After capturing four out of six points during a modest, two-game road swing, Orlando City returned home riding a four-game unbeaten streak. Entering Saturday afternoon’s match even on points and record with the New York Red Bulls, it was a chance for the Lions to get a leg up on one of their Eastern Conference competitors and extend the streak to five.

Things changed early in the second half that left Orlando with a tall order just to scratch and claw for a single point, which the Lions did, making it a five-game unbeaten run (2-0-3) with a 0-0 home draw against New York.

What follows are my five takeaways from the match.

Improved Midfield Engine

Although Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta were upgraded to questionable after missing last week’s match, both starting central midfielders were on the bench at the start of Saturday’s game. Joran Gerbet and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson started together for the second straight game. Their growing comfort level showed against the Red Bulls, as they not only helped the Lions lock things down on the back line, but they also did a far better job of turning takeaways into transition opportunities than they had at Philadelphia a week ago. Finding ways to turn defense into offense is crucial to Oscar Pareja’s system, and while the young duo were understandably defense-first-minded against the Union, they showed more confidence against New York. Orlando finished with more possession, shots, shots on target, and corners won, despite being down a man for almost the entire second half. That’s a good sign, even if the team ultimately didn’t win.

Lions Lack Lethality

Carlos Coronel is a difficult goalkeeper to beat for a goal, but (like any goalkeeper) he’s impossible to beat if your shots aren’t on target. The Lions generated a few top-notch scoring chances against the Red Bulls — far more than they typically have over the past few years. Marco Pasalic, Luis Muriel, and Ivan Angulo all had good looks at goal in the first half from in and around the box, only to miss the target. Martin Ojeda put his best chance on frame, but he unwisely tried to beat Coronel from the left with a near-post shot with far more room to put it inside the far post. That lack of precision was costly, as when the game changed early in the second half, the Lions were even instead of leading.

Schlegel Gonna Schlegel

Whether Orlando City would have eventually found a way to put the ball in the net, we’ll never know. Rodrigo Schlegel saw to that when he took a second unnecessary yellow card in the 56th minute. The Lions had been dominating territorially and conceding almost no space at all for New York’s attack to work in to that point in the match. Orlando City had come close to opening the scoring several times, and it seemed to be one of those nights when either the Lions would eventually get that all-important goal or the Red Bulls would find a way to eke out a smash-and-grab a road victory. But this night ended differently when Schlegel was booked for a high boot early in the second half on a routine throw-in. It did not seem like referee Chris Penso was initially going to book him for it, but when he examined Eric Choupo-Moting, he pulled out his cards and the Lions had to play a man down for about 40 minutes.

There was no reason for Schlegel to be so aggressive that far from goal on a throw-in, especially when he was already on a yellow from an unnecessary pull-back of Emil Forsberg in the 31st minute. That foul was let go by Penso to see who gained advantage, but when Schlegel made a good, clean, sliding tackle to break up New York’s attack seconds later, Penso halted play, gave Schlegel his first yellow card, and awarded a free kick. Neither foul was necessary in the moment, and while the sending off didn’t prevent Orlando from having a few moments of attacking promise, it severely crippled the Lions’ momentum and chances of taking all three points. Schlegel is a capable defender, but even in the midst of a good run, such as the 2023 MLS playoffs against Columbus, he’s prone to making critical errors that cost his team.

Find the Balance

Orlando City’s offense came out of the gates flying in 2025, but the defense did not look up to snuff. For the second consecutive match, the Lions looked more like themselves defensively against New York. The visitors were frustrated repeatedly into trying hopeful, long-range shots. A single redirect in front of goal that Pedro Gallese saved was the only spot of danger from the Red Bulls all night. However, for the second straight game, a defensive clean sheet was matched by the offense producing no final product. There was the aforementioned improvement, however. The Lions generated shots and chances to the tune of 1.4 expected goals to just 0.7 for New York. Whether intimidated into trying to be too perfect against Coronel or simply a bit off their game, the attacking players failed to show the clinical finishing that helpd the Lions to jump out to a league-best 15 goals scored through the first six games. The return of the starting central midfielders should help create better opportunities for the front four, but the team must also find its balance between offense and defense to take the next step forward.

Getting Something from the Game

Considering the game circumstances — playing a man down for almost the entire second half and still using Pareja’s fourth and fifth choices in central midfield (though Atuesta did come on as a sub in the second half) — it was important for the Lions to take something from the match. Orlando City scratched and clawed for a single point with the odds heavily stacked in New York’s favor. It’s a testament to the recent defensive improvements that the visitors weren’t able to generate much danger either before or after going up a man early in the second half. The back four did just enough to see out the clean sheet, and while things got a little dicey on Rafael Santos’ side once he came on to slide David Brekalo into Schlegel’s hole at center back, the introduction of Kyle Smith helped calm things down a bit. Getting anything from a match in which a player is sent off is just as good as finding a way to eke out a road point was last week. These are the kinds of points that allow the team to progress forward when it’s not the Lions’ best night. As long as the team can take advantage and get all three when the situation is more favorable, Orlando City can continue to make progress as a contender in the Eastern Conference.

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Those are my takeaways from Orlando City’s best performance (if not best result) against the New York Red Bulls in quite a while. Keeping all 11 players on the pitch may have yielded a better result, but for now, the Lions will take a point through adversity and try to make up for dropping two points by focusing on a critical away match against CF Montreal on Saturday.

What stood out to you? Let us know in the comments below.

A great (but wasteful) performance at home was ruined in the 56th minute when Rodrigo Schlegel picked up a second yellow card, forcing the Lions to hold on for a 0-0 draw against the New York Red Bulls at Inter&Co Stadium. Orlando City (3-2-3, 12 points) was the better side and created by far the most chances than New York (3-2-3, 12 points) up to that point in the game, but the manpower disadvantage eventually took its toll, and the Lions were holding on at the end.

The Lions extended their unbeaten run to five games (2-0-3) but are also winless in two (0-0-2). Meanwhile, the Red Bulls are still winless on the road (0-2-2). It was the first time Orlando City had experienced two consecutive scoreless draws since the start of the 2023 season, when the Lions drew FC Cincinnati and Tigres each 0-0 at home on March 4 and 7 in MLS and Concacaf Champions League play, respectively.

“I thought after the performance, especially that we had in the first half and part of the second half until the red card came, we felt that we lost those two points, and it was a team that that we dominated,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “But this is another experience that we have to learn from, and how can we kill those games when we have the chances and be precise and be lethal. We’re good when we’re in that mode. Unfortunately, today we weren’t.”

Pareja made no changes from last week’s lineup at Philadelphia, although Cesar Araujo and Eduard Atuesta were available off the bench. Pedro Gallese started in goal behind a back line of David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Schlegel, and Alex Freeman. Joran Gerbet and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson started in central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, and Marco Pasalic, with Luis Muriel up top.

Orlando created a great chance almost immediately. Freeman threaded a pass through traffic to Thorhallsson to break the defensive line and the Lions came forward with numbers. Ojeda slipped a ball in behind to Muriel, but the Colombian sent his shot too close to Carlos Coronel, who made the save.

Two minutes later, Eric Choupo-Moting scored off a pass from Emil Forsberg, but he was well offside on the through ball and the flag came up.

Orlando held more of the ball in the opening minutes and Pasalic shook free at the top of the area in the 12th minute with enough space for a shot. The Croatian fired a blast toward the near post from the right side but it caught outside netting after fizzing just wide of the right post.

New York’s next chance came in the 18th minute, when Felipe Carballo fired from about 25 yards out from goal. He didn’t miss by much, sizzling a shot just wide of the left post.

It was Muriel’s turn to hit the outside netting in the 22nd minute. Three minutes later, the ball found Angulo at the top of the area. The left wing spun around and fired, but hit his shot just wide of the right post.

Ojeda got a good shot on target in the 33rd minute, but he tried to go near post on Coronel, who was well positioned to make the save.

CARLOS WITH THE SAVE ❌ pic.twitter.com/jvHkOCTrzq

— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) April 12, 2025

The Lions did nothing with the ensuing corner. Pasalic sent a weak dribbler right at Coronel in the 38th minute, as the Lions kept pressing the attack but not finishing it. Two minutes later, Muriel nearly jumped on a gift turnover in front of goal but Coronel got a touch on it and the chance evaporated.

Jansson was left in front on a recycled set piece in the 43rd minute and had a free header, but he too hit his shot right at Coronel, who fought it off with a good reaction save.

That was the last good look at the half, as the wasteful Lions were level with the Red Bulls at the break. Orlando City finished the half with the advantage in possession (64%-36%), shots (9-1), shots on target (4-0), corners (4-0), and passing accuracy (83.8%-71.1%). However, the Lions did not take their chances, which helped the visitors stay in the game.

“I think the elaboration of our game today was cleaner,” Pareja said when asked about what was different in this match than previous recent games against the Red Bulls. “I have to recognize and highlight the performance of those two midfielders that we had today with Joran (Gerbet) and Dagur (Dan Thorhallsson). They absorbed that pressure and they cleaned it up in a way that we could advance to the next phase of the game, or put a team in deeper situations. We were a cleaner team with the ball. It was something that we’re going to appreciate much more during the week, now that we’re not happy with the result, but that phase just makes our team go to the next level.”

Orlando continued to press forward after the restart. Gerbet sent a header across for Brekalo on a set piece but the defender was falling under contact and couldn’t get on the ball. Moments later, Pasalic fired a shot that a defender blocked out for a corner. Brekalo got his head to the cross on the corner kick but he was turned around and couldn’t get it on target in the 54th minute.

The match changed in the visitors’ favor in the 56th minute. Schlegel picked up a second yellow card and Chris Penso sent him off, putting the Lions down a man for the rest of the game.

“I felt early in that game, you have to be careful, because it’s still 30 minutes (left) and 10 men, we know, is a lot of running for everyone,” Gerbet said. “So, you have to cover more space from everyone, so I felt like you have to be cautious. But we want the result at home, so I felt like we did a pretty good job until the last 10 minutes in the game, like trying to push, trying to push, trying to score, but after, at some point, you also have to be true with yourself that you have to (not) lose the game. If you cannot win, you don’t need to lose. So, I felt the team responded really well. I mean, we’re disappointed, but we take it.”

New York quickly created danger after Schlegel’s dismissal and won a corner as Jansson was forced to knock a dangerous cross behind and out of play. The Lions countered after clearing the set piece, with Angulo winning an Orlando corner. However, nothing came of it.

The game setled into a back-and-forth affair for about a quarter of an hour before the Red Bulls started keeping more of the ball after the Lions subbed off a few attacking midfielders. Wikelman Carmona got in front and redirected a ball on frame that forced a save from Gallese in the 76th minute.

Second-half sub Atuesta committed a foul moments later to set up a dangerous set piece. The cross found Carballo at the near post but his free header sailed wide. Moments later, Dylan Nealis fired from long range but his shot was always rising and sailed well over the bar in the 87th minute.

Omar Valencia went down looking for a penalty call in the 89th minute, but all he drew was a yellow card for simulation.

Orlando was unable to fashion an attack of any kind in the seven minutes of stoppage time, but at least the Lions were fundamentally sound on the defensive end. New York’s only half chance came in the fifth added minute, when a good ball from the right nearly found Choupo-Moting at the back post. Freeman did just enough to keep the opposing striker from getting to the cross.

The whistle blew on Orlando’s second consecutive 0-0 draw moments later, as the second Schlegel yellow card spoiled an opportunity for the Lions to get all three points from the match.

Despite being a man down for most of the second half, Orlando City still finished with the advantage in possession (50.7%-49.3%), shots (14-10), shots on target (4-1), and corners (7-2). The Red Bulls finished with better passing accuracy (82.8%-79.1%).

“I felt like we played an awesome game,” Brekalo said. “We were dominating most of it, just disappointing that we didn’t get three points today. But I think with this attitude, these qualities that we’ve shown today, we are going to be successful in the long term. We knew that most of the dangerous balls that come are through balls from Forsberg, so just being close to him and expecting the through balls to (Choupo-Moting). Obviously, I think we did well. I don’t think until the red card, they got any clear chances of scoring.”

“I have to say that the willingness of the players and the commitment with the game, and you saw all the metrics and and that performance, is probably the best that we have had against this club, New York,” Pareja said. “And we really, really feel that (lack of) precision, it just kept us away from winning our three points, and obviously it is another story when the red card came, and obviously they push, and then we had just to congest a little bit the middle. And then it was another game played there. It was not the same game.”

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The Lions go right back on the road for their fifth away match in seven games when they visit Montreal on Saturday.

Welcome to your match thread and preview for a Saturday afternoon Eastern Conference matchup between Orlando City (3-2-2, 11 points) and the New York Red Bulls (3-2-2, 11 points) at Inter&Co Stadium (4:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). This is the second and final scheduled meeting between the teams this season.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

The Lions are 8-10-4 in 21 league meetings with the Red Bulls in the all-time series (9-11-4 in all competitions), with a record of 4-4-2 at home in the regular season and 5-5-2 in Orlando in all competitions. Goals have been scarce in this series the last couple of seasons, but the teams “exploded” for four combined goals just weeks ago in their first meeting of 2025.

These two sides met less than a month ago, playing to a 2-2 draw at Sports Illustrated Stadium on March 15. Martin Ojeda’s strike put Orlando up early, but it was canceled out by a controversial penalty by Eric Choupo-Moting just 11 minutes later. Marco Pasalic restored the Lions’ lead before the break with a stunning strike. However, Dennis Gjengaar was left unattended in front just two minutes after the restart as the teams split the points.

The two teams faced off in the 2024 Eastern Conference final at Inter&Co Stadium on Nov. 30 of last year, with an Andres Reyes set piece goal all that separated the sides in a 1-0 New York win. It was the first-ever playoff meeting between the two clubs.

The teams met in New Jersey on June 1, 2024, with the hosts coming away with a 1-0 win on a set piece goal from John Tolkin. Orlando City wasn’t in the best run of form at the time, and it was the third shutout the Lions suffered in a five-game span. The first meeting of the 2024 season came at Inter&Co Stadium on March 30, with the two sides playing to a 1-1 draw. A Kyle Smith foul in the box allowed Lewis Morgan to put the visitors ahead, but a late own goal by Noah Eile resulted in a stalemate.

Orlando City got the sweep in 2023 and did not concede a goal in the series, winning the last meeting of the year 3-0 at the stadium then known as Red Bull Arena. Facundo Torres scored twice — once from the spot — after Ivan Angulo opened the scoring for an easy road win. The two sides met in Orlando on opening day of 2023, with Orlando City winning 1-0 on a Torres penalty kick on Feb. 25. Sean Nealis’ handball allowed the Lions to start the season with a victory.

Orlando City won at Red Bull Arena 1-0 on Aug. 13, 2022, thanks to a Torres goal. That allowed the Lions to split the regular-season meetings and take two of three against New York in all competitions in 2022.

The Lions scored five unanswered goals to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 romp in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals on July 27, 2022 at Exploria Stadium. Cesar Araujo scored his first two professional goals on set pieces, while Mauricio Pereyra, Torres, and Benji Michel also found the net. Morgan scored New York’s lone goal.

The win in August had allowed the Lions to snap a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) in the regular-season series. The last of those non-wins came on April 24, 2022, when the Lions were walloped 3-0 at home on goals by Luquinhas, Cristian Casseres Jr., and Morgan, and Orlando City failed to get any of its measly three shot attempts on target.

The Red Bulls swept the season series in 2021. The teams met at Exploria Stadium on July 3 of that season with New York taking home a 2-1 win. Casseres opened the scoring just six minutes in, but Chris Mueller pulled the Lions level early in the second half. Fabio’s late goal lifted the visitors. Pereyra’s poor penalty was saved by Carlos Coronel, which cost Orlando City a better result.

The Red Bulls also handed Orlando City its first loss of the 2021 season, a 2-1 affair at Red Bull Arena, on May 29, 2021. Nani was suspended for that match and it showed, as the Lions were sloppy in possession and lacked composure on the ball. New York took the lead on goals by Caden Clark and Casseres, before Silvester van der Water pulled one back late. The Dutchman had a golden opportunity to tie the match moments later but skied his shot well over the bar.

The Lions fought to a road draw on Oct. 18, 2020, with Brian White equalizing deep in stoppage time in a 1-1 match. Nani had put the Lions ahead in the second half with a penalty kick goal and Orlando clinched its first ever MLS playoff spot despite spilling those late two points. That was the last match in the club’s record 12-match unbeaten streak in MLS play.

Orlando got the better of New York at Exploria Stadium on Oct. 3, 2020, winning 3-1 on goals by Daryl Dike, Junior Urso, and Antonio Carlos. Florian Valot scored for New York.

The Red Bulls won 1-0 at Exploria Stadium on July 21, 2019. White’s goal stood up as Carlos Ascues, Tesho Akindele, and Sacha Kljestan each hit the woodwork in the second half. Prior to that, the Lions eked out a 1-0 win at Red Bull Arena on Kljestan’s goal on March 23, 2019. Before that game, the home team had won each of the previous five games in the series, splitting a pair of matches during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

The teams split two meetings in 2018, with the Red Bulls grabbing a 1-0 result in the 2018 season finale to capture the Supporters’ Shield and the Lions pulling off a 4-3 home victory on March 31, 2018. Each team won at home in 2017 to split the two-game series, with New York winning 3-1 on Aug. 12, and Orlando City opening the season series with a 1-0 win on April 9 behind Servando Carrasco’s goal.

The teams met three times in 2016, with New York going 2-0-1. The teams split two games in 2015, with the road team winning both times, including Orlando City’s 5-2 win in New Jersey behind a Cyle Larin hat trick.

Overview

Orlando City enters on a four-game unbeaten run (2-0-2), but the Lions are coming off an unsatisfying scoreless draw at the Philadelphia Union a week ago. The men in purple created few chances in the match, but managed to fashion two good ones, only to fail to take their chances. Playing with backups in the central midfield, the result was a decent one, but it was clear early in the match that the Lions weren’t going to generate much in the attack. At least the club finally kept its first clean sheet of 2025. Orlando is 2-1-0 at home and has won both matches at Inter&Co Stadium since falling in the season opener.

New York is 0-2-1 on the road in 2025, but is coming off a 2-1 home win over the Chicago Fire a week ago. The Red Bulls have played three consecutive 2-1 games since the 2-2 draw against Orlando City, losing by that score in New England and beating Chicago and Toronto. As has been the case in recent years, the Red Bulls press and defend well, have a great goalkeeper, and have turn matches into rock fights, usually finding ways to eke out enough offense to win low-scoring games.

The Lions will need to take care of the ball and avoid New York’s dangerous transition attack. Choupo-Moting and Emil Forsberg pace the Red Bulls with three goals and an assist each. However, New York has the third-stingiest defense in the Eastern Conference behind Coronel’s standout play in goal and a defense that boasts Tim Parker, Sean Nealis, Alexander Hack, Eile, and others who can protect the goal.

“We’re feeling good. It was a difficult game in Philadelphia, but I think the team had a very good performance under the circumstances,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “There are a few changes we must make to the whole performance. It was very intense, but we found ways to keep the result. We had some options that could have been even more for us, but now coming into the next matchup against a rival like the New York Red Bulls, that we know and have played not long ago. We are just preparing like always, with the same energy and understanding that this is a different [game]. We’re good, the boys are in good shape.”

Orlando City will be without Wilder Cartagena (Achilles), Favian Loyola (thigh), and Yutaro Tsukada (knee). César Araújo (lower leg), Eduard Atuesta (thigh), and Nico Rodríguez
(thigh) are listed as questionable. New York has a considerable number of players on its availability list. The Red Bulls will be without Roald Mitchell (knee) and Morgan (knee), while Kyle Duncan (knee), Raheem Edwards (knee), Cameron Harper (knee), and Marcelo Morales (knee) are questionable.

Match Content

• Our Intelligence Report provides more background on tonight’s opponents, courtesy of Mark Fishkin of the Seeing Red podcast.
• The most recent episode of the PawedCast includes our key matchups and score predictions for the match.
• Our David Rohe provided his three keys to an Orlando City victory over the New York Red Bulls.

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Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Alex Freeman.

Defensive Midfielders: Joran Gerbet, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.

Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, Marco Pasalic.

Forward: Luis Muriel.

Bench: Javier Otero, Rafael Santos, Kyle Smith, Thomas Williams, Cesar Araujo, Eduard Atuesta, Shak Mohammed, Ramiro Enrique, Duncan McGuire.

New York Red Bulls (3-5-2)

Goalkeeper: Carlos Coronel.

Defenders: Tim Parker, Noah Eile, Dylan Nealis.

Wingbacks/Midfielders: Omar Valencia, Peter Stroud, Felipe Caraballo, Ronald Donkor, Serge Ngoma.

Forwards: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Emil Forsberg.

Bench: Anthony Marcucci, Alexander Hack, Sean Nealis, Wikelman Carmona, Cameron Harper, Julian Hall, Mohammed Sofo, Dennis Gjengaar, Wiktor Bogacz.

Referees

Ref: Chris Penso.
AR1: Logan Brown.
AR2: Nick Balcer.
4th: Marcos DeOliveira.
VAR: Jose Carlos Rivero.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.

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How to Watch

Match Time: 4:30 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

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Enjoy the match. Go City!