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Orlando City vs. New York Red Bulls, U.S. Open Cup: Final Score 5-1 as Lions Blast Their Way into Championship Match

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2 years ago

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Orlando City looked to be in trouble midway through the first half of its U.S. Open Cup semifinal match against the New York Red Bulls at Exploria Stadium, allowing numerous dangerous scoring chances to the visitors and falling behind late in the opening period. But the Lions pulled Lewis Morgan’s goal back at the death of the first half through unlikely scorer Cesar Araujo, and then added four in the second half to run away with a 5-1 win and earn the team’s first berth in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final.

Araujo led the scoring barrage with a brace, but Orlando also got goals from Mauricio Pereyra, Facundo Torres, and Benji Michel. The win avenged an earlier 3-0 loss at home to the Red Bulls in MLS play.

“I think the confidence that (the players) showed today as a group helped them a lot to put things together,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “The team showed that we have talent and cohesiveness among the players. It’s just trying to get that consistency and it’s a long season.”

Pareja’s lineup featured Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Joao Moutinho, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Ruan. Araujo and Junior Urso started in central midfield behind an attacking line of Alexandre Pato, Pereyra, and Torres, with Michel up top in the striker role.

Orlando City started well, owning the first 15 minutes of the game. Michel had a takeaway in the area just over a minute after kickoff that almost led to an early chance, but his cutback pass for Urso was cut out by the defense at the last second. The Lions had a good opportunity in the 11th minute when Pereyra was fouled just outside the area but the captain hit his free kick into the wall on the set piece.

The Red Bulls fired their first warning shot in transition in the 14th minute when they quickly got the ball up the field, where Luquinhas fired just wide of the left post.

Two minutes after that, Orlando had a chance that Pato couldn’t finish. Pereyra sent Ruan to the end line with a superb pass and the right back made a great cutback pass to find Pato, but the Brazilian’s shot was just wide of the right post.

Luquinhas got a second chance in the 19th minute from the top of the area but again sent his shot just inches wide of the left post. The chance came on a quick transition after a Ruan turnover in his own end. The Red Bulls took control for most of the remainder of the half at that point. Patryk Klimala sent a bicycle kick off the crossbar in the 20th minute. The ball found Dylan Nealis near the left post but Gallese made a spectacular save to keep the game scoreless.

New York kept creating chances out of innocuous plays. Klimala was under pressure but still came close when he hit the post in the 27th minute with a curling effort.

Pato again had the ball on his foot in a dangerous spot in the 38th minute. Ruan sent the ball across the front of goal to Pato, who missed high with his shot.

It appeared the teams would head into the break scoreless but then New York struck in transition. Pato had numbers in the attack and held the ball too long, losing it in traffic. The Red Bulls quickly broke down the field to Klimala on the right. The forward sent a ball across the top of the box to Morgan, who fired just under the crossbar to give the visitors a 1-0 lead early in stoppage time.

Orlando struck back just before the whistle. Antonio Carlos made a rare run up the field and threaded a sweet pass through the line to Ruan. The right back again made a good pass, floating one for Pato but the defense arrived just in time to nod it behind for a corner. On the set piece, the cross found Carlos at the near post and the defender sent his header toward the back post. It hit the woodwork and bounced out in front to Araujo, who swept it home with the last kick of the half.

“I’m living in a beautiful moment right now in my personal life and for me in my career,” Araujo said. “But the most important thing right now is the team won tonight. We get to go on and play in the final.”

Orlando City dominated possession (64.7%-35.3%) and passed more accurately (83%-71.2%) but New York had more shots (10-6), shots on target (3-1), and corners (5-1).

The Lions took the lead just two minutes after the break on a team goal that started with a defensive recovery. Orlando worked the ball up the right and the ball ended up in the midfield on Pereyra’s foot. The captain turned and switched play to Torres on the left side near the top of the area. Torres held the ball and waited for Moutinho to make an overlapping run and gave him a good pass to run onto. The left back then sent a diagonal ball back up through the box, where Pereyra ran onto it and struck it into the back of the net.

“For me, I think letting in that first goal early on (in the second half),” New York defender Aaron Long said on what changed after halftime. “I think, as a group, we got a little unsettled, and in a game that is win or go home, I think maybe we pushed the envelope a little too quick, too fast, got a little bit stretched trying to score that second goal.”

New York tried to get it right back. Ruan’s clumsy attempt to knock the ball away went awry when he swung and missed, knocking his opponent down. The Red Bulls had a dangerous free kick and Ruan saw a yellow card. On the set piece, Carlos cleared the delivery but the recycled ball found its way to Nealis at the top of the area, but he sent the shot well over the bar.

Sean Nealis fouled Torres near the top of the penalty area moments later and Pato fired a shot under the wall. The ball was hit right at goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, who nearly spilled it but managed to smother it in the end.

Orlando started to look more and more dangerous getting down the flanks of the Red Bulls’ defense. Torres unleashed a shot in the 62nd minute from the left corner of the box that Coronel got a touch on, sending it out for a corner kick. He only postponed the third Orlando City goal by a few seconds.

On the set piece, a defender got a foot to the ball that Pato served in, but it squirted up in the air. Michel was first to it and headed it to his left, where Araujo fired home his second of the match — and of his professional career — making it 3-1 and giving the Lions their first breathing room seemingly all season.

Pato got his third — and best — golden opportunity of the match in the 65th when he was slipped in behind the defense. Unfortunately, the Brazilian tried to wait out Coronel and the New York goalkeeper ended up smothering it before he could get off a shot. Two minutes later, Michel got loose down the right flank and smashed a shot on target toward the near post, but Coronel fought it off.

Luquinhas sent yet another shot just wide in the 74th minute. His three misses combined must have missed the target by less than a yard in total.

A minute later, Torres scored, but it took a few moments for it to count. Torres got the ball from Urso, raced down the left in behind the defense, and beat Coronel to make it 4-1. The assistant referee’s flag had momentarily come up but there was no whistle and regardless, no one on New York was catching Torres at that point whether they switched off or not. Torres’ finish was good, and after a few moments of referee Victor Rivas discussing the play with his assistant, the goal was given. The Lions led 4-1 in the 75th minute. It was a new season high in goals for the club and the team’s first three-goal lead all year.

Torres then took an absolutely ridiculous ball from Jansson and set up a great finish by Michel in the 83rd minute to complete the night.

Nicholas Gioacchini made his debut late in the match to get his first minutes as a Lion and he picked up a booking on his first foul with the team, which is the most Orlando City thing ever.

The Lions saw out the final minutes of normal time and there was no stoppage time given by Rivas as Orlando City punched its ticket to the U.S. Open Cup final — the second final under Pareja when counting the 2020 MLS is Back Tournament.

New York fired more shot attempts (17-14) and won more corners (5-2), but Orlando City led in possession (59.9%-40.1%), passing accuracy (81%-74.5%), and shots on goal.

“The best thing is that we are aware of the things that we need to work on,” Pareja said. “And today we showed also that we have the tools to do it right, so congratulations to the players and congratulations to the fans for taking our club to another final and showing that we can be much better as well in our performing on the league games, and we will keep working on it.”

The Lions return to league play on Sunday when they visit Audi Field to face D.C. United. Orlando City will host the U.S. Open Cup final on Sept. 7.

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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.

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16 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

18 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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22 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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