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Orlando City vs. Arsenal, International Friendly: Final Score 3-1 as Lions Fall vs. Gunners

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2 years ago

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Orlando City played like the better side for 45 minutes in a midseason friendly against Arsenal, but the English Premier League giants took control in the second half en route to a 3-1 win over the Lions at Exploria Stadium. Facundo Torres canceled out an early Arsenal goal but Eddie Nketiah and Reiss Nelson scored after the hour mark to put the match away.

“That exposure today was positive,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said about the club’s showing. “I think in the first half especially, we had a lot of personality. And I’ve gotta say that probably we were the best team on the field. And then we knew who is Arsenal and after that they started getting on top of us.”

The start of the match was delayed by more than an hour due to lightning in the vicinity of the stadium. Fans huddled on the concourse or waited in their cars through a heavy downpour, and nearly every time it seemed the skies would calm, another lightning strike came. Eventually, Mother Nature let the lads play.

Pareja’s lineup included a lot of starters despite the heavy weather and congested fixture schedule, offering Arsenal the respect of at least beginning the game with close to a full-strength starting XI. Pedro Gallese started in goal behind a back line of Joao Moutinho, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Michael Halliday. Cesar Araujo was joined in central midfield by Andres Perea, behind an attacking midfield line of Jake Mulraney, Torres, and Benji Michel, with Alexandre Pato as the striker.

Many fans were surprised to see so many regulars — and some key starters play a lot — in the midst of a heavy schedule. Pareja said he rested Mauricio Pereyra and Ercan Kara as a precautionary measure but wanted some players who needed to regain their rhythm some minutes — particularly Carlos, Pato, Perea, and Moutinho, who saw his first minutes since pulling up prior to the road game at Cincinnati.

“You always want to compete,” Pareja said. “They don’t want to lose games. They want to compete. They don’t want to come off. They want to stay (in the game). It was a great experience for the club.”

Halliday mostly played well, particularly in the opening 20 or 25 minutes, although he did show his inexperience a few times. One of his few errors was when he had a good chance to get in a cross with the Lions in transition and didn’t hit it well, sending it over everyone.

“It’s crazy to me, being so young and just coming into it so quickly, like with the national team, getting minutes there, building experience, and then hopping from there into playing vs. Arsenal,” Halliday said. “I’m critical to myself on mistakes I make, but a pretty solid performance, but I definitely want more and I think a lot of that just comes with more experience and more minutes played.” 

It didn’t take the Premier League side long to score but it was unlucky for Orlando. Gabriel Martinelli played a nice 1-2 with Sambi Lokango and fired the return pass toward goal. The ball hit Carlos in the back and changed directions, which gave Gallese no chance to stop it and Arsenal was up 1-0 just five minutes in.

Orlando kept its shape well in the first half and the Lions were accurate with long balls and switches, which led to more chances than the visitors. Pato had a great opportunity in the 10th minute but got under his shot and sent it into the stands. Michel’s pass to him bounced and the forward just didn’t make good contact.

Michel should have leveled the game in the 24th minute when Torres sent him a good through ball. The Orlando Homegrown Player was away for a breakaway but fired straight at goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who made the save to preserve the Gunners’ lead. Michel and other Lions were able to take advantage of Arsenal center backs Rob Holding and Pablo Mari throughout the first half, particularly with direct balls and timely switches of play.

Torres tied the match five minutes later. Taking a good long ball from Carlos, he fired from the top of the semicircle just outside the area and sent a perfect strike inside the right post to tie the match at 1-1.

Araujo did well to block a shot by Eddie Nketiah off an Arsenal corner kick in the 37th minute to keep things level.

Perea was teed up at the top of the area in the 44th minute but he sent his shot into the upper deck, paying his respects to Carlos Rivas.

Arsenal had the last decent look in first-half stoppage, as Nketiah did well to free himself up in the box for a shot but hit it wide of the right post. The teams went to the break level at 1-1.

Orlando City held more possession (55%-45%), won more corners (2-1), attempted more shots (5-3), and got more on target (3-1). The Lions were also more accurate in the passing game (86.4%-85.7%).

The energy changed a bit after the break, possibly because Arsenal brought on Gabriel Jesus, who fired his first shot attempt in the first minute of the second half, but it was straight at Gallese.

Mulraney made a good move to beat his defender in the 52nd minute but his cross in for Michel was too close to substitute goalkeeper Matt Turner.

A minute later, Jesus fired a shot from distance that seemed to catch Gallese a bit off guard. He made the save but couldn’t control the rebound, which resulted in an Arsenal corner but the Lions dealt with that. The visitors stayed on the front foot, with Nuno Tavares firing into the upper deck in the 57th minute. A minute later, Gallese made a big save on Nketiah in front and then had to knock aside an overzealous back pass from Halliday.

Arsenal regained the lead in the 66th minute during a scramble in the box. Substitute Kyle Smith slid across the area and tried to clear but only succeeded in teeing up a shot for Nketiah to knock into the net, making it 2-1.

The Lions tried to pull that goal back in the 71st minute when Tesho Akindele made a great move to get by a defender and picked out Michel with a good cross. Benji chested it down and then…well, I think he tried to play the ball over a defender to himself, but he didn’t come close to pulling it off, and the chance evaporated.

After another miss by Tavares from outside the box in the 79th minute, Arsenal put the match away. Reiss Nelson was left unattended by Ruan in the box and when the ball came to him, it was an easy finish. The Gunners led 3-1 in the 80th.

Granit Xhaka narrowly missed a free kick in the 86th minute and Gallese made a big save late on Nelson to prevent the final tally from getting any worse.

Arsenal turned all of the statistical advantages around in the second half, finishing with more possession (56.6%-43.4%), shots (19-5), shots on target (11-3), corners (4-2), and passing accuracy (90.3%-82.7%).

One of the main reasons Arsenal emerged in the second half was the introduction of starters Jesus, Xhaka, Martin Odegaard, and center backs Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba. The more solidified Gunners were going up against more tired starters and an assortment of substitutes that were either backups, OCB players, or — in the case of Ruan — just plain switched off.

In the end, the result doesn’t matter much and Orlando City at least acquitted itself well against a top European side.

“I was happy to see a very enjoyable game for the fans and against a fantastic rival,” Pareja said. “I was proud and ready to move on to the next one.”

With the friendly out of the way, Orlando City can focus on Saturday’s huge home match against the Philadelphia Union.

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Orlando City

How Orlando City’s Offense Stacks Up Against What Atlanta Does Defensively

How Orlando City has performed against teams playing with three or four defenders, and how that may influence the playoff game against Atlanta United.

Published

14 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The most famous quote about real estate is that “there are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.” Soccer coaches also like to think in threes, especially when it comes to points, but for a soccer coach, the three things that matter might be the rhyming triplet “formation, formation, formation,” as that is where they will have the biggest influence on every game that their team plays.

Throughout his tenure as head coach, Óscar Pareja has preferred to use a 4-2-3-1 as his formation (fbref.com’s lineup data shows that the Lions primarily played a 4-2-3-1 in 65% of their MLS matches this season, and 79% of their MLS matches during the last three seasons). The Lions have lined up in a 4-2-3-1 during each of their last 14 games, and my confidence level is strong to quite strong (can you believe Meet the Parents came out 24 years ago?) that they will do so once again on Sunday when they host Atlanta United.

Atlanta United also prefers to deploy a 4-2-3-1, but was less consistent than Orlando City this season during MLS play, as evidenced by the chart below that shows how Atlanta lined up this season:

The purpose of this image is a table to show how Atlanta United lined up in 2024 (mostly in a 4-2-3-1 but also in one of six other formations).

I am relying on the coders at Opta for their evaluation of the formation, as I do not watch a lot of Atlanta United matches (sounds terrible), but though Atlanta primarily played with four defenders in more than two-thirds of its matches, during the last two matches it played a 3-5-2, the only two matches all season in which interim coach Rob Valentino rolled out that formation. I suspect that the formation change was related partially to playing Inter Miami and trying to defend the Herons’ dynamic offense and partially due to an injury suffered by defender Brooks Lennon in the first game of that series. So, while Atlanta primarily played four in the back for most of the season, there is a good chance it will roll with what worked against Florida’s second-best MLS team when it plays Florida’s best MLS team this weekend.

Now, if you want to read more about Atlanta, then you can read our match preview, which will drop Sunday morning, but I want to look at how Orlando did against teams that play similar styles. Looking only at MLS games, the table below shows how Orlando City performed against different back line structures this season (the left side is how the Lions’ opponents lined up, the right side is how Orlando City performed against opponents in those formations):

Table embedded as an image showing Orlando City doing best in goal differential in 12 games against three-man back lines, second best against four-man back lines, and having played once against a five-man back line (a 1-1 draw).

Orlando City earned slightly more points per game — the stat that matters most — against teams that played four in the back, but the Lions had a better average goal differential when teams played three in the back. Atlanta will likely deploy one of those two formations. In both games against Orlando City this season, Sunday’s visitors went with a 4-2-3-1, but as mentioned earlier, they used three in the back in each of their last two matches, so it really could be either.

Soccer is not like baseball, where players primarily stay in the same spot throughout the game, so some of these stats have to be taken with a grain of salt, as players are not always rigidly in the same position throughout a match. A team may also primarily play with four in the back but switch to three when chasing a game, or five when trying to protect against a late goal.

That said, using the data around Orlando City’s opponents’ general formations, here are the attacking groups who played the most frequently against four defenders during the 24 MLS games where Opta coded the opponents as using a defensive group of four:

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy four defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus eight goal differential for the season.

It is a little ominous that the main starting group, shown in row one, has played 666 MLS minutes against back lines of four this season, but do I like that green goal differential of +8 in those minutes, which is a strong +1.08 per 90 minutes. I like that goal differential more than I like all the things that Cardi B, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin like on their song that is creatively named “I Like It.” Coincidentally, when people ask me what I think about that song, I say, “I like it.” I am very creative.

If we look at the lineups that Orlando City has used against back lines of three defenders then there are some pretty major differences in personnel groupings, but it must be noted that more than half of the games against teams playing three in the back came early in the season, when Ramiro Enrique was unavailable to play. Enrique, my presumed starter at striker, has played fewer than three games’ worth of minutes (265 total) against back lines of three this season, and only 28 minutes with the main starting group, which ranks 13th among all the attacking lineups for minutes played against three defenders. That group scored one goal in their 28 minutes together though, for a robust 3.21 goals-scored-per-90-minutes average.

While the team as a whole has been successful against three-man back lines, I do not expect any of the lineups shown in the table below to play more than a few minutes together this weekend, though the first row and the last row are strong groups and had a lot of success.

Table embedded as an image showing the most frequently used lineups against teams who deploy three defenders. The most frequently used attacking group has a plus three goal differential for the season.

I am sure that all week long the Orlando City coaching staff has been going back and forth on whether it is more likely that Atlanta reverts to its most commonly used four in the back, or if the Five Stripes try for three wins in a row with three in the back. I would prefer that Atlanta plays with zero defenders and goalkeeper Brad Guzan wears a blindfold, but I think that is unlikely to be the case.

Even though Atlanta defeated Orlando City both times while in a 4-2-3-1, based on available personnel and recent results, I believe that the team will come out in a 3-5-2 in Inter&Co Stadium in the conference semifinal. Good things come in threes, and Orlando City’s best offensive production this season has been against three defenders, so I am going to be hoping that this continues, and in the third game against Atlanta the Lions grab the three points. Three’s company!

Well, it is a playoff game, so there are no actual points at stake, but you know what I meant.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City vs. Atlanta United: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to get a victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final?

Published

16 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Orlando City continues its playoff journey against Atlanta United Sunday at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions are coming off an emotional penalty shootout win over Charlotte FC in their best-of-three, first-round series. Likewise, Atlanta United stunned everyone by taking out Inter Miami to advance in its own best-of-three matchup. Now, the rivals meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

What does Orlando City need to do to get past Atlanta United to advance to the Easter Conference final?

Beat Guzan

Brad Guzan made 16 saves over Atlanta’s three matches against Inter Miami, including seven in the 3-2 win on the road in Game 3. The 40-year-old former USMNT keeper is in excellent form and is a big reason why the Five Stripes are facing Orlando City. Converting chances against Guzan will be crucial to earning a result. There have been times this season when the Lions have struggled to convert their chances. Despite that, the team has done enough offensively to get to this point. Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire, Ramiro Enrique, and others have contributed and will need to do so this weekend.

Cartagena is Essential

Orlando City lost twice to Atlanta United during the regular season. What is interesting, and perhaps relevant, is that Wilder Cartagena was out for both of those matches. Cartagena was shown a straight red in the match against Minnesota United prior to the first match against Atlanta way back in March. He was shown a yellow card in the match against FC Cincinnati and then served a yellow card accumulation suspension for the final match of the season against Atlanta. Fortunately for Orlando City, Cartagena will be available for the match this weekend. I’ve mentioned before the importance of Cartagena to Orlando City’s success. When he and Cesar Araujo are on the field together, the defense is simply better. Cartagena is frankly one of the better defensive midfielders in MLS. Atlanta scored five goals in the series against Miami, and Orlando will need to keep the visitors from having that kind of offensive success.

Overcome the Past

That darn international break in the middle of the playoffs is something I don’t love. More precisely, I don’t like it because Orlando City often struggles after a break. It would have been nice if Orlando City could have ridden the momentum from the penalty kick victory into the Atlanta match, but that’s not to be. Now is the time for Orlando City to break some bad habits, including turning around its historical lack of success against Atlanta, and tendency to struggle in the first match after a break. Oscar Pareja needs to have the players in the right frame of mind, and the players need to execute the plan. A full house of supporters can also make a difference. Given it’s a Sunday afternoon match, there’s no reason not to pack the house.

That is what I will be looking for Sunday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 11/21/24

Marta’s chance to shine in NWSL Championship, NWSL and MLS award winners announced, 2025 SheBelieves Cup details, and more.

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19 hours ago

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November 21, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

How’s it going, Mane Landers? I’ve been spending most of this week plotting out some holiday shopping to make things a little less stressful for myself over the next few weeks. A big weekend filled with Orlando soccer awaits us, so make sure to get any errands or obligations out of the way sooner rather than later. Let’s dive into today’s links!

Spotlight Falls On Marta in NWSL Championship

There are plenty of storylines heading into Saturday’s NWSL Championship between the Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit, including Marta’s opportunity to put an exclamation point on what has been an excellent season for the Pride. Orlando has been enjoying the fruits of its labor this season after a rebuild over the past few years that’s included plenty of change in the City Beautiful. Marta has been a constant, however, enduring some difficult seasons since joining the Pride and adapting her game She’s scored in both of the Pride’s playoff games so far and has a chance to author a storybook ending on Saturday.

Ann-Katrin Berger Named NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year

NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger was named 2024 NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year, beating out the Pride’s Anna Moorhouse and Utah Royals FC’s Mandy Haught for the honor. It was Berger’s first year in the NWSL and she’s the first European player to win the award. She only conceded 16 goals across her 22 matches for Gotham this season and was a key reason behind her team’s success. I’m not too surprised that Moorhouse did not win, considering how solid the Pride’s defense was as a whole, but this won’t take anything away from a record-breaking season for her.

Wilfried Nancy Named MLS Coach of the Year

Columbus Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy was voted 2024 MLS Coach of the Year after a historic season in which the Crew set club records in both points and goals. The Crew also won the Leagues Cup this summer and their 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup campaign included advancing past Tigres and Monterrey en route to the final. This is Nancy’s first time being named Coach of the Year and he has been a finalist for the award every year since 2021. The Frenchman received 40.02% of the vote, winning the award over Inter Miami’s Gerardo Martino and Colorado Rapids Head Coach Chris Armas.

2025 SheBelieves Cup Details Unveiled

The 10th annual SheBelieves Cup will take place next year and the tournament will return to its usual format where each of the four teams plays each other once. The United States Women’s National Team will host Japan, Colombia, and Australia in February in what should be an exciting tournament. The U.S. will take on Colombia on Feb. 20 in Houston before facing Australia in Arizona on Feb. 23 and finishing the tournament on Feb. 26 against Japan at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. These games will also be the first domestic games of 2025 for the USWNT as it prepares to qualify for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Eric Quill Named FC Dallas Head Coach

FC Dallas announced that Eric Quill will become the team’s next head coach. Quill joins Dallas after a great year with New Mexico United that included trips to the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and USL Championship Western Conference semifinals. It’s also a reunion of sorts for Quill, as he previously coached North Texas SC and was named USL League One Coach of the Year with the club in 2019. Dallas missed out on the playoffs this season, with Peter Luccin coaching the team on an interim basis after the firing of Nico Estevez in June.

Free Kicks

  • District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser challenged Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to a bet involving this weekend’s NWSL Championship, with embarrassing lightshows on the line.

That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday and rest of your week!

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