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

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.