Opinion

On Witnessing the Slow, Agonizing Unraveling of a Season

Orlando City’s season slowly faded in front of our eyes, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

Published

2 months ago

October 24, 2025

Ben Miller

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

There are times in life when you can see something happening, or realize something is happening, but can do very little, if anything at all, to stop it from happening. It’s a distinctly demoralizing experience, watching something unfold that you have no power to change, and you can encounter that situation in any number of settings.

As an example, I’d like to tell a story about something that happened to me this spring. I was in Miami visiting some friends and we had taken out a boat for a few hours to swim and relax. After being in the water for a bit, I was at the back of the boat and intended to make my way up to the front to join some people and dry off. My phone was in my hand, and thinking that I wanted to be safe and secure, went to put it into my pocket as I navigated the narrow ledge along the side of the boat that would take me to the front. Unfortunately, the boat shifted as I went to put the phone in my pocket, it got stuck on the edge of said pocket, was knocked out of my hand, bounced off the deck of the boat once, and directly into the water. I watched it happening and knew what was going to happen, but I found myself frozen until it was too late and my phone was lost to a watery grave.

I want you to keep this anecdote in mind as we delve into the slow, torturous end of Orlando City’s 2025 season, as I’ll be relating back to it periodically.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and with the benefit of hindsight there are a number of small events that led to the Lions exiting the playoffs with a whimper in the play-in game, before the postseason ever really began. The prologue came before the season even started, when the decision was made to enter the campaign with no true backup at left back, and very thin/unproven depth at both center back and winger. The club was going to need to rely on new signings and young players to step up to the challenge, while also replicating an oddly healthy 2024 campaign — both of which were risky gambles in isolation, but when paired together became positively perilous. For now though, let’s leave the state of the opening day roster to the side, and fast forward to the month of August.

After matchday 27, Orlando was sitting pretty with seven more league games to go. The Lions were fourth in the Eastern Conference on 47 points — just five points back from FC Cincinnati in first. OCSC was riding a four-game winning streak in the league, a seven-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, and had advanced to the knockout rounds of Leagues Cup. With just six points separating Orlando and the ninth-place Chicago Fire, the margins were thin, but the good guys were in the driver’s seat.

Then came the first in a small line of events that led to this season ending in the manner it did. The club has always valued cup competitions and rightly so. After all, the first piece of silverware the Lions won as an MLS club was the U.S. Open Cup, and Orlando City has usually done well in knockout competitions. So, when the team made the knockout portion of Leagues Cup, it was not surprising to hear Oscar Pareja and some of the players talk about their desire to compete on two fronts and do their best to win a trophy, particularly after reaching the semifinals.

The result was that, after beating Toluca on penalties on Aug. 20, Pareja made the decision to field a heavily rotated team on Aug. 23 on the road against Nashville SC, with the semifinal against Inter Miami on Aug. 27 looming large. The chips were pushed into the middle of the proverbial table, and winning Leagues Cup was prioritized heavily. It was a decision akin to me making up my mind to go to the front of the boat and to put my phone in my pocket as I did so. There was plenty of good reasoning behind it at the time, but it was the beginning of the end.

Consider what happened next: Nashville thrashed Orlando 5-1, the Lions lost the semifinal to Miami 3-1, and then dropped the third-place game 2-1 to the LA Galaxy, missing out on the Concacaf Champions Cup spot that came with it. True, there were some interesting officiating decisions in the Miami game, and missing the suspended David Brekalo hurt Orlando against the Galaxy. It’s also true that heavy cross-country travel undoubtedly played a role in some of the performances at that time, particularly against the Galaxy. OCSC played Sporting Kansas City at home on Aug. 16, flew to LA to play Toluca on Aug. 20, then traveled to play in Nashville on Aug. 23, played away against Miami on Aug. 27, and then flew back across the country to play the Galaxy on Aug. 31.

Now that being said, the club knew that’s what the travel would look like when the decision was made to prioritize Leagues Cup. The organization knew that Toluca had hosting rights and understood the gauntlet the schedule would present if Orlando got by the Mexican side. Long-distance travel is simply a fact of life for an MLS club, and while the team picked up Adrian Marin and Tyrese Spicer as reinforcements, Rafael Santos going the other way meant that the change at fullback was a net zero. Still, the team tried to prepare itself for the packed run-in as best it could — at first.

The next domino to fall was Ramiro Enrique being sold. While it didn’t officially occur until Sept. 8, the Argentine was rumored to be headed out the door in late August and was not in the squad for the third-place game against the Galaxy — presumably because he was waiting for the finishing touches to be put on his paperwork. If the reported numbers are to be believed, then the club made a profit on the striker, and there’s something to be said for selling if the money is right not standing in the way of the player’s wishes.

The other side of the argument is that Enrique had eight goals and two assists when he was sold, and he finished the year fourth on the team in goals behind Martin Ojeda, Marco Pasalic, and Luis Muriel. While Duncan McGuire was finally healthy in late August after undergoing a second surgery, the team needed all the bodies it could get when looking at the schedule, especially bodies that had a knack for scoring important goals like Enrique did.

In the context of my boat story, the Enrique sale equates to me attempting to put my phone in the pocket facing the ocean, rather than the one up against the boat. Understandable to use the oceanside pocket, given that I was using my boat-side hand to hold onto a railing and keep myself steady, but wouldn’t it have been wiser to simply make sure my phone was secure before making my way to the front at all? In the same manner, wouldn’t it have been wiser to outright keep a guy that productive, or at least try to arrange for him to be loaned back until the MLS season ended before joining his new club? Perhaps Al-Kholood refused. We may never know, but we do know that in the seven games after he was sold, Orlando scored more than one goal on only two occasions.

Another domino came in the form of Orlando’s Aug. 30 match against the Vancouver Whitecaps being rescheduled for Oct. 11 because of the Lions playing the Galaxy in the third-place game on Aug. 31. Not only did that mean that new Whitecap Thomas Muller would have additional time to settle into his new surroundings, but it also meant that the game would take place during an international break. While that certainly seemed less than ideal, our next domino meant that when the Vancouver game finally rolled around, the outlook was downright ominous.

Beginning with the Sept. 13 match against D.C. United, Marin and Cesar Araujo were sidelined with injuries. Marin eventually returned against FC Cincinnati on Sept. 28, but in the next game against the Columbus Crew on Oct. 4, Joran Gerbet tore his ACL in the fifth minute, ending his season. That meant that due to injuries and call-ups, Brekalo, Alex Freeman, Pasalic, Spicer, Gerbet, Araujo, Colin Guske, and Gustavo Caraballo were all unavailable for the Vancouver match. Matters then got even worse in that game when Robin Jansson went off injured in the 18th minute. After McGuire entered to replace him, Pareja did not make another sub until the 86th minute, when Zakaria Taifi came on for McGuire. By that point, Orlando had surrendered a one-goal lead, and many players looked dead on their feet.

On one hand, there wasn’t much to work with on the bench. After McGuire entered in the first half, it left Papi with Taifi, Shak Mohammed, Thomas Williams, Favian Loyola, and Titus Sandy Jr. to call on. Still, the decision to ride the clearly exhausted starters as long as he did can and should be questioned. Watching a team get overrun and simply hoping that they can hang on and things work out is not usually a strategy for success. In the same fashion, watching one’s phone plummet to the deck of a boat and bounce overboard while frozen rooted to said deck rather than trying to stop it, all while that boat is out and drifting on Biscayne Bay, is rarely the right move to make, yet that’s precisely where I, and Orlando City both found ourselves.

The Lions, of course, went on to lose that game at the death, and personally it felt like a breaking point to me. If that shorthanded, outgunned team had somehow been able to snatch a result against one of the best in the West, I felt like it could be used as a rallying point entering the playoffs — aside from the fact that the three points would have been invaluable and ultimately have seen the team finish in sixth. Orlando had made a nasty habit of dropping points late in games all year, a point that I hesitate to even call a domino given how ingrained it seemed to be in this team’s DNA. Still, I couldn’t help but feel that if the trend had been bucked at that moment, it could have propelled this team forward in the right direction. Instead, it seemed to break the Lions for good.

What followed was the disastrous Decision Day performance against Toronto FC and the equally calamitous showing against Chicago. Araujo returned as a substitute against Toronto, and he and Jansson were both in the starting lineup against Chicago, but it was too late. On both occasions the Lions simply didn’t look like themselves. In Toronto it was a case of being sloppy and giving away chances, while failing to take advantage of some excellent ones that Orlando created, while in Chicago the team looked like it never got off the plane. Late efforts were made in each game, as Brekalo scored in the 54th minute to make it 3-1 against Toronto, and McGuire bagged a 92nd-minute consolation goal to make it 4-2, while Spicer’s 89th-minute goal in the play-in game made the score 3-1.

Particularly in the Chicago game though, it was damning that the Lions only showed the sort of intensity and fight that was needed from the opening whistle once the game was already out of hand at 3-0 with 20 minutes to go. It felt similar to me grabbing a pair of goggles and diving into the water roughly a minute after my phone had disappeared below the surface into seven feet of water with a strong current and plenty of vegetation present on the bottom — noble enough efforts when examined in isolation but always unlikely to succeed when you have the full context of the situations.

Could this all have been prevented had different choices been made? Perhaps. Maybe if there’s a deeper squad at the beginning of the year, the team is better equipped to handle the brutal travel brought on by Leagues Cup and the subsequent rash of absences for the critical game against Vancouver. Maybe if the Lions didn’t prioritize Leagues Cup so heavily, the Vancouver game wouldn’t have needed to be moved in the first place, and OCSC wouldn’t have come away from its Leagues Cup odyssey with nothing to show for it but an injured, exhausted, misfiring squad. Maybe if I’d held my phone in my hand or left it in my backpack inside the cabin, I’d still have it, and wouldn’t be able to make this flawless, perfect metaphor as a result. We’ll never know.

What we do know is that instead, the injuries, suspensions, and call-ups gradually took their toll, the offense stopped scoring, and game by game the season slowly, agonizingly slipped away in front of our eyes. Just like that, my phone, and Orlando City’s 2025 season were lost to the literal and metaphorical waves.

Because I’m an idiot, my phone wasn’t backed up, and as a result I lost years’ worth of pictures and texts from friends and loved ones. Lots of memories went out the window, and I started over with a new, blank device. As frustrating as that was, it’s especially fitting when it comes to comparing my nautical misadventure in 2025 with Orlando City’s competitive one. The odds are good that this team will look extremely different next year, and while it might not be the completely clean slate that I had, we’ll probably be saying goodbye to a lot of familiar faces from the last couple of seasons, and welcoming some new ones in their stead.

Change is inevitable, and if this club wants to compete and reach the heights that it aspires to, then change is needed. It’ll be sad in some respects, but after watching the way this season slowly, painstakingly failed to fulfill on the promise it held with just seven league games left, it’ll also be welcome. Here’s to new phones, and new (hopefully more successful) seasons.

Vamos Orlando.

Opinion

Encouraging Early Signs in Orlando City’s Off-Season

It’s early, but Orlando seems determined to reshape its roster for the better after a disappointing 2025 season.

Published

5 days ago

December 12, 2025

Ben Miller

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

We still have a long way to go until opening day of the 2026 Major League Soccer season, and a lot of work needs to be completed on Orlando City’s roster between now and Feb. 21, but there have been some encouraging developments so far.

For starters, the club inked captain Robin Jansson to a new deal. That takes care of at least one of the starting center back positions, potentially two if David Brekalo partners him, with Adrian Marin or someone else sliding in at left back. Aside from filling an obvious positional need, it also returns a veteran who (if Kyle Smith isn’t re-signed) is the longest-tenured player on the team and is someone who has experience coming out of his ears. For a roster that is going to experience a fair amount of overhaul this offseason, having a constants is important, especially when it comes to leadership both on the field and in the locker room.

That brings to an end the confirmed news when it comes to incoming/returning players, but there have been plenty of rumors gaining traction when it comes to Orlando City making signings. Tom Bogert has had a lot to say about incoming Lions transfers this week, and all of them should be encouraging to Orlando fans. Mr. Scoops reported that OCSC is finalizing a deal to sign 20-year-old Brazilian winger Tiago as an MLS U22 Initiative player, while also mentioning that a deal to sign 18-year-old midfielder Luis Otavio is still in the works.

Those would both be welcome signings, as Orlando needs capable bodies in central midfield behind presumable starters Eduard Atuesta and Wilder Cartagena. The fact that the Lions are reportedly shelling out $3.5 million to land Otavio suggests that if he can adapt well to his new surroundings, he might well push for more than just backup minutes before too long; and with Cartagena set to turn 32 in September, it’s good that Orlando is looking to find a young (eventual) replacement.

Then there’s Tiago, who will reportedly cost $4 million and is set to take up a valuable U22 Initiative slot. It’s no secret that the Lions badly needed more offensive production from the left winger position in 2025, and if/when Tiago does arrive, it presumably spells the end of Ivan Angulo’s time in Orlando while leaving the Brazilian and Tyrese Spicer to duke things out for a starting role.

That brings us to departures from the club. This week alone has seen young center back Thomas Williams traded to Nashville SC for the Coyotes’ first-round pick in the upcoming MLS SuperDraft, while Dagur Dan Thorhallson was traded to CF Montreal on Wednesday. The Lions got a tidy $500,000 in General Allocation Money for Dagur Dan, and while there was no player who immediately came the other way in the deal, that GAM will be very helpful in getting the club roster compliant for 2026. It’s no secret that the Lions are in the market for a new goalkeeper, and although Dayne St. Clair is probably too expensive, a guy like Carlos Coronel is a good fit on paper with Orlando City’s overwhelmingly South American stylings, but GAM will be needed to pay down a new face between the sticks.

It of course hurts to lose Thorhallsson, who was a capable and versatile servant during his time in Orlando, but the signing of Otavio and growth of Colin Guske, combined with what the (injured) Joran Gerbet showed in 2025, means that he was going to be a backup. Likewise, the emergence of Alex Freeman means he wasn’t going to be the starting right back, and even if Smith isn’t re-signed to be a backup fullback/utility man, the front office may feel that Zakaria Taifi is primed to take a step forward. We also can’t forget that the club has a whopping four first-round draft picks to play with this year and may look to find depth in that manner as well.

If you didn’t closely read the Bogert social media post earlier in this article, you may have missed the blurb at the end about OCSC closing in on a sale of Rodrigo Schlegel to Liga MX side Atlas. The fee is said to be in the neighborhood of $600,000, which means that Orlando will turn a profit on the center back. It’ll be a bittersweet parting if/when his departure becomes official. Schlegel has been an extremely capable backup center back for this team and has showed flashes of consistent starter-level play during the last several seasons, not to mention that save in a penalty shootout so many years ago.

The hard facts though, are that at 28 years of age, the Argentine defender isn’t likely to reach a significantly higher level of play than he’s at now, and his current level of play isn’t consistently at the required quality for a team with true championship aspirations. While it’ll be hard to say goodbye, the right decision at this point is probably to collect on your investment, and try to find either a young player that can be developed or an established veteran that’s a known MLS quantity.

Bogert has also stated that Orlando is in the mindset of wanting to move on from Luis Muriel. If the club is able to do so, it’ll free up a Designated Player spot while bringing an end to an experiment that showed plenty of promise, and wasn’t without its high points, but ultimately can’t be considered a successful one. After his hot start to 2025 faded into more of the inconsistency he displayed in 2024, it became clear that new blood at striker is needed, and it’s good to see that the front office feels the same way.

This isn’t all to say that the off-season has been a resounding success so far. After all, very little has actually been officially done to reshape the roster as of this writing. But there seem to be a number of moves nearing completion, and we’re hearing all the right things when it comes to areas of the field like goalkeeper and striker. Even if the players that get brought in don’t all work out, it’s just good to see that changes are in fact being made. The roster was mostly left intact after the 2024 season, and a lack of depth in several areas, combined with some unfortunate injury luck, doomed a once promising season.

It’s far too early to know whether or not the 2026 campaign will be better or not, but the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. So far, the early signs point to Lions’ fans not needing to worry about any such insanity this off-season. Vamos Orlando!

Opinion

Four Games I Have Circled on Orlando City’s 2026 Schedule

Let’s have a peek at some games that I’m really looking forward to in 2026.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 5, 2025

Ben Miller

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City’s 2026 schedule has been out for a little over two weeks now, and I’ve had ample time to look over it, analyze it, and zero in on some games that I’m really looking forward to next year. There are always the usual suspects in the mix like home rivalry matches against the likes of Atlanta and Miami, but I didn’t want to focus on those obvious ones, so they won’t be included here.

Saturday, Feb. 21 vs. New York Red Bulls

Orlando City’s streak of playing a home match to open the season will somehow reach 12 seasons in a row when the Lions kick off the 2026 season against the New York Red Bulls. It’ll be our first chance to see OCSC in a competitive game during the new season, and after an off-season that will likely contain a fair amount of turnover, I for one will be even more anxious than usual to get a look at what sort of product we’ll be seeing on the field. The Red Bulls will also look different, as they’ll have a new manager and a good amount of new players after missing the postseason for the first time since 2009. This is probably my most obvious choice of the bunch, but I think it’s hard to fault me for being excited about a new season!

TBD U.S. Open Cup Match

There’s only a 50% chance that this will be a home game, but personally I’m just glad to see Orlando City in the U.S. Open Cup again. There’s obviously some good history with the club in the competition, but aside from that, I just generally think that the tournament should get more love and a bigger platform than it currently does. While I’d have obviously been thrilled if OCSC had managed to win Leagues Cup in 2025 and come away with a trophy, I’d have much preferred the Lions to make a deep run in the Open Cup, considering the rich history of the competition as a whole, in addition to what it means to Orlando specifically. The fact that defending champion Nashville SC isn’t in the field is mind boggling to me, but I’m damn happy that the Lions are.

Saturday, Sept. 12 vs. Toronto FC

Now I can understand why you might be surprised by this one, as Toronto isn’t exactly considered one of Orlando City’s rivals. This year’s Decision Day match left a bad taste in my mouth though. Was it less about what Toronto did on the field, and more about OCSC basically neglecting to show up to the field to begin with? Maybe. Do I care? No. Do I want vengeance and the ability to erase a pitiful performance from my mind all in one fell swoop? Absolutely. I need the scales to be balanced and for my own personal demons from the final day of the season to be exorcised, and the fact that I’ll be able to be in the stands to have that chance is all the more appealing.

Saturday, Nov. 7 vs. New England Revolution

Decision Day is (usually) a fun affair regardless of whether the match is home or away. Wild swings in the standings from minute to minute, nerves, and hopefully reason to celebrate when it’s all over. There’s just something about having all that happen at home, though. I’ve been in The Wall for plenty of Decision Days at this point, and the energy is just a little different than a normal regular-season game. Similar to home openers, the air almost crackles with the excitement of possibility and anticipation of what things are going to look like when the dust settles. Of course, there’s always the possibility of things going wrong and the Lions ending up low in the playoff standings or out of the postseason altogether, but we’ll cross that bridge if/when we come to it.

What games are you especially looking forward to next season? Be sure to let us know down in the comments. Vamos Orlando!

Opinion

Orlando Soccer Things I’m Thankful For

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are a few things I’m thankful for when it comes to Orlando’s soccer teams.

Published

3 weeks ago

November 28, 2025

Ben Miller

Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Mark Thor

As is always the case with this time of year, I’ve been thinking about what I’m thankful for, and when it comes to Orlando City and the Orlando Pride, there’s a nice list of things that have me feeling very grateful. So in the spirit of the holiday, let’s sit down and dig in.

Inter&Co Stadium

If we’re sticking to the Thanksgiving theme, then the purple palace is the dinner table where everything happens. There might be more elaborate soccer-specific stadiums that have been built since the stadium opened in 2017, but Inter&Co was the first to have the safe-standing supporters section, and it’s no coincidence that the trend very quickly caught on. Ownership has done well to bring in a variety of local food vendors, has made concerted efforts to upgrade the concourses with televisions, and the way the roof is constructed does a great job of keeping noise in, even when the stadium isn’t at full capacity. I’ve been to a few different MLS stadiums, but I still think that there’s no place like home.

Haley Carter

The Orlando Pride’s former vice president of soccer operations and sporting director will be sorely missed. There’s a saying that you don’t really know what you have until it’s gone, but that couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to Carter. She masterminded the acquisition of Barbra Banda that was vital to the Pride’s double-winning 2024 season. She also made other savvy additions that helped fill out a roster that’s been competitive for a couple seasons in a row now. It’s a damn shame that she won’t be with the club any longer, but considering the success that she had with the Pride, she’ll almost certainly be headed for big things.

The Wilf Family

Since taking ownership of OCSC and the Pride in the summer of 2021, the Wilfs have shown a willingness to open the wallet and invest in both teams. For the Lions, there have been the acquisitions of Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, and Marco Pasalic, while the Pride have seen the arrivals of Banda and Jacquie Ovalle for big transfer fees. There’s also the aforementioned investments to the stadium, as well as the continued commitment to improving the training facilities for all three of the club’s teams. The Lions and Pride are both at points where the rosters need to be revamped a bit, so the readiness to spend is a trend that will need to continue, but based on what we’ve seen in past seasons, it’s reasonable to assume it will.

Playoff Streaks

Orlando City owns the longest active postseason streak in Major League Soccer, as the Lions have made the playoffs in six straight years. The Pride have made the NWSL playoffs in back-to-back years and have made the semifinals two years in a row. In the case of the Lions, it would be great if they could consistently make deep playoff runs and come away with some silverware, but it would be foolish to not be grateful for the streak of postseason appearances. D.C. United and Toronto FC have six-year and five-year playoff droughts, respectfully, so it’s important to remember that things could be worse. That doesn’t mean we should be content and complacent, but once you get your foot in the postseason door, anything can happen, which we saw with the New York Red Bulls last year. Long may the postseason streaks continue!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend filled with good food, time with family and friends, and a little rest and relaxation thrown in. We’ll be back cheering on Orlando’s soccer teams before we know it, and hopefully we have lots to be thankful for in the 2026 season!