Orlando City’s Spookiest Games

Saturday is Halloween, which means that we’re officially in the spookiest time of the year. Things are scary for Lions fans in more ways than one at the moment, as the team is clinging to a playoff spot and has two difficult games to close the season. With how frightening the current landscape is, this seems like a good time to look back on some of Orlando’s spookiest, scariest, most scream-inducing games from recent years. Some are included on this list because of ugly scorelines, while others are more about the circumstances surrounding the matches, so bear that in mind. Also, beware the Ides of March (and November), apparently.

New York City FC 5-0, Orlando City, March 7, 2026

Where better to start than the match that cost Oscar Pareja his job? It certainly hadn’t been an ideal start to the 2026 season for the Lions, as they suffered back-to-back home losses to the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami. Still, there were the mitigating circumstances of Robin Jansson’s and Joran Gerbet’s unavailability, Griffin Dorsey attempting to adapt to new surroundings on the fly, and Pareja being forced to use a combination of Tahir Reid-Brown, Nolan Miller, and David Brekalo on the back line against the Herons. While things rarely go well on the road against NYCFC, there was some hope that the team could build on some of the good things it showed against Miami. We were quickly disabused of that notion in painful fashion, as Maxime Crepeau picked up an 18th-minute red card for handling the ball outside the box and thereby denying a goal-scoring opportunity. The Pigeons scored four minutes later, and the rout was on from there.

Nashville SC 5-0 Orlando City, March 21, 2026

We next turn to another game from this season, picking things up in Martin Perelman’s second match in charge as interim head coach. His tenure got off to a decent enough start, as OCSC got its first win of the season at home against a CF Montreal side that was admittedly among the favorites to finish last in the East. Still, you can only beat who’s in front of you, and the Lions did so playing an open and chaotic but exciting style that helped build a little optimism which was then promptly shattered at Geodis Park. Nashville scored just five minutes into the game and while it was only 2-0 at halftime, the ‘Yotes scored three in the second half and Sam Surridge bagged a hat trick to bring Orlando and its fans back to Earth in resounding fashion. It was a game marked by bad goalkeeping, bad defending, bad finishing, and bad giveaways, and it was a harsh reality check after the high of getting a first win of the season.

Inter Miami 5-0 Orlando City, March 2, 2024

Orlando was having a decent enough start to its 2024 campaign, with away and home wins against Cavalry FC in the Concacaf Champions Cup sandwiching a draw on opening day. Then the Lions hit the road to play Inter Miami and looked like they never got off the plane. Luis Suarez scored twice in the first 15 minutes, the Herons were up 3-0 after 30 minutes, and a five-minute Lionel Messi brace in the second half made it 5-0. This wasn’t a game that featured some of the errors or bookings of our previous two entries. Instead, OCSC flat out got knocked into the dirt after failing to take the chances it managed to generate when the game was still close. Losing 5-0 is always bad, losing 5-0 to Miami is a particular type of horror.

New York Red Bulls 1-0 Orlando City, Nov. 30, 2024

We now fast forward from March two years ago to the game that ended the 2024 campaign. This makes the list not due to the margin of defeat, which was negligible, but because of the circumstances surrounding it. Not only were the Lions hosting an Eastern Conference final at home, but the bracket had opened up beautifully for Orlando to make a run to its first-ever MLS Cup final. Atlanta United knocked out no.1 seed Miami in the first round, the Red Bulls took out no.2 seed Columbus Crew early, and NYCFC eliminated no.3 seed FC Cincinnati to leave Orlando as the highest seed left in the East. The Lions took care of business first against Charlotte FC and then against Atlanta in a rivalry match, but couldn’t get over the hump against the Red Bulls. It was a close game with good chances at a premium, and it came down to New York taking its best opportunity through Andres Reyes, while Facundo Torres was stonewalled by Carlos Coronel on the break. It was simply an agonizing way to go out, especially considering how well things seemed to be lining up for the team to play for a trophy.

Columbus Crew 2-0 Orlando City, Nov. 25, 2023

We end with the playoff elimination from the previous year, which came in the Eastern Conference semifinals at home. This was horrifying to Orlando fans for a couple different reasons. Obviously, getting knocked out of the postseason is never fun, but it was also the team’s first loss at home since April 22 of that year and just the third loss in all competitions since the beginning of August. The Lions had powered through the back half of the season with 10 wins in their final 13 league games, including the playoffs, but simply couldn’t get much going offensively in game no. 14. Still, the match was tied as the clocked ticked past the 75th minute and I, for one, felt reasonably good about Orlando’s chances in extra time at home. Everything changed when Rodrigo Schlegel picked up a second yellow card in the 77th minute though, and OCSC was suddenly staring down the barrel of playing the last 40 minutes of the game with 10 men. The Crew broke the deadlock in the 93rd minute, bagged an insurance goal in the 118th, and stopped what had been an elite end to the season for the Lions dead in its tracks, and in their own barn no less.

Are there any Orlando City games from over the years that still haunt you to this day? Be sure to let us know down in the comments, and have a happy Halloween!