Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: Final Score 3-1 as Facundo Torres’ Brace Powers Lions to Win
The Lions made it six in a row at home without a loss with a win over the Fire.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/media_5583946_5262142_compressed.jpg)
Orlando City allowed the Chicago Fire to close to within a goal in the second half but the Lions flipped the script of several recent games and scored an insurance tally rather than allowing an equalizer. Facundo Torres scored twice and Ramiro Enrique added the insurance goal to lead Orlando (8-5-7, 31 points) to a 3-1 win over Chicago (5-7-8, 23 points) in front of 22,070 fans at Exploria Stadium.
With the win, the Lions extended their home unbeaten streak to six games (3-0-3) and improved to 4-3-4 in league play at Exploria Stadium this season.
“A very good game in front of our fans,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “That is the most important note of the night other than just winning three points, but doing it in front of our fans means a lot for the group.”
Pareja’s lineup had a couple of minor changes. Pedro Gallese started in net behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Kyle Smith. With Cesar Araujo suspended for yellow card accumulation, Wilder Cartagena was joined in central midfield by Mauricio Pereyra behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Torres, and Martin Ojeda, with Duncan McGuire up top.
Orlando City controlled much of the play in the opening half. The Lions won an early corner and the ball fell to Torres at the top right corner of the box. The Uruguayan fired a shot just over the bar in the third minute.
Two minutes later, a ball in from Smith on the right found Ojeda but he missed the net from point-blank range. It was the third time an Orlando player has missed the entire net from just a few yards out in as many games.
Angulo picked up the loose ball off a heavy touch from Carlos Teran in the 16th minute just outside the Chicago area. He tried to play Ojeda in but a minor deflection kept the Argentine from being able to bring it in and get a shot away.
Chicago’s first attempt at goal came in the 25th minute when a long ball over the top from Shaqiri found Brian Gutierrez, who got a touch to it but Gallese knocked it out for a corner.
Schlegel sent a good shot on target off a corner kick in the 32nd minute but Chris Brady made a good save to keep Orlando off the board. Four minutes later, Brady made another stop to deny a blast by Ojeda. But the goal came shortly after that anyway.
The ball was sent wide to Smith and he sent a cross in that Torres got his head onto. Brady got a piece of it but it went through and into the net in the 36th minute, giving Orlando a 1-0 lead.
“I was just trying to bring the ball a little bit further inside and then get in a position in case it worked its way in there for me,” Torres said. “Then I saw the ball kind of swing out wide and I just kind of entered into the area and just tried to be in a good spot. It’s not my usual goal but I’ll take whatever way I can score.”
Santos tried a shot from long range in the 40th minute but hit it straight at Brady. Two minutes later, the Lions felt they should have had a penalty. Orlando worked the ball into the box and Pereyra was bundled over. He went down easily and no penalty was the correct call, but seconds later Torres caught a boot across both legs and went down. Nima Saghafi did not call a penalty and after a short review the teams played on.
“The ref told me that I was looking for the contact and looking for the foul,” Torres said. “When I was dribbling, I was off balance a little bit, but I didn’t think I was falling. And then the defender hit me and then I fell, but the ref told me that I was falling beforehand and I was trying to look for the contact.”
Neither side got a good look in the final moments of the opening half and the Lions took their 1-0 lead into the break.
Chicago held a surprising 52.8%-47.2% possession at the break — surprising because the Fire rarely seemed to have the ball past midfield. As a result of mostly holding the ball in their own end, the Fire held the advantage in passing accuracy (86.5%-83.2%). Orlando had more shots (10-1), shots on target (4-1), and corners (7-1).
“The boys expressed themselves very well the first 25-30 minutes,” Pareja said. “We should have scored a couple of goals. But we maintained our concentration and we were patient with the game, controlling it and creating sequences, creating options to score.”
The Fire came out of halftime more aggressive. Alonso Aceves sent a cross onto the roof of the net in the opening minute and Chicago started winning the ball more in the Orlando half. Kamara nearly scored in the 51st minute, getting his head to a corner kick cross. The striker sent the ball on target with pace and Gallese made a diving save to keep it out. It got poked back toward goal but Cartagena cleared it off the line.
The Lions broke the other way after the close call and Ojeda’s shot was blocked out for a corner. Saghafi held up Orlando City’s corner kick for an uncomfortably long period of time while the video assistant referee looked at the play to see if the ball crossed the line at the other end but no goal was given.
Instead, the Lions scored their second goal moments later. The corner kick cross deflected to Jansson near the top of the area and he flicked it toward the goal line but on its way it found the elbow of Fabian Herbers and Saghafi immediately signaled for a penalty. Torres took the spot kick and blasted home his second goal of the game to make it 2-0 in the 55th minute. The goal gave Torres five goals and an assist in his last four MLS matches.
“Thankfully, and with a bit of luck, things have been going well,” Torres said. “I’ve got that renewed motivation. I think the the national team really helped kind of re-spark that. We’re playing really well right now, and things are just starting to click.”
The Fire threw numbers forward trying to get back in the game and won a free kick that Shaqiri sent over the bar in the 59th minute.
Two minutes later, Torres tried to complete his hat trick with a shot from outside the area but it was always rising and the strike found the seats instead of the back of the net.
Shaqiri sent another shot over the bar in the 64th but got his goal moments after that miss. Gutierrez played a quick give-and-go and got behind Smith and then put on the brakes. Smith couldn’t stop and bundled him over to concede a penalty. Shaqiri made no mistake from the spot although Gallese guessed the correct way. The Fire were back within a goal in the 66th minute with plenty of time left.
“They were overloading one side and then there was a wall pass that I need to defend better,” Smith said of the penalty. “And then the player did well to get position on me and stop in front of me and it caused me to foul.”
Torres had another opportunity to complete his hat trick shortly after the Fire goal but Brady made the save, knocking it wide.
Orlando got its insurance goal in the 75th minute. A ball was played for Enrique over the top and into the left corner. Enrique was obviously offside and knew it, so he stopped his run and waved Angulo on to the ball. Angulo picked up the loose ball and sent a pass back to Enrique at the left corner of the box. The Argentine curled a beautiful low shot just inside the back post to make it 3-1.
“It gave us a lot of confidence. It was a great goal by Ramie,” Smith said. “I’m happy for him and it brought us together.”
Things got more difficult for the Fire in the 84th minute when Arnaud Souquet was shown his second yellow card and sent off, putting Chicago down a man. Orlando was content to try to see the match out but some sloppy passing gave the Fire some opportunities to get forward. Jairo Torres sent a shot over the bar from inside the box in the 86th minute.
Both teams had some chances in the nine minutes of stoppage time. Substitute Luca Petrasso volleyed a shot over the bar off a good cross from Dagur Dan Thorhallsson in the 93rd minute. Enrique had a shot blocked a minute later.
Rafael Czichos headed a corner kick cross off the post in the 98th minute for the Fire. The Lions broke the other way in a 5-on-2 transition opportunity that ended with substitute Felipe smashing a shot on target that Brady saved.
The match ended shortly after the Felipe attempt and Orlando City had all three points.
The Lions turned around the possession, finishing with a slim 50.1%-49.9% advantage. Orlando also had more shots (19-8), shots on target (9-4), and corners (13-3). The Fire had the advantage in passing accuracy (87.3%-86.3%).
“A lot of positive things, but now we just need to think about Tuesday,” Pareja said. “Recovering and those three points will give us a lot of confidence.”
The Lions have a quick turnaround after tonight, hosting Toronto FC on Tuesday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Opinion
Martin Ojeda Can Further Build on an Improved 2024
Martin Ojeda has picked things up after a slow start to the season, but he has room to play even better.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/OCvMontreal-LeaguesCup-2024.07.26-29-1-scaled.jpg)
Argentinian attacking midfielder Martin Ojeda finished his maiden season in an Orlando City uniform with six goals and 10 assists. While 16 goal contributions in his first year in a new league with unfamiliar surroundings isn’t a terrible return, there was a widespread sense that he didn’t perform at the level the Lions needed from a Designated Player. He improved the deeper Orlando got into the year though, and coming into the 2024 season, a lot of the projections involving OCSC being one of the best teams in the league were predicated on him taking the next step and becoming a true force in Major League Soccer. So, has that happened?
The broad numbers say that it hasn’t. Through 27 appearances and 1,582 minutes, Ojeda has three goals and eight assists, compared to six goals and 10 assists in 34 appearances and 1,751 minutes in 2023. The Argentine still has time to eclipse his totals from last year, but barring a positively explosive run of form, it’ll take him more minutes to do so. For my money, it isn’t quite that simple though.
For one thing, Ojeda has shown improvement in two key areas: passing accuracy and key passes. His accuracy is up to 84% in 2024, while it was 79% last season. He’s also already eclipsed his total for key passes in 2023, currently sitting on 45, compared to the 42 he finished with in his debut season in purple. That suggests that not only is he passing the ball better, but he’s also putting it in more dangerous areas than previously. Some of that is to be expected, considering his shift into the center of the field to play the no. 10, but he’s still had to adapt to the new position, and he’s looked more and more comfortable as the year has continued.
Let’s talk about that positional change a little. The first few months of the season were ugly for just about everyone wearing an Orlando City jersey. Guys were hurt, off on international duty, or suspended, and many of the ones who could play were forced to do so in positions that weren’t natural for them. At various points throughout the early months of 2024, he found himself playing in the hole behind two strikers, as a deep-lying playmaker, deputizing at striker himself, or dropped from the starting XI entirely.
It was hard to argue with him coming off the bench, as he had just three assists in the 16 games prior to the LAFC match on June 15. He got his first league goal of the year in that match though, and in the 11 games since then, he’s recorded two goals and four assists. While not a staggering return, he’s trending in the right direction. Outside of the numbers, he looks capable of being able to produce at a higher level.
Saturday’s match against Nashville SC provided two specific instances which I found encouraging. The first was his assist on Ivan Angulo’s opening goal, specifically the way in which Ojeda created the goal.
Everything about that is fantastic. The anticipation and work rate to get into a position to intercept the wayward pass, the vision to see Angulo’s position, the quick decision to play the one-touch pass, and the execution to deliver that pass squarely on the money. One of the knocks on Ojeda in an OCSC shirt has been his decision making and execution in the final third, as at times he’s settled for long potshots or held onto the ball too long before trying to find a teammate. None of that was on display here, and the speed of thought, coupled with the execution, meant that Orlando grabbed an early lead.
Let’s then talk about the turn he executed at midfield during the buildup to Facundo Torres’ first goal. Ojeda receives the ball, takes a touch, neatly slips it through a defender’s legs, and then immediately drives hard at the Nashville defense before releasing the ball and finding Torres in space. It’s one moment of skill, but it’s something that happens when you have a guy who’s playing with confidence, and the fact that he then made the right pass at the right time makes it even better.
Those are the moments that we’ve started to see more of from the Designated Player as the year has gone on, and we’ll need to continue seeing more of if Orlando City wants to keep pushing up the table.
Ojeda has a chance to improve on his debut season and really make an impact for the Lions down the stretch. If he keeps playing with confidence, making the correct decisions, and executing in the way that he’s shown this summer, it should bode well for OCSC. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links
Lion Links: 9/6/24
Amanda Allen loaned to Lexington SC, Alex Morgan announces retirement, USMNT prepares for Canada, and more.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/DSC_0068.jpg)
Happy Friday! I don’t have many plans this weekend, but am still looking forward to the next few days after a hectic week. When not working, I plan on finally starting Book of Night by Holly Black and figuring out how to make the most out of some dark rum I was gifted. For now though, let’s get to today’s links from around the soccer world!
Amanda Allen Loaned to Lexington SC
The Orlando Pride have loaned forward Amanda Allen to Lexington SC for the remainder of the USL Super League season. This decision should give Allen some valuable minutes, and the loan includes a right to recall as well. The 19-year-old has made 17 appearances since joining the Pride and had an assist in this year’s season opener. She is also currently in Colombia for the U-20 Women’s World Cup and her Canada squad takes on Brazil tonight. Hopefully she’s able to tear it up in the USL Super League’s inaugural season.
Alex Morgan Announces Her Retirement
American forward Alex Morgan has announced that she will retire after the San Diego Wave’s match on Sunday. She also announced that she is pregnant with her second child.
In her 224 international appearances, Morgan scored 123 goals and was a major force behind the USWNT’s back-to-back World Cup victories in 2015 and 2019. At the club level, she has played in every year of the NWSL’s existence and joined the Orlando Pride ahead of their inaugural season in 2016. In her six years in Orlando, Morgan recorded 23 goals and 10 assists in 69 appearances. Off the field, she’s been an outspoken supporter of equality and increased investment in women’s sports. We wish her the best of luck after a legendary career.
USMNT Faces Canada on Saturday
The United States Men’s National Team will take on Canada on Saturday in Kansas City in the first of two friendlies this month. Plenty has changed since the U.S. beat Canada in a penalty shootout in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinals, particularly on the sideline. American coach Jesse Marsch was hired by Canada in May, while the U.S. will be led by Mikey Varas in an interim capacity amid buzz that Mauricio Pochettino will take over. The U.S. is without Giovanni Reyna for these friendlies due to injury, with Cade Cowell replacing him. Canada boasts a talented roster that includes a trio of former Lions in Cyle Larin, Richie Laryea, and Kamal Miller. After this match, the USMNT will take on New Zealand on Tuesday.
Keeping Up With International Soccer
San Marino may be one of the smallest countries in the world, but it arguably had the biggest win of a busy day of international soccer after beating Liechtenstein 1-0 for its first competitive victory. Elsewhere in the UEFA Nations League, Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 900th career goal in Portugal’s 2-1 win over Croatia, while Spain was held to a scoreless draw in Serbia.
The third round of AFC World Cup qualifying is underway and Australia was upset 1-0 at home by Bahrain. Japan suffered no such setback though, dominating China in a 7-0 home win. Palestine drew 0-0 against South Korea in Seoul, which is no easy task.
CONMEBOL’s World Cup qualifiers have also resumed, and Bolivia came up with a huge 4-0 win in high altitude against Venezuela to move up the table. We may see some Lions in action today. Facundo Torres and Uruguay take on Paraguay, while Pedro Gallese, Wilder Cartagena, and Peru host Colombia.
Free Kicks
- FC Cincinnati’s Luca Orellano won MLS Goal of the Matchday for scoring from nearly 80 yards out to beat CF Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois. Orlando’s Facundo Torres placed second in the voting for his volleyed strike against Nashville SC.
- NJ/NY Gotham FC forward Ella Stevens was named NWSL Player of the Month after recording three goals and two assists in August.
- Argentina beat Brazil in blind soccer at the Paralympics, ending Brazil’s unbeaten streak that has lasted the past 20 years. France and Argentina will face off in the gold medal game on Saturday.
- Chris Jurasek has stepped down as Chelsea’s chief executive after a year in the position, with Jason Gannon replacing him.
That’s all I have for you today. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!
Orlando City
Predictions for Orlando City’s Remaining Games of the 2024 Season
A deep dive into Orlando City’s final seven opponents and predictions on the Lions will do in those matchups.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CityReper83124-42.jpg)
We do not often write about National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell at The Mane Land, but it is clear that the NFL was intentional about scheduling its season-opening weekend on a bye weekend for Orlando City, lest they lose all of their viewers to watching the team that you know and I know is the most exciting team to watch in all of sports. Fittingly for the city of Orlando, that excitement has been similar to a roller coaster this season, with ups and downs throughout, but with positive results in eight of the last 10 matches and wins in six of those matches, the team is clearly now heading in the right direction. The question remains whether the Lions will continue this climb or if they are just leading up to a sudden drop.
The Lions have seven games remaining on their regular-reason schedule, and at a quick glance it would appear like they have an excellent chance of continuing their hot streak and picking up points in more than half of those games. The next games in order are:
- Home vs. New England (1.04 points/game this season, 23rd in MLS)
- Home vs. Charlotte (1.41, 14th)
- At Columbus (1.96, second)
- At Dallas (1.22, 18th)
- Home vs. Philadelphia (1.11, 21st)
- At Cincinnati (1.89, fourth)
- Home vs. Atlanta (1.15, 20th)
As Orlando City is currently on a pace of 1.37 points per game, which is 15th in MLS, the Lions are playing four teams with lower points per game this season, one that is nearly the same, and two that have been performing better thus far this season.
In looking a little deeper at the seven remaining opponents, however, that schedule actually starts to look a little more difficult. If you look at the results from the most recent five matches instead of the season as a whole, Orlando City is playing four teams (Columbus, Dallas, Philadelphia, Atlanta) that are performing better recently than they had been for all games prior to their most recent five games. Two of those teams (Columbus and Dallas) are tied with Orlando City for second in MLS, with 10 points from their last five games. Unfortunately for Orlando City, both of those games against Columbus and Dallas will be on the road, but then again, Orlando’s road record of 6-3-5 (1.50 points/game) is better than its home record of 4-4-5 (1.23 points/game), so perhaps that is actually fortunate.
In looking even deeper, well, this chart will help show how all over the place Orlando City’s opponents really are when you look at their full season performance and also their more recent performance. (PPG = points per game and GDG = goal differential per game, which I needed to use instead of just plain goal differential, since the teams have not all played the same amount of games.)
New England’s -0.84 under Full Season GDG means that for the full season the Revolution have been losing games by an average of 0.84 goals per game.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Last-7-Games-1024x257.png)
A few takeaways from this chart:
- I mentioned earlier that four teams are getting better results recently than they had been before the most recent five matches, but Dallas and Philadelphia are both playing significantly better than they had before, while Atlanta and Columbus are only playing slightly better than they had before.
- That said, Columbus was playing really well and is still playing really well, so that lack of improvement is relative, since the Crew did not have a lot of room to improve and yet they still did.
- Cincinnati is a stunning case, since the club had only lost four of its first 22 matches before losing four of its next five. And in those four losses, Cincinnati was outscored 9-2, leading to that big drop in GDG. Even with that swoon, Cincinnati is still ranked fourth overall in MLS and third in the Eastern Conference in points per game.
- Lastly, the section on the far right shows how each team has performed at home or on the road this season. The Match Location is for Orlando City, and the Opponent PPG shows, for example, that Philadelphia averages 1.31 points on the road this season. Orlando City has a better location-based PPG than its opponent in only three (New England, Charlotte, Atlanta) of the final seven games.
During each of the last three seasons, Orlando City earned at least 48 points during the regular season, and to make it four years in a row, the Lions will need to pick up at least 11 points from these final seven games. Here are the possible points the Lions can still earn, based on the number of wins they could have in those seven games:
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Possible-7-Game-Results.png)
Just looking at the math, it is possible that they could get to 11 points with only two wins, but that would require no losses in the other five games, and I think that is asking a lot for a team that has lost 37% of its games thus far this season. I think the most likely way that Orlando City gets to at least 11 points is three wins and two draws or four wins and any number of draws, so we need to rank the final seven opponents based on the likelihood of an Orlando City win.
Before we do that, however, we should note that Orlando City’s only MLS loss in its last seven MLS matches was at Sporting Kansas City, a team that is among the hottest in MLS, with results in four of its last five matches. Even though SKC lost, it played some close matches with several of the top teams in the league (LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, Colorado, Vancouver) before that. Perhaps Orlando City’s loss away in Kansas City was not as bad as it seemed at the time.
No, that loss still stunk.
Coming back to our ranking, I got out my mathematics degree, shined it up, blew it a kiss, and then put together a very fancy (read: very simple) algorithm using standard deviations to determine the order of most to least likely for Orlando City to get a win, with a formula that went:
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Algorithm-1024x262.png)
That formula produced the list below, ranked in order of the upcoming schedule, accompanied by the team’s rank in order of likelihood of Orlando City getting a win (higher numbers mean Orlando City is more likely to win):
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Rank-Order.png)
Whether this algorithm is correct or not, there is no doubt that the next two games for Orlando City are absolutely critical in both the made-up pursuit of a fourth straight season of at least 48 points and the more important push to secure a playoff berth and the opportunity to win MLS Cup. The next game (New England) is always the most important game, and after that, Orlando City could have an opportunity to pass Charlotte and move up the table, depending on how the Lions do against New England and how Charlotte does in its Sept. 14 match against CF Montréal. Both matches are at home, and despite their poor overall home record the Lions have three wins and one draw in their last four home MLS games. It would be quite nice to extend that to five wins in their last six before going on the road to Columbus.
I am going to predict that Orlando City does indeed win against New England and Charlotte, loses on the road at Columbus, ties at Dallas, ties Philadelphia, loses at Cincinnati, and closes with a home win over Atlanta for a final record of 3-2-2 during those last seven matches. The mathematically inclined will quickly recognize that a 3-2-2 record adds up to the 11 points the Lions needed to get to 48 points, but leaves them short of getting to 50 for the third time in the last four years. They would secure a playoff position, but they would also be on the road for the first game, and a third game as well if the series goes to three games.
While the team has definitely been playing a lot better as of late, I think this last seven-match run is a difficult one and the Lions will have to really push to do even as well as I predicted, which is only earning 11 of a possible 21 points. They have it in them to make a run. Let’s hope they come back from this bye week ready to roar and rub my prediction right in my face.
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