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Orlando City

Orlando City vs. New York City FC: Player Grades and Man of the Match

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4 years ago

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Leave it to Orlando City to draw in the team’s first ever playoff match. At least the Lions were considerate enough to win the penalty shootout afterwards, regardless of who was in goal. Yesterday’s match was weird, fun, insane, and perhaps a little drunk, but in the end Orlando City advances in the postseason and that’s the only thing that matters.

Let’s get to the individual player grades from an interesting match against NYCFC.

Starters

GK, Pedro Gallese, 8 (MotM) — Can a goalkeeper who gets sent off during a penalty shootout be the Man of the Match? He can. It’s not that there aren’t any other good candidates but without El Pulpo this match wouldn’t have come close to extra time or a shootout. Gallese’s save on Jesus Medina in the 24th minute was incredible. He made another diving stop two minutes later. His double save in the 43rd minute against Valentin Castellanos and Keaton Parks was sheer brilliance and had Parks shaking his head. He denied Medina in the 64th and Ronald Mattarita in the 114th. It was an amazing game by Gallese, with six saves and he showed off some tekkers in the game as well.

D, Kyle Smith, 6 — Starting on the left side and switching to his preferred right side late in the match after Ruan was sent off, Smith had a decent match, but there was definitely more he could have done. The biggest problem for me was a 61.4% passing accuracy and his one accurate long ball on seven attempts. But he was mostly fine defensively, finishing with three tackles, two interceptions, and two clearances.

D, Robin Jansson, 7.5 — The beefy Swede led all Lions in clearances (6), adding four tackles and three interceptions. His 82.9% passing accuracy led all Orlando City starting defenders and he hit on three of his five long ball attempts. He even scored on his penalty attempt in the sudden death portion of the spot kick shootout. His work rate was outstanding, as in the 38th minute, when he blocked a pair of crosses in rapid succession, winning a goal kick to ease the pressure. He also hustled back to break up a potentially dangerous counter-attack after a set piece.

D, Antonio Carlos, 8 — If Gallese wasn’t my Man of the Match, it would be Carlos. The Brazilian was all over the pitch, making an unbelievable 10 interceptions to go along with five clearances, five blocked shots, two aerials won, and four tackles. He attempted one shot, which he sent wide off a set piece, not counting his successful penalty in the shootout. His 79% passing accuracy was decent, and he connected on four of his eight long balls.

D, Ruan, 5 — The speedy Brazilian passed at an 80% clip and had one key pass, providing an outlet down the right most of the game. But his decision-making was poor, his yellow card was foolish, and his sending off was just downright selfish. I understand why he was upset with Gary Mackay-Steven, but he has to be smart enough to avoid taking the bait. Defensively he made one tackle and one interception.

MF, Uri Rosell, 6.5 — The Spaniard returned after a 13-game absence and pretty much picked up where he left off, serving as the engine in the central midfield, linking the lines and cleaning up spills. He passed at an 87.1% rate, completed six of eight long balls, created one scoring chance, and attempted one shot. He also had two tackles and three interceptions. It was a typical, workmanlike game from Rosell.

MF, Junior Urso, 6.5 — The Bear was similar in his play to Rosell. His passing rate was 86.7% but he completed a whopping 90% (9/10) of his long balls. He made four tackles with three interceptions and fired two shots, although neither was on target. His weak spots were few, but one was a failure to contain Maxime Chanot on NYCFC’s goal, although he was the recipient of a push on the play, which knocked him off balance. He also was dispossessed three times and had two unstable touches.

MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 7.5 — The Uruguayan had a good game, creating five scoring chances and tallying a team high six dribbles. Defensively, he chipped in four tackles, an interception, and a blocked shot. He completed six of his eight long balls and passed at an 84.4% rate. My only real criticism of Pereyra was that he attempted no shots. New York City FC therefore did not have to respect his shot and watched for him to pass, cutting out some of his attempts in the final third, which foiled some good buildups and led to some transition opportunities. Pereyra wasn’t alone in that, though, as it seemed the Lions sometimes wanted to dribble and pass the ball to the back of the net.

MF, Chris Mueller, 6 — It was a mixed game for Mueller, who started well but seemed to struggle with his touch deeper in the match, as with the turnover in his own half that led to a scoring chance — and one of Gallese’s great saves — in the second half. He had one key pass, which set up the Nani header that led to the early penalty kick. His passing was decent (82.9%). Defensively he had a clearance and a tackle. He took only one shot that he missed on badly, was dispossessed four times, and had four unstable touches.

F, Nani, 7.5 — The captain had a strong game overall, leading the team in touches, with 91. He attempted a team high six shots, getting two on frame, and buried his fifth-minute penalty with composure, scoring the first MLS playoff goal in Orlando City history. He created two scoring chances and had four dribbles, to help propel the offense forward. He passed at an 86.3% rate and, like Pereyra, hit on six of his eight long balls. On defense, he chipped in three tackles, an interception, and a clearance. The only real quibbles are that he missed the opportunity to put the penalty kick shootout away as the fifth shooter, he looked to get foul calls a bit too often, and his crossing wasn’t as accurate as usual (just 1/5).

F, Daryl Dike, 6 — The rookie sometimes struggled to get on the ball, finishing with just 22 touches. He attempted two shots, getting one on target, and made one key pass. He was a 71.8% passer and made two nice dribbles in the match. However, he offered no defensive actions, committed two fouls in the offensive end, was dispossessed twice and had three unstable touches.

Substitutes

F, Tesho Akindele (83’), 5.5 — The Canadian came on for Dike and until the shootout his most significant contribution was missing a sitter in the 10th and final minute of stoppage time. He later redeemed himself by scoring in the penalty shootout. Akindele attempted two shots, but got neither on frame, passed at just 58.3%, and made one interception.

MF, Andres Perea (83’), 6.5 — The Colombian came on for Rosell and inserted himself into the match, passing at an 87% clip and hitting on four of his five long ball attempts. He was booked for taking a tactical foul to break up a transition, but it was his only foul. He finished with one clearance and created one scoring chance. He also scored on his penalty in the shootout.

D, Kamal Miller (90’+4), 6.5 — The Canadian defender had a long wait for a whistle to get into the game after Ruan was ejected, finally subbing on in stoppage time. However, he acquitted himself well at left back, finishing with a clearance, an interception, and two blocked shots. He made one dribble and took one shot, that went just wide after a nice run forward on the attack in extra time. Miller completed all seven of his pass attempts.

D/GK, Rodrigo Schlegel (101’), 7.5 — This is one player who must be graded on a curve. He touched the ball only 12 times after coming on for Smith. He played right back, which is a bit unusual, completing four of his five pass attempts. He completed his only long ball attempt. But the Argentinean will go down as an Orlando City legend after volunteering to replace Gallese when the Peruvian keeper was sent off. “Papi, I can do that,” Schlegel said to his coach and he did that. Schlegel faced three shooters in his first professional stint as a goalkeeper, allowing goals on spot kicks by Castellanos and Nicolas Acevedo before coming up huge against Gudmundur Thórarinsson. Schlegel got a touch to the shot and knocked it off the post and out to set up the winning penalty.

F, Benji Michel (106’), N/A — Speaking of the winning penalty, the Homegrown Player subbed on at halftime of extra time for Pereyra when the Uruguayan felt some tightness after playing 105 minutes. I’m not going to give Michel a grade after only a 15-minute run-out, but it was an important appearance. He got only 10 touches and completed three of his five passing attempts, made one interception and buried a cannon shot past Sean Johnson to end the game.

That’s the way I saw the performances on Saturday afternoon at Exploria Stadium. Don’t forget to vote for your Man of the Match in our poll below, and let me know where you strongly agree/disagree in the comments section below.

Polling Closed

PlayerVotes
Pedro Gallese84
Antonio Carlos2
Mauricio Pereyra0
Nani1
Robin Jansson3
Rodrigo Schlegel37
Other0

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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

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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!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 9/6/24

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

Published

2 days ago

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September 6, 2024

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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!

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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

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September 5, 2024

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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.

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