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Orlando City vs. Nashville SC: Final Score 5-0 as Lions Get Blasted Badly Again on the Road

The Lions set a new low in 2026 performances, getting deservedly beat down by a Nashville team that had played three days earlier.

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6 months ago

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Image of Braian Ojeda dribbling the ball up the field against Nashville.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

After a brief respite with a feel-good win over CF Montreal, the Lions went back to getting throttled, falling 5-0 to Nashville SC at Geodis Park. The hosts led just five minutes in through Cristian Espinoza, and Sam Surridge scored from the penalty spot before the break and added two more goals in the second half. The Lions (1-4-0, 3 points) wasted the few chances they created in a thorough defeat to Nashville (4-0-1, 13 points), and Warren Madrigal added to the Lions’ misery with a goal late.

That the loss wasn’t worse came down to a few big saves from Maxime Crepeau and some near misses by Nashville attackers on a night that thoroughly exposed the inexperience and lack of quality of Orlando’s back line and an underachieving midfield.

“We faced a team who is in another moment than us,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said after the match. “Of course, we’re sad because we represent our community, our people, but as I spoke with the players, everybody, can be sure that this team is going to be fine. We’re going to work as we always did, and we’re going to be fine.”

Fullback Griffin Dorsey offered up a more blunt summary of the game.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do. I think it’s pretty obvious at this point,” Dorsey said. “We need to prevent goals. We need to score goals. We just have a lot of work to do. We’re not going to quit, we’re not going to give up, we’re not going to throw in the towel. The season’s long, f**king long year, and we have a team that’s f**king willing to fight, so with all the results that have happened up until now, we can promise you as a player pool, as a coaching staff, we will continue to f**king push every day to be better.”

Perelman’s lineup changed yet again due to mounting injuries to the squad that kept Eduard Atuesta and David Brekalo out. Crepeau returned from his red card suspension to start in goal behind a back line of Adrian Marin, Iago, Nolan Miller, and Dorsey. Luis Otavio slotted into the starting lineup for Atuesta, joining Braian Ojeda in central midfield between wingers Ivan Angulo and Marco Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Duncan McGuire up top.

Nashville, which played on the road in a heavy downpour Wednesday night, looked like the fresher team from the jump, and the Lions wasted no time falling behind. Left with space in the right channel wide of the penalty area, Espinoza smashed a cross or a shot that hit the crossbar close to the near post, beating Crepeau and making it 1-0 in just the fifth minute. Marin gave Espinoza at least 12 yards of space on the play, forcing Angulo to mark two players. The Colombian could not track back quickly enough to prevent the shot/cross and it was costly.

The hosts kept Orlando pinned in their end for stretches and the Lions were sloppy trying to break out of the pressure, allowing Nashville to stay on the front foot. Nashville won a corner in the 12th minute when Dorsey did well to block a point-blank header from Surridge out for a corner. The ensuing set piece was recycled to Maxwell Woledzi at the top of the area but he fired over the bar.

Orlando City had a chance to tie things up against the run of play when a good ball in behind found McGuire, but he tried to go over Brian Schwake and the shot was at a good height for Nashville’s keeper to make a good save in the 14th minute.

Surridge was left completely unmarked two minutes later, sending a header just wide but he was ruled offside anyway, sparing both the striker and Orlando’s defense some blushes.

Nashville won another corner in the 25th minute and it helped the hosts double the lead. Miller was on Jeisson Palacios but panicked and pulled the center back down by his shirt. Victor Rivas immediately pointed to the spot and booked the rookie defender. Surridge scored from the spot to make it 2-0 a minute later.

Orlando City won a corner in the 31st minute but did nothing with it, and the hosts took control again. Surridge fired from point-blank range after getting onto a back-post ball in the 34th minute. Crepeau made a good reaction save. The rebound went out to the right, where Nashville smashed it into the outside netting.

Crepeau made another good reaction save in the 36th minute when Mukhtar laid off a pass for Patrick Yazbek’s shot from point-blank range. The Canadian goalkeeper could only make himself big and hope for the best, and the shot hit him and rebounded away. Nashville regrouped and Mukhtar tried to set himself up for a shot from distance but he telegraphed the attempt and Braian Ojeda was able to deflect it to take the sting out of the attempt.

Angulo got Orlando’s last look of the half, trying a shot from outside the box in the 43rd minute. It went just wide, and Schwake may have gotten a fingertip to it but a goal kick was given.

The hosts closed the half strong, winning a corner and then setting up Espinoza for a shot that went just wide of the left post in stoppage time. The halftime whistle finally provided the Lions with some relief.

Nashville dominated the stat sheet as it did the scoreboard in the first half, finishing with a big advantage in possession (64%-36%), shots (9-4), shots on target (5-1), passing accuracy (90.2%-76%), and corners (3-1). The score was only 2-0, but it could have been much worse, and the possession definitely felt more lopsided than the statistician says.

“The (halftime) message (from Perelman) was not prevent whatsoever. The message was, we’re going out there to push for a goal, one goal at a time,” Dorsey said. “Obviously, that didn’t happen, but we’re never going to go out there just to prevent, just to stay stuck in and not get scored on. The message was very clear that we’re going to push for a goal, and we’re going to push to get back in this game. I think at two-zero, we did have some opportunities. Obviously, the game got away from us, but once again, we’re a team that’s going to push for for whatever we can.”

Colin Guske subbed on for Otavio at the half. The young Brazilian MLS U22 Initiative player has played 90 minutes of MLS soccer and departed with a -5 goal differential when on the pitch. While circumstances dictated some of that, Orlando’s inability to control the midfield was partially due to his play, and Guske helped settle things down a bit after coming on.

Orlando City won some early set pieces in the second half but couldn’t pay them off due to wasteful service. The best opportunity to climb back into the game came on a long throw by Marin that ricocheted through the area to Pasalic, but his shot from close range deflected off a defender and out for another corner opportunity that the Lions wasted.

It nearly got worse for Orlando in the 52nd minute with a ball into the box that took a fortunate deflection away from a Nashville attacker, allowing the defense to clear. It didn’t make much difference, as Surridge scored again three minutes later.

Orlando City turned the ball over in the attacking half, igniting the counterattack. Iago got caught straying too far from Mukhtar in transition, and Dorsey and Miller both took the same guy, with the fullback arriving late. The ball popped out in front to Nashville’s top scorer, who was wide open in front of goal. Surridge easily made it 3-0 in the 55th minute.

Dorsey had a chance to stop the bleeding in the 58th minute. McGuire fed the right back a good ball to send him in on goal. Dorsey beat Schwake but couldn’t beat the left post. The ball caromed off the upright and just past the onrushing Angulo, allowing Nashville to clear the danger on Orlando’s best scoring opportunity of the night.

That pass, which should have been an assist, was McGuire’s last involvement on the night. Tiago replaced him and Zakaria Taifi came on for Marin. Taifi was gifted a great opportunity shortly after coming on. Taking a layoff at the top left corner of the box, the Homegrown fullback had space to shoot, but his curling effort was off target, sailing over the crossbar at the hour mark.

Moments later, Tiago drew a foul near the right corner. Martin Ojeda went for goal at the near post, but he missed and instead found the outside netting in the 65th minute.

Nashville punished Orlando’s wasted chances almost immediately on yet another transition attack when Espinoza stole the ball off Taifi. As the hosts poured forward with numbers, Iago and Miller both closed down Espinoza in the middle, leaving him a gaping channel on the left. Espinoza easily threaded a diagonal pass to Nashville’s most dangerous attacking threat, who extended the lead to 3-0 in the 67th minute.

Yutaro Tsukada replaced Dorsey, taking over the left wing spot and moving Angulo to right back. Aside from that, nothing really changed. Iago picked up a yellow card after getting drawn too high by Mukhtar, who then easily rounded him. The Brazilian chopped him down from behind, taking the booking.

For a brief moment, Orlando City players thought they’d gotten something to go their way when Angulo got forward and sent a good, low cross in front for Tiago, who flicked it into the net. However, the young Brazilian was just about a foot offside and the goal didn’t count.

Three minutes later, Taifi and Iago each made desperation blocks in front to keep the match at 4-0. That didn’t last long, because Iago’s deflection went out for a corner and the hosts made it pay off. Nashville sent a ball in to the top of the area, and Madrigal curled in a screamer to make it 5-0 in the 80th minute.

The Lions learned nothing from the first 80 minutes and kept giving up excellent transition chances. Ahmed Qasem missed just wide of the right post in the 82nd minute, and Crepeau was forced to make a critical save on a Mukhtar breakaway after the Nashville Designated Player’s run was ignored by the back line near midfield.

After Orlando couldn’t pay off a set piece that Tsukada won, it was Woobens Pacius’ turn to have a wide open shot on the counter, which he sent just wide in the 86th minute.

Orlando City’s last good chance to spoil the shutout came two minutes later, when Martin Ojeda found space just outside the box and smoked a shot just over the crossbar.

Madrigal was left alone again in the third minute of stoppage time but he couldn’t hit the target on the final good opportunity of the match.

Nashville didn’t just destroy the Lions on the scoreboard. The hosts owned every major category on the stat sheet, finishing with more possession (58.2%-41.8%), shots (18-10), shots on target (9-1), and passing accuracy (90.2%-83%). By winning a few late ones, Orlando managed to equal Nashville’s five corner kicks.

“It’s tough to analyze now the game,” Perelman said. “As I said, I think this is a moment to stay calm, to work. We need to work. We need to work. We will do it. We know this league, this (season) is long, and we know how to how to go through the league. And I will repeat it once and once and once again, we’re going to be fine, because we’re going to work.”

“There’s no doubt that we we knew that they had just played away and yeah, the message for us was was pretty clear on the fact that we wanted to start strong, and that obviously didn’t happen,” Dorsey said. “So, once again, we just have some work to do, and in all facets of the game, start to finish.”

It’s unknown how much work will be required to fix a defense that is now on pace to concede 115 goals this season. The club’s record for goals allowed over a full season is 74, which is 41 goals fewer than what the 2026 team is on pace to concede. Orlando City has been outscored 10-0 in its two road matches — both 5-0 losses — but this time the Lions weren’t down a man for more than 70 minutes, finishing the game with a full 11 that looked more like seven or eight at times.

Orlando City has a pause for the international break before it continues this three-game road trip with a visit to LAFC on April 4.

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Orlando’s Loan Report: More Minutes, More Opportunities

Performances of players from Orlando City and the Pride who are currently out on loan.

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2 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

With eight games remaining, Orlando City enters the homestretch of its season with a critical Saturday matchup against the surging Philadelphia Union. Philly enters having won its last five games and now sits one spot above the Lions in the Eastern Conference standings. Ugh. Thankfully, the Union will be without rising star Cavan Sullivan (goal contributions in five straight games, I would like him to stop this immediately), but he is out for the same reason that David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena, Justin Ellis, Marco Pašalić, and Tyrese Spicer will be out, as all were called up to their respective national teams for the FIFA international window.

With those five players out, Braian Ojeda still injured, and Griffin Dorsey and Antoine Griezmann’s injury status still to be determined (please get healthy soon, gentlemen), the Lions will likely need to rely on players from OCB in order to fill out their roster for Saturday’s game. Part of the reason they will have to do so is that there are currently two players on the senior roster (Nico Rodriguez and Yutaro Tsukada) and one on the supplemental roster (Colin Guske) out on loan.

The Pride actually one-up the Lions, as they have four players out on loan: Kat Asman, Seven Castain, Simone Jackson, and Anna Moorhouse. Among the seven total loaned-out Orlando players, four are young (Castain, Jackson, Guske, and Rodriguez are 23 or younger), two are mid-20s (Asman is 26 and Tsukada is 25), and Moorhouse is the oldest at 31, which is still a prime age for a goalkeeper.

Emma Hayes, the coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, was recently quoted as saying “I don’t care where you play, but you need to be playing…going into a pro environment is a fabulous situation, but not if you are going to sit on the bench for two or three years.” Excluding Moorhouse, who is in a different situation than the other loaned out players, the six loanees (and really just five of them, since Rodriguez was loaned out before the season) combined for 1,241 minutes and 10 starts for the senior teams in Orlando, with a lot of those minutes coming in the beginning of the season and trailing off as the season went on and the pushes for the playoffs became real.

Those players have already played more than 3,000 minutes with their new clubs, with Castain and Jackson starting eight of their nine games with their new teams and Guske and Tsukada starting eight of their 12. Asman is a goalkeeper, so minutes are harder to come by, but she started three games, and Rodriguez, who is the only one who did not leave mid-season, started 18 of his 24 games before injuring his knee in late August. The table below shows the performance of all of the loanees thus far, using data from Sofascore:

PlayerLoaned ToMinsSofascore RatingKey Stats
Kat AsmanDenver Summit2707.100.67 Goals-against Avg/82% Sv Pct
Seven CastainDallas Trinity4756.73Two goals
Simone JacksonFC Rosengård2477.201.7 chances created per 90
Anna MoorhouseManchester City0N/AN/A
Colin GuskeReal Salt Lake2256.7090% completion rate
Nico RodriguezAtlético Nacional1,4066.77Two goals, four assists
Yutaro TsukadaRhode Island FC4516.90Two goals, two assists

Sofascore ratings are out of 10, with top players in a league generally scoring in the low to mid-sevens and truly elite players scoring closer to, or even above, eight. None of the loanees are dominating their new leagues, but all are playing decent minutes (most of the loans only happened in mid-summer, it is unknown if they happened after Ricardo Moreira or Caitlin Carducci had a midsummer night’s dream) and contributing to their teams.

The one exception to that, as noted earlier, is Moorhouse, the long-time starter for the Pride who was replaced a few weeks ago and then was loaned to Manchester City shortly thereafter. She has yet to play for Manchester City, and considering she was only loaned through January 2027, she may have been loaned out more to provide cover for the WSL team in case of injury as opposed to getting minutes now that Cosette Morché has taken over as the Pride’s starting goalkeeper.

As Hayes mentioned during her interview, playing real minutes in a game with consequences is key for development. On the MLS side, there is MLS NEXT Pro, where an increasing number of Orlando City players are playing thousands of minutes in preparation for a move to the senior team. Rodriguez’s loan to the Colombian league and Tsukada’s to the USL Championship are slightly different pathways but ones that could still bear fruit, though based on the results on the field, neither are dominating in their leagues.

Opta ranks Colombia’s Primera A as the 15th best league in the world and the USA’s USL Championship as 121st, whereas MLS is ranked 19th, so that seems to show better for Rodriguez than Tsukada, as does the fact that Rodriguez was originally signed as an MLS U22 Initiative player, so there was always belief in his potential to develop. Guske is still playing in the same league as the Lions, so viewing his progression is easier, and with Real Salt Lake still fighting for playoff spot in the Western Conference, the young midfielder will play in some high-pressure games as the season winds down.

Back on the women’s side, if Moorhouse gets any minutes, they will be against some of the bets competition in the world, as Manchester City plays in Opta’s second-ranked domestic women’s league and is qualified for the Champions League as well. Her fellow goalkeeper Asman appears to be the backup again in Denver, but she played well in her three appearances against Portland, Chicago, and Gotham, and between Portland and Gotham, she faced two of the top five teams in the NWSL and allowed only one goal across those two games.

Jackson is playing in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, the sixth-best domestic league in the world, and Castain is in the USL Super League, the 18th-best league, so Jackson is facing the better competition and performing better, according to Sofascore’s tracking. The critical piece for both players was getting game minutes, which they are, and would likely not have gotten had they stayed in Orlando, especially without a developmental league like MLS NEXT Pro on the women’s side.

The upshot of all of the loans might not be that any of these seven players ever contribute meaningfully to the Orlando teams in the future, but the alternative was likely that they would play minimal minutes and live out what Hayes said was not recommended: being a pro but sitting on the bench for two or three years.

These loans gave all of the players an opportunity to play and the club a chance to see them under pressure. We will see the impact of those minutes in the off-season — when the loan reports come due, hopefully with interest.

Vamos Orlando!

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Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union: Three Keys to Victory

What do the Lions need to do to earn all three points on the road against the Philadelphia Union?

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4 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Image of Daryl Dike playing against Club Leon.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

The USMNT may be at Inter.co Stadium on Saturday, but Orlando City is headed to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Union in a big Eastern Conference match. The Lions are fighting to stay in the playoff picture down the stretch, and a good result this weekend is crucial. It won’t be easy, as there are plenty of players out due to international duty and injury. What must the Lions do to earn all three points against the Philadelphia Union?

Battle of the Backups (Part 1)

Both Orlando City and the Philadelphia Union will be missing players due to international call-ups. For the Lions, the team will be without Justin Ellis, Wilder Cartagena, David Brekalo, Marco Pasalic, and Tyrese Spicer. Whichever players replace them will need to do as well or better. Fortunately, only two of those players are regular starters. I’m not saying it doesn’t hurt the depth, but it could be worse. 

Iago will likely start next to Robin Jansson at center back. In the past, that would worry me — and it still does to an extent — but he played better in his last outing. He will almost certainly get a yellow card in this match, so don’t be surprised when that happens, but I’m hoping he’ll give us at least as good of a performance as his last start. 

Battle of the Backups (Part 2)

On the other side, the Union are missing a few key players in Cavan Sullivan and Andre Blake. Even though he is only 16 years old, Sullivan has come on strong of late, scoring seven goals and providing 12 assists. I hope he does some of that against Peru this weekend, but I’m glad he won’t be able to do so against Orlando City. Blake is a very experienced MLS goalkeeper. His backup, Andrew Rick, gave up four goals to the Lions the last time the clubs played, so let’s hope that continues.

Philadelphia is also missing defenders Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield. This may be the most vulnerable the Union have been on defense since the World Cup break. The Lions need to take advantage of that — more on that below. The match is in Philadelphia, and the Union will want revenge for the 4-3 loss earlier this season, so we’ll have to see which set of backups are best able to step up.

Update the Attack

Unfortunately, with Antoine Griezmann still recovering and Ellis with the USMNT, the attack will need to replace their effective partnership. I’m not certain that is entirely possible, but there are several options. Martin Ojeda is rounding back into form and Ivan Angulo has three goals in the last three matches. I don’t think anyone had that on their 2026 Bingo card. These two can be a one-two combo for the Lions in the final third. 

Tyrese Spicer is a great super sub, but he’s not always great when he gets the start. Daryl Dike is the other side of that coin. Because of how Martin Perelman has been running the offense, Dike hasn’t gotten many starts, which is unfortunate because I think he’s better when he starts rather than comes off the bench. With the player availability being what it is, I expect he will start against Philadelphia, providing a big problem for the Union to deal with when Ojeda and Angulo are also circling the box.

That is what I will be looking for on Saturday night. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!

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Lion Links

Lion Links: 9/24/26

Orlando City prepares for the Philadelphia Union, Angelina called up by Brazil, Parker Amoo-Mensah joins U.S. U-19 camp, and more.

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8 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Image courtesy of Orlando Pride / Jeremy Reper

How’s it going, Mane Landers? It’s been a whirlwind of a week for me, but I’m excited for a weekend filled with soccer at both the club and international levels. My fingers will stay crossed until then in hopes that we can see some wins. Until then though, let’s dive into today’s links!

Orlando City Prepares for Philadelphia Union

The Lions are back in action on Saturday with a road game against the Philadelphia Union. The Union have been on an absolute tear of late, winning their past five games and scoring 19 goals during that stretch. Both teams will be without key players away on international duty, so it will be interesting to see how they line up for this Eastern Conference showdown. Interim head coach Martin Perelman spoke on the team’s preparations heading into the match.

Angelina Called Up By Brazil

Orlando Pride midfielder Angelina was called up for Brazil’s pair of friendlies against Argentina next month. These will be Brazil’s first matches since playing the U.S. twice in June. Angelina, Marta, and Rafaelle were all called up for those previous friendlies, but Angelina is the only Pride player headed to Brazil this time around. While the Pride have endured a rough season, hopefully Angelina can impress at the international level as Brazil prepares to host the World Cup next summer.

Parker Amoo-Mensah Heads to Camp

Orlando City B defender Parker Amoo-Mensah was one of 20 players called up for the United States U-19 Men’s National Team training camp in Spain. The 18-year-old made his professional debut this year and signed with OCB in June on a contract through 2028. This will be the first U-19 camp under Head Coach Rob Valentino, who was previously an Orlando City player in the USL days and an assistant coach with OCB.

Getting Ready for the USMNT Friendlies

The United States Men’s National Team will start its series of friendlies in Orlando with a home game against Peru. It will be the first match since the World Cup, and there’s plenty of intrigue over who Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino will choose to start from a roster that includes plenty of new faces, including Orlando City forward Justin Ellis. He’s part of a group of forwards who have nothing but opportunity in front of them to make an impression at the top of the lineup. After matches against Peru and Chile, the U.S. will have a not-so-friendly friendly against Mexico before closing things out against Canada.

Free Kicks

  • Orlando City’s Maxime Crepeau and Harvey Sarajian got to show off their bartending skills for patrons at Gnarly Barley last night.
  • LAFC forward Son Heung-Min won MLS Goal of the Matchday for his goal in LAFC’s 2-2 draw against the San Jose Earthquakes.
  • Federico Higuain was fired as the head coach of Columbus Crew 2 after an incident where he grabbed a female referee and made a sexist comment to her.
  • The USMNT’s winter training camp that normally takes place in January and features many MLS players will reportedly take place in December instead.

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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