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!

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 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:

I think it is probably easier to just bucket the different formations into simpler sets, using the number of defenders to segment the formations:

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!