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Orlando City vs. LAFC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in Orlando City’s 6-0 away loss against LAFC?

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6 months ago

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Image of Ivan Angulo trying to dribble past an LAFC defender.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City was never really in the game on Saturday night, as the Lions were on the back foot from the jump and ended up flat on their backs in the fetal position by the end, losing 6-0 to a rampant LAFC. If there was any positive it was that the second half went better than the first half, but the Lions were still unable to put any shots into the goal, making it three straight away games without a goal scored. Yuck.

I have my purple pen out, though I am once again going to need to use the red one liberally, so here we go. Let’s take a look at how Orlando City’s players rated individually in a matchup with a Western Conference opponent.

Starters

GK, Maxime Crépeau, 4.5 — The Canadian might want to take a trip down to the Men In Black ride at Universal Studios to see if they have a Neuralyzer available, because he allowed six goals on seven shots on target and will want to forget this game ever happened. He did not play poorly, and none of the goals can be pinned solely on him for mistakes, but six goals on seven shots on target is yet another terrible six-seven reference, and possibly the worst one that is reasonably applicable to a soccer match. He completed 86.7% of his passes and he made two saves while collecting several other balls from dangerous areas, but it was a rough night for Crépeau and the entire Orlando City defense.

D, Iago, 3.5 — Iago started the game as a bit of a left back in a four-man back line / left center back in a five-man back line hybrid. That defense did not work well and he did not play well either. In fairness to him, he has played mostly center back in his young career, but he was repeatedly beaten by LAFC attackers going up the right side (Orlando’s defensive left) and he once again did not close down attacking players quickly enough. The Brazilian played much better in a traditional center back role in the second half, but the damage was done in the first half, and it should be clear to the coaching staff that Iago should stick to the center of defense in the future. He completed a game-high 73 passes at a 97.3% completion rate and was able to put one shot on target, but the fact that he made zero tackles while playing the full 90 minutes is indicative of his defensive performance in the game. He added two interceptions, one block, and two clearances, but he did not play well.

D, Nolan Miller, 3.5 — The rookie from the University of Michigan fared far worse than his former university’s basketball team did in its Final Four game on Saturday night, as LAFC owned the center of the box like Miller and the other defenders were not even on the field. Despite LAFC dominating the game in the first half, Miller did not make any tackles, and he only recorded one interception and three clearances. He completed a perfect 100% of his passes, but only one pass was in the attacking half of the field and most went directly sideways or backwards. LAFC had everything working on Saturday night, so it would have been difficult for anyone in central defense, and it was another “welcome to the pros” moment for the young defender who has been forced to play far more minutes than the team expected him to during the first six games of the season.

D, David Brekalo, 3.5 — Brekalo has far more experience than his central defense partner Miller, but it was hard to tell that by how he played during the first half of Saturday night’s match. Own goals frequently are more about luck than poor play, but the one scored by Brekalo came as he was trying to block a cross from going onto the foot of Nathan Ordaz and he just scuffed the clearance and put it right into his own goal. He timed the defensive run well and got into good position, and then just failed to deal with the cross. That poor play was indicative of the whole evening for Brekalo and the defense in general, and though he filled up the stat sheet with a 94.5% passing completion percentage, two tackles, two interceptions, three blocks, and seven clearances, the stat that matters most was six, which was how many goals LAFC scored. Four of the six goals came from Brekalo’s defensive zone, with a fifth being the one he put into his own net, and I think it is time that Orlando City looks at moving him back out to left back.

D, Braian Ojeda, 4.5 — The man we call Defensive Ojeda literally started in defense for this game, playing as the right back with Griffin Dorsey out injured. The Paraguayan was not terrible but he clearly is not a right back, and got caught out of position frequently. Denis Bouanga is a handful for even the best right backs, and while Ojeda gave his customary full effort, he should not play right back again this season. Ojeda returned to the middle of the field and was much better at his natural position in the second half, but the game was done and dusted at that point. He completed 91.4% of his passes and added one tackle, three interceptions, and two clearances on defense.

D/MF, Iván Angulo, 5 — Stop me if you have heard this before, but the Colombian once again stood out as one of the best Orlando City players on the field. Angulo played in his customary left wing position but he dropped all the way back as a left back in a five-man back line on occasion. He had a glorious chance to get Orlando City on the scoreboard early in the game when he broke out with the ball on a four-on-two counterattack, but his cross-field pass to Marco Pašalić was poorly hit, leading to a turnover. LAFC scored just minutes later and never looked back. It was one of the only truly poor plays by Angulo during the game, as he completed 94.4% of his passes, including two key passes, and also put both of his shots on target, but in a game against one of the league’s best teams that pass needed to be better to give his team a chance to take an early lead and completely change the tenor of the game.

MF, Colin Guske, 4.5 — The young defensive midfielder definitely was far more defensive than midfielder against LAFC, as his heatmap was heavily red in the defensive part of the field. Guske was fine in this game, as he completed 89.7% of his passes and added two tackles, three interceptions, and three clearances, but he could not help stem the tide of LAFC’s attacks. Orlando City went to a traditional back four for the second half and brought on players who actually play left and right back, and that allowed Braian Ojeda to return to the midfield, which meant that Guske came off after 45 minutes.

MF, Eduard Atuesta, 3.5 — The former LAFC player did not have it against his former team, as this was one of Atuesta’s worst performances as a Lion. He was slow on the ball and turned it over repeatedly, losing possession 12 times in only 68 minutes. While he completed 90.7% of his passes, there were few incisive passes to unlock an attacking player, and he was frequently just a passenger as opposed to a driver on the field. Defensively he added one tackle and two clearances, and though he is nominally more of an offensive player than Guske, I was disappointed it was Guske and not Atuesta who came off at halftime.

MF, Marco Pašalić, 4.5 — Pašalić brought his dribbling shoes to Los Angeles but not much else, as he completed a game-high three dribbles but only took one off-target shot and completed 84.8% of his passes, while losing possession 17 times. He was also dribbled past three times, and his partnership with Braian Ojeda out on the right side was unsurprisingly poor, as those two had never played on the right side together before in a game. When Zakaria Taifi came on in the second half, Pašalić played a little better, but he did not bring very much to the table during this game, aside from one corner kick that should have netted him a secondary assist, but Luis Otávio was unable to put his header from point-blank range on frame.

MF, Martín Ojeda, 5.5 (MotM) — On another day against another goalkeeper Offensive Ojeda might have scored twice, but instead he was denied by Hugo Lloris on both of the well-struck shots he put on target. The Argentine’s first half was poor, while his second half was much more like the Ojeda from 2025, but alas, the final product was not fully there. He completed 85.3% of his passes, including two key passes, and was really the only Orlando City player who consistently seemed interested in attacking the net with aggression. All that aggression was for naught though, and the Lions desperately need Ojeda to not only look but finish like he did last season.

F, Tiago, 4.5 — Tiago got the start over Duncan McGuire, but with how poorly Orlando City played it would not have mattered who was starting up top for the Lions, as there was barely any service to the striker position in the first half. The Brazilian had 21 touches, but they were evenly split between the attacking and defending halves of the field, as he frequently had to drop deep to help defend. He completed 100% of his passes, but that was only over seven pass attempts and only one pass was in the attacking half of the field. The hustle was there, as evidenced by his two tackles and one clearance, but unluckily for him he received his minutes in the first half, when LAFC absolutely dominated the game and Orlando City rarely had the ball on the attack.

Substitutes

D, Tahir Reid-Brown (46′), 4.5 — Orlando City came out in its traditional back four alignment for the second half, and Reid-Brown slotted in at left back for the final 45 minutes. LAFC did not attack with the same venom as the first half but part of that had to do with a better back line performance, and the young defender played a role in helping to settle the defense. He completed 90% of his passes, though perhaps his best pass of the game was an unsuccessful cross attempt, which went incomplete but was one of the most dangerous balls played by an Orlando City player all game long.

D, Zakaria Taifi, (46′), 4.5 — The insertion of Taifi at right back was a catalyst for Pašalić, as it was not a coincidence that the Croatian looked a lot more lively in the second half than the first. Taifi is far more attack minded than Braian Ojeda, but that also left the right side exposed behind him on his forays up the field. LAFC’s only goal of the second half happened in front of Taifi, as the young defender did not close down Jacob Shaffelburg, and with extra time the LAFC man put a perfect cross into the middle that took the score to 6-0. Taifi completed 73.3% of his passes and added one clearance on defense, and though he allowed that assist, I thought it was a decent performance by the right back and one he can build on for the future.

F, Duncan McGuire (46′), 4.5 — Big Dunc came on for Tiago but created no more offense than the starter, even though Orlando City played much better offensively in the second half. McGuire brought his trademark hustle and effort, but he was not sharp with his touch, completing 100% of his pass attempts (13) but losing possession of the ball seven times. He should have had an assist to Otávio, as he made a near post run on a corner kick and flicked it right through the defense to the back post, but his teammate was unable to put the ball in the net. At some point the hustle and work rate is going to get McGuire going again, but it did not happen at LAFC.

MF, Luis Otávio, (68′), 5 — The Brazilian’s 22-minute performance was by far his best of the season, and it is probably not a coincidence that it came after a two-week break when he could finally really settle in after a shortened preseason due to injury. He completed all of his pass attempts and unleashed a wicked shot from long range that Lloris had to save at full extension, and he looked significantly more comfortable on the field. If he can consistently play like he did against LAFC, he will have a chance to move back up the central midfield depth chart.

MF, Yutaro Tsukada, (86′), N/A —Tsukada came on late for Angulo and looked to attack, but he was unable to create anything significant. He completed all five of his pass attempts but had little opportunity to contribute much else in his limited time on the field.

That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s disappointing 6-0 loss at LAFC. 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.

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Orlando City

Orlando’s Loan Report: More Minutes, More Opportunities

Performances of players from Orlando City and the Pride who are currently out on loan.

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2 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

With eight games remaining, Orlando City enters the homestretch of its season with a critical Saturday matchup against the surging Philadelphia Union. Philly enters having won its last five games and now sits one spot above the Lions in the Eastern Conference standings. Ugh. Thankfully, the Union will be without rising star Cavan Sullivan (goal contributions in five straight games, I would like him to stop this immediately), but he is out for the same reason that David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena, Justin Ellis, Marco Pašalić, and Tyrese Spicer will be out, as all were called up to their respective national teams for the FIFA international window.

With those five players out, Braian Ojeda still injured, and Griffin Dorsey and Antoine Griezmann’s injury status still to be determined (please get healthy soon, gentlemen), the Lions will likely need to rely on players from OCB in order to fill out their roster for Saturday’s game. Part of the reason they will have to do so is that there are currently two players on the senior roster (Nico Rodriguez and Yutaro Tsukada) and one on the supplemental roster (Colin Guske) out on loan.

The Pride actually one-up the Lions, as they have four players out on loan: Kat Asman, Seven Castain, Simone Jackson, and Anna Moorhouse. Among the seven total loaned-out Orlando players, four are young (Castain, Jackson, Guske, and Rodriguez are 23 or younger), two are mid-20s (Asman is 26 and Tsukada is 25), and Moorhouse is the oldest at 31, which is still a prime age for a goalkeeper.

Emma Hayes, the coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, was recently quoted as saying “I don’t care where you play, but you need to be playing…going into a pro environment is a fabulous situation, but not if you are going to sit on the bench for two or three years.” Excluding Moorhouse, who is in a different situation than the other loaned out players, the six loanees (and really just five of them, since Rodriguez was loaned out before the season) combined for 1,241 minutes and 10 starts for the senior teams in Orlando, with a lot of those minutes coming in the beginning of the season and trailing off as the season went on and the pushes for the playoffs became real.

Those players have already played more than 3,000 minutes with their new clubs, with Castain and Jackson starting eight of their nine games with their new teams and Guske and Tsukada starting eight of their 12. Asman is a goalkeeper, so minutes are harder to come by, but she started three games, and Rodriguez, who is the only one who did not leave mid-season, started 18 of his 24 games before injuring his knee in late August. The table below shows the performance of all of the loanees thus far, using data from Sofascore:

PlayerLoaned ToMinsSofascore RatingKey Stats
Kat AsmanDenver Summit2707.100.67 Goals-against Avg/82% Sv Pct
Seven CastainDallas Trinity4756.73Two goals
Simone JacksonFC Rosengård2477.201.7 chances created per 90
Anna MoorhouseManchester City0N/AN/A
Colin GuskeReal Salt Lake2256.7090% completion rate
Nico RodriguezAtlético Nacional1,4066.77Two goals, four assists
Yutaro TsukadaRhode Island FC4516.90Two goals, two assists

Sofascore ratings are out of 10, with top players in a league generally scoring in the low to mid-sevens and truly elite players scoring closer to, or even above, eight. None of the loanees are dominating their new leagues, but all are playing decent minutes (most of the loans only happened in mid-summer, it is unknown if they happened after Ricardo Moreira or Caitlin Carducci had a midsummer night’s dream) and contributing to their teams.

The one exception to that, as noted earlier, is Moorhouse, the long-time starter for the Pride who was replaced a few weeks ago and then was loaned to Manchester City shortly thereafter. She has yet to play for Manchester City, and considering she was only loaned through January 2027, she may have been loaned out more to provide cover for the WSL team in case of injury as opposed to getting minutes now that Cosette Morché has taken over as the Pride’s starting goalkeeper.

As Hayes mentioned during her interview, playing real minutes in a game with consequences is key for development. On the MLS side, there is MLS NEXT Pro, where an increasing number of Orlando City players are playing thousands of minutes in preparation for a move to the senior team. Rodriguez’s loan to the Colombian league and Tsukada’s to the USL Championship are slightly different pathways but ones that could still bear fruit, though based on the results on the field, neither are dominating in their leagues.

Opta ranks Colombia’s Primera A as the 15th best league in the world and the USA’s USL Championship as 121st, whereas MLS is ranked 19th, so that seems to show better for Rodriguez than Tsukada, as does the fact that Rodriguez was originally signed as an MLS U22 Initiative player, so there was always belief in his potential to develop. Guske is still playing in the same league as the Lions, so viewing his progression is easier, and with Real Salt Lake still fighting for playoff spot in the Western Conference, the young midfielder will play in some high-pressure games as the season winds down.

Back on the women’s side, if Moorhouse gets any minutes, they will be against some of the bets competition in the world, as Manchester City plays in Opta’s second-ranked domestic women’s league and is qualified for the Champions League as well. Her fellow goalkeeper Asman appears to be the backup again in Denver, but she played well in her three appearances against Portland, Chicago, and Gotham, and between Portland and Gotham, she faced two of the top five teams in the NWSL and allowed only one goal across those two games.

Jackson is playing in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, the sixth-best domestic league in the world, and Castain is in the USL Super League, the 18th-best league, so Jackson is facing the better competition and performing better, according to Sofascore’s tracking. The critical piece for both players was getting game minutes, which they are, and would likely not have gotten had they stayed in Orlando, especially without a developmental league like MLS NEXT Pro on the women’s side.

The upshot of all of the loans might not be that any of these seven players ever contribute meaningfully to the Orlando teams in the future, but the alternative was likely that they would play minimal minutes and live out what Hayes said was not recommended: being a pro but sitting on the bench for two or three years.

These loans gave all of the players an opportunity to play and the club a chance to see them under pressure. We will see the impact of those minutes in the off-season — when the loan reports come due, hopefully with interest.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to earn all three points on the road against the Philadelphia Union?

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4 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Image of Daryl Dike playing against Club Leon.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The USMNT may be at Inter.co Stadium on Saturday, but Orlando City is headed to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Union in a big Eastern Conference match. The Lions are fighting to stay in the playoff picture down the stretch, and a good result this weekend is crucial. It won’t be easy, as there are plenty of players out due to international duty and injury. What must the Lions do to earn all three points against the Philadelphia Union?

Battle of the Backups (Part 1)

Both Orlando City and the Philadelphia Union will be missing players due to international call-ups. For the Lions, the team will be without Justin Ellis, Wilder Cartagena, David Brekalo, Marco Pasalic, and Tyrese Spicer. Whichever players replace them will need to do as well or better. Fortunately, only two of those players are regular starters. I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt the depth, but it could be worse. 

Iago will likely start next to Robin Jansson at center back. In the past, that would worry me — and it still does to an extent — but he played better in his last outing. He will almost certainly get a yellow card in this match, so don’t be surprised when that happens, but I’m hoping he’ll give us at least as good of a performance as his last start. 

Battle of the Backups (Part 2)

On the other side, the Union are missing a few key players in Cavan Sullivan and Andre Blake. Even though he is only 16 years old, Sullivan has come on strong of late, scoring seven goals and providing 12 assists. I hope he does some of that against Peru this weekend, but I’m glad he won’t be able to do so against Orlando City. Blake is a very experienced MLS goalkeeper. His backup, Andrew Rick, gave up four goals to the Lions the last time the clubs played, so let’s hope that continues.

Philadelphia is also missing defenders Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield. This may be the most vulnerable the Union have been on defense since the World Cup break. The Lions need to take advantage of that — more on that below. The match is in Philadelphia, and the Union will want revenge for the 4-3 loss earlier this season, so we’ll have to see which set of backups are best able to step up.

Update the Attack

Unfortunately, with Antoine Griezmann still recovering and Ellis with the USMNT, the attack will need to replace their effective partnership. I’m not certain that is entirely possible, but there are several options. Martin Ojeda is rounding back into form and Ivan Angulo has three goals in the last three matches. I don’t think anyone had that on their 2026 Bingo card. These two can be a one-two combo for the Lions in the final third. 

Tyrese Spicer is a great super sub, but he’s not always great when he gets the start. Daryl Dike is the other side of that coin. Because of how Martin Perelman has been running the offense, Dike hasn’t gotten many starts, which is unfortunate because I think he’s better when he starts rather than comes off the bench. With the player availability being what it is, I expect he will start against Philadelphia, providing a big problem for the Union to deal with when Ojeda and Angulo are also circling the box.

That is what I will be looking for on Saturday night. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 9/24/26

Orlando City prepares for the Philadelphia Union, Angelina called up by Brazil, Parker Amoo-Mensah joins U.S. U-19 camp, and more.

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8 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

How’s it going, Mane Landers? It’s been a whirlwind of a week for me, but I’m excited for a weekend filled with soccer at both the club and international levels. My fingers will stay crossed until then in hopes that we can see some wins. Until then though, let’s dive into today’s links!

Orlando City Prepares for Philadelphia Union

The Lions are back in action on Saturday with a road game against the Philadelphia Union. The Union have been on an absolute tear of late, winning their past five games and scoring 19 goals during that stretch. Both teams will be without key players away on international duty, so it will be interesting to see how they line up for this Eastern Conference showdown. Interim head coach Martin Perelman spoke on the team’s preparations heading into the match.

Angelina Called Up By Brazil

Orlando Pride midfielder Angelina was called up for Brazil’s pair of friendlies against Argentina next month. These will be Brazil’s first matches since playing the U.S. twice in June. Angelina, Marta, and Rafaelle were all called up for those previous friendlies, but Angelina is the only Pride player headed to Brazil this time around. While the Pride have endured a rough season, hopefully Angelina can impress at the international level as Brazil prepares to host the World Cup next summer.

Parker Amoo-Mensah Heads to Camp

Orlando City B defender Parker Amoo-Mensah was one of 20 players called up for the United States U-19 Men’s National Team training camp in Spain. The 18-year-old made his professional debut this year and signed with OCB in June on a contract through 2028. This will be the first U-19 camp under Head Coach Rob Valentino, who was previously an Orlando City player in the USL days and an assistant coach with OCB.

Getting Ready for the USMNT Friendlies

The United States Men’s National Team will start its series of friendlies in Orlando with a home game against Peru. It will be the first match since the World Cup, and there’s plenty of intrigue over who Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino will choose to start from a roster that includes plenty of new faces, including Orlando City forward Justin Ellis. He’s part of a group of forwards who have nothing but opportunity in front of them to make an impression at the top of the lineup. After matches against Peru and Chile, the U.S. will have a not-so-friendly friendly against Mexico before closing things out against Canada.

Free Kicks

  • Orlando City’s Maxime Crepeau and Harvey Sarajian got to show off their bartending skills for patrons at Gnarly Barley last night.
  • LAFC forward Son Heung-Min won MLS Goal of the Matchday for his goal in LAFC’s 2-2 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes.
  • Federico Higuain was fired as the head coach of Columbus Crew 2 after an incident where he grabbed a female referee and made a sexist comment to her.
  • The USMNT’s winter training camp that normally takes place in January and features many MLS players will reportedly take place in December instead.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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