Orlando City
Justin Ellis Showing Another Side of His Game
Justin Ellis has emerged as one of Orlando City’s most promising attacking players, and now he’s showing his versatility by thriving on the right.
Justin Ellis has quickly established himself as one of Orlando City’s most promising young attacking players. Now, as he continues to develop, the 19-year-old is showing that his value extends beyond what he can do with the ball at his feet.
Ellis has spent much of his young career playing in central midfield or higher up the field, where his creativity and attacking instincts have made him an exciting part of Orlando City’s future. But over the last two games, he’s taken on a different challenge, moving to the right side and showing a willingness to adapt to what the team needs.
The position is new for Ellis, and it comes with considerably more defensive responsibility. Yet, instead of simply adjusting to a different spot on the field, he’s beginning to show that the move could help him become a more complete player.
“Obviously, this is a new position for me,” Ellis said after Orlando City’s 1-0 victory over San Diego FC. “Last game was the first time I played this new role, off the right a little bit. It’s so much more defending than centrally.”
For a young player who has made his biggest impact by creating and attacking, the change represents a significant adjustment. But Ellis has embraced it, even if the right side isn’t necessarily where he’d prefer to play.
“Do I prefer it? No,” Ellis said. “But will I do it? Yes.”
That willingness has allowed Ellis to remain an important part of Orlando’s attack while also taking on responsibilities that could prove valuable to his long-term development.
Ellis’ move to the right hasn’t come because Orlando suddenly stopped believing in what he could do centrally. Instead, it’s primarily the result of the Lions having more attacking options available.
Earlier in the season, Ellis benefited from circumstances that opened up opportunities in the center. Martin Ojeda was dealing with an injury, Marco Pašalić was slow to return from the World Cup amid Hull City transfer reports, and Daryl Dike was still building his fitness. That gave Ellis more opportunities to play centrally and higher up the field. The addition of Antoine Griezmann further cluttered the attack.
Ellis knew those opportunities would eventually become more difficult to come by as Orlando’s attacking group strengthened.
“I had a feeling that this was going to come at some point in the season, because we’re bringing in great players up top,” Ellis said. “I think I was lucky to have that much time in the central position because Tincho (Ojeda) was injured and then Daryl was just building his fitness. But I knew at some point.”
Rather than viewing the move as losing a role, Ellis has approached it as another opportunity to contribute. And that flexibility could become increasingly important for Orlando.
The Lions have a deep collection of attacking options, giving head coach Martin Perelman a number of players capable of influencing the game in different ways. For Ellis, being able to operate in more than one position gives him another avenue to get on the field and another way to help the team.
But playing on the right has also forced him to expand his responsibilities. The biggest difference for Ellis has been what happens when Orlando doesn’t have the ball. Playing centrally allowed him to concentrate more on finding space and influencing the attack. On the right, he has to think about the players around him and the defensive structure.
“I have to help out Griffin (Dorsey) and we’re always talking,” Ellis said.
That communication has become an important part of the adjustment. Ellis said he, Dorsey, Joran Gerbet, and David Brekalo, along with the other players on the right side, have spent time at training developing an understanding of their responsibilities.
“It’s just communication. It’s also me willing to sacrifice as well,” Ellis said. “I think me, Grif, Joran, David, our whole right side on defense, we talk a lot at training, we all know our job.”
For Ellis, that sacrifice means doing more of the work that doesn’t necessarily show up in the statistics. He has to defend wider areas, help teammates behind him, recognize when to stay with his assignment, and when to provide support elsewhere.
It’s a different side of the game for a player whose natural instincts are often geared toward getting forward. But it’s also the part of his game that Perelman believes is developing the most.
“I think the biggest change for Justin is defensively,” Perelman said Saturday night. “I think for him, the biggest change, and where he is improving and developing the most, is on the defensive side.”
That makes Ellis’ move to the right about more than simply finding a place for him in the lineup. It’s giving him an opportunity to develop an area of his game that could make his already impressive attacking ability even more valuable.
Perelman said there isn’t much that needs to be changed about Ellis’ attacking instincts. The coach sees something unique in the teenager’s ability with the ball.
“Offensively, I don’t think there is a coach who can help Justin,” Perelman said. “He’s so talented and so unique.”
Instead, Orlando’s focus is on helping Ellis learn how to combine those natural attacking abilities with the other aspects of his game.
That includes learning from the experienced players now surrounding him in the attack. Griezmann, Ojeda, Dike, Pašalić, Tyrese Spicer, and Iván Angulo are among the options Orlando can put in front of Ellis, giving the young player an opportunity to learn alongside established attackers.
Perelman said Ellis can continue developing his own game while learning how to connect with those players.
“We try to help him there, but again, I think he’s working defensively,” Perelman said.
That work was particularly noticeable to Perelman against San Diego. Despite the fact that Ellis’ attacking talent is what initially made him stand out, his manager was most impressed by what he did defensively.
“I think what I like most from him now is how he is defending,” Perelman said. “His defensive game today, for me, was amazing.”
That’s significant praise for Ellis, particularly because defensive play hasn’t traditionally been the first thing associated with his game. But it’s also exactly why Perelman believes the new role can be beneficial.
“I think this is important for him because he’s completing his profile as a player,” Perelman said.
At just 19 years old, Ellis still has plenty of time to determine exactly what kind of player he will become. His attacking ability has already made him one of the most intriguing young players on Orlando’s roster. Now he’s learning how to contribute in other ways.
The challenge now for Perelman and the Orlando City coaching staff is making sure that Ellis’ development doesn’t come at the expense of the qualities that make him special.
Moving to the right means Ellis is often receiving the ball in different areas and playing deeper than he did centrally. But once he gets possession, Perelman still wants him to trust his instincts.
The key is having the freedom to make decisions once he has the ball.
“On the ball is different,” Ellis said. “I’m playing a lot deeper. But I don’t mind it. As long as the coach gives me freedom. Once I have the ball, he tells me, just play your game. I’m not going to tell you what to do when you have the ball.”
That balance has allowed Ellis to embrace the defensive demands of the position without feeling as though he has to become a completely different player. He can be disciplined without the ball and creative with it. He can sacrifice for the players around him and still look for opportunities to attack.
And he can play somewhere that isn’t necessarily his preferred position while continuing to develop the qualities that have made him such an exciting young player. That versatility could prove increasingly valuable as Orlando’s roster continues to take shape.
Ellis doesn’t necessarily need to become a permanent right-sided player. The value of these last two matches may ultimately be less about where he plays and more about what he learns from playing there.
For a young attacking player, learning to defend is part of becoming a more complete player. For Orlando City, discovering that Ellis can do it could give the club another option and another dimension to a player who already has plenty of attacking ones.
“Being an ’07 with that quality, and if he is going to defend like that, then the future is bright for him,” Perelman said.
Ellis may not prefer playing on the right. But he understands that being willing to do it can make him a better player. And after two matches in his new role, he’s already showing that his future may be about much more than what he can do in the middle of the field.
Opinion
Orlando City’s Final Playoff Push Filled with Challenges
The Lions will need to contend with a busy schedule, tricky opponents, and injury concerns while pushing to secure a playoff spot.
Orlando City has seven games remaining in the 2026 MLS season, which means that crunch time is officially upon us. The Lions currently sit seventh in the Eastern Conference with 34 points but are only one point ahead of FC Cincinnati in 10th place. As a result, OCSC’s final matches of the season are of massive importance, but the men in purple will need to deal with a number of different hurdles if they want to keep the longest active postseason streak in the league alive for another year.
Fixture Congestion
As has been the case with much of a season that went on a two-month break for the 2026 World Cup, Orlando City is staring down the barrel of another busy month. Of the Lions’ seven remaining matches, six will take place in a jam-packed 21-day stretch during the month of October, before Decision Day against the New England Revolution on Nov. 7. Things get started Saturday at home against the Columbus Crew, and then OCSC plays away against Toronto on Wednesday, home against D.C. United on Saturday, Oct. 17, home against New York City FC on Saturday, Oct. 24, before finishing the month with back-to-back away games against the Chicago Fire on Oct. 28, and against Charlotte FC on Halloween. While there’s an even split of home and away matches, it’s still an absolutely hellish stretch.
Fortunately, most teams are in the same boat, and there’s a week in between the home matches against D.C. and NYCFC that may help a little, but it’s still a lot of games in a short amount of time. That won’t be anything new to this team after how busy August and September were, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be any easier to deal with.
Tricky Opponents
Let’s talk more about the games themselves, specifically the teams Orlando will be up against, because it’s an interesting mix. I wouldn’t classify the set of teams that the Lions will face down the stretch as either easy or difficult. Rather, it’s a tricky bunch that should both provide some good opportunities to pick up points, while also throwing up some pretty unappetizing matchups. First up is the Crew. The bad news is that they knocked Orlando out of the U.S. Open Cup in fairly convincing fashion, but on the flip side, the game is at home and the team will be well-rested — two conditions that usually lend themselves to OCSC playing fairly well. Hitting the road to Toronto on short rest feels like a recipe for disaster, but the Reds haven’t been playing great after losing 3-0 to Orlando back in September. Then it’s another game on short rest, but it comes against a D.C. side sitting in 11th and is winless in its last three.
After that, there’s a week off before welcoming an NYCFC team that has been in the midst of a free fall down the table, and then road trips to two strong teams in Chicago and Charlotte, both of which are on short rest. The team gets a week to prepare before facing another strong side on Decision Day in the Revs.
On paper, the games against Columbus, D.C., and NYCFC feel winnable. While Orlando lost to the latter two teams on the road earlier in the year, I think this version of Orlando is better than what it was in March and April when it lost to those teams, and the Lions have been infinitely better at home than on the road.
Conversely, I’ll be thanking my lucky stars if any points are picked up from back-to-back road trips to Chicago and Charlotte on short rest, while playing the Revs on Decision Day feels like a tough task even at home.
The backdrop of all this is the fact that the six teams immediately below Orlando in the table are all within at least five points of it. Plus, the Lions play four of those six teams in NYCFC, D.C., Columbus, and Toronto. At this point in the season, every game matters, but each of those contests takes on added importance because of how much of an impact they can have on the table. Win, and you put distance between yourself and one of the teams below you. Lose, and that team reels you in a little bit more if not outright leapfrogging you altogether.
Health and Availability
While Orlando’s list of unavailable players doesn’t look nearly as bad as it has at times this season, there are still some big absences that the team will have to contend with.
For one thing, barring a run all the way to the MLS Cup final, Tyrese Spicer’s season is over after he had surgery to repair a Jones fracture in his right foot. For those of you keeping score at home, that is now the third Jones fracture suffered by an Orlando City player this season, after Robin Jansson had surgery to repair one before the season started, and Braian Ojeda went under the knife to fix one back on Aug. 6. While the attacking positions aren’t looking as thin as they once were now that Martin Ojeda is fit and Marco Pasalic is staying put, Spicer was in the midst of an excellent season and had six goals and two assists in just 869 league minutes. Not having his spark off the bench is a big miss, and it also provides less options when it comes to rotation.
Then there’s the cases of Griffin Dorsey, and more recently, Justin Ellis. Let’s start with Dorsey, who hasn’t played since going off at halftime of the 3-2 win over Atlanta United due to a back issue, and while he carried a questionable designation for Orlando’s most recent game against the Philadelphia Union, he ultimately did not play. Presumably, two extra weeks of recovery will see him ready to go this weekend, but even if he does make a much-needed return to the field, Orlando needs to be careful with managing him.
Even after missing four games through injury, Dorsey has still played the fifth-most league minutes on the team behind Ivan Angulo, Maxime Crepeau, David Brekalo, and Robin Jansson — in that order. Angulo is the type of physical specimen that should be studied in a lab, while Crepeau, Brekalo, and Jansson aren’t asked to do nearly as much running as Dorsey is when he’s healthy. The Lions’ defense hasn’t been great all season, but it was mostly doing enough to keep the team in games before the right back went onto the shelf. Without him, it’s given up 10 goals in four games across all competitions and has won just one of those contests. I understand the temptation to keep Dorsey on the field as much as possible, given what he adds both offensively and defensively, but Martin Perelman needs to use him in tandem with Zakaria Taifi or risk losing the defender for another extended period of time when Orlando can least afford it.
That brings us to Justin Ellis. If you watched the United States Men’s National Team take down Canada 1-0 on Tuesday, then you probably got an almighty scare when Ellis went down after a physical play during the first half and had to leave the field after receiving treatment. He eventually returned in style and scored the game’s only goal, but he was visibly hobbled in the minutes after he came back on, and left the stadium at halftime to have an MRI done.
While we haven’t heard any updates since then and no news is presumably good news, caution may be needed when it comes to Saturday’s match against the Crew in order to prevent the injury turning into a more long-term issue.
Outside of Spicer, Braian Ojeda, and any lingering issues for Dorsey and Ellis, the team should have a clean bill of health to begin the final run-in, so that’s good news.
At the end of the day, the home stretch of this season is not going to be easy. The Lions will need to contend with fixture congestion, games against tricky opponents that have huge implications in the standings, and the ever-present injury and availability challenges. The Eastern Conference table has razor thin margins at the moment, and there’s very little room for error. We’re about to learn a lot about what this team is really made of over the course of the next seven games, for better or worse. Here’s hoping we like what we see. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links
Lion Links: 10/9/26
Daryl Dike’s soccer journey, Orlando City B signs Landon Okonski and Matthew Belgodere, analyzing Spain before USWNT match, and more.
Happy Friday, Mane Landers! It’s been a bit of a hectic week for me, but I’m looking forward to a weekend filled with soccer. Both Orlando City and the United States Women’s National Team are in action on Saturday, so be sure to plan your day accordingly. Let’s jump right into today’s links from around the soccer world!
A Day in the Life of Daryl Dike
Orlando City forward Daryl Dike was the latest MLS player to be featured as part of the league’s “Off the Ball” video series that shows what life is like for them outside of soccer. Dike, who returned to Orlando this summer, spoke on how the facilities in MLS were better than many in England but that the level of play was vastly different. Dike also gave insight into the toll the multiple injuries he dealt with had on him while abroad, although he also detailed how that adversity helped him learn more about himself and what makes him happy apart from soccer. It’s great to see Dike out and about in Orlando doing things we all do, although his anime taste is a bit basic in my opinion.
Orlando City B Signs Pair of Academy Players
Orlando City academy players Landon Okonski and Matthew Belgodere were both signed to Orlando City B contracts as they progress through the club’s pathway for young players. Okonski made his professional debut with the Young Lions this year and started 16 games as part of OCB’s defense. Belgodere also made his professional debut this season, recording five goals and two assists across 25 appearances. The 16-year-old was also named MLS NEXT Pro Rising Star of the Week for his role in OCB’s 3-2 comeback win over Carolina Core FC after scoring his first OCB goal in style.
Analyzing Spain Ahead of USWNT Friendlies
The United States Women’s National Team will take on Spain in a pair of friendlies this month, starting with Saturday’s match at Audi Field in the nation’s capital. While Spain’s roster for these friendlies will be without notable players like Aitana Bonmati, Mariona Caldentey, and Esther Gonzalez, there are still plenty of stars who could give the U.S. trouble. Alexia Putellas is more than capable of creating chances and putting them away, while Claudia Pina and Edna Imade are other attackers the U.S. will have to find ways to stop. We may also get to see Orlando Pride defender Oihane, who is the only NWSL player called up by Spain for this window.
NWSL Transfer News Roundup
The NWSL roster freeze took place Thursday and various teams that aren’t the Orlando Pride made moves right before the deadline. The Chicago Stars sent $700,000 in intraleague transfer funds to Bay FC for forward Racheal Kundananji, who recorded 12 goals and 11 assists across 63 games for Bay FC. She’s not the only forward on the move, as the Washington Spirit traded Nigerian forward Gift Monday to Boston Legacy FC in exchange for $500,000 in intraleague transfer funds. The North Carolina Courage made a pair of trades as well, adding defender Ella Hase from Racing Louisville for $35,000 in intraleague transfer funds and transferring forward Olivia Wingate to Gotham FC for free.
Free Kicks
- Barbra Banda and Zambia lost 2-1 to Uganda in the first leg of the series between the two nations in Africa’s Olympic qualifying tournament. Banda assisted on Zambia’s goal to open the scoring, connecting with former Pride player Prisca Chilufya.
- Portland Thorns forward Sophia Wilson was suspended for an additional game for violent conduct after pulling the hair of Boston Legacy player Lais Araujo.
- This year’s Best XI was announced for the MLS NEXT Pro, and there are unsurprisingly no OCB players listed.
- The U.S. U-23 Women’s National Team will be without midfielder Jaedyn Shaw for its upcoming friendlies due to injury precautions.
That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your week!
Orlando City
By the Numbers: Orlando’s Top Goal Contributors of 2026
Barbra Banda sits atop Orlando’s 2026 goal contribution leaderboard, but Justin Ellis and several other attackers are closing quickly as the season comes to a conclusion.
October is here, and while in most recent years that meant Orlando City and the Pride working to lock in a good playoff seed and actual playoff games for Orlando City B (OCB), that is not the case this year.
OCB went ahead and dressed up as a pumpkin well in advance of Halloween, failing to make the playoffs after a strong early start to their season. The Pride need, I don’t know, just about everything to go their way (you can create scenarios at this link; it is possible but exceedingly unlikely) in order to make the playoffs, and Orlando City is in a tight battle to qualify, with playoffstatus.com giving it just a 34% chance of making it this year.
October could indeed live up to its scary billing if the Pride do not get their miracle and the Lions falter and drop below the line. Not since 2019 have all three Orlando teams missed their respective playoffs during the same year, and the Lions are realistically the City Beautiful’s only hope for postseason soccer.
I generally prefer optimism to pessimism, so with that in mind, I wanted to look at something more on the glass-half-full side this week, with that glass being half full of goals. Goalkeepers and defenders can have fun too, but their fun is often more like that of an actuary or accountant — clinical and black and white. Goals are expressive and explosive and full of color (in this case, a heavy helping of purple) and joy. I like thinking happy thoughts while I write.
The three Orlando teams have scored more than 150 goals this season across all competitions, and the chart below details the makeup of all three teams and where those goals came from, using data from fbref.com for Orlando City and the Pride and from the MLS NEXT Pro website for OCB:
| Team | Players Used | Goal Scorers | Goal Contributors* | Leading Contributor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orlando City | 33 | 17 | 20 | Martín Ojeda – 15 |
| Orlando City B | 37 | 15 | 22 | Issah Haruna – 14 |
| Orlando Pride | 26 | 10 | 17 | Barbra Banda – 21 |
| All Three Clubs | 83 | 38 | 55 |
*Goal contributors are the players that scored or provided the primary assist on the goal
More than 80 players have appeared in at least one game for an Orlando team thus far, with 13 players appearing for both Orlando City and OCB. Seven players are goalkeepers, and if you remove them from the players used count, that leaves 76 field players, of which 54 (goalkeeper Juan Rojas had an assist for OCB) contributed to at least one goal (71%, not bad).
Barbra Banda, Martín Ojeda, and Issah Haruna are the leaders for their respective teams thus far. OCB’s season is over, so Haruna — and his seven goals and seven assists — is locked in as the leading contributor for OCB. Ojeda has been in the lead for nearly the entire season for Orlando City, but Antoine Griezmann started playing after the World Cup break and has been rapidly cooking up escar-goal contributions ever since. As for the Pride, it was Agatha Barbra all along, and as our Sean Rollins noted earlier this week, it has not even been close.
I mentioned earlier that 13 players have played for both men’s teams this season, and even though Ojeda leads the Lions and Haruna led the Young Lions, neither are the leading contributor on the men’s side of the club. In fact, neither are the leader or the player in second place, as it is Justin Ellis who sits in first place and Harvey Sarajian who trails him on the men’s side.
Both players have delivered goals for the senior Lions and Young Lions this season, and if you throw in the two goals from his recent stint with the U.S. Men’s National Team, Ellis has crested 20 goal contributions in 2026. Those do not count for the graph below, even though the first was in Inter.co Stadium and the second came from an assist from Alex Freeman, both of which feel very much like they should count as Orlando goal contributions. Alas, Freeman is “Forever A Lion” but not currently on the Lions, but the following 10 players are and coincidentally they are both the top 10 and only 10 with at least 10 goal contributions thus far this season:
| Player | Goal Contributions | Goal Contributions per 90 (GC/90) | GC 90/Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barbra Banda | 21 | 1.05 | 1 |
| Justin Ellis | 19 | 0.80 | 5 |
| Harvey Sarajian | 15 | 0.85 | 4 |
| Martín Ojeda | 15 | 0.68 | 7 |
| Issah Haruna | 14 | 0.66 | 8 |
| Antoine Griezmann | 13 | 0.96 | 2 |
| Gustavo Caraballo | 12 | 0.73 | 6 |
| Tyrese Spicer | 12 | 0.93 | 3 |
| Iván Angulo | 10 | 0.32 | 18 |
| Pedro Leão | 10 | 0.44 | 12 |
Banda jumps out as the leader and the only Pride player in the top 10, Haley McCutcheon (a defensive midfielder!) is second on the team and 11th overall with eight goal contributions, and Jacquie Ovalle is third on the Pride and tied for 13th overall with six. The Pride have once again really been a one-woman band(a), as evidenced by how the low numbers are for their second- and third-leading goal contributors.
Back on the men’s side, Daryl Dike only has three goal contributions, so he is down at 23rd in those rankings, but his 0.58 goal contributions per 90 minutes has him ninth on the per-90 chart. Tiago, who may become a lot more important now that Tyrese Spicer is likely out for the season with a Jones fracture, is the other player not in the top 10 for actual goal contributions but in there per 90 minutes, as he sits 10th at 0.51.
It is not surprising that the two players with the highest pedigree rank in the top two on the per-90-minutes chart. Both Banda and Griezmann have been as advertised all season, and if both had been available all season, each team would likely be higher in the standings.
The Pride have three games remaining (though their next one is not until Oct. 18 due to an international window) and Orlando City has seven, so there is still ample time for movement on this top 10 chart. Perhaps McCutcheon goes McClutcheon and bags a few more braces, or Ovalle or Ally Lemos (fourth on the Pride, also as a defensive midfielder) go on a late heater and catch Pedro Leão. More likely, however, is that no other Pride player makes a leap and Banda just adds to her totals, and we see if Ellis, with four more games left to play than the Zambian, can catch her for the number one spot.
Ojeda has a chance to follow his 31 goal contribution season in 2025 with a 20+ season in 2026, and if any of those goal contributions come from goals, he will pass Facundo Torres and take sole possession as the club’s all-time leading goal scorer.
Orlando City’s season resumes Saturday against Columbus, and hopefully the Lions will return from the international break locked and loaded for the stretch run. Whether the goal contributions come from a top 10 performer or someone well off the list is irrelevant. All that matters is that the Lions can score at least one more than their opponents.
And if they can do that a few more times, that will contribute to extending their playoff run to a seventh consecutive year.
Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City’s Final Playoff Push Filled with Challenges
Lion Links: 10/9/26
By the Numbers: Orlando’s Top Goal Contributors of 2026
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