought match that saw Orlando come from behind to claim a point.