Orlando no longer runs on Duncan as Orlando City has traded 2023 first-round draft pick Duncan McGuire to the Houston Dynamo. The big striker with the even bigger smile and the back flips joins the Dynamo, with the Lions receiving $600,000 in 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM), $400,000 in 2027 GAM, and $250,000 in 2027-2028 GAM. The return could also include up to $1.15 million in GAM add-ons if certain performance metrics are met. OCSC will retain a percentage of any sell-on by Houston.

It became clear that something was up with McGuire, as he did not dress for Orlando City’s friendly against Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

“Duncan has meant a great deal to this club since the day he arrived in Orlando,” Orlando City General Manager and Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira said in a club press release. “His resilience, determination, and willingness to fight through challenges both on and off the field have earned the respect of everyone throughout our organization. He has played a major role in our success over the last several years, and when the opportunity arose, we wanted to ensure it was a move that made sense for both Duncan and the club. We’re grateful for everything he has given to Orlando City and wish him and his family nothing but success in this next chapter.”

The Lions selected McGuire out of Creighton with the No. 6 overall selection in the first round of the 2023 MLS SuperDraft. Although he was not a Generation Adidas player, the striker had signed a pre-draft contract with the league, meaning Orlando City didn’t need to spend time agreeing to a contract. The 6-foot-1 forward quickly became a starter for the Lions during his rookie year, and put together back-to-back, double-digit goal-scoring seasons in his first two professional seasons. Now in his fourth pro year, McGuire has appeared in 85 MLS matches (45 starts) for the Lions, scoring 29 goals and adding eight assists. In all competitions, McGuire has contributed 32 goals and nine assists in 109 appearances (55 starts).

Once one of the most promising up-and-coming American strikers in any league after his 24 goals across his first two MLS campaign, Mcguire underwent surgery on both shoulders in separate procedures after the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs, which have restricted his availability, affected his form, and have limited him to just five goals and three assists in his last 29 matches. He has sat behind various other strikers starting in his place the last couple of seasons, including Ramiro Enrique, Luis Muriel, and Justin Ellis.

After his breakout rookie campaign, in which the Omaha, NE native scored 14 goals, he was courted by several teams in Europe. He signed with Blackburn Rovers in 2024, only to see the transfer rejected by the English Football League due to an administrative error by the EFL Championship club. Upon his return, the Creighton product signed his most recent contract on Aug. 22, 2024, locking him down through 2027 with a club option for 2028. That deal now belongs to the Dynamo.

McGuire’s hot start to his professional career had him climbing the U.S. Men’s National Team player pool. Gregg Berhalter called him up to the USMNT for the first time in January 2024 ahead of the team’s friendly against Slovenia. The striker made his first USMNT appearance in that match, coming off the bench to replace Brian White on Jan. 20, 2024, in a 1-0 loss. That is his only cap to date, although he had previously appeared nine times and scored one goal for the U.S. U-23 side.

The 2022 Hermann Trophy winner spent three seasons at Creighton, where he appeared in 24 games (23 starts) in his final (junior) season, logging 1,591 college minutes. McGuire scored 23 goals and added three assists in 2022.

What It Means for Orlando City

It makes sense to deal a striker making a base salary of $600,000 ($921,000 in total guaranteed compensation) if he can’t crack the starting lineup. While some of that comes down to coaching decisions and other players emerging, it didn’t help McGuire that he struggled to regain the consistent form he showed in his first two years in Orlando. In the end, this is a bit of a blow financially to the club, as the initial agreement with Blackburn was for a reported $4 million. He now departs for considerably less money, but his value understandably dropped with his production and the two shoulder surgeries.

McGuire is still just 25 years old, and sitting out after two surgeries means he has fewer miles on his legs than many players his age. He could still regain the form that saw him score 14 times in 2023 and 10 more times in 2024 and had the USMNT and European clubs paying attention. Orlando City will hope that he returns to form, because that will influence how much GAM the club eventually receives for this transaction.

A fan favorite since his arrival, McGuire will be missed, and while the Lions could perhaps have benefitted from getting a player back in return to bolster an area of need, the influx of GAM can help accomplish the same goal.

McGuire’s departure appears to solidify Justin Ellis’ position on the first team, although his play in the first half of the season likely already did that. It may also open up more minutes for Tiago. But the trade also tells us that unless a new striker is brought in, the Lions will play without a traditional target striker for the time being, allowing players who have typically either played as wingers, attacking midfielders, or false nines to have the freedom to fluidly change positions and force defenders out of their comfort zones when it comes to coverage. Martin Ojeda, Antoine Griezmann, Ellis, Ivan Angulo, Marco Pasalic, and the team’s fullbacks will be harder to keep tabs on under such a system.

Whether it will work or if it will further stress the team’s shoddy transition defense (or both) remains to be seen.

With both the United States Men’s National Team and Colombia suffering World Cup exits that were both agonizing in their own right, this summer’s tournament has lost a little luster for me. Don’t get it twisted, I’m still looking forward to the rest of the games, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t going to be a little bittersweet.

Fortunately, Orlando City will be back in action before we know it, and in the meantime we can continue our practice of looking back on Lions matches from years gone by. Last week we relived a 4-0 win over Toronto FC from July 4, 2023. This week we go a little farther into the past to July 10, 2022, and a visit from Inter Miami.

Going into the match with the Herons, OCSC was badly in need of a result. The Lions were in the midst of a summer slump and had won just one of eight matches since squeaking by Toronto FC 1-0 back on May 14. To try to turn things around, Oscar Pareja sent out a lineup of Pedro Gallese in goal; a back line of Kyle Smith, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Ruan; Junior Urso and Cesar Araujo in the double pivot; Benji Michel, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres in attacking midfield; and Ercan Kara up top.

Orlando’s effort to try to pick up a win had to wait a little longer than originally planned, as kickoff was postponed by close to two and a half hours due to lightning in the area. Once the game eventually started, both Orlando City’s fans and players probably wished it had been delayed a little longer. The Lions came out of the starting blocks slow and were guilty of a number of bad passes and miscommunication that made it difficult to get going offensively.

The bad start nearly cost the home side early, as Pereyra played a bad back pass in the seventh minute that was snagged by Indiana Vasilev, who promptly broke toward goal. Fortunately, his shot smashed into Gallese’s face and went wide of the net to spare Mauricio’s blushes. Speaking of the Uruguayan, Miami seemed to have keyed on him as a player to stop at all costs, because whenever the Lions started to get a rhythm in the final third, the Herons promptly fouled him to break up the flow of things.

It took half an hour for the first decent chances to finally surface for Orlando City. When those opportunities arrived, it was in the form of Urso taking a pop from outside the box that got blocked on the way through, and Michel nearly getting on the end of a training ground corner kick routine, only to be let down by a bad first touch.

That was mostly everything of note in a largely quiet first half. Miami had the more dangerous chances, but there wasn’t much to separate the teams in the end. Miami had a slim lead in possession (50.6%-49.4%), and also had more shots (6-3), shots on target (1-0), and corners (3-2). Orlando City was a shade more accurate in its passing (84.5%-83.6%).

Once the second half started, Miami very nearly got an early goal once again, but Robert Taylor didn’t get good contact on a header attempt and the ball went out harmlessly for a goal kick. Vassilev had a much more dangerous effort in the 49th minute, but he put his shot over the bar and wasted a nice passage of play from the visitors.

Orlando carved out an excellent chance of its own nine minutes later. Ruan played a clever cutback for Michel, but like Taylor, he didn’t get good contact on his shot and sent it tamely right to goalkeeper Drake Callender. Torres and Urso sent shots wide and high shortly afterward, before Miami really should have scored from a 72nd-minute corner kick. Aime Mabika found himself all alone in front of goal after the initial ball was played short, but he put his header wide right.

Tesho Akindele was one of the substitutes brought on, and he flashed his fresh legs by getting on a couple of chances as the game wound towards the 90th minute. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to convert either one, and things looked sure to end in a scoreless draw. Enter an extremely unlikely hero: Jake Mulraney.

In the second of four minutes of stoppage time, the winger sent a hopeful cross into the box with just two men in purple to aim for. The ball had relatively little chance of reaching Akindele, who was bracketed by two defenders, but Damion Lowe tried to clear it and instead sliced it off the underside of the crossbar and into the Miami net making it 1-0 to the good guys.

Unsurprisingly, given the state of the game up to that point, neither team managed to muster any real chances after that, and Orlando narrowly came away with three much-needed points.

OCSC ended the game with more possession (54.7%-45.3%) and better passing accuracy (96.6%-82.9%), while Miami took more shots (10-8) and won more corners (6-2). Both sides put just one shot on target, making the final score somewhat unsurprising.

Marcus Mitchell was at the helm for Player Grades in this game, and he gave the outstanding Cesar Araujo the Man of the Match award, with a grade of 7.5 out of 10. The midfielder racked up eight tackles, drew nine fouls, and played a key pass while snuffing out a lot of Miami’s danger before it could truly develop.

Those three points didn’t exactly galvanize the Lions in the short term, as they won just one of their next six games in all competitions, not counting a friendly loss to Arsenal. Fortunately, better times lay ahead in the U.S. Open Cup.

That’ll do it for this week’s edition of Flashback Friday. We’ve only got one more of these before Orlando City returns to action on July 22, so enjoy the reminiscing while you can. Vamos Orlando!

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! The Orlando Pride are in action tonight and we also have an Orlando City B game on Sunday to look forward to. It’s been a bit of a hectic week on my end, but it’s at least helped make the U.S.’s World Cup loss feel like old news. Orlando City putting the Tampa Bay Rowdies to the sword in a friendly didn’t hurt either. Let’s get to the links!

Orlando City Reportedly Trading Duncan McGuire

Forward Duncan McGuire is reportedly being traded by Orlando City to the Houston Dynamo in exchange for $1.25 million in General Allocation Money, with another $1.15 million heading Orlando’s way if performance metrics are reached per Tom Bogert of The Athletic.

Selected by Orlando with the sixth overall pick in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft, McGuire has scored 29 goals across four seasons with the Lions. Injuries have plagued him in recent years, but let’s hope he can have a renaissance of sorts with Houston and hit those performance requirements if this move comes to pass. Orlando would be even lighter on options up top, but the money could help the club improve at a few positions.

Orlando Pride Host the Kansas City Current Tonight

Following a 2-0 loss to Angel City FC, the Orlando Pride will look to bounce back tonight when they host the Kansas City Current in the first meeting this season between the past two NWSL Shield winners. The Current are on a three-game win streak, with Michelle Cooper scoring twice in a 3-0 win over the Denver Summit last week. Temwa Chawinga also scored in that match to bring her tally to eight as she closes the distance on Pride forward Barbra Banda in the Golden Boot race. Hopefully the Pride can keep Kansas City’s offense in check and get back on track with a win at home.

Steve Cherendulo Named U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team Coach

U.S. Soccer appointed Steve Cherendulo as the head coach of the United States U-23 Men’s National Team as preparations begin for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Cherundulo is no stranger to success in the City of Angels, leading LAFC to a league title and MLS Cup victory in 2022 before winning the 2024 U.S. Open Cup as well. He represented the U.S. as a player starting at age 18 and played in three World Cups, which should be valuable experience to get these younger players ready to make an impact with the senior team. Tahir Reid-Brown, Justin Ellis, and Colin Guske are a few Orlando City players to keep an eye out for as possible Olympic roster candidates as they develop their games.

France Advances to World Cup Semifinals

France became the first team to secure its spot in the World Cup semifinals, beating Morocco 2-0. After a scoreless first half, Kylian Mbappe scored his eighth goal of the tournament to give France the lead and then provided the assist on Ousmane Dembele’s goal a few minutes later. While the offense is understandably grabbing headlines, the defense has now had a clean sheet in three straight games during this knockout phase. In the semifinals, France will take on whichever nation advances from today’s match between Spain and Belgium.

Free Kicks

• Less than 24 hours after scoring for Orlando City in a friendly, Antoine Griezmann was in Boston for France’s World Cup match.

• The Orlando Pride will have a new sponsor on the back of their jerseys, as Orlando-based company AluCup became the club’s official aluminum cup supplier.
• Christian Pulisic was reportedly diagnosed with a microfracture and bone bruise in his leg and he may miss several weeks as a result. The injury bug refuses to let go of him it seems.
• The Washington Spirit added Cameroonian midfielder Monique Ngock, signing her to a three-year contract.
• American right back Bryan Reynolds is reportedly being signed by Stade Rennais from Westerlo for a transfer fee around $5 million.

• Crystal Dunn, who set records at Florida State University before her storied professional career, joined the Tallahassee Reckoning’s ownership group. The organization aims to provide more opportunities for youth soccer players and improve the pathway towards playing professionally.
• English defender Jarell Quanash was given a two-game suspension for the serious foul play that earned him a red card against Mexico. He’ll miss Saturday’s quarterfinal against Norway and also England’s semifinal if it advances.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend. Go Pride!