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Top 10 Moments of 2025: Homegrown Defender Alex Freeman Has Breakout Season

Our No. 4 ‘moment’ was the aggregation of a season full of incredible moments for club and country by Orlando City Homegrown fullback Alex Freeman.

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6 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

As we count down to the new year of 2026 β€” which will be Orlando City’s 12th in MLS, the Orlando Pride’s 11th in the NWSL, and OCB’s fourth in MLS NEXT Pro β€” and say goodbye to 2025, it’s time to look back at the club’s 10 best moments of the year as selected by The Mane Land staff via vote.

Every now and then in sports a rookie or young player enters a league and immediately shows that not only do they belong, but they are already one of the best of the best. Orlando City fullback Alex Freeman had that type of year in 2025, as he burst onto both the MLS and United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) scenes.

During the course of the 2025 calendar year, Freeman found himself playing in the MLS All-Star Game, winning MLS Young Player of the Year, becoming the first Lion to make the MLS Best XI, earning an 8 out of 10 in our The Mane Land end-of-season player grades, and scoring two goals after starting 10 games and appearing in 13 for the USMNT. All of those are amazing accomplishments on their own, and Freeman went out and bagged them all in 2025 β€” no big deal.

Outside of those who are actually part of the club, our writers at The Mane Land are almost certainly among the subset of those who most closely follow Orlando City, and while our staff writers all were excited by Freeman’s potential and thought he would contribute to the senior team, none of us predicted the meteoric rise that he would have this season. The coaching staff might not have seen it coming either, though they clearly saw something, because Freeman was the first sub to come in during the season opener (Luis Muriel technically stepped onto the field first, but he and Freeman subbed on in the same minute), and from then on he was the starting right back for the rest of the season.

I listed his overall accomplishments in the opening paragraph, but I think a few data points really will tell the story of Freeman’s 2025, as compared to other fullbacks in club history and to every fullback in MLS in 2025.

First, let’s start by looking back at all of the fullbacks in Orlando City history, and we will start with our friends at fotmob.com, who rate every player’s performance for every game that they play. FotMob has season-long player ratings back to 2016, and the chart below shows the best Orlando City fullbacks by their rating system for each season, on a 10-point scale:

Graph showing Orlando City fullbacks' overall player ratings from 2016 to 2025.

Averaging the best fullback performances from each season during the 2016-2024 period gives a FotMob rating of 6.82. Freeman’s 7.41 is nine percent better than that average and four percent better than the next best individual performance. Four and nine percent do not sound like a lot, but again consider that Freeman was that much better than the previous best performances at that position club history, setting a new standard that will be difficult to beat.

Staying with the FotMob rating, Freeman’s 7.41 ranked third among all fullbacks in MLS in 2025. Philadelphia’s Kai Wagner (7.86) and Columbus’ Max Arfsten (7.51) slightly outperformed him by FotMob’s metrics, but Freeman tied for third with Jordi Alba out of 73 fullbacks who played enough minutes to qualify for a rating. The overall average among the 72 other fullbacks was 6.88, so FotMob had Freeman as eight percent better than the average 2025 fullback.

That eight percent gap between Freeman and the average 2025 fullback helps quantify how big of a deal it is that Freeman’s season was nine percent better on average than the best performances by Orlando City fullbacks from 2016-2024.

Moving over to a different site, American Soccer Analysis uses its own rating metric β€” goals added β€” to quantify how players contribute to their team’s goal differential. A goal prevented is as valuable as a goal scored, and the site’s rating system elevates defenders who primarily defend to be on equal status with offensive players who primarily attack, instead of only focusing on those who contribute to scoring goals. As you’ll see in the subsequent paragraphs, the two ratings systems are aligned but not parallel, with both rating Freeman highly, but American Soccer Analysis comes in much more favorably on the Orlando City fullback.

The American Soccer Analysis database includes metrics on season-long and per-96-minute (to account for stoppage time) bases, and to stay consistent with FotMob’s average rating per game we will look at the per-96-minute metrics for Freeman, which approximate a per-game basis. American Soccer Analysis scored Freeman as worth +0.33 goals added per 96 minutes in 2025, which is the second-highest mark (Federico Bernardeschi’s 2024 season in Toronto ranked first, with +0.35, although he played wingback for about half the season rather than being a natural fullback) by any fullback in the site’s MLS database, which goes back to 2013. That dataset includes 1,164 qualified fullback-seasons (seasons in which a player played at least 500 minutes), and you do not have to be a mathematics major like me to know that ranking second out of nearly 1,200 is an amazing feat from Freeman’s amazing feet.

It was not just that he ranked second that was amazing though. It was also how impressive that +0.33 was as compared to his fellow fullbacks. The average MLS fullback added +0.13 goals to their team’s goal differential per 96 minutes between 2013 and 2025 (Orlando City’s non-Freeman average was also +0.13 during that time frame), so Freeman exceeded that average by a cool 154%. Choose any superlative you want; they all apply when looking at exceeding the average by 154%.

As a quick sidebar into mathworld, Freeman’s 2025 performance was about 3.83 standard deviations higher than the mean (fancy word for average). To think about what that implies, in the United States, the average male height is around 5-foot-10. Freeman’s performance was the equivalent of standing 6-foot-9, and I don’t know about you, but outside of the Kia Center during an NBA game I rarely see any 6-foot-9 people walking around here in the Orlando area, as that type of height, just like Freeman’s excellent 2025 season, is exceedingly rare.

While he is only 6-foot-2 in real life, Freeman played like a giant in 2025, and that is what led to him earning his first call-up to the USMNT in May prior to two friendlies against Turkey and Switzerland. He debuted as a starter and played the full 90 minutes in the 2-1 loss to Turkey, and while he did not feature against Switzerland (remaining neutral, appropriately) he showed enough in the Turkey game that he made the Gold Cup roster, started all six matches, and played nearly every minute for the U.S. team that finished as runners-up to Mexico.

The USMNT played six friendlies after the Gold Cup and Freeman featured in all six, alternating appearances off the bench with starts and playing in 64% of the available minutes across those six matches. Freeman ended up playing the fourth-most minutes of any USMNT player in 2025 β€” another impressive accomplishment, especially considering he was the second-youngest player to feature for the U.S. this year.

There has been a lot of speculation around when Freeman will depart Orlando City for a club in Europe. Could it be in the January transfer window so he is playing at a higher level of competition in advance of the World Cup, or will it be after the World Cup, so he is guaranteed to have consistent minutes going into that tournament? The prevailing opinion is that either way he is not long for the City Beautiful, due to his outstanding year in 2025.

Transfermarkt tracks the projected market value of soccer players across the world, and in December of 2024 the site pegged Freeman at a value of approximately $177,000. The folks at Transfermarkt just released their updated projections on Dec. 10, and he is now valued at $4.1 million. A 154% increase sounded impressive earlier, but I am at a loss for words on how to define a 2,216% increase, so instead I’ll just tell you that the growth of his projected transfer value looks like the function f(x) = ex, exponential growth where f equals Freeman.

The 2025 season will be a year to remember for Orlando City’s star right back, as he achieved top drawer success qualitatively (multiple awards and getting called up to the national team) and quantitatively (13 goal contributions for Orlando City and the USMNT combined and his top ratings across many websites). It was one of the best all-around seasons by a Lion in the club’s history, and for that it was an easy inclusion on the list of our top ‘moments’ of 2025.

Come back through New Year’s Eve as we count down the remainder of the top 10 moments of 2025 for Orlando City, the Orlando Pride, and OCB.

Previous Top Moments of 2025

10. Orlando City clinches a playoff berth for a sixth consecutive season on Alex Freeman’s late game-tying goal.

9. Luis Muriel’s hat trick powers Lions to Leagues Cup knockout rounds.

8. Martin Ojeda scores Orlando City’s first hat trick since Cyle Larin did so all the way back in 2015.

7. Orlando City sweeps rival Inter Miami during the regular season, winning both games by three goals.

6. Martin Ojeda breaks Orlando City’s single-season record for goal contributions.

5. Orlando Pride midfielder Luana returns to the pitch after being out for a year due to cancer treatment.

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Orlando City

Flashback Friday: July 4, 2023 vs. Toronto FC

Let’s rewind to an Independence Day affair that had plenty of offensive fireworks.

Published

3 days ago

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July 3, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The United States Men’s National Team picked up a gritty, resilient 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on Wednesday, and will now face Belgium in a rematch of the 2014 World Cup Round of 16 next Monday. While we patiently wait for that game, it’s time to continue our Friday tradition of revisiting some classic Orlando City games from years past.

Last week, we rewound to a high octane affair against the Chicago Fire in late June 2022, that saw the Lions douse Chicago’s flames and pick up a much-needed 4-2 victory. Today, let’s hop in the time machine and travel back to Independence Day 2023, when Toronto FC came to town.

At the time of Toronto’s visit, things were going relatively smoothly for OCSC. The team was riding a three-match unbeaten streak and had scored five goals across those three games. Oscar Pareja lined up his team in its customary 4-2-3-1, with Pedro Gallese in goal; a back line of Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, and Kyle Smith; Wilder Cartagena and Cesar Araujo in the double pivot; Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres in the attacking midfield; and Duncan McGuire up top.

Orlando very nearly got a goal a little under 10 minutes into the game. Former OCSC goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh knocked down a cross in front of the net, and while Pereyra was first to the ball, he could only blast it over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Fortunately, that miss would not come back to haunt the Lions, who bagged the game’s first goal in the 16th minute. Angulo sucked defenders toward him on the left edge of the box before releasing Santos out wide. The fullback played a peach of a first-time, curling cross to the back post, where Araujo was waiting to power a diving header into the side netting at the far post for his first league goal.

That goal broke the game open, and Orlando got another goal six minutes later to double the advantage. It initially looked like a carbon copy of the first goal, with Santos out in space on the left side of the box, sending in a curled cross. The ball deflected off a defender and came in low toward the goal. Ranjitsingh waited for the ball instead of going to claim it, and that allowed McGuire to nip in front of him and get a touch on the ball to sneak it in at the near post.

Orlando nearly got even more goals inside the half hour, with Torres and McGuire both going close in quick succession. Federico Bernardeschi smashed a shot off the post in the 28th minute, and the Lions seemed to be losing focus a little bit, with the hydration break a welcome pause in play when it came. OCSC came out of the pause well, and Pereyra put Angulo through in the 36th minute, but the Colombian couldn’t bring the ball under control and fashion a shooting chance.

Orlando led in every meaningful statistical category at halftime. The Lions had more possession (55.8%-44.2%), shots (6-2), shots on goal (2-0), corners (4-2), and passing accuracy (89.5%-85%). Most importantly, they led 2-0 on the scoreboard.

Toronto tried to change things at halftime by introducing three substitutes, but Orlando settled back into the game quickly and negated the efforts of interim TFC manager Terry Dunfield. Angulo and Torres forced Ranjitsingh into a pair of saves in the 53rd and 55th minutes, and the Lions tried to press their advantage by sending on Ramiro Enrique and Martin Ojeda in the 57th minute for McGuire and Pereyra.

The game then changed in a big way in the 62nd minute. Cartagena and Bernardeschi exchanged words after a turnover, and the Italian winger put Cartagena on the ground with the help of a little theatrics from the midfielder. Bernardeschi had already been yellow carded in the 47th minute for a foul on Smith, and the altercation with Wilder saw him receive a second yellow and his marching orders to go along with it.

With TFC down to 10 men, the Lions started to tee off at goal. Ojeda came close to getting the team’s third in the 69th minute, with Enrique doing the same in the 71st but missing just wide. When the goal finally came, it was from the unlikely foot of Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, who had been subbed into the game alongside Ercan Kara in the 68th minute.

Thorhallsson made a great run behind the defense in the 77th minute, and Araujo picked him out well. Ranjitsingh came out to try to play sweeper-keeper, but DDT beat him to the ball easily, touched it around the former Lion, and rolled it into the empty net to score his first MLS goal and make it 3-0.

Toronto had a halfway decent chance to pull one back in the 82nd minute, but Brandon Servania’s long-distance attempt at chipping Gallese ended up missing high and settling on the roof of the net. Kara then iced the game in the 84th minute. Araujo fired a pass to Ojeda at the top of the box, and even though he had trouble bringing it under control, he had the presence of mind to backheel it toward goal for the big Austrian to pounce on and fire a low, hard shot into the net for 4-0.

Ojeda nearly got a goal of his own two minutes later but had a great effort saved in what was the last truly dangerous moment of the game.

As was the case at halftime, when the final whistle blew, the Lions had created plenty of fireworks on both the scoreboard and the stat sheet. OCSC finished with more possession (59.6%-40.4%), shots (18-6), shots on target (9-0), corners (8-2), and passing accuracy (91%-84.8%).

Marcus Mitchell had Player Grades for this one, and he named Araujo the Man of the Match with a grade of 8 out of 10 for his one-goal/one-assist effort. The other high performers on the night were Antonio Carlos, and Cartagena, who each graded out at 7.5 out of 10.

That’ll do it for this week’s trip down memory lane. We’ve been getting spoiled lately, with Orlando putting up four goals in back-to-back time machine games, and it’s made for an enjoyable glimpse into years gone by. With any luck, next week’s edition will be similarly entertaining. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 7/3/26

Orlando Pride visit Angel City tonight, NWSL free agents to watch, Portugal and Spain advance, and more.

Published

3 days ago

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July 3, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

Happy Friday, Mane Landers! I don’t have many plans this holiday weekend beyond enjoying some soccer and indulging myself in a few hot dogs to celebrate. It should be a fun weekend, but make sure to stay safe out there if you plan on setting off any fireworks. For now though, let’s get to the links!

Orlando Pride Take On Angel City FC Tonight

The NWSL resumes today and the Orlando Pride will play against Angel City FC at 10 p.m. in their first match since a 3-1 win over Bay FC on May 29. That win capped off a six-game month for the Pride, including a stretch of three straight road games. Meanwhile, Angel City parted ways with Alex Straus over the break after only winning once in May, and tonight’s match will be Leif Gunnar Smerud’s first since being named interim head coach. It can be tough playing an opponent with a new coach, but hopefully the Pride can bring all three points back to Orlando.

Top NWSL Free Agents to Watch

Free agency is officially underway in the NWSL and the list of players with contracts expiring at the end of the year includes some of the league’s best players. Orlando Pride star Marta was listed as one of the top free agents to watch, though I would be pretty shocked if she plays for another NWSL club if she leaves Orlando after this season. Leicy Santos, Debinha, and Rose Lavelle are other skilled attackers who will become free agents, but Gotham FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger is sure to have plenty of clubs reaching out for her talents as well.

Portugal and Spain Advance in World Cup

This World Cup hasn’t been short on excitement and that continued with Portugal’s 2-1 win against Croatia. After a scoreless first half, Croatia took the lead thanks to a goal from Ivan Perisic, but Cristiano Ronaldo equalized from the penalty spot and the game was moments away from heading to extra time. Goncalo Ramos gave Portugal the goal it needed to advance deep in stoppage time, but Croatia nearly came back with a goal that was disallowed due to an offside call. Spain cruised to a 3-0 win against Austria to book its spot in the round of 16 as well. Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice for his second brace of the tournament, with Marc Cucurella assisting on both of his goals. Spain and Portugal will square off in the next round in what should be a fantastic match. Switzerland and Algeria kicked off late.

The round of 32 wraps up today with a trio of matches, starting with Egypt’s game against Australia. Cape Verde will then look to shock the world when it plays Argentina, and the late game will be between Colombia and Ghana.

Columbus Crew Sign New Designated Player

The Columbus Crew have signed Spanish midfielder Brais Mendez to a Designated Player contract through the 2028-2029 season with a club option for the 2029-2030 season. Mendez has spent the past four La Liga seasons with Real Sociedad, recording 33 goals and 24 assists in 166 appearances. He gives the crew some additional firepower as reports swirl regarding Diego Rossi’s departure for CF Monterrey. While maybe not in the same headline-grabbing tier of MLS summer signings like Antoine Griezmann or Robert Lewandowski, Mendez is a big addition to the league as the Eastern Conference arms race continues.

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  • CF Montreal sent $2.1 million in General Allocation Money to Austin FC in exchange for midfielder Dani Pereira. Selected with the first overall pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft, Pereira has contributed six goals and 23 assists in 165 appearances across all competitions for Austin.
  • Real Salt Lake reportedly rejected a transfer bid around $3.5 million from CF Monterrey for midfielder Diego Luna.
  • American winger Emma Sears reportedly requested a trade from Racing Louisville, although the club is not reportedly interested in a midseason transfer.
  • The United States Men’s National Team’s win over Bosnia and Herzegovina had record viewership. Understandably so, too, as I spent most of the match pacing around my living room.

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

Lion Links: 7/2/26

USMNT shuts out Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kat Asman loaned to Denver Summit FC, MLS transfer news, and more.

Published

4 days ago

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July 2, 2026

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Image of Pride goalkeeper Kat Asman
Image courtesy of Orlando Pride

Wednesday nights are starting to feel magical. Orlando City has thrived this year when playing on Wednesdays, and now the United States Men’s National Team has provided us with a reason to tackle this Thursday at full force. Before we dive into that result and the rest of today’s links, let’s all wish a happy birthday to Orlando City defender Tahir Reid-Brown!

USMNT Survives Red Card to Advance

The U.S. won 2-0 against Bosnia and Herzegovina in an emotional rollercoaster of a match in the World Cup’s round of 32. Folarin Balogun got the U.S. on the board at a crucial time right before halftime by scoring his third goal of the tournament. But the game flipped on its head in the second half when Balogun was shown a harsh red card by the referee after video review for a foul when he accidentally came down on the back of an opponent’s foot. The Yanks fought hard to make up for the difference of being down a player and doubled their lead after earning a free kick right outside the box. Malik Tillman’s shot went up and over the wall and into the net for a goal U.S. fans will be replaying over and over again.

The U.S. did well to grind out the win after that second goal, with former Lion Alex Freeman doing his part on defense to help shut out Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was a memorable win, and now the U.S. will turn its focus to its round-of-16 matchup against Belgium on Monday.

Pride Loan Goalkeeper Kat Asman to Denver Summit

The Orlando Pride loaned goalkeeper Kat Asman to the Denver Summit for the remainder of the 2026 NWSL season. Asman is coming off of a loan with Lexington SC in the Gainbridge Super League, where she played every minute of the season to help Lexington win the title. She posted 11 clean sheets with Lexington last season and won the league’s Golden Glove as well. Asman has yet to make an appearance for the Pride since joining prior to the 2025 season, and her contract expires at the end of the season. She now heads to Denver, where Abby Smith has done well in goal as the expansion team’s starter.

MLS Transfer News Roundup

Real Salt Lake sent $625,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) to Atlanta United in exchange for winger Saba Lobjanidze and a third-round pick in the 2028 MLS SuperDraft, with another $100,000 in GAM going Atlanta’s way if he re-signs with Real Salt Lake. The Columbus Crew fully acquired defender Andres Herrera from River Plate after an extended loan, signing him to a contract through the 2028-2029 season. The LA Galaxy transferred defender Mauricio Cuevas to Santos Laguna, the New England Revolution added forward Wilson Harris, and Sporting Kansas City signed center back Moises Mosquera from FC Juarez. The San Jose Earthquakes are reportedly close to signing Scottish goalkeeper Angus Gunn, with Daniel heading to FC Dallas in a trade if that happens. It’s somewhat surprising considering Daniel has done well to help San Jose only concede 15 goals this season.

🏴󠁧󠁒󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Sources: San Jose Earthquakes closing in on a deal to sign Scotland int'l GK Angus Gunn.πŸ‡§πŸ‡· Sources: FC Dallas has agreed to a deal to acquire GK Daniel from San Jose.βž• Daniel trade is contingent on Gunn signing being formalized.

— Tom Bogert (@tombogert.bsky.social) 2026-07-01T16:34:02.297Z

European Nations Move On After Dramatic Comebacks

This World Cup continues to deliver thrilling games during this new round-of-32 phase. Senegal looked certain to go through to the next round until Belgium scored a pair of goals after the 85th minute to knot the game at 2-2 and send it into extra time. The game was decided by a penalty, but not in a shootout, as a foul in the box resulted in Youri Tielemans scoring from the spot to give Belgium the victory. In Atlanta, Harry Kane scored twice to rescue England in a 2-1 win over the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Brian Cipanga gave the Congo an early lead, but Kane struck twice in the second half, with his winner being one of the best goals of the tournament so far.

England is now set to face Mexico at the Azteca on Sunday in what should be a great game. As for today’s action, Orlando City winger Marco Pasalic and Croatia will take on Portugal in a matchup between European heavyweights. The winner of that match will face whoever prevails today between Spain and Austria, with Switzerland and Algeria squaring off in the late night match.

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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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