Orlando City
Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Final Score 4-2 as Lions Cough Up Two Goals Late in Loss
The Lions came back from 2-0 down to tie the game just before the end of normal time but melted down defensively in stoppage time to spill a point.
Orlando City was completely outclassed in the opening half at Gillette Stadium tonight but fought back from 2-0 down to pull level with a good second half. However, the pre-World Cup Lions showed up during the 10 added minutes, allowing the New England Revolution (14-8-4, 46 points) to score two late goals and win 4-2 on two wide-open shots.
The loss snapped a five-game unbeaten run in league play for the Lions (10-12-4, 34 points), who will feel they should have come home with at least a point after Ivan Angulo and Martin Ojeda — from the penalty spot — erased a 2-0 second-half deficit just before the end of normal time. But the same transition defense problems that have plagued the team all year showed up when Orlando should have been locking down a hard-fought road point.
Carles Gil and Peyton Miller each bagged a brace in the game to sink an Orlando side that has conceded 14 times in its last five away matches in all competitions.
“Very frustrated, of course, with the result,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said after the match. “There was a big challenge for us today, because we came here after the game on Wednesday, and facing a team who is doing well in the league — in their stadium — and they had rest during the week; they had a normal week. The context of the game was difficult. We knew that. And taking that into account, I thought we did a very big effort. We made some mistakes, especially in the first half, and then we were able to come back in the second half, compete, tie the game. And then, I think there we have some gaps to improve as a team. We need to close these kinds of games. So, that’s the frustration.”
Perelman’s lineup was without the injured Antoine Griezmann (thigh), with Maxime Crepeau starting in goal behind a back line of Bernardo Rhein, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, and Angulo, who ended up playing three different positions in the match. Joran Gerbet and Luis Otavio started in central midfield between wingers Tyrese Spicer and Marco Pasalic, with Justin Ellis and Ojeda up top.
Orlando City spent much of the first half on the back foot. New England did well to crowd Orlando’s outlet players and won the ball high with its pressure in the opening 45 minutes. The Lions, as a result, spent a lot of time trying to regain control of the ball and then often turned it over when trying to transition from defense to offense.
Ellis had Orlando’s first sight of goal in the ninth minute, but his shot was well off target from the left side, just outside the area.
Two minutes later, Miller tried a dipping, half-volley shot that didn’t miss by much, fizzing just over Crepeau’s crossbar.
Brooklyn Raines committed an ugly challenge on Ellis to break up a potential counter in the 14th minute, handing Orlando a long-range free kick. The service toward the back side was good, but the ball appeared to take a slight deflection before Jansson could bring it down and shoot on what would have been a wide-open chance. The ball got knocked to the top of the box and Rhein committed a foul to end the threat.
Just moments later, Gil opened the scoring. Gil worked his way from right to left just outside the area, but several Lions failed to close him down. He attempted a shot that deflected unkindly off Brekalo, looped just over Crepeau’s outstretched hand, and fell just under the bar to make it 1-0 in the 19th minute.
Ojeda found himself with an opportunity from the top of the area in the 22nd minute. Taking a layoff from Gerbet, the Argentine fired a shot over Matt Turner, who jumped up and tipped it over the crossbar. Not only did the Lions not pay off the ensuing corner, but Angulo had to hustle back to prevent Dor Turgeman from getting behind the defense for a transition chance.
The Lions had a couple of half chances in the 23rd and 24th minutes. Spicer got to the end line on the first and tried to pull a pass back for Ellis, but instead his attempt found the New England defense. A minute later, a blocked pass fell in the box for Ojeda, who headed it down in front of himself, but the ball bounced too far away on the artificial surface, allowing Turner to collect it.
The Revs took control for most of the rest of the half. Gil was again left unmarked outside the area just seconds after Ojeda’s half-chance, but the Spaniard fired just over the bar.
Orlando worked the ball deep in the 28th minute on the left, with Pasalic trying a low-percentage, tight-angle shot from near the end line, but Turner had no issues with the save.
Turgeman should have doubled the lead in the 35th minute. A cross in from the left went through Brekalo’s legs to a wide-open Turgeman, with Jansson too deep to stop the cross and Rhein struggling to catch up from behind. However, the Revs’ forward sent his shot just wide of the right post.
The Lions quickly turned it over off the ensuing goal kick and Jackson Yueill found Gil, whose shot deflected just wide for the first corner in a series of them as New England kept Orlando penned in its own end.
When the Lions finally got a chance to break in transition again in the 38th minute, Angulo made a mess of trying to switch play, sending his pass right to Turner.
The Revolution went back on the attack and Miller tried an audacious shot from a tight angle on the right. Crepeau got his right hand on it to knock it away. Moments later, Matt Polster tried to carry the ball into Orlando’s box but Gerbet did well to beat him to the spot in the box, where Polster bundled him over, allowing the Lions to take the pressure off with a free kick.
New England kept coming, with Turgeman sending a soft shot at Crepeau and Yueill firing over the bar down the stretch. Brekalo was also forced into some emergency defending, knocking a cross out for a corner and then heading away the ensuing cross on the set piece.
That was the last meaningful action of the half.
New England dominated the stat sheet at halftime, holding the edge in possession (62.2%-37.8%), shots (9-3), shots on target (3-2), passing accuracy (90.3%-84.5%), and corners (6-1). The Lions were fortunate to only be down one goal.
“We tried to improve in terms of using the half space more direct, not committing too much,” Perelman said of his halftime adjustments. “We tried to adjust some defensive things in the low block and in the press, so we adjusted a bunch of things in the half, not only one.
Zakaria Taifi and Eduard Atuesta subbed on for Spicer and Otavio before the restart, moving Angulo to left wing, while the midfield saw a like-for-like change.
It took New England just 25 seconds to win another corner kick in the second half, but Brekalo and Jansson combined to clear the danger.
Taifi tried to make his mark on the game in the ensuing moments, drawing a foul and a yellow card on Will Sands after making a nice hesitation move. The Homegrown fullback then tried to pick out Ojeda in the box but the Argentine was defended well and couldn’t control it in traffic.
The Lions got what they were looking for in the 50th minute but squandered it. Taking the ball away, Orlando had a two-on-one break developing with Angulo and Ojeda. The Colombian, however, muffed his pass and sent it straight to New England’s defender rather than hitting Ojeda with a diagonal that would have seen him in on Turner alone.
Brekalo went on the attack in the 53rd minute when nobody closed him down. The Slovenian center back got to within about eight yards of the 18-yard box and had a go, but he sent his shot fizzing over Turner’s crossbar. A minute later, the Lions forced a quick turnover with numbers forward. Pasalic had the ball on his foot, but he was too indecisive at first and ended up taking a shot that deflected onto the roof of Turner’s net. The ensuing set piece fell to Pasalic in the box, but this time Raines cut out his pass and cleared the danger.
New England doubled the lead in the 59th minute when Angulo lost the ball in the attacking third. Despite appearing to be held, there was no call and the Revs broke the other way in transition. Turgeman turned and sent a ball to Miller, who was blazing down the left channel. Jansson had no chance to catch up to the speedy Miller, who slotted past Crepeau to make it 2-0.
Despite that bad break in what was otherwise a positive spell for Orlando City, the Lions got right back into the attack. Atuesta found space outside the box in the 61st minute and decided to have a go. His rocket had little chance of beating Turner to the near post, but the USMNT goalkeeper couldn’t handle it cleanly, fighting it off with two hands.
A minute later, the Lions cut the lead in half with a well-worked goal. Jansson played the ball to Atuesta near midfield, and the Colombian sent a straight ball to Ojeda ahead of him. Ojeda laid it off for Ellis and continued his run forward. Ellis turned and sent a gorgeous return pass through three defenders to Ojeda, who sent it left off a defender’s foot into Angulo’s path on the left. Angulo fired home to put Orlando on the board in the 62nd minute.
“Very happy with that part and for this run of scoring that I’ve been on,” Angulo said, after scoring in his third consecutive league game. “I’ve been working the same way that I’ve been working before, just getting a little bit more opportunity and getting the ball towards goal a little bit more. So, that’s great. But the thing to do is continue working, continue trying to do my absolute best out on the field every single time, and working together to fix the errors as a team that we committed today, so that way we can go out and get the victory next time out.”
The Revs tried to respond quickly, winning another pair of corners. Brekalo defended the second, which fell outside to New England center back Mamadou Fofana, who sent a shot nowhere near Crepeau’s goal.
Orlando went through another few minutes of continuously turning the ball over in its own end.
Ilay Feingold found Turgeman in front of goal in the 73rd minute but the Israel international could only stab at it and sent it over the goal. Miller’s shot from the right deflected out for yet another New England corner but the Lions handled their business. Crepeau then did well to save Feingold’s shot in the 78th minute and the Revs were offside when recycling the attack.
Miller blasted a shot on goal a minute after that chance but Crepeau made the save.
Orlando then calmed things down and got forward again. Taifi tried to pick out second-half sub Daryl Dike in the box in the 81st minute and nearly connected, but the big striker was trying to fight off a center back and couldn’t control it. A minute later, Gerbet found space just outside the box and fired a shot that Miller blocked. Gerbet and other Lions nearby appealed for a handball, but the initial decision was a free kick just outside the area. The video assistant referee instructed match referee Sergii Boiko to go to the monitor. Boiko ruled the contact with Miller’s arm happened just inside the top of the box and awarded a late penalty.
Ojeda took the spot kick, hesitating just before he got to the ball. That forced Turner to commit first, and the Argentine calmly slotted home to tie the game at 2-2 in the 88th minute.
A match that had started so poorly was improbably tied as stoppage time began. A seemingly generous 10 minutes were added on, but the Lions had been producing the better play down the stretch.
But the roof caved in on the Lions in injury time. The first was a seemingly innocuous play that turned into a breakaway for Miller. Gerbet could have committed a foul to end it before it got going, but he had no way of knowing how much chaos would ensue behind him.
A simple pass to the right ended up as a diagonal ball to Miller, who cut left to right between three Orlando defenders. Jansson made a desperate lunge to get a toe on it but it was out of his reach. Miller slotted past Crepeau for the second time in the 93rd minute to restore New England’s lead.
Chasing the game once again, Orlando got hit again by Gil in the sixth added minute. Raines blazed down the left channel, but Taifi did well to catch up and force him wide. What started as a four-on-three opportunity seemed to evaporate as the Lions started catching up. However, Raines passed into the box on the left to Turgeman, who had both Brekalo and Angulo on him. That left no one on Gil, who was behind Atuesta. A quick square ball from Turgeman to Gil and it was all over.
There weren’t any clear-cut chances for Orlando to try to pull one back, but the match was done and dusted by then anyway.
New England finished with the advantage in possession (53%-47%), shots (16-9), shots on target (7-5), corners (10-3), and passing accuracy (88.4%-85.6%).
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep the point,” Perelman said.
I think at this moment we’re left with some conclusions, obviously frustration for the way the game ended,” Angulo said. “It was a tough game, but we knew that it was going to be that way. And you know, at the end, the tie we let escape from us, and it leaves us with a more sour taste in our mouth than we were hoping for.”
The late collapse was reminiscent of the pre-World Cup play by the Lions, who were conceding goals at a record pace before the break due to negligent defending in transition and turnovers in dangerous areas of the pitch.
Orlando City has a normal match week ahead as the Lions’ next match is on the road at Philadelphia a week from tonight. There is an international window during that weekend, so both teams will be missing some key players. Ellis, for example, will be with the USMNT in Orlando on that day.
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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