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Orlando City vs CF Montreal: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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5 years ago

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It started so well. Orlando City was on the front foot for the first 15 minutes, but the 20 minutes that followed were devastating as Nani was sent off after a second yellow, and Montreal scored its second goal. This was a night that everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and the Lions paid the price as they head for the playoff goal line. A second loss in a row is nothing to take lightly.

Just a note for those who read our player’s grades: Each staff member has their own scale on how they grade players. My grading involves not just stats and key moments, but also how the player performs against my expectations. If you disagree with how I, or any of our staff, approach our grades, I sincerely encourage you to join The Mane Land staff so you can use your own criteria. Now, let’s see how the Lions did in the loss to CF Montreal.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 6 — Gallese returned to Orlando City but was unable to help the Lions get any points at home. While Montreal scored four goals, three came when Orlando City was playing with only 10 men. On most of the goals there was nothing he could do, though he really didn’t seem to be himself either. He did make three saves, and one clearance. El Pulpo attempted 18 passes at a 77.8% passing rate and connected on five of 10 long balls.

D, Emmanuel Mas, 6 — Mas got the start and did well in the attack as Orlando tried to work the ball up the field connecting with Nani and Pereyra. He also was in the scrum that resulted in Ruan’s goal. Offensively, Mas took one shot. On defense he had three tackles, and one clearance. Mas attempted 34 passes and had a 79.4% passing rate with one key pass, and attempted two long balls.

D, Robin Jansson, 7.5 (MotM) — The Beefy Swede scored his first MLS goal on a tough night for the Lions. It was Orlando City’s first goal and gave the club life after Nani was sent off. Jansson also made several key defensive plays to keep the match as close as it was. I know that seems strange, but without Jansson’s defense it could have been worse, although he was partly responsible on the first Montreal goal. He attempted 45 passes and had an 88.9% passing rate, while completing three of six long balls. He had one tackle, two clearances, one blocked shot, and committed one foul.

D, Antonio Carlos, 6 — Like the rest of the back line, Carlos had to play a lot of one on one in this match, and that is difficult when the third center back is a midfielder. Defensively, Carlos made three tackles, two interceptions, one clearance, one blocked shot, and committed one foul. He attempted 31 passes and had an 87.1% passing rate, while completing two of four long balls.

D, Ruan, 6.5 — Ruan got caught out of position on Montreal’s first goal. He did make up for it later when he scored Orlando City’s second goal, cleaning up the ball as it bounced off Mas in the box. He used his speed effectively on both sides of the ball, getting back on defense, and stretching the Montreal offense. Offensively, he attempted two shots, scoring on one, with two crosses. He made one key pass, attempted two long balls, and had one successful dribble. Defensively, he made four clearances, and committed one foul. Ruan attempted 27 passes and had an 85.2% passing rate.

MF, Júnior Urso, 6.5 — Orlando City missed the Bear’s presence in the midfield. He provided spark on offense, and consistency in the midfield. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to overcome playing with 10 men. Offensively, he took one shot, made two dribbles, and suffered two fouls. Defensively Urso made three tackles and committed one foul. He attempted 39 passes and had an 82.1% passing rate, one successful through ball, and completed two out of three long balls.

MF/D, Andrés Perea, 5 — Perea started the match in the midfield and did pretty well, but as the Lions adjusted their shape to deal with being a man down, Perea was shifted into a central center back position, almost kind of a sweeper at times. Playing out of position is never easy, and though I don’t doubt that he tried his best, he still allowed a goal, and then earned a red card in the 83rd minute when he denied a scoring opportunity. Perea had two tackles, one clearance, and committed one foul. He attempted 41 passes and had a 92.7% passing rate, and completed one out of two long balls.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 7 — Pereyra was the playmaker that Orlando City needs every match. His through passes were pinpoint, and he provided the service on both the free kick that resulted in Jansson’s goal, and the ball to Michel that resulted in Ruan’s goal. There were times he single-handedly kept the Lions in the attack. Pereyra made two key passes, one dribble, and suffered one foul. Defensively, he made one tackle, one interception, and committed three fouls. He attempted 61 passes with an 83.6% passing rate and made one successful cross. He also completed seven of nine long balls. If it wasn’t for Jansson scoring his first MLS goal, Pereyra most likely would be Man of the Match.

MF, Silvester van der Water, 6 — Van der Water thought he scored in the seventh minute, but the offside flag was up. He looked to be dangerous in the attack, but shortly after Nani was sent off, van der Water signaled he was feeling something wrong physically. He was subbed off in the 41st minute for Chris Mueller. Offensively, van der Water had no shots that counted, made one successful dribble, and one cross. He attempted 12 passes with a 75% passing rate, with three successful long balls.

F, Nani, 4.5 — Nani earned a yellow in the 28th minute and is experienced enough to know he should be careful after that. Unfortunately, a mere seven minutes later, he was dispossessed outside Montreal’s box, and made a very poor decision to foul from behind when trying to chase down the ball. His effort earned a second yellow and, as such, a red card. The captain put Orlando City in the difficult position of playing down a man for the remainder of the match. Indeed Quioto made Orlando pay for it in the 37th minute after Nani left the pitch, putting Montreal up 2-0. Offensively, Nani took one shot that was not on target, and had two successful dribbles, Defensively, he made one tackle and as mentioned committed two fouls that resulted in his sending off. Nani attempted nine passes with a 77.8% passing rate, and two crosses.

F, Daryl Dike, 5.5 — Dike did well in hold up play, especially once Orlando was playing a man down. Offensively, he had one shot, suffered two fouls and was dispossessed once. His one shot should have been a goal, with a gaping empty net in front of him, but he sent his effort off target. Defensively, Dike made one clearance. He attempted just nine passes with a 77.8% passing rate, and had one cross. Dike came off in the 71st minute for Tesho Akindele.

Substitutes

MF, Chris Mueller (41’), N/A — Mueller came on for van der Water, who was feeling some sort of pain or tightness. I’m not sure if Mueller was wearing the wrong boots, but he was slipping quite a bit, and picked up a knock himself. Oscar Pareja said he tweaked his ankle. He played a total of approximately 10 minutes since he was subbed off at half. Mueller attempted one pass with a 100% passing rate, but that isn’t that impressive. He suffered one foul, and that was it. He wasn’t on long enough to warrant a grade or impact the game.

MF, Benji Michel (46’), 6.5 — Michel was a surprise sub when Mueller wasn’t able to continue at the half, but his speed was just what the Lions needed to try to get back into the match. He did well to handle the ball from Pereyra that resulted in Ruan’s goal. If he doesn’t bring it down, and find Mas in the box, the second goal never happens. Michel had one successful dribble, and suffered one foul. Defensively he made one tackle. He attempted 10 passes with a 90% passing rate, made one cross, and one successful long ball. He also had a shot on target late.

F, Tesho Akindele (71’), 5 — Akindele was brought in to spell Dike when the match was still tied at 2-2. Through no fault of Akindele, it didn’t stay that way long. He attempted 10 passes with an 80% passing rate, and made one successful dribble.

MF, Alexander Alvarado (80’), N/A — Alvarado came on to provide some more offense as the Lions tried to come back following Montreal’s third goal for defender Emmanuel Mas. He attempted 14 passes with a 92.9% passing rate, with one key pass.

That is how I saw the game. How do you feel about the individual performances? Tell us by commenting and voting on the Man of the Match below.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Robin Jansson22
Mauricio Pereyra5
Ruan0
Junior Urso1
Other: Put answer in the comments1

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Orlando City

Flashback Friday: June 10, 2023 vs. Colorado Rapids

Let’s take a trip down memory lane to a booking-laden match at home that took place a little less than three years ago.

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2 hours ago

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June 12, 2026

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

The World Cup is now officially underway, and while that means Orlando City is on break, we can’t have you forgetting about the Lions while all the international action is taking place. That means its time for another edition of Flashback Friday, where we hop in the trusty time machine and reminisce on OCSC matches of yesteryear.

Last week we relived a rousing road win over the New York Red Bulls from June, 3 2023, and this week, we actually pick up right where we left off, on June 10, 2023 as the Lions returned home to take on the Colorado Rapids.

Coming off a 3-0 win over the Red Bulls in the previous match, Oscar Pareja decided to not mess with a good thing, and kept Orlando City’s same starting XI from that victory. Pedro Gallese was in net behind a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Kyle Smith. Wilder Cartagena and Cesar Araujo played the double pivot; Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres were the attacking midfielders, and Ercan Kara was deployed as the striker.

In typical June fashion for the City Beautiful, kickoff was delayed by just under an hour as the stadium was pounded by storms, and the delay did not look to have done any favors for Orlando’s sharpness. That said, OCSC did win a corner kick less than a minute into the game, and Torres had a tame shot saved in the eighth minute, but the Lions weren’t consistently sharp with their passing in the early moments of the contest.

The teams traded chances just before the 15-minute mark, with Kara sending a header too high before Cole Bassett sent a shot straight to Gallese. Carlos then picked up a yellow card in the 24th minute, which evened things out between the two teams after Lalas Abubakar was cautioned for the Rapids after just six minutes. Those two bookings proved to be a harbinger of things to come, because Colorado went down to 10 men in the 39th minute after midfielder Braian Galvan caught Angulo with a high boot while his studs were showing.

Pereyra had Orlando’s best chance of the opening 45 minutes in stoppage time but could only send his effort right at goalkeeper Marko Ilic, and that was the last significant action of the half. The Lions ended the half with an edge in possession (59.7%-40.3%), shots (7-2), shots on target (2-1), and passing accuracy (85.3%-79.4%), while both teams won two corners.

Pareja made two moves at halftime, bringing on Rodrigo Schlegel for the once-booked Carlos, and Martin Ojeda for Cartagena in an effort to go more offensive against a shorthanded Rapids side. The Lions certainly looked brighter going forward as the second half got underway and had a few dangerous moments before finally breaking the deadlock in the 55th minute.

Pereyra played a ball across the top of the box for Torres, who took a couple of touches before sending a ball to the net that took a wicked deflection off Andreas Maxsø that carried it past Ilic.

It wasn’t the prettiest goal the Lions have ever scored, but for a team that was guilty at times of passing up good shots in favor of the perfect look at goal, it was proof that sometimes you just need to take shots in dangerous areas.

Fortunately, Orlando seemed to take that lesson to heart. Kara went close in the 65th minute despite shooting through traffic, Angulo had a shot deflected by Abubakar three minutes later, and Torres had another deflected effort go just wide of the post four minutes after that.

The game changed again in the 75th minute, when the Rapids had another player sent off. Abubakar lasted for 69 minutes on a yellow card but got burned by Angulo in midfield and hauled him down in order to prevent the Lions from potentially working a transition opportunity. He had some teammates behind him, but the referee showed him a second yellow card. Pareja smelled blood in the water and just three minutes later he brought on Ramiro Enrique for Smith, who had been given a yellow card in the 52nd minute.

Ilic made a great save on Pereyra in the 81st minute to keep the score at 1-0 and keep the Rapids in the game, but Orlando got its second goal just two minutes later. Torres had the ball on the right side of the box with a Colorado player backing off him, and that gave him ample time to get his head up and pick out a man. He played a ball to Enrique at the top of the box, who had plenty of time to take a couple of touches and send a low shot into the bottom corner past a diving Ilic for his first goal as an Orlando City player.

Somewhat surprisingly, the game started to get a little stretched after the Lions doubled their advantage. Colorado had a shot blocked in the 81st minute, Kara sent a shot very close to the post six minutes after that, and Gallese saved a Darren Yapi attempt in the 88th minute to keep his clean sheet alive. Aside from Pareja handing Alejandro Granados his MLS debut, that was the last significant action of the match, which finished 2-0 to the good guys.

Unsurprisingly, considering Colorado’s deficit in players, the Lions dominated all of the game’s most important statistics. OCSC finished with the advantage in possession (65%-35%), shots (15-4), shots on goal (6-2), corners (5-3), and passing accuracy (89.4%-81.5%).

The victory made it back-to-back wins for the first time in 2023, stretched Orlando’s unbeaten run to six, and gave El Pulpo his 100th clean sheet for the team in all competitions.

Marcus Mitchell had the helm for Player Grades in this one, and Torres got his nod for Man of the Match with a goal, an assist, and a grade of 7.5 out of 10. Several other Lions graded out at 7 out of 10, with only one player grading below a 6.

While it was a weird win, it unfortunately was the final game of the unbeaten streak, as the Lions fell to a familiar defeat at Gillette Stadium the following week, although things got back on track soon afterward. I’ll see you back here in a week for another trip down memory lane. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links: 6/12/26

USMNT plays Paraguay tonight, red cards rain down in World Cup opener, Sporting Kansas City linked with Yann Gboho, and more.

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5 hours ago

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June 12, 2026

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Image of Alex Freeman sliding in celebration of a goal.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! The World Cup is in full swing and the U.S. will play today, so it’s a pretty exciting Friday to say the least. I’m a bit of a bundle of nerves about how the team will do, but I’m still looking forward to catching the game. If you have any gameday rituals, be sure to share, so that we can conjure up enough luck and support for the team tonight. Let’s get to the links!

USMNT’s World Cup Campaign Begins Today

The United States Men’s National Team will take on Paraguay at 9 p.m. tonight in its first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. There’s plenty of pressure on the U.S. to perform well as one of the host nations, and this will also be Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino’s first time coaching at a World Cup. Pochettino stated that all 26 players are available for selection, including center back Chris Richards, although he may not necessarily start. Former Orlando City defender Alex Freeman, who is the youngest player on the U.S. roster, could make his World Cup debut tonight, so be sure to root for our hometown hero should he take the field. Hopefully, the Yanks can start this tournament off on the right foot with a big win in California.

World Cup Opener Features Three Red Cards

This year’s World Cup began in Mexico City, with Mexico beating South Africa 2-0 in a match that included three red cards. All three were straight red cards given in the second half in separate incidents, as Sphephelo Sithole and Themba Zwane were sent off for South Africa before Mexico’s Cesar Montes was shown red in stoppage time. There hasn’t been a World Cup match with that many red cards since the record of four was set in 2006 in a match between Portugal and the Netherlands. As for the game’s goals, Julian Quinones pounced on a mistake by South Africa to give Mexico an early lead and Raul Jimenez doubled that lead while South Africa was reduced to 10 men.

Sporting Kansas City Linked With Yann Gboho

While the World Cup roars on, the rumor mill is in full force as clubs make plans for summer reinforcements. Sporting Kansas City is reportedly pushing to sign Toulouse winger Yann Gboho, who recorded 10 goals and three assists across all competitions this past season. The surprising aspect of this pursuit would be that Toulouse values Gboho at an eye-watering $20 million transfer fee, which would be a club record by a country mile. Kansas City needs all the help it can get on offense, as it has scored just 14 goals in 14 games so far this season.

Jose Mourinho Officially Returns to Real Madrid

It’s been a bit of an open secret over the past few weeks that Jose Mourinho would become Real Madrid’s next manager and it’s now official, with the 63-year-old signing a three-year contract with the Spanish club. Mourinho helped Real Madrid win a La Liga title and the Copa del Rey over a decade ago before his departure in 2013 after three seasons with the club. Now, he joins a Real Madrid side that has finished second in the league standings and been eliminated in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League the past two seasons. I, for one, can’t wait to see how one of the biggest personalities in soccer works alongside a locker room of star players that seemed in disarray this past season.

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That’s all I have for you this time around. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!

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Lion Links: 6/11/26

Wilder Cartagena linked with move to Sporting Cristal, Orlando Pride hire Dr. Nicole Surdyka, Barbra Banda injury update, and more.

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1 day ago

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June 11, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jermey Reper

The World Cup is finally here! Today starts what should be an exciting month of international soccer featuring more teams than ever before. While I wasn’t able to part with the arm and leg necessary to afford a ticket to one of the games, I’m still looking forward to watching along when I can with the rest of the world. Let’s get to the links!

Wilder Cartagena Linked With Move to Peruvian Club

You’ll need a translation tool to check out the full details unless you are fluent in Spanish, but Sporting Cristal of Peru’s top flight is reportedly interested in signing Orlando City midfielder Wilder Cartagena. The 31-year-old is currently under contract with Orlando through 2026, with the contact also including a club option for 2027. He was a crucial part to Orlando’s success in 2024, but he missed all of last year and has only started one game so far this season due to injuries. It’s not much more than a rumor as of now, but it’ll be something to keep an eye on during this break in the league schedule.

Barbra Banda Sustained a Hamstring Injury

Zambia Head Coach Nora Hauptle stated that Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda is dealing with a hamstring strain. Banda didn’t play in either of Zambia’s matches during this international break, but Hauptle also noted that she should recover in the next week or two and will be fine for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations at the end of July. Banda was injured late in the Pride’s 3-1 win against Bay FC on May 29 and it was unclear how severe the injury was. Hopefully she’ll be good to go before the Pride’s match against Angel City FC on July 3.

Dr. Nicole Surdyka Named Orlando Pride Director of Medical & Performance

The Orlando Pride have hired Dr. Nicole Surdyka as their new director of medical and performance. She’ll oversee the Pride’s medical operations, nutrition, and more while also working with Orlando Health. Dr. Surdyka has over a decade of experience that included leadership roles with OL Reign and the LA Galaxy and has studied extensively into developing frameworks for health and performance in women’s soccer.

“Nicole is one of the most respected practitioners in our field, and her expertise in women’s football, return‑to‑play, and high‑performance systems will elevate every aspect of our medical and performance environment,” said Caitlin Carducci, Orlando Pride VP of Soccer Operations & General Manager. “Her leadership, her commitment to evidence‑based practice and her passion for supporting athletes make her an exceptional addition to the Pride.”

Analyzing Paraguay Ahead of USMNT World Cup Match

The United States Men’s National Team will play its World Cup opener on Friday when it hosts Paraguay at SoFi Stadium. It will be the 10th match between the two nations, with the USMNT most recently winning 2-1 against Paraguay in November of last year. There’s a familiar face on Paraguay’s roster in Orlando City midfielder Braian Ojeda, with Miguel Almiron and Andres Cubas as other MLS midfielders called up. Paraguay’s defense is anchored by center back Gustavo Gomez, who you may remember as the player who put former Lion Alex Freeman in a headlock during that aforementioned November friendly. As for Paraguay’s attack, the Yanks will need to keep Julio Enciso and Antonio Sanabria from wreaking havoc. Paraguay is a physical team that’s also strong in the air, so we’ll see how the USMNT deals with that on Friday.

England Beats Costa Rica 3-0 at Inter&Co Stadium

Orlando City’s Inter&Co Stadium hosted a friendly between England and Costa Rica on Wednesday, with England winning 3-0. Declan Rice gave England an early lead, but Costa Rica kept the Three Lions off the scoresheet until the substitutes came on for England in the second half, with Anthony Gordon and Ollie Watkins both scoring. England got the full Orlando experience due to a heavy storm that delayed kickoff, but Inter&Co Stadium earned praise for its drainage system that had the pitch ready to roll in no time. Enjoy this satisfying time-lapse video of the transformation provided by the stadium.

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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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