Orlando City
2025 Orlando City Season in Review: David Brekalo
The Slovenian international switched from center back to left back for the majority of the season and performed well in his new position.
Orlando City acquired David Brekalo from Norwegian club Viking FC on Feb. 8, 2024, signing him to a contract through 2027 with an option year in 2028. The Slovenian was acquired as a center back, and primarily played there in 2024, but in 2025 he shifted over to left back, playing there for 77% of his minutes, according to my positional tracking.
Brekalo primarily partnered with Robin Jansson and Rodrigo Schlegel as anchors on the defensive line, allowing Alex Freeman to venture farther up the field than the average right back, giving Orlando City a different look than most teams. Despite being a natural center back, he acquitted himself well on the left side, and along with Iván Angulo, the primary left winger, they limited teams to taking only 12% of their shots against Orlando City’s left side during MLS play, as opposed to 18% against the right side of the defense.
Let’s take a look back at Brekalo’s second season with the Lions.
Statistical Breakdown
Brekalo participated in all four of the competitions Orlando City played in during 2025, starting nearly every match. He began the season playing center back but soon shifted to left back, and with the exception of when Jansson or Schlegel was unavailable or subbed out, he stayed at left back when he was on the field.
In MLS regular-season play, Brekalo appeared in 29 matches, starting 27 and playing a total of 2,402 minutes. Offensively, he scored one goal and added three assists, taking 23 shots and placing five on target. He completed 88% of his passes, with nine key passes and was one of the team’s most accurate players on long pass attempts, completing 68%. On the defensive side, he compiled 47 tackles, 28 interceptions, 121 clearances, and 13 blocks. He committed 36 fouls, suffered 31 fouls, and received five yellow cards.
Brekalo started and played the full 90 minutes during the wild card playoff game, completing the second-most passes on the team and passing at a 92% completion rate. He did not take any shots or contribute much offensively, and on defense he had one interception, four clearances, and four blocks, and he also earned a yellow card.
The Slovenian international played in both of the U.S Open Cup games, coming off the bench against Tampa Bay and starting against Nashville. He played a total of 112 minutes, taking no shots but completing 90% of his pass attempts. On defense, he totaled two tackles, two interceptions, and one clearance.
During Leagues Cup play Brekalo started each of the first five games, but unfortunately for him and the Lions he received two yellow cards in the semifinal, which contributed heavily to the blown lead against Inter Miami and the subsequent loss against the LA Galaxy. Prior to being sent off with a pair of yellow cards against Miami, he played 420 minutes, taking one shot and completing 86% of his passes. Defensively, he contributed six tackles, nine interceptions, 14 clearances, and three blocks, and he also received a yellow card against Pumas.
Best Game
Brekalo only scored one goal all season, a nice finish against Toronto in a game that otherwise is depressing to think about, so let’s not. Even though he did not score, I think his best game was against Charlotte on May 14, a game in which Brekalo had one primary assist via a pass to Ramiro Enrique and a secondary assist on Luis Muriel’s goal. He was dominant defensively with three tackles, two interceptions, and four clearances, and he showed his versatility by shifting over to center back to close out the game after Schlegel was subbed out. For his efforts he received the Man of the Match in our player grades and his highest game score of the season on fotmob.com, and I think that game was his best performance of the 2025 season.
2025 Final Grade
The Mane Land awarded Brekalo a composite rating of 6.5 out of 10 for the 2025 season, which is an improvement on the 6 out of 10 that we gave him for the 2024 season. When the season started, many expected that he would start in the middle next to Robin Jansson, but it turned out that while he would frequently play next to Jansson, it was primarily on the Beefy Swede’s left as the left back instead of to his right as his center back partner. Brekalo did not bring much to the offense, but he was solid on defense and provided balance for Freeman, who often was so far up the field that his average field position on whoscored.com was closer to the opposition’s goal than right winger Marco Pašalić.
2026 Outlook
For two seasons in a row it seemed like Brekalo would slot in as the starting center back partner next to Jansson, and in both of those seasons Óscar Pareja decided that he preferred the partnership of Jansson and Schlegel in the middle. At the time of this writing the club has not announced if it is picking up the 2026 option year for Jansson, and Schlegel is out of contract, but my hunch is that at least one of them returns for 2026, and it would not surprise me if both do.
Brekalo will turn 27 in December and is in the prime of his career. With a contract that runs through 2027, he will be back with the Lions unless he requests a transfer or a team offers Orlando City a good deal for him. The Lions acquired natural left back Adrián Marín during the summer transfer window, and deploying him on the left would allow Brekalo to return to center back, which would improve the central defense.
The Slovenian proved during the 2025 season that he is a capable left back, so the Lions would maintain that as an option, but I expect that the plan will be Marín on the left and Brekalo returning to the center alongside Jansson, Schlegel or a new signing. Pedro Gallese’s departure means it might be a much different-looking defensive group in 2026, but no matter how they line up, Brekalo will probably be a starter, and that will be good for Orlando City.
Previous Season in Review Articles (Date Posted)
Orlando City
Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Final Score 2-1 as Lions Win First Match of 2026 Season
The Lions picked up three vital points and a much-needed win after the departure of Oscar Pareja.
It was a tumultuous week for Orlando City players, coaches, fans, and the front office, but a workmanlike effort and goals by Duncan McGuire and Martin Ojeda led the Lions to their first win of the season tonight at Inter&Co Stadium. All of the scoring happened in the first half as Orlando City (1-3-0, 3 points) defeated CF Montreal (1-3-0, 3 points) 2-1 in front of an announced crowd of 18,035.
Prince Owusu scored the only goal for the visitors off a set piece, but the energy and work rate by the Lions won the day as Orlando picked up a victory in the club’s first match since parting ways with longtime head coach Oscar Pareja in the midweek.
“This game belonged to the players. And the players did an amazing effort,” said Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman after the match. “This is only because of them. They are the protagonists. They did it.”
Perelman’s first lineup in charge for what ultimately became his first MLS win featured Javier Otero in goal for the suspended Maxime Crepeau, playing behind a back line of Adrian Marin, Iago, David Brekalo, and Griffin Dorsey. Braian Ojeda and Eduard Atuesta started in the central midfield between wingers Ivan Angulo and Marco Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and McGuire as the forwards.
Montreal tried to play route one soccer over the top and often ceded possession to set up the press. Orlando didn’t create much in the opening minutes of the match but controlled more of the ball, looking to work it up the flanks with diagonal balls over the first line of press when in possession.
Pasalic found some space for the game’s first shot in the fifth minute, but it deflected out for a corner off a defender. Nothing came from the set piece, but two minutes later Pasalic was set up by Martin Ojeda and fired just wide of the right post.
Montreal put together a couple of corners in the 16th and 17th minutes, but the visitors couldn’t make them pay off. That allowed Orlando to strike first a minute later.
Pasalic again shook free outside the area and blasted a shot through the traffic. The ball pinged around off multiple Montreal players and Angulo got to it first. The Colombian slipped it past goalkeeper Thomas Gillier but hit the left post. McGuire was first to the rebound, slotting home his first goal of the season in the 18th minute. It was the striker’s 31st career goal in all competitions, tying Nani for fourth on the club’s all-time list.
“I saw where Marco was, saw that he had the ball. And obviously, we all know his ability to hit the ball with with a lot of power,” Angulo said. “And so I tried to be aware of that and be in a good spot in case there was a rebound, and there was, and it fell to me. So I shot it, and unfortunately hit the post. But Duncan was there to pick up that rebound and score it.”
“Marco did a great job to cut in and draw some defenders, and then Ivan was very smart to follow the shot,” McGuire said. “And then, I mean, as a forward, you can’t ask for a better opportunity when it just bounced off the post right to you. So yeah, it was pretty simple, but it was a great team goal.”
Just minutes after the restart, Montreal won a corner and pulled the goal right back. Wikelman Carmona sent a good ball in toward the back post. Marin was knocked down in the scrum but no foul was given and Owusu slammed a free header past Otero to tie the game in the 24th minute.
“It’s definitely hard when you score a goal, and then shortly after you get scored on,” McGuire said. “You can either put your head up or down, and the boys stayed positive. And once we conceded the goal, we all talked, and we knew we were okay, and we knew we were getting the better of them. So we stayed positive. We knew we could hurt them in behind and and we were able to do that.”
The back-and-forth play continued, with Montreal winning another corner in the 30th minute but Otero caught it. The Lions went the other way with Angulo turning his man and slipping a through ball to McGuire but it was a bit soft and the defense arrived. The ball deflected back to Angulo, who continued his run to the top of the box before dishing off to Pasalic and running onto a return ball. This time Angulo fed Ojeda, who smashed it inside the right post to make it 2-1 in the 31st minute.
“With where I was in the box, I always try to potentially find a teammate that’s in a better position there, just because it was a difficult spot,” Angulo said. “And ‘Tincho’ (Ojeda) was the one that was in the better position. And so I was able to lay it off to him for the goal, but just very happy to be able to help the team.”
Both teams failed to pay off some dangerous free kicks late in the half and the Lions took their one-goal lead into the break.
At the break, Montreal held the advantage in possession (56.9%-43.1%), corners (5-2), and passing accuracy (89%-81.9%). The Lions attempted more shot (9-6) and put more on target (3-2).
Montreal created something immediately after the restart, with Hennadii Synchuk finding a pocket of space outside the area and blazing a shot over the crossbar in the 46th minute. The game settled down for a bit after that early chance, but eventually Montreal started putting on pressure. Former Lion Luca Petrasso shook free on the left but fired well wide of the left post in the 57th minute.
Orlando started generating some counter opportunities as Montreal pressed for a tying goal. A simple ball over the top sprung Martin Ojeda down the left in the 60th minute but he left his shot too close to Gillier, who made the save. A minute later, substitute Zakaria Taifi, who had just entered the game, was sent to the right by Angulo and fired a shot but it was right at the goalkeeper in the 62nd minute.
Synchuk was able to sneak in behind the back line in the 63rd minute but Marin madea great desperation tackle from behind to knock it out for a corner. The Lions cleared the danger but Ivan Jaime freed himself for a hard shot from the left five minutes later, with Otero punching it awaay
Tyrese Spicer, who subbed on for Pasalic, should have put the game away in the 75th minute, blazing behind the Montreal defense, but the Trinidadian could not beat the visiting goalkeeper, who made the save but conceded a corner. The ensuing set piece fell in the box for Braiain Ojeda, who could not steer his shot on frame.
Those could have been costly missed opportunities in another game, but in this one, Montreal couldn’t take advantage despite pressing the attack down the stretch. The visitors won multiple corners as the time wound down and nearly paid one off in the 83rd minute, when Efrain Morales got a header on frame. Otero spilled it but was fouled by Samuel Piette, ending the danger.
Perelman turned to youngsters Tahir Reid-Brown and Pedro Leao to help see out the game, subbing on the youngsters for Dorsey and Martin Ojeda. The Lions played five across the back, looking to stay compact and organized, but they sometimes weren’t.
Leao won a free kick with one of his first touches. It was a good spot for a set piece, dead center and about 25 yards out, but Spicer hit his shot attempt into Montreal’s defensive wall.
The visitors came close to equalizing in the third minute of stoppage time. Jaime got into the box and cut inside before sending a shot on goal that Taifi blocked. Brekalo’s clearance attempt on the wild goal-mouth scramble hit an opposing player and stayed in the danger area, but Iago was able to clear.
That was the last gasp for Montreal, with the Lions holding on for their first win of 2026.
As a result of pushing for an equalizer, Montreal managed to stuff the stat sheet, finishing with the advantage in possession (60.8%-39.2%), shots (22-16), corners (10-4), and passing accuracy (88.3%-77.3%). The Lions put more shots on target (6-5).
“Very difficult game. You know, it was difficult, but we’re very happy for getting the win tonight, and really happy that the team was up for it and went out there on a high,” Angulo said.
“I mean, in 48 hours, you have not much time to put a lot of information on the players, but the truth is that at the end of the day, it was more than 48 hours,” Perelman said. “We have been working hard, and we try to be pragmatic, we try to be versatile. We try to put a lot of energy in a difficult context to bring some happiness to our people. This is what the players did. This is how we embrace the situation and fight.”
“Definitely a difficult week,” McGuire said. “You know, all of us were very sad to see Oscar go. Luckily, you know, Martin is someone that we’re very comfortable with, have a relationship with, so it definitely helped this week with making it more of a smooth transition. We just said in the locker room, that tonight’s win was for Oscar, and I love the fight that we saw from the boys tonight from the first minute til the end. I think we gave it our all, and hopefully it’s the first many (wins).”
The Lions are back on the road a week from tonight to try to make it two in a row at Nashville SC.
Orlando City
Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions continue to hunt for their first win in their first game under interim coach Martin Perelman.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (0-3-0, 0 points) and CF Montreal (1-2-0, 3 points) at Inter&Co Stadium (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). It’s the first of two scheduled meetings between the Eastern Conference rivals in 2026, with the Lions set to make the return trip to the Great White North on May 9.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
The Lions are 8-9-7 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 10-10-7 in all competitions since they joined MLS. OCSC is 4-4-4 in home MLS games against Montreal and 6-4-4 in matchups held in the greater Orlando area — this includes wins in Leagues Cup and the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds.
The most recent meeting was a 1-1 draw in Orlando on July 12, 2025. Martin Ojeda gave the Lions a lead that appeared set to hold up, but Rodrigo Schlegel’s foul in the box on Prince Owusu allowed the Montreal forward to level the match late from the spot. That was the second of two matches that failed to find a winner last year. The teams played to a scoreless draw in Montreal on April 19. The Lions’ efforts at bringing home a road win took a hit in the second half when Rafael Santos was sent off.
The teams met in Orlando in the 2024 Leagues Cup competition on July 26, with the Lions running rampant in a 4-1 home victory. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Facundo Torres, Ramiro Enrique, and Ojeda staked Orlando to a 4-0 lead. Josef Martinez scored for Montreal, although his bid for a brace was denied when Pedro Gallese stopped his penalty kick attempt.
The two sides met in Montreal on April 20, 2024 trading goals in a 2-2 draw at Stade Saputo. Mason Toye opened the scoring early, but Torres equalized from the spot a few minutes later. Ariel Lassiter appeared to win it late in normal time for the hosts, but Ivan Angulo struck in stoppage time to earn Orlando City a road point. These teams opened the 2024 season against each other in Orlando and played to a 0-0 draw. The Lions dominated the stat sheet but had a goal waved off for offside and simply weren’t lethal enough.
The teams met twice in 2023, completing the season series on Sept. 30, 2023, with Orlando winning 3-0 in dominant fashion. Jonathan Sirois’ own goal opened the scoring, and Thorhallsson and Torres added strikes for Orlando City. That was a good measure of revenge for OCSC, after Montreal defeated Orlando City 2-0 on May 6 at Stade Saputo. A Robin Jansson own goal got Montreal started in the second half and Romell Quioto added a second goal four minutes later.
These two sides played their biggest game against each other in the 2022 MLS playoffs, with CF Montreal knocking Orlando City out of the postseason by a 2-0 scoreline on Oct. 16, with goals by Ismael Kone and Djordje Mihailovic — the latter coming deep in stoppage time from the penalty spot.
Each team won at home in the two-game, regular-season series in 2022, with Montreal thumping Orlando 4-1 on May 7. Joel Waterman, Mihailovic, Joaquin Torres, and Zachary Brault-Guillard did the damage on the scoreboard and Orlando City managed just two shot attempts, with Joao Moutinho’s goal on a set piece spoling the shutout. Orlando City did not have either starting center back for that match, and it showed. The teams also met on opening day of the 2022 season, when Orlando City captured a 2-0 home win behind second-half goals from Alexandre Pato and Benji Michel.
In 2021, the teams met in Montreal with the Lions earning a 2-0 road victory on Decision Day to clinch a playoff spot. Sebas Mendez and Daryl Dike provided the goals. That season’s matchup in Orlando came on Oct. 20, 2021, with the visitors managing a 1-1 draw. Chris Mueller struck for the Lions just before halftime, but Rudy Camacho answered on a corner kick header shortly after the restart. The first meeting of 2021 took place Sept. 15 in Orlando with the Lions falling 4-2 and finishing the game with just nine men after both Nani and Andres Perea were sent off. Quioto led Montreal with a goal and two assists. Mathieu Choiniere and Quioto put Montreal up 2-0, but despite already being down one man, Jansson and Ruan tied things up. The visitors got two more from Lassi Lappalainen and Sunusi Ibrahim.
The teams met at Red Bull Arena in late 2020, as the team then known as the Montreal Impact played home games in New Jersey due to the pandemic. Orlando City got a Dike goal in the 39th minute to win 1-0 on Nov. 1, 2020. It was the second meeting of the 2020 season, with Orlando also beating Montreal 1-0 in the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds on July 25 to advance to the quarterfinals. Tesho Akindele scored the game’s only goal on a Montreal defensive mistake.
Orlando City snapped a six-game winless streak against Montreal (0-5-1) in MLS regular-season play dating back to 2016 when the Lions put the Impact to the sword in a 3-0 drubbing at Stade Saputo on June 1, 2019. Nani (penalty), Akindele, and Will Johnson supplied the offense that day. The Lions fell 3-1 at Exploria Stadium back on March 16, 2019, and Ignacio Piatti was a big reason why, scoring his ninth and 10th career goals against Orlando, adding to a strike by Orji Okwonkwo. Dom Dwyer added a cosmetic goal late for Orlando City to spoil the clean sheet.
Montreal did not allow a goal against the Lions in 2018, sweeping the two-game set from Orlando, and the Impact shut out Orlando City in three of the six meetings in that 5-0-1 run. The lone draw in that time frame was a 3-3 shootout in Orlando in 2017, in which the Impact led deep in stoppage time, only to see Jonathan Spector’s well-placed header steal the Lions a point.
Orlando won the first two meetings in 2016 by a combined score of 6-2. The teams split three meetings in 2015, with each going 1-1-1.
Overview
Orlando City is a team in turmoil entering tonight’s match, having parted ways with longtime head coach Oscar Pareja in the midweek after just three games into his seventh season. The club’s winningest coach of all time seems to have been let go, to be replaced on an interim basis by assistant Martin Perelman despite no plan in place for his succession per a press conference with Orlando City General Manager and Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira, who made it clear the club is going to be in an evaluation phase.
“For now, the focus is to support the team and for Martin to achieve results. Then we’ll assess what needs to be assessed in due time,” Moreira said. “If there’s a coaching search, I would assume that depending on how things go, Martin will be considered, but that’s something that we’re going to assess in due time.”
While the words “if there’s a coaching search” will not likely bring peace to any Orlando City fan, that’s where the club is right now.
Orlando City is 0-3-0 for the first time ever (0-2-0 at home) and is using a makeshift back line that has been abused by every team it’s played while captain Robin Jansson recovers from foot surgery. The Lions will play tonight’s match without starting goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, who made a below-rookie-level mistake in handling the ball outside the box to deny a goal-scoring opportunity a week ago and was sent off.
Montreal hasn’t fared much better than Orlando, but tonight’s visitors did manage to pick up their first win of the year last weekend at the New York Red Bulls — the team that started the Lions’ three-game skid on opening day. CF Montreal has yet to play at home this season, so the 1-2-0 start on the road is not necessarily a killer, but it’s not ideal either.
Midfielder Wikelman Carmona leads Montreal with two goals on the season, and both came at the Red Bulls, which is why he is the reigning MLS Player of the Matchday, making him the first to win the award this season in a week in which he did not play Orlando City. Owusu has the team’s other goal.
To get the win tonight, Orlando’s defense must show up. The OCSC offense has scored three goals in the 194 minutes the Lions have played with 11 men this season. If the defense in front of backup goalkeeper Javier Otero can somehow help him keep a clean sheet, this is a match Orlando City can win. Otherwise, it could be another ugly, lopsided loss. Perhaps the team will get a jolt from the shock of losing Pareja so early in the year. But it’s not clear how Perelman’s more attack-minded style will suit a team that should absolutely not put its back line under pressure on counterattacks.
“I’m not here to wait and the club doesn’t want me here to wait. This club deserves to always prepare the team to win, succeed, and continue the pathway we have built,” Perelman said ahead of the match. “The season has already started, but MLS is long. I know MLS well. We know how to manage the regular season and we will be ready for the playoffs too. We are here to work. We are here to make our people, our fans, and our community proud of this team and to succeed.”
Orlando City will be without Jansson (foot), Joran Gerbet (knee), Wilder Cartagena (thigh), and Crepeau (suspension), while Tiago (lower leg) is questionable. Montreal will be without Fabian Herbers (lower body) and Josh-Duc Nteziryayo (lower body).
Match Content
- Our recent episode of The Mane Land PawedCast features our key match-ups and score predictions for tonight’s game, although we changed our predictions on our most recent episode, when we also discussed Pareja’s exit.
- Our David Rohe provided his three keys to an Orlando City victory over Montreal.
Official Lineups:
Orlando City (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Javier Otero.
Defenders: Adrian Marin, Iago, David Brekalo, Griffin Dorsey.
Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Marco Pasalic.
Forwards: Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire.
Bench: Tristan Himes, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, Nolan Miller, Colin Guske, Luis Otavio, Yutaro Tsukada, Tyrese Spicer, Pedro Leao.
CF Montreal (5-4-1)
Goalkeeper: Thomas Gillier.
Defenders: Luca Petrasso, Brayan Vera, Efrain Morales, Tomas Aviles, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.
Midfielders: Hennadi Synchuk, Matty Longstaff, Victor Loturi, Wikelman Carmona.
Forward: Prince Owusu.
Bench: Sebastian Breza, Jalen Neal, Samuel Piette, Ivan Jaime, Daniel Rios, Bode Hidalgo, Noah Streit, Olger Escobar, Aleksandr Guboglo.
Referees:
REF: Jair Marrufo.
AR1: Adam Garner.
AR2: Gianni Facchini.
4TH: Tori Penso.
VAR: Daniel Radford.
AVAR: Christian Clerc.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.
TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.
Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English); Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).
Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.
Enjoy the match. Go City!
Orlando City
Four Names to Consider in Orlando City’s Coaching Search
Orlando City needs a new head coach, and there are a few names who merit consideration for the role.
Wednesday brought the news that Oscar Pareja is no longer the coach of Orlando City. Martin Perelman has the job on an interim basis, and while it’s always possible that he ends up with the fulltime job a la Roberto di Matteo after leading Chelsea to the 2011-2012 UEFA Champions League trophy, it’s more likely that the club brings in an outside hire sooner or later. As far as who that person should be, I’ve provided several names that I think should be considered in the search for the club’s fifth full-time head coach as an MLS team.
Filipe Luis
If you’re going to make a change, why not aim high with your next hire? The Brazilian was in charge of Flamengo from September 2024 to March 2 (more on that in a bit), and during his time in the big job, he guided the Brazilian side to the 2025 Copa Libertadores title, the Brazilian Serie A title, the Brazilian SuperCup trophy, the Campeonato Carioca (the Rio de Janeiro state championship), and the Copa do Brazil (the Brazilian U.S. Open Cup). They won four trophies in 2025 alone with him leading the team. A poor run of form to start the 2026 season left him suddenly and rather spectacularly without a job, as he was fired the day after the team finished off an 11-0 aggregate win in the semifinals of this year’s Campeonato Carioca. Regardless of recent circumstances, he’s rightfully regarded as a bright young coaching candidate, and his Flamengo team attracted global attention with a convincing 3-1 win over Chelsea at last summer’s FIFA Club World Cup before being knocked out 4-2 by Bayern Munich despite putting up a good fight.
His teams were built on pressing aggressively to win possession and quickly attacking once they did so. It would bring a more offensive style and would be exciting to watch in theory, but there would be questions about his ability to adapt to some of the league’s roster-building requirements and how the adjustment would be in moving from the most successful Brazilian team this century to a team in a smaller market with the restraints that come with it. On the other hand, I don’t have to tell you how deep Orlando City’s Brazilian connection is, so on the face of things, he’d certainly be a cultural fit. There’s also the fact that he played a number of seasons alongside Antoine Griezmann at Atletico Madrid. If the powers that be remain set on signing the Frenchman, why not bring in the man he won the 2017-2018 Europa League with?
Wilfried Nancy
Nancy spent two seasons in charge of CF Montreal, and another three leading the Columbus Crew. He guided the Crew as they lifted MLS Cup in 2023 and won Leagues Cup in 2024 and built a reputation for fielding attacking and free-flowing teams that saw players swapping positions and popping up in unexpected places in the attacking third. He parlayed that success into taking the Celtic job in December of 2025, but wasn’t able to replicate his MLS success as he lasted just 33 days before being fired.
While the firing alone isn’t cause for concern, as it was always going to be difficult to try to implement his dynamic and rather complicated style in the middle of the season, the circumstances in which he’d be taking the Orlando job are concerning. It would basically be the same as the Celtic job: taking over a struggling team in the middle of the season without the benefit of an off-season to fully coach your players on the way you want things to look. On the other hand, his familiarity with the league is certainly a plus, and when his preferred method of play works, it’s an absolute joy to watch. If you want someone with a proven track record of success in MLS, along with the trophies to boot, he’s your guy.
Eric Ramsay
Continuing the theme of coaches who recently became available, we have Ramsay, who is on the market after being fired by West Brom in late February. Before that though, he led Minnesota United to back-to-back Western Conference semifinal appearances in 2024 and 2025 and the semifinals of the 2025 U.S. Open Cup. Minnesota scored the sixth-most goals in the West in 2025 while conceding the second-fewest, and the team finished eight points back of the Supporters’ Shield-winning Philadelphia Union. Like Nancy, he wasn’t able to translate that success in Europe, as he only managed West Brom for nine games before getting his marching orders.
Also like Nancy, while that truncated spell in charge doesn’t concern me in and of itself, he’d be walking into a similar situation with OCSC, and that’s worrying. Would he have better luck implementing his ideas on the fly with Orlando? It’s difficult to say. That said, he does have a built-in familiarity with the league, which might help. Another point in his favor is his ability to have success with Minnesota, which like Orlando is a team from a less-heralded market. Only four teams had smaller payrolls than Minnesota in 2025, and the hope would be that he could provide similar results to an OCSC team that splashed some cash in the off-season but is still operating with less resources than the league’s heaviest hitters.
Jim Curtin
It’s been a minute since we last saw Jim Curtin in the dugout as a coach. He concluded a 10-year stint with the Philadelphia Union after the 2024 season, in which Philly failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2017. While he went out on a low note, the Union were generally successful with him at the helm, winning the Supporters’ Shield in 2020 and finishing as MLS Cup runners-up in 2022 and U.S. Open Cup runners-up in 2014, 2015, and 2018. Of course, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but there’s still something to be said for the way Curtin almost always managed to field competitive teams despite the Union’s steadfast commitment to operating with a budget that could perhaps best be described as shoestring. With that in mind, it could be very interesting to see what he could do when it comes to an Orlando team that would be operating on an increased budget from what he was accustomed to.
Of course, there are caveats here. Curtin was talking to the New England Revolution about their coaching vacancy in September of last year but walked away from the process citing family reasons, so is he even looking to get back into the game right now? There also aren’t strong recent results to lean on in the way there are with the three aforementioned names. That said, he knows the league and has demonstrated an ability to not just win, but win with limited resources.
When all is said and done, I’d probably rank the options in that order, although I’d be willing to swap Filipe Luis and Wilfried Nancy. On one hand, bringing in the Brazilian would show an exciting degree of ambition and belief, but it would be fair to have concerns about the potential whiplash from being at a club where you’re the biggest fish in the sea, to one where you’re more in the middle of the food chain. Nancy has won trophies and overseen scintillating soccer while doing it, but there’s a potential that he’d be set up for failure due to attempting to install a complicated playing philosophy on the fly. Ramsay also has a strong recent resume in the league and did so with a small payroll, but the same questions with Nancy apply to him. Curtin is more of an unknown due to the time that he’s spent away from the game, but he kept a miserly Union organization consistently competitive, and there’s something to be said for that.
There are likely plenty of candidates being considered by the club, and with it being so early in the process, it’s truly impossible to guess which way they’ll eventually decide to take things. There are certainly promising pieces on this roster, and if everyone stays healthy and gels, then who knows what this year will bring? Based on how things look at this exact moment though, whoever gets brought in is going to have a challenge ahead of them, and they’ll need to be up for the fight. Whether a hire is made sooner or if the front office takes its time, the only way out is through. Vamos Orlando.
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