An Incomplete History of Orlando City Player Nicknames

The recent departures of Pedro Gallese, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Kyle Smith got me thinking about how there are players with nicknames and those without — or at least without publicly known nicknames. That brought up a slew of memories of Orlando City players across the years with various monikers. As such, I thought it would be a fun thing to do to take a stroll down memory lane. Here is an incomplete list of Orlando City players’ nicknames.

Blasts from the Past

There have been some great nicknames over the years. There was Chris Mueller who was known as “Cash” with his goal celebration of rubbing his fingers together. He was also known as the “The Money Badger.”

I know that no one will forget Junior Urso, also known as “The Bear.” Yes, Urso means “bear” in Portuguese, but it was the pantomime that Urso employed that really sold it —that and his play on the pitch.

Before Ivan Angulo, the fastest Lion was Ruan, also known as “The Flash.” We often said if he could improve his crossing he’d be welcome in Europe because he really was that fast. We should also mention Júlio “The Beast” Baptista. It was an appropriate nickname as the opposition did not like to deal with him.

I was unaware that Daryl Dike is known as “The QuadFather,” or if I did know, I’d forgotten. Of course, there was Orlando City’s former captain, Mauricio Pereyra. He was known as “El Maestro,” which was appropriate as he was the master of Orlando City’s midfield.

Lastly, we have Adam Grinwis, who managed multiple nicknames. He was known as “Grinny,” though his goalkeeping heroics afforded him two other nicknames — “The Grinch” and “The Ginger Ninja.” Stopping penalty kicks to win important matches will do that.

The Recently Departed

More recently, we have Facundo Torres, known as “El Cuervo” or “The Crow.” Sticking with the animal-based nicknames we have Pedro “El Pulpo” Gallese, or in English “The Octopus.” It did indeed seem as if he had eight arms stopping shots rather than just two.

That brings us to Kyle Smith. Like Mueller and Grinwis, Smith has multiple names. The club often referred to him as “The Accountant.” Oscar Pareja called him “El Soldado” — or “The Soldier” — thanks to his willingness to do whatever was asked of him. As for Smith, in his departing message he referred to himself as “The Tax Man,” which is a pretty cool nickname.

Current Day

There are plenty of players on the current roster with nicknames. Let’s start with Martin Ojeda and Luis Muriel, who are known as “Tincho” and “Lucho,” respectively. These names are popular nicknames for Martin and Luis in Spanish. So, while they are technically nicknames, they don’t quite have the big impact that some others do.

One big guy with a big nickname is Duncan “Big Dunc” McGuire. Of course, McGuire was also given a saying: “Orlando Runs on Duncan,” which is as catchy as it is accurate when he’s playing well. The back flip celebrations also add a little something extra.

That brings us to the captain, Robin Jansson, also known as “The Viking” by the club. They’ve made jerseys and promotional material with that moniker. We here at The Mane Land are more fond of the name that Michael Citro coined — “The Beefy Swede.” Both are cool, but Jansson will forever be the latter in my heart.

Honorable Mentions

I want to give honorable mentions to Óscar Pareja, who is known as “Papi.” The most famous use of which was Rodrigo Schlegel’s prophet-like pronouncement of “I can do it, Papi” before his iconic playoff penalty stop. Finally, there’s Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. While he doesn’t have a nickname, I have enjoyed saying “I’m a Dagur Dan Man” whenever he scored a goal.

I hope you enjoyed this light-hearted look at some memorable Orlando City players over the years. We’re coming closer to the end of the year, though not the end of The Mane Land if we get some help. There’s still time to be a part of what we do here; you just need to let us know. Vamos Orlando!