Connect with us

Orlando City

Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: Player Grades & Man of the Match

How did your favorite Lions perform in a frustrating road draw against the Chicago Fire?

Published

3 months ago

on

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

A point is a point, but Orlando City is certainly capable of playing better than it showed in a frustrating 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire. Despite Facundo Torres’ early goal, the Lions looked like they weren’t on the same page for large stretches of the game, and displayed plenty of sloppiness. That may be partly due to being on short rest, but it was a disappointing performance against a struggling Chicago team. Here’s how I rated the individual performances during this one.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 5 — Pedro did some good things, one of which was coming off his line early in the 20th minute and neatly playing the ball with his thigh to avoid handling it outside the area, while preventing a 1-v-1 opportunity. Unfortunately, he should have done better on Chicago’s goal, as the ball was hit with not much pace, although it was back against the direction he was moving. He finished with two saves, one clearance, and 77% passing accuracy.

D, Robin Jansson, 5 — Like his partners in defense, the Swede looked more and more ill-at-ease as the game wore on in his return from injury. He allowed Hugo Cuypers to get goal-side of him for the equalizing strike, and looked like he just fell asleep on the play. He had one tackle, one block, three clearances, one foul committed, and one yellow card on the defensive end, which will earn him a suspension for card accumulation, preventing his participation Saturday in New York. Going forward, he completed a dribble, drew a foul, provided a key pass, and passed with 85% accuracy, while showing some uncharacteristic sloppiness with the ball — something that plagued the entire team.

D, Wilder Cartagena, 5.5 — Once again deployed as a center back, Cartagena had an okay night at the back, but we’ve seen better. For defensive statistics, he recorded two tackles, two clearances, one block, one interception, and one foul committed. His 80% passing accuracy wasn’t great though, and he looked uncharacteristically sloppy when trying to find his teammates and build out of the back. He was also partly at fault for Cuyper’s goal, as he failed to provide cover for David Brekalo, who stepped up to provide pressure on the ball. That counts as the major blemish on his night, alongside his passing accuracy.

D, David Brekalo, 6 — The Slovenian was the best of the three center backs in this one. The highlight of his night was an outstanding tackle on Cuypers in the 68th minute to stonewall him and prevent what surely would have been a dangerous shot. He finished with three tackles, a team-high five clearances, one foul committed, two fouls drawn, one completed dribble, and a passing accuracy of 85%. I’d really like to see what a partnership of him and Jansson are able to do in a four-man back line, as we haven’t really had the chance to see that due to various injuries.

WB, Facundo Torres, 6 — Torres grabbed the lone goal courtesy of one of the strangest goalmouth scrambles I’ve ever witnessed. Aside from that though, he didn’t carry a ton of danger himself, and instead did more work setting others up for chances. His highlight in that regard was serving up a cross on a platter for Luis Muriel that the latter headed directly at the goalkeeper just moments before Chicago’s equalizer. We know he’s capable of creating for himself and scoring, and he continues to look largely neutered in the wingback role he’s being asked to play, though he should have ended Wednesday night with a goal and an assist. Like most of OCSC’s other players, Torres struggled with sloppiness on the ball at times, and his distribution wasn’t his best. He was still able to provide three key passes, take three shots (one on target, two blocked), and passed with 83% accuracy. He contributed two tackles on defense, but the Lions need him at the other end of the field.

MF, Nico Lodeiro, 5.5 — Lodeiro, like most of the team, had an evening that he’ll want to forget. He chipped in on the defensive side with two tackles, an interception, and a clearance, but it just wasn’t happening for him going forward, aside from a well-timed pass to send Ivan Angulo behind the defense on a play that would draw a penalty 99 times out of 100. He took one shot that was blocked and drew a foul, but the big issue was his passing. His 84% success rate wasn’t awful, but on several occasions he delivered the ball directly to a Fire player (he had plenty of company in doing that) and just couldn’t seem to get on the same page as his teammates. One of his better passes was to Torres in the first half on a play that was ultimately called back for offside against the Uruguayan.

MF, Cesar Araujo, 6 — Cesar did pretty much everything he could have been expected to from a defensive standpoint. He finished with a team-high four tackles, was second on the team with four clearances, and also had an interception and a block. He drew four fouls while not committing any of his own, but his 84% passing accuracy left something to be desired. Like most of his teammates, he just looked out-of-sync on several occasions, delivering the ball straight to an opponent, and it was more noticeable due to how safe he typically is with the ball.

MF, Ivan Angulo, 6.5 (MotM) — Angulo had a lively evening, and was involved in almost everything Orlando did well going forward. His combination down the right with Muriel in the first half led to Torres’ goal, and just after the half hour mark he intercepted a ball near midfield and bore down on goal, but seemed to be caught between passing and shooting, and the ball he ended up playing went harmlessly behind for a goal kick. He should have won a penalty kick after evading Chris Brady and being fouled from behind by Federico Navarro, but no decision was forthcoming. His night finished with two shots (one off target, one blocked), four completed dribbles, two key passes, two fouls drawn, and 91% passing accuracy.

WB, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, 5.5 — This formation doesn’t seem to suit Dagur Dan’s attacking skills. He’s versatile and played well as a right back last year, but the in-between nature of the wingback role looks like its doing him more harm than good. He was too slow to track Arnaud Souquet’s run, who crossed for Cuypers to fire home, and that’s the big blip against him in this one. He finished with one tackle and two clearances defensively, while completing a dribble and passing with a team-best 95% accuracy on offense. I think he’d really benefit from either being a fullback or a midfielder, instead of a mix between the two.

F, Martin Ojeda, 4.5 — Asked to play as the second striker alongside Muriel, things just weren’t happening for Ojeda. Whether it was a ball that wouldn’t fully bounce his way, or a pass that was just off the mark, it was yet another case of so close, yet so far. He finished with one tackle, one foul committed, one foul drawn, and 85% passing accuracy. The lack of key passes or shots is indicative of the difficulties he had, and you simply have to get more out of a Designated Player. Given how involved Ramiro Enrique was during his short time on the field, Ojeda’s night is that much tougher to swallow.

F, Luis Muriel, 5.5 — Like most of his teammates, it was a frustrating performance from Muriel. He did some good things and showed plenty of flashes of the quality that he has, but ultimately wasn’t able to impact the scoresheet. His night was perhaps best summed up by his powerful 77th minute header, that would surely have been a goal if he’d put it anywhere but straight at the goalkeeper. He also was maddeningly reluctant to shoot. I’m all for a striker who wants to create for others, but sometimes you can’t look for the perfect opening and just need to hit the damn ball. He recorded two tackles, one clearance, one shot (on target), two fouls drawn, and 84% passing accuracy.

Substitutes

F, Ramiro Enrique, (79′), N/A — Enrique came on for Muriel with just over 10 minutes to play, and looked lively and dangerous during his time on the field. He made an excellent run from midfield as the game wound down, but fired his shot a bit off target. He finished with one completed dribble, one off-target shot, and completed the lone pass that he attempted.

D, Rafael Santos, (79′), N/A — Santos entered the fray in place of Ojeda, and did what was asked of him. He recorded one tackle, one clearance, one foul drawn, and a key pass, while accurately delivering 75% of his passes to their destination.

MF, Kyle Smith, (90′ + 2), N/A — Smith subbed on for Dagur Dan with the game in its final stages. He completed one of his three passes, sending the other two directly to a Fire player but helped Orlando get out of Chicago with a point.

MF, Jeorgio Kocevski, (90′ + 2), N/A — Kocevski came on for Torres in the dying stages of the game. He completed the one pass he attempted and helped the Lions see out the remaining time on the clock.

That’s how I saw the individual performances from a largely frustrating evening in Chicago. Feel free to voice your thoughts on how the players did down in the comments, and be sure to vote in our Man of the Match poll. Vamos Orlando!

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

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.

Published

1 day ago

on

September 6, 2024

By

Dan MacDonald, The Mane Land

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!

Continue Reading

Lion Links

Lion Links: 9/6/24

Amanda Allen loaned to Lexington SC, Alex Morgan announces retirement, USMNT prepares for Canada, and more.

Published

1 day ago

on

September 6, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Victor Tan / New Day Review

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

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

Continue Reading

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.

Published

2 days ago

on

September 5, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

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.

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:

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:

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):

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.

Continue Reading

Trending