Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Nashville: Player Grades and Man of the Match
How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s 5-0 away loss against Nashville?
Orlando City was taken behind the woodshed on Saturday night (there are definitely woodsheds in Tennessee, and Orlando City players will be able to describe one near Geodis Park in intimate detail), as they were flogged 5-0 by a rampant Nashville SC squad. There were not a lot of positives to take away from this game, but a lot of young players were forced to play due to injuries, so hopefully those minutes will pay off down the road. Thankfully, there is no relegation to worry about in Major League Soccer, and the Lions now have nearly two weeks until their next game to regroup and get on the same page.
I have my purple pen out but I am going with the red one again, so here we go. Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated individually in an Eastern Conference matchup.
Starters
GK, Maxime Crépeau, 5.5 — Crépeau went the full 90 minutes on Saturday night, but he may wish that he had been red carded again after facing wave after wave of Nashville attackers all evening. The Canadian was badly beaten for Nashville’s first goal, a Cristian Espinoza cross that was mis-hit and turned into a shot that beat Crépeau where you never want to be beaten as a goalkeeper — at the near post. Aside from that shot, Crépeau was basically hung out to dry by the “defense” in front of him, as he had little to no chance to save any of the other four goals that Nashville put into the back of his net. He made four saves on the night, with another two coming after offside calls so they were not counted in the stats. He completed 64.7% of his passes, including all of his short passes, and if not for some big saves, Orlando City could have set a club record for goals allowed with how poorly the team played defensively.
D, Adrián Marín, 4.5 — The Spaniard was ineffective on both sides of the ball on Saturday night, with his best contributions coming on loose ball recoveries (6) and clearances (3). He brought little to the attack, completing only 70.6% of his passes and most of those were the short or backwards variety. He completed one long ball and did not have any crosses, and even though Nashville made 48% of its attacks up his side of the field, he only had one tackle and one interception. It was not a surprise when he came off in the 59th minute, and he will need to improve his play in future weeks if he wants to hold down the starting left back spot.
D, Iago, 4.5 — Nashville dominated possession, took nearly 20 shots, scored five goals, and despite playing the full 90 minutes, Iago did not make a tackle and had his only defensive contributions as one interception and six clearances. It is clear that the big Brazilian defender is skilled and has a lot of potential, but he is too tentative and slow with his decision making right now on the field as he adapts to playing against veteran professionals instead of mostly youth players. With all the injuries Orlando City is dealing with, he is going to have to continue this trial by fire, and he was burned badly against Nashville. He completed a team-high 54 passes at a 90% completion rate, but aside from that it was a difficult night.
D, Nolan Miller, 4.5 — Miller’s evening was not much better than his center back partner’s, and arguably was worse as he directly created Nashville’s second goal with a silly shirt pull in the box that led to a penalty kick. The MLS SuperDraft pick made one tackle and logged four clearances while completing 87.5% of his passes, but the shirt pull and a lack of communication with Griffin Dorsey that led to both defenders playing the same man while leaving Sam Surridge (the league’s leading scorer) wide open will be brutal reminders of the difference between playing defense at the MLS level vs. the NCAA level. He left a clear path for Cristian Espinoza’s easy assist on Surridge’s third goal as well, closing on the man with the ball, who Iago was already tracking. Mistakes led to two goals, on a rough night for the young center back.
D, Griffin Dorsey, 5.5 — Dorsey’s best contribution on the night might have been the fire he showed in the post-game interviews (you can read his spicy comments in our game recap), but on the field he was also one of the top performers for Orlando City. He nearly scored a great goal after been put in by Duncan McGuire, but his shot hit the left post and came back into play. The right back made several driving runs up the field to try to create some attacks, but the partnership with Marco Pašalić still is not there, and no major chances came from those runs. On the defensive side, Dorsey had a game-leading four tackles while adding one interception and one block, and he completed 64.5% of his passes before coming off in the second half for Yutaro Tsukada.
MF, Iván Angulo, 6 (MotM) — The Colombian gave the best among a set of mediocre-to-decent performances, earning my Man of the Match for this game. His speed created several chances up the left side of the field, and his left-footed shot attempt in the first half was one of the best shots Orlando City took all game. After Orlando City made some subs he flipped over to the right side of the field as a wingback, and nearly had an assist on a great pass to Tiago, but the Brazilian was just barely offside. Angulo recorded two tackles and one interception on defense, and went the full 90 at full speed, even though by the game was far out of reach by the end. He completed 88.6% of his passes, including one key pass, and gave one of the few performances that looked like that of the Lions from the last few seasons.
MF, Braian Ojeda, 5.5 — Defensive Ojeda once again delivered a strong work rate, but aside from his hustle there was very little that stood out about his play. He completed 86.7% of his passes, including one key pass, and stuffed the defensive stat sheet with one tackle, three interceptions, one block, and one clearance. Nashville overran Orlando City’s defense whenever it wanted, however, and despite the hustle and work rate from Ojeda and the other midfielders and defenders, Nashville had 58% of the possession and it really felt like a lot more. Ojeda has not been able to develop any chemistry with his midfield partners because they keep changing every game, and until that can change Orlando City will be at risk of more games like Saturday’s, with Ojeda just in chase mode for his entire time on the field.
MF, Luis Otávio, 4.5 — Perhaps it is bad luck or perhaps it is that he has only started on the road against strong opponents, but in both of Otávio’s starts he has shown only flashes of potential and mostly seems to not be on the same page with his midfield partner or with the defenders he is supposed to be shielding as a defensive midfielder. The Brazilian completed 10 passes at a 66.7% completion rate and added one clearance during his 45 minutes, and even though Orlando City only gave up two goals while he was on the field and three while Colin Guske was on the field, the Lions looked much better with Guske than they did with Otávio. He nearly compounded the issues by picking up a card, as the referee had to stop the game to deliver him a stern talking to, and it was not a surprise to see him be substituted for the second half, especially after a terrible giveaway that nearly led to a goal during first-half stoppage time.
MF, Marco Pašalić, 5.5 — The Croatian was engaged and active, and nearly put one away early in the second half that could have cut the score to 2-1. It was partially blocked and went out for a corner, and a few minutes later, Surridge scored again and the Lions never were in the game again. Losing Alex Freeman certainly hurt, but the double whammy is that even though Dorsey has been pretty good, he has not been Freeman, and he and Pašalić have yet to figure out a symbiotic partnership, so Pašalić is struggling to contribute as well. The effort was definitely there even though the final product was not, and the Croatian was among the few somewhat bright spots on a dreary night. He completed 80.7% of his passes with one key pass and logged two interceptions and one clearance on defense while going the full 90 minutes for the first time this season.
F, Martín Ojeda, 5.5 — Saturday night was one of Ojeda’s poorest performances in a while, and even though the stat sheet shows that he completed 83.7% of his passes with three key passes, it did not feel like he had any real influence on the game. Both shots he took were off target, and while one would have been a spectacular goal off a bouncing ball, the other was on a free kick, and the Argentinean just did not aim it well enough and put it several feet wide. Even when he is playing poorly the offense generally runs through Ojeda, and it did against Nashville as well, but it is not a coincidence that a quiet and inconspicuous Ojeda led to a mostly quiet and inconspicuous offensive evening for the Lions.
F, Duncan McGuire, 5.5 — McGuire finally got a little bit of service on Saturday but he could not convert his one big chance, going high with his shot and putting it right into the hands of Brian Schwake. It was not a clear breakaway, but Big Dunc still could have done better with his shot, and had that gone in, the whole complexion of the game could have changed. McGuire also played a great pass to Dorsey to set up his shot that rocketed off the post, so while he had a goose egg on goal contributions, he was involved in some of the best chances that Orlando City had. In the end there were not enough chances and they did not convert the ones they had, and McGuire came off for Tiago for the final third of the game. He completed 92.9% of his pass attempts, with one key pass, put his one shot attempt on target, and did not have any defensive contributions.
Substitutes
MF, Colin Guske (46′), 5.5 — Guske did not play an outstanding half, but he played better than Otávio after coming on for him after halftime. We do not know what was asked of the two center midfielders by the coaching staff, but Guske held down the middle of the field better than the Brazilian did and was much more active when the Lions were in possession, completing 26 passes at an 89.7% completion rate to his counterpart’s 10 passes at 66.7%. The young midfielder perhaps could have dropped deeper and thwarted Nashville’s third goal, which happened a few feet in front of him, but that goal was not on him and neither were the other two scored by the home team while Guske was on the field.
D, Zakaria Taifi, (59′), 5.5 — The Homegrown defender came on for Marín with 31 minutes to go, and had a chance to show his abilities at left back for the first time this season. Taifi was active during his shift, completing 88.9% of his passes and making more threatening runs than Marín did during his time on the field, but he also was responsible for the turnover that led to Nashville’s fourth goal, when he was a little slow to corral a loose ball and then was muscled off the ball by Espinoza, who then made a driving run that led to a Nashville goal. I thought Taifi’s performance was decent overall, both offensively and defensively (one tackle, one excellent block, and one clearance) and after two straight good shifts off the bench he will be in serious contention to get a start for the Lions in their next game.
F, Tiago, (59′), 5.5 — The young Brazilian came on for McGuire, but he was not able to unlock Nashville’s defense either. He completed all six of his pass attempts and drew two fouls, but he could not get himself free to take any shots (aside from when he was offside, though that shot did go into the back of the net) and he did not create any good chances with his passes either. Orlando City’s offense created more chances with Tiago on than the field than with McGuire, but Nashville was also far ahead by that time and playing more of a prevent defense than playing with the same intensity as during the first two-thirds of the game.
MF, Yutaro Tsukada, (72′), 4.5 — Tsukada made his first appearance of the season and his first since 2024, completing all four of his pass attempts and attempting to create attacks with the ball every time he received it. He was only successful on one of his four one-on-one attempts but he brought some energy out on the left side of the field after coming on for Dorsey.
That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s ugly 5-0 loss at Nashville. Let us know what you thought of the game in the comments below, and don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match.
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
Orlando City vs. Columbus Crew: Player Grades and Man of the Match
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