Orlando City B (8-4-6, 33 points) defeated FC Cincinnati 2 (4-12-1, 14 points) 2-1 today at NKU Soccer Stadium in Highland Heights, KY. Issah Haruna gave the Young Lions the early lead, but Deiver Mosquera equalized in the 63rd minute. The deciding goal came from Matthew Belgodere in the 75th minute, securing the win.

OCB Head Coach Eddie Wilding made four changes to the team that drew Crown Legacy FC 1-1 on July 5. Landon Okonski, Tahir Reid-Brown, Caleb Trombino, and Belgodere entered the lineup, replacing Titus Sandy Jr., Bernardo Rhein, Dylan Judelson, and Harvey Sarajian.

Juan Rojas started in goal behind a back line of Reid-Brown, Clovis Archange, Okonski, and Parker Amoo-Mensah. Caleb Trombino and Ignacio Gomez were the defensive midfielders behind Belgodere, Haruna, and Gustavo Caraballo with Pedro Leao up top.

The Young Lions created the game’s first chance in the third minute when Caraballo intercepted a poor touch by Cincinnati in the OCB third of the field. The midfielder carried the ball into the opposing half and tried to play Leao through. Sami Lachekar got in the way, but the deflection went directly to Belgodere behind the back line. Goalkeeper Fabian Mrozek came off his line to cut down Belgodere’s angle and the midfielder waited too long, allowing Felix Samson to get back and block the shot.

Cincinnati had its first chance in the seventh minute when Trombino’s poor cross-field pass intended for Caraballo was touched by Charlie Holmes and collected by Mathias Vasquez. The forward sent Kristian Fletcher into the OCB third before Archange caught up in the box. The center back was able to tap the ball away, but it went to Holmes, but Okonski blocked his first-touch shot.

OCB had another chance in the 10th minute when Rojas senta short pass to Archange. The center back sent a long ball forward. Camden Sphire was the first to it, but the ball glanced off his head and got behind him. Haruna was there to collect and was in alone on goal. However, as Ayoub Laihar got back to provide pressure, Mrozek did well to get down and block the shot from the top of the box.

The Young Lions created a third chance in the 16th minute and finally converted. This time it was a long ball from Rojas that cleared three defenders and Belgodere, landing perfectly for Haruna. The midfielder did well with this one, striking the ball with his left foot and putting it in off the inside of the post at the far corner to give OCB a 1-0 lead.

Rojas’ assist was only the second by an OCB goalkeeper in the team’s nine-year history. The only one previously was on June 5, 2016, when Mark Ridgers assisted Michael Cox in the final minutes of a 4-3 loss to Louisville City FC.

In the 26th minute, Samson played a weak ball for Leonardo Oreiarena that Gomez intercepted. The Young Lions had numbers going forward, so Gomez sent Leao into the final third. The striker continued the ball wide left for Belgodere, who cut inside before shooting. However, there were three defenders around him and Samson blocked Belgodere’s shot.

Cincinnati came forward in the 28th minute when Stefan Charila sent Mosquera down the right. Reid-Brown defended the right back, forcing him to cut back and play it to Charila’s trailing run to the top of the box. The midfielder dribbled inside to find space and sent a shot through multiple defenders, but it was right at Rojas.

Gomez tried to flick the ball over his head in the 37th minute to beat Sphire but lost control. Sphire took possession and played it through Charila to Mosquera on the right with Reid-Brown on him. A quick cut inside gave Mosquera enough space for a shot that was right at Rojas.

Less than a minute later, Vasquez made a strong run into the OCB third, working hard to keep Archange from the ball. He played it centrally for Kristian Fletcher, who sent a right-footed shot toward goal. Since Fletcher’s shot was in the opposite direction he was moving, Rojas was leaning the wrong way. But he dove to his right and tipped the ball wide with a fantastic save, the first time he was challenged in the game.

Cincinnati finished the first half with more shots (5-4) and put more on target (3-2), but only one of those shots challenged Rojas. Meanwhile, OCB had more crosses (3-2) and better passing accuracy (86.3%-83.8%), and both teams won one corner kick in the first 45 minutes.

OCB got the second half off to an attacking start, creating the first chance in the 49th minute. Gomez lifted the ball to the right for Caraballo, who had plenty of space as he entered the Cincinnati box. The attacker opened up and attempted to curl the ball around Mrozek, but Holmes blocked the shot over the crossbar.

Reid-Brown sent a long ball down the left in the 58th minute for Belgodere. Caraballo was calling for the ball as he made a run down the middle into acres of space, and Belgodere eventually found him at the top of the box. However, Caraballo scuffed his shot weakly right at Mrozek, causing no trouble for the goalkeeper.

Shortly after the chance, Wilding made his first substitution of the game. Judelson, who usually starts but was on the bench for this game, came on for Trombino.

OCB created a chance in the 63rd minute when Leao found Belgodere to his left. The midfielder had plenty of space and fired off a hard shot that forced Mrozek to block away.

Cincinnati quickly went the other way and found the equalizer. With Okonski backpedaling, Mosquera made a long run into the OCB box before shooting past the sliding center back. The attempt was just beyond the reach of Rojas and off the inside of the post to even the game at 1-1.

The Young Lions tried to retake the lead in the 70th minute when Haruna carried the ball into the Cincinnati third before sending it wide for Belgodere. The midfielder played it centrally for Caraballo, but Samson blocked the shot. OCB kept possession, creating another opportunity. Okonski played the ball to Caraballo in the middle and he quickly found Leao just inside the box. The striker’s second touch was a shot that Samson deflected, allowing Mrozek to make the easy stop.

Wilding made two more changes in the 72nd minute, replacing Amoo-Mensah and Haruna with Sandy and Hylton.

The Young Lions finally retook the lead in the 75th minute. Caraballo made a long run from his own third into the Cincinnati third before sending it wide for Belgodere. The left-sided midfielder cut inside to lose his defender and beat Mrozek to the far post to give OCB the 2-1 lead.

The hosts nearly found another equalizer in the 83rd minute when Charila was sent down the right. Archange was on him and defended him physically, but Charila refused to go down the defender tapped the ball off his foot. Unfortunately, the Young Lions were slow getting back and it went right to Jack Mize. Okonski deflected Mize’s shot just wide of the far post.

Wilding made his final two changes in the 84th minute as Nicolas Bobea Torres and Brady Kendall came on for Leao and Caraballo.

Cincinnati came close again in the 85th minute when Samson played a ball wide for Nathan Gray. The second-half substitute sent a dangerous ball into the six-yard box with Mosquera making a run. Fortunately, it was just beyond Mosquera’s reach and skipped wide of the far post.

In the 89th minute, Chance Malilo played a short pass for Leonardo Oreiarena, who wasn’t closed down and took a shot from distance. It was a strong strike and on target, but went right to Rojas, failing to cause the OCB goalkeeper any trouble.

The Young Lions were defending for their lives as the game entered five minutes of stoppage time. In the final minute, Reid-Brown lifted the ball to the top of the six-yard box for Torres. He was behind his defender but couldn’t get over the ball, putting it over the crossbar.

At full time, OCB had more shots (12-10), shots on target (6-5), and better passing accuracy (87.3%-84.2%). Both teams ended the game with five crosses and two corner kicks.

The victory ends OCB’s three-game winless streak, but since the last matches were draws, the Young Lions are now unbeaten in three. The win also pushes them up to third place in MLS NEXT Pro’s Eastern Conference, just one point behind Crown Legacy FC and Columbus Crew 2, though those teams have a game in hand. They’re also only three points ahead of Atlanta United 2 for seventh, so they need positive results in their upcoming games.

The Young Lions will end their three-game road trip on Saturday as they travel to Tennessee to take on Chattanooga FC.

Orlando City B (7-4-6, 30 points) drew 1-1 tonight with Crown Legacy FC (8-2-6, 34 points) at the Sportsplex at Matthews in North Carolina tonight. Nimfasha Berchimas gave the visitors the lead in the second half before Dylan Judelson equalized just minutes later. The hosts subsequently won the penalty shootout 4-2 to take the extra point.

OCB Head Coach Eddie Wilding made just one change from the team that drew 2-2 with Columbus Crew 2 on June 28 and lost 5-4 on penalties. Ignacio Gomez entered the lineup, replacing Matthew Belgodere, who started on the bench.

The back line in front of goalkeeper Juan Rojas included Bernardo Rhein, Clovis Archange, Titus Sandy, Jr., and Parker Amoo-Mensah. Judelson and Gomez were in the defensive midfield behind Harvey Sarajian, Issah Haruna, and Gustavo Caraballo with Pedro Leao up top.

This was a pretty even game throughout. Both teams squandered plenty of opportunities before Berchimas finally converted in the 66th minute. But that seemed to spark the Young Lions as Judelson equalized just three minutes later. The teams could see three points in their future and pushed for a late winner with neither finding the back of the net.

The hosts had the first chance of the game in the fourth minute when Sandy deflected Berchimas’ cross out of play. The ensuing set piece went short to Berchimas, but Rhein blocked his shot from the top corner of the box.

The Young Lions should have taken the lead in the seventh minute when Haruna and Amoo-Mensah worked together, resulting in the latter sending a low cross across the box. It went through multiple players before landing at Sarajian’s feet at the back post with no defenders near and a gaping net. However, the attacker’s first touch was wide of the post.

OCB nearly had a goal in the 14th minute when Judelson used a nice touch to lose his defender and create space. He sent Haruna into the attacking half with Sarajian and Leao making runs. It looked like Haruna waited too long and then played it too far in front of Leao. But the striker beat Crown Legacy goalkeeper Lazar Kalicanin to the ball, tapping it around him. He had an open goal but hit the outside of the post.

Brian Romero played a great ball behind the OCB back line in the 24th minute when Nathan Richmond made a run between Sandy and Rhein. The attacker was in on goal and sent the ball past Rojas, but it rolled wide of the far post. A minute later, Crown Legacy had a similar attack when Aron John sent Adrian Mendoza between Sandy and Archange. Rojas came out of his goal to cut down the angle, forcing Mendoza to send his shot wide.

OCB tried to play the ball out of the back in the 28th minute, but Daniel Longo blocked Archange’s pass and John collected it. The midfielder played it forward for Mendoza, who sent a low, hard shot that forced Rojas into a quality save.

In the 43rd minute, Gavin Smith played a good ball to the top of the six-yard box where Romero was making a run. Archange did well to get his foot on the ball, clearing it out of play for a throw-in. When the ball was put back in play, Romero received a pass at the top of the OCB box, playing it to Richmond toward the end line. The attacker found Mendoza at the top of the six with some space, but his shot was wide.

Crown Legacy ended the half with more shots (5-3), shots on target (1-0), and corner kicks (2-1). OCB had better passing accuracy (93.4%-91.8%) and both teams completed three crosses. While there were several clear chances on goal, neither team was able to convert.

The Young Lions were the more attacking team to start the second half, with Caraballo creating a pair of early chances. In the 48th minute, Gomez made a run into the opposing third before finding Caraballo at the top of the box. The attacker attempted to curl the ball toward goal, but Wyatt Holt deflected it out of play.

A minute later, Amoo-Mensah made his way to the right side of the field, receiving a pass forward from Rhein. The right back quickly played Caraballo into the Crown Legacy third and the attacker shot from a tight angle before reaching the end line. However, it didn’t cause any trouble for Kalicanin.

The Young Lions broke on a counterattack in the 55th minute when Haruna won the ball from Longo on the opposing side of the field. He played Leao forward and made a run, but Leao’s shot from distance was blocked, ending a promising attack.

The hosts had their first second-half chance in the 59th minute when Sarajian fouled Mendoza near the top of the OCB box. Mendoza took the free kick himself, going directly for goal. Fortunately, he couldn’t keep the free kick down and the shot went over the crossbar.

Holt won Rojas’ punt from just inside his own box in the 66th minute, resulting in a break for the hosts. Mendoza sent the ball out to his right before receiving it back near the top of the six-yard box. Archange blocked Mendoza’s shot, but it went right to Berchimas, who put it in to give Crown Legacy the 1-0 lead.

Immediately after the goal, Wilding made his first two changes, replacing Leao and Gomez with Justin Hylton and Belgodere.

The Young Lions didn’t wait to get back into the game, finding the equalizer shortly after the restart. In the 68th minute, Mikah Thomas blocked Caraballo’s cross out of play. Caraballo and Amoo-Mensah used some quick passing from the short corner to break through the defense, resulting in the latter finding Judelson near the penalty spot. The defensive midfielder finished well, evening the game at 1-1.

In the 75th minute, Longo was sent to the end line and tried to lift a cross into the six-yard box, but Archange blocked it out of play. Richmond’s ensuing set piece found substitute Michael Ayovi’s head. However, Rojas was there to make the catch.

Haruna was dispossessed in the 85th minute and the ball rolled toward Kalicanin. Sarajian attempted to beat Kalicanin to the ball and nearly did, but the goalkeeper got to it first. The clearance went to Gomez, who passed to Caraballo at the top of the box. The attacker tried to create some space but his shot was blocked.

Wilding made his third change and used his second window in the 88th minute, replacing Caraballo with Nicolas Bobea Torres.

Belgodere sent a pass to the top of the box in the 89th minute that bounced off Sarajian, Haruna, and a defender before slipping through. Belgodere continued his run and was in on goal, attempting to beat Kalicanin to the far post. However, the Crown Legacy goalkeeper got a piece of it, tipping it wide.

In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Bobea Torres received a pass from Hylton at the top of the box, dribbling inside to find space for a shot. However, his attempt was deflected into Kalicanin’s arms. The referee blew the final whistle before the goalkeeper released the ball, ending the game.

At full time, OCB had the edge in shots (13-11), shots on target (4-3), corner kicks (5-3), and passing accuracy (90.6%-90.5%). Crown Legacy had more crosses (4-3) and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Per MLS NEXT Pro rules, each team received a point for the draw and the game went to penalties to see which would earn an extra point.

Crown Legacy was the better team in penalties. Rojas guessed correctly on Erik Pena’s penalty, but the substitute put his attempt into the corner. Rhein then stepped up, stutter-stepping as he approached the ball, but Kalicanin was disciplined and dove to his left to make the stop. John, Sarajian, Sebastian Ventura, Hylton, and Ayovi then traded conversions before Judelson stepped up, needing to score. While he had a good strike in regulation, his penalty was taken poorly, providing an easy save by Kalicanin to win the shootout and take the extra point.

The draw sees OCB stay in sixth place, a point behind fourth and two behind third. However, the shootout point saw the Young Lions lose another point to Crown Legacy, so they’re now four points out of second and first in MLS NEXT Pro’s Eastern Conference.

The Young Lions will stay out on the road as they face FC Cincinnati 2 in Kentucky on July 12.

With the flipping of the calendar to July, we are now into the second half of the year, and all across the United States the temperatures are in orange and red as summer time is here. My parents and brother are in New Hampshire, where the summers are usually milder than those here in central Florida, but the temperatures up north have everyone breaking out their record collections to play “Heat Wave” by Martha and the Vandellas, and not just because the pop culture preferences in the Granite State tend to run, oh, a few decades behind those in the rest of the country (I’ve spent many summers in New Hampshire).

On the more contemporary front, the British band Glass Animals released the Billboard chart-topping “Heat Waves” in 2020, with opening lyrics of “sometimes all I think about is you, late nights in the middle of June.” I do not think they were referring to soccer teams in Orlando in that song, but these lyrics often fit for me as it relates to our three professional squads, and on late nights in more months than just June.

Orlando City is back in training but still weeks away from its next match, but the Pride are (finally) back on Friday, and of course, Orlando City B (OCB) and MLS NEXT Pro listened closely to Rihanna and adhered to her request to not stop the music, continuing its season throughout the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

OCB had been on its own heat wave through the end of May and those late nights in the middle of June, but in recent weeks it hit a cold snap, losing to Philadelphia Union II in regulation and then Columbus Crew 2 in penalties. With OCB’s hot and cold performances, plus the recent return of HBO’s House of the Dragon reminding everyone of the incredible writing in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, I thought it would be a good time to look at some heatmaps for the Young Lions, using data from American Soccer Analysis (ASA).

As a quick reminder, ASA uses the following categorizations to create an overall “goals added” per player per game, with some actions adding value and others removing value, with every action throughout the game being assigned a value. The full explanation can be found here, but at a high level, here are the category breakdowns:

• Shooting: Shots
• Receiving: Receptions
• Passing: Passes
• Dribbling: Carries, Take-Ons, Miscontrols, Dispossessions
• Interrupting: Tackles, Interceptions, Blocks, Clearances, Recoveries, Contested Headers
• Fouling: Fouls Committed, Fouls Received

For the heatmap below, I only included field players who have played at least 250 minutes this season, including stoppage time. The players are listed at the position assigned to them by ASA, and the column “Qualified Players” is the count of MLS NEXT Pro players who have played at least 250 minutes at that specific position. The percentages indicate where each player ranks in that category at their position, meaning that center back Landon Okonski’s 92% in the shooting category indicates that his shooting performance this season ranks better than 92% of the 118 center backs who have played at least 250 minutes. Red is good, blue is not. Hopefully no Crips read this article.

CB = center back, FB = fullback, DM = defensive midfielder, W = winger, AM = attacking midfielder, ST = striker; CM is also a possible position but ASA did not assign any OCB players to the central midfielder position.

We do not want to exclude the goalkeepers, so the chart below is a similar one with goalkeeping metrics instead of field player metrics. For this heatmap, there are 73 qualified goalkeepers (I used 195 minutes played as the qualification cutoff, in order to include OCB’s Luca Maxim):

Unsurprisingly for a team that ranks near the top of the league in goals scored and near the bottom in goals allowed, the OCB players playing offensive positions tend to have more items in red (reminder that red is good) than the defenders.

OCB’s players in particular are very good dribblers as compared to others who play the same position, with Harvey Sarajian ranked as the number one dribbler across all 103 wingers (and actually also across all 539 players as a whole), and as a team, OCB ranks number one in the league in ASA’s dribbling metric.

Anyone who has watched OCB play is well aware of this, as while the Young Lions have many excellent dribblers, they turn the ball over often on the dribble by attempting to take on one too many defenders. Still, the team ranks first in dribbling and second in shooting, with Justin Ellis and Ignacio Gómez ranking first and second at their respective positions (Ellis was having a tremendous overall season in MLS NEXT Pro, but we will have to wait and see how he is used after Antoine Griezmann is inserted in the Orlando City lineup to see if the club keeps him solely at the senior level).

On the negative side, the defenders show far more blue than red, especially in the final column of overall goals added, where most of the center backs rank in the bottom 20% and the fullbacks rank in the bottom 33%. The team’s primary goalkeeper, Tristan Himes, is just above the bottom 10% of goalkeepers in his overall goals added performance, and according to ASA’s measures, he has performed significantly worse than OCB’s other two goalkeepers. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that Juan Rojas started the most recent game against Columbus, but Himes will need to perform better if he wants to keep his spot and if the team is going to make a run in the back half of the season.

MLS NEXT Pro is a developmental league, so there are always questions about whether players are being fairly ranked based on if they are making their own playing decisions or if the club is asking them, or the team as a whole, to play a certain way or to try something different to see how they perform. That said, the cream usually rises to the top, and the heatmaps above reveal that the best performances by OCB players this year have been from Ellis, Sarajian, Gómez, and Dylan Judelson, all of whom rank in the top 11% at their respective positions.

The first three players have all played for the senior team this season, with Ellis carving out a starting role, and Judelson is only 18, yet already has appeared eight times for the Canadian U-20 team, including starting and playing the full 90 minutes in its most recent match against Portugal’s U-20 team (Canada was savagely beaten 6-1, but still). Justin Hylton (18), Gustavo Caraballo (17), and Jacob Ramirez (16) also have performed in the top 20% for their respective positions at relatively young ages, and Dominik Baczewski (18) is in the top 30%.

With busy months ahead at the senior level, some of these high performing young players may get a chance to see some minutes for Orlando City, and we will see if they can step up their games from MLS NEXT Pro to the big show.

These players are all young and playing in the south, so hopefully they can take their inspiration from southern rap icon Juvenile and create future heatmaps that look 400 Degreez.

Vamos Orlando!