Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Charlotte FC: Final Score 1-1 as Lions See Win Streak Snapped
It was another ugly match against Charlotte as the Lions finish 0-2-1 in three games against the North Carolina side.
![](https://themaneland.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/media_6693438_6371725_compressed.jpg)
A seeing-eye goal by Martin Ojeda on a long-distance free kick late prevented Charlotte FC from sweeping three matches against Orlando City as the teams played to a 1-1 draw on a wet night at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. Orlando City (12-6-8, 44 points) saw its three-game league winning streak snapped but earned a road point against a Charlotte FC team (7-9-9, 30 points) that seems to leak goals against everyone in MLS except the Lions.
Both teams scored a goal that was ruled offside, and Enzo Copetti opened the scoring late for the hosts on his own craftily earned penalty that Rodrigo Schlegel knew nothing about. The point pushed Orlando City to third in the Eastern Conference, just past the Philadelphia Union, who have played one fewer match.
“Very happy with the performance of the players, especially in the second half,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “I thought we played against a very good team, and a team who has a model that at the beginning confused us and we couldn’t stop them. That’s why I valued that reaction that we had in that first half and created some options that probably should take us to lead the game at the end of the half. The second half was more controlled.”
Pareja’s lineup offered up only two changes from the team that beat St. Louis City SC on Saturday. Wilder Cartagena’s yellow card suspension made way for Junior Urso’s first start since his return to Orlando City, while Ramiro Enrique slotted in for Ivan Angulo. Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese played behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Schlegel, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. Cesar Araujo joined Urso in central midfield behind an attacking line of Enrique, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres, with Duncan McGuire up top.
Charlotte jumped on Orlando right off the opening whistle, coming out with far more energy and attacking presence. The hosts won a corner before the first minute had elapsed even though Orlando kicked off.
The home team won several early set pieces but couldn’t do much with them as the service into the box wasn’t always good and when it was, the play broke down or the Lions blocked the pass.
Charlotte should have scored in the 12th minute, as the ball found its way to Brecht Dejaegere, who stepped to his right and fired over the bar. Dejaegere, however, had pulled up lame trying a stepover moments earlier and had to sub off after the missed shot. Former Lion Justin Meram replaced him on the left wing.
The first Orlando shot didn’t come until the 29th minute and Enrique had his effort blocked by Jaylin Lindsey.
Charlotte quickly went back on the attack and Jansson had a crucial block in the 36th minute. Seconds later, Gallese made a big stop to punch away what must have been ruled a cross. He then immediately made a huge stop on Derrick Jones’ header from the top of the six on a wasteful effort by the midfielder.
Three minutes later, Ashley Westwood fired inches wide of the left post when he was wide open at the top of the box.
Orlando City came close in the 41st minute, when Enrique cut to his right and blasted a shot from outside the area, but it crashed off the right post and stayed out. Two minutes later, McGuire scored but it didn’t count.
The Lions caught Charlotte napping and too far forward and the ball was sent forward to Torres on the right. The Uruguayan had a 2-v-1 with McGuire against one defender. However, Torres had to take an extra touch to settle the wet ball on the fake surface. McGuire tried to hold his run, and Torres got the ball through to him. The rookie scored on a cannon shot inside the near post but the flag came up for offside. The video assistant referee confirmed it without sending the referee to the monitor.
McGuire had a second chance from a tight angle in stoppage time, when a great ball over the top found him. The rookie was able to bring it in but not before it squirted out in front of him. That made the angle easier to defend and his shot was saved. That was the last good look of the half and the teams went to the break scoreless.
Charlotte dominated the stat sheet at halftime, leading in possession (69.8%-30.2%), shots (7-4), passing accuracy (85.5%-73%), and corners (2-1), with each team getting one shot attempt on frame, officially — although it seemed Gallese had two saves in the opening period.
Pareja sent Ivan Angulo onto the pitch to start the second half, withdrawing Pereyra. Torres moved to the middle of the attacking midfield, with Angulo on the right and Enrique left.
Torres had a good opportunity from the left to get a cross in for a wide-open McGuire in the 47th minute but the ball sailed just over the striker’s head.
It was Charlotte’s turn to score an offside goal in the 53rd minute. A giveaway on a throw-in by Orlando in its own end got sent in from left to right but Ben Bender was already behind the last defender before the pass and although his finish over Gallese into the roof of the net was a good one, it was never going to count.
The hosts got back on the front foot for the next part of the game, with Jansson making a vital challenge to deny a cross in from the right in the 56th minute and Karol Swiderski fizzing a dangerous ball through the top of the six two minutes later that none of his teammates could get to.
Torres cut across the top of the area in the 59th and sent a curling shot that didn’t quite dip enough and sizzled just high of the top left corner.
Pareja made an interesting double switch at the hour mark, sending Ojeda and Felipe on for McGuire and Urso. Enrique moved up top as the striker. Ojeda, Torres, and Angulo made up the new attacking midfield.
Moments after the substitutions, Schlegel made solid contact on a header off a corner but it was right at goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, who fought it off in the 63rd minute. The play was offside anyway, as substitute Felipe was parked right in front of the goalkeeper, well behind the entire Charlotte defense.
Angulo forced a good diving save by Kahlina a minute later.
Jansson was having an incredible game but went down with a knock in the 77th minute. He was replaced by rookie Abdi Salim and Kyle Smith also came on for Santos.
Disaster struck a minute after the subs, when Schlegel was backing up in the box and went to play a ball directly at him. Copetti made a crafty play to come leaping in to get his leg in front of Schlegel, who knew nothing about what was going on behind him. Copetti made a meal of the slight contact and referee Rosendo Mendoza pointed to the spot. Copetti and Gallese exchanged words prior to the penalty but the Charlotte Designated Player placed an unstoppable penalty into the inside netting on the right, despite El Pulpo guessing correctly.
The play gave Charlotte a 1-0 lead in the 81st minute.
“When they scored the PK, again the braveness and the character of this group is amazing,” Pareja said of the team’s ability to fight back.
It appeared the hosts would get a clean, three-game sweep of the Lions on the season but Orlando City pulled one back in the 88th minute.
Ojeda lined up a free kick from long distance, looking to find someone at the back post. However, his delivery cleared everyone. Kahlina got a fingertip to it but could only knock it off the inside of his post and in.
“We work a lot on set pieces,” Felipe said. “Josema (Bazán), our assistant coach, is the guy that is always in charge of the set pieces. We work on those balls and it’s not by chance that we scored the goal, but it’s something from the training ground that we always work on, and we always keep improving every week. And again in tight games like this, those are the times that we need those goals and we were able to score today, so it was great for Martin and great for the team that we were able to score on a set piece that we work (on) so much.”
Orlando City had a promising attack in the third minute of stoppage time but Angulo’s pass to Enrique from the right was behind the Argentine. Ojeda tried a shot from 35 or 40 yards out a minute later that didn’t come close to troubling Kahlina.
Another controversial moment happened just as the six minutes of stoppage time were winding down. Copetti swung a forearm up and into the chin of Schlegel, who went down clutching his face. Mendoza showed Copetti a yellow card and then was directed by the VAR to go take a second look. The arm definitely swung into Schlegel’s face and the elbow was up, but Mendoza stuck with his original call. He then made Schlegel leave the field for a concussion check on a play he didn’t deem violent, confusing everyone involved.
“We don’t understand,” Pareja said of the decision to make Schlegel leave the pitch. “We were very annoyed by that, because (Mendoza) has almost five minutes to attend the player and make a test and he decided to wait five minutes and when he came out, he said that he needed to check it outside, knowing that the game was about to expire. We didn’t understand. We were frustrated but what can we say?”
Neither side got another good look and the teams split the points.
Although Orlando got more of the ball in the second half than the first, Charlotte finished with a comfortable advantage in possession (65.8%-34.2%). The hosts also led in shots (9-8), corners (4-3), and passing accuracy (83.7%-70%). Orlando City put more shots on target (4-2).
“I think it’s it’s a great result for us,” Felipe said. “It’s a point coming from behind. We always need to appreciate the point. It’s never easy to come to a place like Charlotte. So yes, it is a positive point for us and we keep building, we keep going because we are heading in the right direction.”
The Lions will come home briefly before heading back on the road to take on Supporters’ Shield-leading FC Cincinnati on Saturday.
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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