Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Nashville SC: Final Score 5-0 as Lions Get Blasted Badly Again on the Road
The Lions set a new low in 2026 performances, getting deservedly beat down by a Nashville team that had played three days earlier.
After a brief respite with a feel-good win over CF Montreal, the Lions went back to getting throttled, falling 5-0 to Nashville SC at Geodis Park. The hosts led just five minutes in through Cristian Espinoza, and Sam Surridge scored from the penalty spot before the break and added two more goals in the second half. The Lions (1-4-0, 3 points) wasted the few chances they created in a thorough defeat to Nashville (4-0-1, 13 points), and Warren Madrigal added to the Lions’ misery with a goal late.
That the loss wasn’t worse came down to a few big saves from Maxime Crepeau and some near misses by Nashville attackers on a night that thoroughly exposed the inexperience and lack of quality of Orlando’s back line and an underachieving midfield.
“We faced a team who is in another moment than us,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said after the match. “Of course, we’re sad because we represent our community, our people, but as I spoke with the players, everybody, can be sure that this team is going to be fine. We’re going to work as we always did, and we’re going to be fine.”
Fullback Griffin Dorsey offered up a more blunt summary of the game.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. I think it’s pretty obvious at this point,” Dorsey said. “We need to prevent goals. We need to score goals. We just have a lot of work to do. We’re not going to quit, we’re not going to give up, we’re not going to throw in the towel. The season’s long, f**king long year, and we have a team that’s f**king willing to fight, so with all the results that have happened up until now, we can promise you as a player pool, as a coaching staff, we will continue to f**king push every day to be better.”
Perelman’s lineup changed yet again due to mounting injuries to the squad that kept Eduard Atuesta and David Brekalo out. Crepeau returned from his red card suspension to start in goal behind a back line of Adrian Marin, Iago, Nolan Miller, and Dorsey. Luis Otavio slotted into the starting lineup for Atuesta, joining Braian Ojeda in central midfield between wingers Ivan Angulo and Marco Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Duncan McGuire up top.
Nashville, which played on the road in a heavy downpour Wednesday night, looked like the fresher team from the jump, and the Lions wasted no time falling behind. Left with space in the right channel wide of the penalty area, Espinoza smashed a cross or a shot that hit the crossbar close to the near post, beating Crepeau and making it 1-0 in just the fifth minute. Marin gave Espinoza at least 12 yards of space on the play, forcing Angulo to mark two players. The Colombian could not track back quickly enough to prevent the shot/cross and it was costly.
The hosts kept Orlando pinned in their end for stretches and the Lions were sloppy trying to break out of the pressure, allowing Nashville to stay on the front foot. Nashville won a corner in the 12th minute when Dorsey did well to block a point-blank header from Surridge out for a corner. The ensuing set piece was recycled to Maxwell Woledzi at the top of the area but he fired over the bar.
Orlando City had a chance to tie things up against the run of play when a good ball in behind found McGuire, but he tried to go over Brian Schwake and the shot was at a good height for Nashville’s keeper to make a good save in the 14th minute.
Surridge was left completely unmarked two minutes later, sending a header just wide but he was ruled offside anyway, sparing both the striker and Orlando’s defense some blushes.
Nashville won another corner in the 25th minute and it helped the hosts double the lead. Miller was on Jeisson Palacios but panicked and pulled the center back down by his shirt. Victor Rivas immediately pointed to the spot and booked the rookie defender. Surridge scored from the spot to make it 2-0 a minute later.
Orlando City won a corner in the 31st minute but did nothing with it, and the hosts took control again. Surridge fired from point-blank range after getting onto a back-post ball in the 34th minute. Crepeau made a good reaction save. The rebound went out to the right, where Nashville smashed it into the outside netting.
Crepeau made another good reaction save in the 36th minute when Mukhtar laid off a pass for Patrick Yazbek’s shot from point-blank range. The Canadian goalkeeper could only make himself big and hope for the best, and the shot hit him and rebounded away. Nashville regrouped and Mukhtar tried to set himself up for a shot from distance but he telegraphed the attempt and Braian Ojeda was able to deflect it to take the sting out of the attempt.
Angulo got Orlando’s last look of the half, trying a shot from outside the box in the 43rd minute. It went just wide, and Schwake may have gotten a fingertip to it but a goal kick was given.
The hosts closed the half strong, winning a corner and then setting up Espinoza for a shot that went just wide of the left post in stoppage time. The halftime whistle finally provided the Lions with some relief.
Nashville dominated the stat sheet as it did the scoreboard in the first half, finishing with a big advantage in possession (64%-36%), shots (9-4), shots on target (5-1), passing accuracy (90.2%-76%), and corners (3-1). The score was only 2-0, but it could have been much worse, and the possession definitely felt more lopsided than the statistician says.
“The (halftime) message (from Perelman) was not prevent whatsoever. The message was, we’re going out there to push for a goal, one goal at a time,” Dorsey said. “Obviously, that didn’t happen, but we’re never going to go out there just to prevent, just to stay stuck in and not get scored on. The message was very clear that we’re going to push for a goal, and we’re going to push to get back in this game. I think at two-zero, we did have some opportunities. Obviously, the game got away from us, but once again, we’re a team that’s going to push for for whatever we can.”
Colin Guske subbed on for Otavio at the half. The young Brazilian MLS U22 Initiative player has played 90 minutes of MLS soccer and departed with a -5 goal differential when on the pitch. While circumstances dictated some of that, Orlando’s inability to control the midfield was partially due to his play, and Guske helped settle things down a bit after coming on.
Orlando City won some early set pieces in the second half but couldn’t pay them off due to wasteful service. The best opportunity to climb back into the game came on a long throw by Marin that ricocheted through the area to Pasalic, but his shot from close range deflected off a defender and out for another corner opportunity that the Lions wasted.
It nearly got worse for Orlando in the 52nd minute with a ball into the box that took a fortunate deflection away from a Nashville attacker, allowing the defense to clear. It didn’t make much difference, as Surridge scored again three minutes later.
Orlando City turned the ball over in the attacking half, igniting the counterattack. Iago got caught straying too far from Mukhtar in transition, and Dorsey and Miller both took the same guy, with the fullback arriving late. The ball popped out in front to Nashville’s top scorer, who was wide open in front of goal. Surridge easily made it 3-0 in the 55th minute.
Dorsey had a chance to stop the bleeding in the 58th minute. McGuire fed the right back a good ball to send him in on goal. Dorsey beat Schwake but couldn’t beat the left post. The ball caromed off the upright and just past the onrushing Angulo, allowing Nashville to clear the danger on Orlando’s best scoring opportunity of the night.
That pass, which should have been an assist, was McGuire’s last involvement on the night. Tiago replaced him and Zakaria Taifi came on for Marin. Taifi was gifted a great opportunity shortly after coming on. Taking a layoff at the top left corner of the box, the Homegrown fullback had space to shoot, but his curling effort was off target, sailing over the crossbar at the hour mark.
Moments later, Tiago drew a foul near the right corner. Martin Ojeda went for goal at the near post, but he missed and instead found the outside netting in the 65th minute.
Nashville punished Orlando’s wasted chances almost immediately on yet another transition attack when Espinoza stole the ball off Taifi. As the hosts poured forward with numbers, Iago and Miller both closed down Espinoza in the middle, leaving him a gaping channel on the left. Espinoza easily threaded a diagonal pass to Nashville’s most dangerous attacking threat, who extended the lead to 3-0 in the 67th minute.
Yutaro Tsukada replaced Dorsey, taking over the left wing spot and moving Angulo to right back. Aside from that, nothing really changed. Iago picked up a yellow card after getting drawn too high by Mukhtar, who then easily rounded him. The Brazilian chopped him down from behind, taking the booking.
For a brief moment, Orlando City players thought they’d gotten something to go their way when Angulo got forward and sent a good, low cross in front for Tiago, who flicked it into the net. However, the young Brazilian was just about a foot offside and the goal didn’t count.
Three minutes later, Taifi and Iago each made desperation blocks in front to keep the match at 4-0. That didn’t last long, because Iago’s deflection went out for a corner and the hosts made it pay off. Nashville sent a ball in to the top of the area, and Madrigal curled in a screamer to make it 5-0 in the 80th minute.
The Lions learned nothing from the first 80 minutes and kept giving up excellent transition chances. Ahmed Qasem missed just wide of the right post in the 82nd minute, and Crepeau was forced to make a critical save on a Mukhtar breakaway after the Nashville Designated Player’s run was ignored by the back line near midfield.
After Orlando couldn’t pay off a set piece that Tsukada won, it was Woobens Pacius’ turn to have a wide open shot on the counter, which he sent just wide in the 86th minute.
Orlando City’s last good chance to spoil the shutout came two minutes later, when Martin Ojeda found space just outside the box and smoked a shot just over the crossbar.
Madrigal was left alone again in the third minute of stoppage time but he couldn’t hit the target on the final good opportunity of the match.
Nashville didn’t just destroy the Lions on the scoreboard. The hosts owned every major category on the stat sheet, finishing with more possession (58.2%-41.8%), shots (18-10), shots on target (9-1), and passing accuracy (90.2%-83%). By winning a few late ones, Orlando managed to equal Nashville’s five corner kicks.
“It’s tough to analyze now the game,” Perelman said. “As I said, I think this is a moment to stay calm, to work. We need to work. We need to work. We will do it. We know this league, this (season) is long, and we know how to how to go through the league. And I will repeat it once and once and once again, we’re going to be fine, because we’re going to work.”
“There’s no doubt that we we knew that they had just played away and yeah, the message for us was was pretty clear on the fact that we wanted to start strong, and that obviously didn’t happen,” Dorsey said. “So, once again, we just have some work to do, and in all facets of the game, start to finish.”
It’s unknown how much work will be required to fix a defense that is now on pace to concede 115 goals this season. The club’s record for goals allowed over a full season is 74, which is 41 goals fewer than what the 2026 team is on pace to concede. Orlando City has been outscored 10-0 in its two road matches — both 5-0 losses — but this time the Lions weren’t down a man for more than 70 minutes, finishing the game with a full 11 that looked more like seven or eight at times.
Orlando City has a pause for the international break before it continues this three-game road trip with a visit to LAFC on April 4.
Orlando City
Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. Houston Dynamo
Find out everything you need to know about the Houston Dynamo ahead of Saturday’s game.
Orlando City managed to pick up its second positive result in a row on Wednesday when it scraped past FC Naples 1-0 in the U.S. Open Cup. The Lions will now turn their attention back to MLS play and try to make it three good results on the spin when they welcome the Houston Dynamo to the City Beautiful.
In preparation for Houston’s visit, I took the time to speak with Dustyn Richardson. He’s the managing editor of Bayou City Soccer, an excellent independent outlet that is dedicated to covering the Houston Dynamo, Houston Dash, and the general soccer scene in the Houston area. He was kind enough to help bring us up to speed on this year’s Dynamo squad, and I also answered some of his questions about Orlando City, which you can find over at their place.
Talk me through Houston’s off-season moves. Who left, and who has been brought in to replace them?
Dustyn Richardson: The Dynamo went through a bit of a re-tooling this off-season. They retained most of their core of players from last season but added a number of new pieces. Houston brought in two new Designated Players in Guilherme and Mateusz Bogusz. They also brought in two more players from South America, Brazilian defender Lucas Halter and Argentine midfielder Agustin Bouzat. Perhaps their most surprising move was the return of Hector Herrera. Of course, their biggest departure happened on the eve of the season with the sale of Griffin Dorsey to Orlando.
Former Orlando City player Antonio Carlos is in his first full year with the Dynamo. How has he been doing this year?
DR: Antonio Carlos has been solid. He stepped in mid-season last year and gave the Dynamo some stability that they were lacking in the back. This season, outside his red card against LAFC, he has been their most consistent defender. Felipe Andrade missed the first few games with an injury and Halter is currently injured. Antonio Carlos and Erik Sviatchenko, the two veterans of the group, have been key this season for Houston. He has also worn the captain’s armband for the Dynamo in the games he has started, showing what Head Coach Ben Olsen and the rest of the team think about his leadership qualities.
Houston has had a fairly up-and-down start to the 2026 season, as strong wins over Chicago and Portland have been offset by four losses. What needs to happen for the team to find more consistent form?
DR: They’ve been poor defensively, flat out. The offense can score with anyone but they can’t keep teams from scoring, and in bunches. Olsen has shifted the Dynamo to a much more pronounced back three this season and it has come with its growing pains. If Houston can get its preferred three center back grouping of Andrade, Sviatchenko, and Carlos in the lineup consistently, this should help. Goalkeeper Jonathan Bond has also struggled this season, giving up a lot more goals than xG. If they can get things right on the defensive end, this team should be able to compete for a playoff spot.
Will any players be unavailable due to injury, suspension, etc.? What is your projected starting lineup and score prediction?
DR: Halter is likely still out and club captain Artur remains out after being injured in preseason. Jack McGlynn has missed the last two league matches after picking up an injury and it will probably be a game-time decision again for this match.
The Dynamo will likely line up in a 3-4-2-1 of Jonathan Bond; Felipe Andrade, Antonio Carlos, Erik Sviatchenko; Lawrence Ennali, Agustin Bouzat, Diadie Samassekou, Duane Holmes; Guilherme Augusto, Mateusz Bogusz; Ezequiel Ponce.
Houston can score and Orlando has given up a ton of goals. With that being said, the Dynamo also concede a bunch as well. I’ll predict a 2-2 draw in this one.
Thank you to Dustyn for the excellent primer on the Dynamo. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links
Lion Links: 4/17/26
Caitlin Carducci settling in with the Orlando Pride, Seven Castain scores for U.S. U-23 team, Alex Freeman adjusting in Spain, and more.
Happy Friday! My mood is still buoyed by Orlando City’s midweek win as we get ready for another weekend filled with soccer. The USWNT plays tonight, the Lions are in action on Saturday, and Orlando City B will wrap things up with a match against Carolina Core FC on Sunday. It should be a nice next few days and I’m looking forward to trying out a new brunch spot near me as well. Let’s get to the links!
Caitlin Carducci Builds Orlando Pride Foundation
Orlando Pride Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Caitlin Carducci has been with the team for a few months since being hired in January and is starting to settle in with the club. It’s a different role than the one she had with the Kansas City Current, as she’s making more final decisions here in Orlando. Carducci discussed her focus on building relationships with each player early on, the hiring of Mark Wilson as the club’s technical director, and how she’s creating a solid infrastructure for the club’s operations.
Seven Castain Scores Winner for U.S. U-23 Team
The United States U-23 Women’s National Team wrapped up its trio of friendlies in Spain with a 4-3 win over France. Orlando Pride forward Seven Castain came off the bench and scored the winner for the U.S. in stoppage time. Fellow Pride player Ally Lemos started the match. The U.S. went undefeated over the course of these friendlies, previously drawing against France and Denmark. The Pride had plenty of representation during these games, with Castain, Lemos, Simone Jackson, and Yolanda Thomas all in Europe during the break.
Alex Freeman Finding His Footing in Spain
Former Orlando City defender Alex Freeman, who was transferred to Villarreal earlier this year, spoke on how he aims to improve from this move to Europe.
“Football-wise, this is one of the things I need in my game. I need to take it up a notch and be more technical. It’s something that, if I had to choose a club, I would choose this club in this country because it’s somewhere where I can take my next step,” he says. “It was always the right move for me. I needed to go, not only to prove myself, because I have done that in the past, but to really test myself. I want to show that I am able to do it and be in that environment.”
Along with the language barrier, Freeman detailed how he’s adjusting to the faster pace of the game in Villarreal. The 21-year-old also talked about how sudden the transfer was, his goals this La Liga season, and the warm welcome he’s gotten so far.
USWNT Takes On Japan Tonight
The USWNT will host Japan tonight in Denver in the third match between the two this month. It will be interesting to see how the USWNT responds after losing 1-0 to Japan on Tuesday, particularly in regards to which players Head Coach Emma Hayes chooses for the starting lineup. Japan is a tough opponent that should continue to test the U.S. as both teams prepare for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
Free Kicks
- Orlando City’s next U.S. Open Cup match will be on April 29 against the New England Revolution. The match will take place in Rhode Island at Centreville Bank Stadium, which is where the Revs just played Rhode Island FC
- Bernardo Silva announced that he will leave Manchester City this summer after nine years with the club. It’s unclear where he will play next, but I wouldn’t be surprised if New York City FC is in the mix.
- Barcelona filed another complaint to UEFA over the officiating in its Champions League quarterfinal against Atletico Madrid. If recent events are anything to go by, it’s going to be awkward when the confederation rules Barcelona as the victor two months after the final.
- Amid reports that FC Cincinnati was exploring options to add Neymar this summer, the 34-year-old forward stated that he intends to see through his contract with Santos until it expires at the end of the year.
- New Zealand forward Chris Wood exited Nottingham Forest’s Europa League quarterfinal against Porto due to a knee injury, putting his availability for the World Cup into question.
- The Europa League semifinals are set and Forest will take on Aston Villa in an English showdown for a spot in the final. On the other side of the bracket, Freiburg will play against Braga.
- Cristiano Ronaldo exited Al Nassr’s 1-0 win over Al Ettifaq due to stomach pains that later caused him to vomit according to his head coach.
That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!
Orlando City
Why Three Could Be Greater Than Four In Orlando City’s Back Line
An analysis of MLS teams using three, four, and five-man back lines and whether it would benefit Orlando City to use a three-man grouping going forwards.
Orlando City rolled out a three-man back line during last Sunday night’s game against Columbus, and while that formation alone is not responsible for the Lions leading for most of the game and getting their first point of the season on the road, it definitely played a role. During the Óscar Pareja era, Orlando City nearly always played with a four-man back line, but with a lot of roster turnover from last season and new leadership on the sideline, it could be time to give the three-man group a look, as the Lions try to climb out from the bottom of the standings and make the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season.
We will explore whether a three-man back line is worth pursuing below, but making the playoffs is definitely a five-star idea and highly recommended.
Soccer back lines, and formations in general, are fluid. Baseball is static before every play, so you can see exactly where every fielder (defender) was and evaluate offensive and defensive performances against shifts or alignments. American football is not exactly static, but it is closer to baseball than soccer, with most players being still as the play is initiated. Soccer is most similar to hockey, basketball, and lacrosse, where even though players are nominally playing set positions, those positions can constantly change throughout a play and throughout the entirety of the game.
That said, most players generally play in a specific position for much of the game, so we can look at some tracking data and make generalizations about the formations. Opta’s tracking analysts list a primary formation for each team in every game, and while it is not perfect, it is correct more often than not for the general formation used by that team in that game.
Opta’s tracking on fbref.com gives the following table for every formation used in MLS play so far this year, and I have added the associated points earned, goals scored, and goals allowed by each team while in that formation. Make sure you are taking the formation with somewhere between a grain of salt and the bottom third of the salt shaker, but this is the unedited data:
| Formation | Games Used | Avg. Points Earned | Avg. Goals For | Avg. Goals Allowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4-2-3-1 | 77 | 1.58 | 1.74 | 1.44 |
| 4-3-3 | 48 | 1.35 | 1.67 | 1.65 |
| 4-4-2 | 32 | 0.97 | 0.84 | 1.41 |
| 3-4-3 | 30 | 1.47 | 1.57 | 1.83 |
| 3-5-2 | 7 | 1.43 | 1.57 | 1.57 |
| 5-4-1 | 4 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 0.75 |
| 4-1-4-1 | 3 | 1.33 | 1.67 | 1.33 |
| 3-4-1-2 | 3 | 1.67 | 2.00 | 1.67 |
| 3-5-1-1 | 1 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 3.00 |
| 4-4-1-1 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.00 |
I think it is probably easier to just bucket the different formations into simpler sets, using the number of defenders to segment the formations:
| Back Line | Games Used | Avg. Points Earned | Avg. Goals For | Avg. Goals Allowed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three-man | 41 | 1.51 | 1.66 | 1.81 |
| Four-man | 161 | 1.38 | 1.53 | 1.50 |
| Five-man | 4 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 0.75 |
Most teams in MLS, and also around the world, utilize four-player back lines. Coaches are pragmatists, and some combination between using a lineup that feels more secure (i.e. usually one with more defenders) and one that will not get ridiculed by players, pundits, fans, owners, and writers (the audacity of someone to analyze and comment on lineup choices, how dare they?) drives a hefty portion of the decision making for those making lineup decisions.
Orlando City used a three-man back line in the game against Columbus, though there were parts of the game when it looked much more like a five-man back line with Griffin Dorsey and Iván Angulo dropped all the way back on defense. The sofascore.com heatmaps for all five (Angulo, David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Iago, and Dorsey) are listed below in order from left to right, and you can see where all five have a good amount of touches in the defensive third. Angulo and Dorsey played far higher than the middle three, however, which is why the formation Opta assigned to Orlando City was a back three. Imperfect, but directionally it makes sense.
With the players on the current roster, a back three may well be the right lineup to use until the next transfer window. There is a not a lot of blazing speed among Orlando City’s defensive group, but most of the defenders have decent size and are good in the air, so protecting the heart of the defense with Brekalo, Jansson, and Iago as the starters and Adrián Marín and Tahir Reid-Brown as backups gives the team some decent depth without sacrificing size. Alas, this comes one year too late for former Lion Thomas Williams, who probably would have been better suited to a back three than a back four.
In addition to having a good set of center back candidates, Angulo, Dorsey, Zakaria Taifi, and Marín are all good wingback options as well, and players who have the skills and pace to get up into the attack while also recovering back to help out the defensive line.
Orlando City’s current personnel fits the three-man back line well, and considering most teams in MLS are using four-man back lines, that decision also bodes well considering how three-man back lines have done this season when playing against four- or five-man back lines. Three-man back lines have been used against four- or five-man back lines 31 times thus far this season, and those teams are earning 1.58 points per match during those games. That amount of points per match would have been in the top half of MLS last season (13th), right above the actual 2025 Orlando City team, which finished on 1.56 points per match.
Orlando City hosts Houston this weekend, and the Dynamo have primarily used a four-man back line (featuring former Lion Antonio Carlos) thus far this season. On Saturday night we will see if the three-man back line was just for the Columbus game or if it is something that the Lions will trot out again in hopes of continuing the league-wide trend of teams finding success when playing three in the back against teams playing four in the back.
I do not really care whether it is three or four in the back, as long as that by the end of the game Orlando City has done better than Houston at putting more in the back…of the opposition’s net.
Vamos Orlando!
Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. Houston Dynamo
Lion Links: 4/17/26
Why Three Could Be Greater Than Four In Orlando City’s Back Line
Orlando City vs. Columbus Crew: Final Score 1-1 as Lions Finally Earn Road Point
Orlando City vs. FC Naples, U.S. Open Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
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