Orlando City
Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Player Grades and Man of the Match
Orlando City’s 2022 season ended with a 2-0 loss to CF Montreal north of the border in the first round of the 2022 MLS Cup playoffs. The Lions had some golden opportunities to open the scoring but couldn’t hit the target. That opened the door for the hosts to take the win and move on.
Let’s take a look at the individual performances from this game.
Starters
GK, Pedro Gallese, 5 — Gallese didn’t have much to do in this game as Montreal only had two shots on target. The first time the Orlando City goalkeeper was called into action was in the 68th minute, when Ismael Kone got between Antonio Carlos and Ruan and slipped the ball under the Peruvian. The two goals conceded were a one-on-one opportunity and a penalty, so Gallese didn’t make any big mistakes. However, he didn’t make any saves and conceded twice. Additionally, he completed 59.1% of his 22 passes, including six of his 15 long balls.
D, Joao Moutinho, 4.5 — While Moutinho didn’t have a terrible game, he didn’t make much of a positive impact. Defensively, the left back had two tackles, one interception, one clearance, and one blocked shot. He completed 73.5% of his 34 passes, one of his six long balls, and his only cross. What knocked the defender’s grade down a bit was when he took down Djordje Mihailovic in the box for a penalty in second-half stoppage time. Even though a late equalizer was unlikely, the penalty conversion ended any chance for the Lions to extend their season.
D, Antonio Carlos, 5.5 — Carlos was pretty good for most of the game, especially on the defensive end. He had three tackles, two interceptions, two clearances, and three blocked shots. All of those were team highs. He completed 77.4% of his team-high 53 passes and five of his 12 long balls. He would’ve had a higher score but made two mistakes that contributed to the loss. In first-half injury time, Carlos was set up for an open shot in front of goal but hit it over the crossbar. In the 68th minute, he slid over to provide Rodrigo Schlegel some cover — not necessarily an error, but with Ruan being late to recognize the danger, it left space for Kone to receive the ball and score the game’s first goal.
D, Rodrigo Schlegel, 5.5 — While Carlos was more active than Schlegel, the Argentine didn’t make any mistakes that cost his team. Defensively, he had two interceptions and two clearances. He completed 84.4% of his 32 passes and one of his four long balls.
D, Ruan, 4.5 — Similar to Moutinho, Ruan didn’t make enough of an impact and was at fault for one of the Montreal goals. He finished the game with one tackle and one clearance defensively. He completed 76% of his 25 passes but didn’t complete either of his two crosses. His biggest impact on the game came in the 68th minute when Carlos slid over to provide some cover for Schlegel. The right back had a perfect view of Kone moving into the hole created by Carlos’ decision but didn’t move inside. Instead, he watched as Kone received the ball and put it past Gallese.
MF, Cesar Araujo, 6 — Araujo didn’t have the type of game that Orlando City fans have become used to, but he wasn’t bad in this one. He ended up with three tackles, one interception, and one clearance. On the attacking side, he completed 87.5% of his 40 passes and three of his four long balls. But none of his passes led to a scoring opportunity.
MF, Mauricio Pereyra, 7 (MotM) — The Orlando City captain did everything he could in this game to help his team win, but poor finishing by his teammates let him down. Pereyra ended the game with three tackles and two interceptions on the defensive side. He completed 84.6% of his 52 passes and four of his six long balls. Three of his passes were key and two set up the best chances of the game: first in the 25th minute for Ercan Kara and then in first-half injury time for Carlos. He also sent a perfect line-breaking pass to Ivan Angulo, but that too ended in a shot over the bar. Pereyra was, without question, the most positively impactful player for the Lions in this game.
MF, Facundo Torres, 5.5 — Torres didn’t have as impactful a game as you would hope from a player of his caliber. He completed 94.6% of his 37 passes but none led to scoring chances. He had one incomplete cross and one successful long ball. His only shot of the match came from the top of the area in the 51st minute. It was a decent look but like his teammates, Torres failed to get the shot on target.
MF, Junior Urso, 5.5 — Like many Lions, Urso didn’t have the game you’d hope for from a key player in a playoff game. The midfielder ended up completing 91.3% of his 23 passes and both of his long balls. He helped out defensively with one tackle, one interception, and two blocked shots. He was unable to get forward and help the attack in his box-to-box role and also wasn’t able to help win balls back and help keep possession much in the game.
MF, Ivan Angulo, 5.5 — Angulo started the game on the opposite side of Torres and had a similar performance, although he was tasked with playing deeper than usual to help out defensively with Alistair Johnston and Mihailovic. He completed 85.7% of his 14 passes but one of those passes led to an opportunity on goal. He took one shot in the first half but it was off target, like every other shot taken by the Lions.
F, Ercan Kara, 4.5 — Kara was more active than usual with 25 touches on the night, which is a considerable total given Orlando City’s lack of possession. He completed 76.9% of his 13 passes but none of them led to a chance on goal. The biggest moment of the game for Kara came in the 25th minute when Pereyra played him through. The striker was in on goal but his shot missed the target, squandering a great chance to take the lead. While there was an opportunity to square a pass for Ruan, the fullback was a bit behind him, so it’s uncertain if he knew the Brazilian was there and that wide open, and it would have required an accurate pass at full speed with his weaker left foot.
Substitutes
MF, Jake Mulraney (77’), 4 — Mulraney came on in the 77th minute for Urso but it was almost as if he never came on. The Irish midfielder only had three touches and completed his lone pass.
F, Benji Michel (77’), 5 — Michel came on in the 77th minute for Angulo to provide speed and energy but was barely noticeable. He only had seven touches, completed his only three passes, and didn’t take any shots.
F, Tesho Akindele (87’), N/A — Akindele came on in the 87th minute for Araujo and didn’t do much in his brief appearance. He didn’t make any costly mistakes but didn’t help much either. The forward only had three touches and didn’t complete his only pass.
D, Mikey Halliday (87’), N/A — Halliday came on with Akindele to replace Ruan. The defender only had three touches and completed two passes in the back.
That’s how I saw the individual performances in Orlando City’s final game of 2022. Let us know how you saw the game in the comments below and don’t forget to vote on your Man of the Match.
Polling Closed
| Player | Votes |
| Mauricio Pereyra | 18 |
| Cesar Araujo | 1 |
| Antonio Carlos | 1 |
| Rodrigo Schlegel | 1 |
| Ivan Angulo | 1 |
| Other (Let us know in the comments) | 1 |
Orlando City
Orlando City Is Streaking Into The Postseason…Sort Of
The longest active playoff streak in MLS belongs to Orlando City; the least stressful path there most certainly does not.
Thanks to a big win over the weekend, Orlando City has qualified for the 2026 playoffs, marking the seventh consecutive season that the club will play in the MLS postseason. Of course, that big weekend win did not come from the Lions; rather, it was a win by Nashville, a team that is excellent at both offense and defense (wow, what a concept), that guaranteed Orlando City a spot in the playoffs. In the end, it does not matter how it happened, just that it happened, and so we can once again break out The Whispers’ “And the Beat Goes On,” as we will no longer need to whisper — careless, in the wind, to horses, or otherwise, about the chances of all three Orlando teams missing the playoffs.
While the Pride and Orlando City B are both already into their off-seasons, Orlando City is guaranteed to have at least two more games, with the regular-season finale on Decision Day Saturday and then at least one playoff game after that, depending on how the final seedings shake out. The Lions could finish as high as seventh or as low as ninth, and they do not control their own destiny for their seeding.
If Cincinnati loses, Columbus draws or loses, and Orlando City wins, the Lions jump to seventh and would play Inter Miami or New England in a three-game series. In any other scenario Orlando City will be in the play-in game, and could host or play on the road against Cincinnati or Columbus in a single-elimination game.
We will know the Eastern Conference playoff bracket and schedule in the early evening on Saturday and where Orlando City will be when it starts its playoff journey for the seventh consecutive season. That streak is the longest active streak in MLS, as the Lions have qualified for the playoffs in every season since 2020, or, as our The Mane Land PawedCast hosts Michael Citro and Dave Rohe noted on this week’s episode, in every season when Óscar Pareja began the season as the head coach.
*Three Western Conference playoff spots are still up for grabs, so the teams with asterisks could all add one to their tally or drop to/remain at zero depending on the results on Decision Day
The seven-year streak for the Lions not only leads MLS, but is one of the best across all of the major men’s sports in the U.S. Only eight of the 153 other teams in the five leagues listed below have a playoff streak at least as long as Orlando City’s, though while the Lions lead MLS, they do not hold the belt in the state of Florida, as the Tampa Bay Lightning are one season away from making the playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons.
| League | Teams in League | Streaks ≥ OCSC | Longest Active Streak |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 30 | 1 | 14 (Dodgers) |
| MLS | 30 | 0 | 7 (Orlando City) |
| NBA | 30 | 2 | 12 (Celtics) |
| NFL | 32 | 1 | 7 (Bills) |
| NHL | 32 | 4 | 9 (Avalanche & Lightning) |
| 154 | 8 | 14 (Dodgers) |
The last time the Lions did not make the playoffs was back in 2019, the year that both Nani and Robin Jansson arrived in Orlando. That team finished 11th in the Eastern Conference, though it had a goal differential of -8, which was only half as bad as the 2026 team’s current goal differential of -16. Back then, we thought allowing 1.53 goals per game seemed like a lot. If the 2026 team could have managed to allow only that same amount per game, the current goal differential would be +11, which would be in the top quarter of the league. Ah, wishful thinking.
Instead, as Orlando City fans are well aware, this year’s team has allowed 78 goals in 33 regular-season games (2.37 per game) and will almost certainly go into the playoffs having allowed the most goals of any playoff team in league history. This chart below includes every team since the Lions joined MLS, and there is a clear and unsurprising trend as it relates to allowing goals and earning points:
For the math nerds (my hand is firmly raised), the correlation is -0.69. Math majors would say that means goals allowed per match explains roughly half (r² ≈ 0.48) of the variation in points per match. Normal people would say teams that concede more goals tend to earn fewer points. Especially when they concede goals LATE IN THE GAME, WHEN THEY ARE WINNING, TURNING WINS INTO DRAWS!
I am sorry for the all caps, but that was cathartic. I do not feel even slightly better about the recently dropped points to Toronto, New York City FC, and Chicago, but at least I yelled angrily at my computer screen about it.
The 2026 Lions are a clear outlier on the chart above, as despite a brutal start to the season (seven losses in the first 10 games) and a profligate defense (third-worst goals-against average in league history and second-worst since they joined the league), they still have out-performed 41% of teams since 2015 in points earned per match. That is mostly because this year’s offense is in the 89th percentile in goals scored per match (1.88) since 2015 and with one goal scored will tie last year’s Lions for the most goals scored in club history, and with two or more scored will set a new club record.
If they can score six (stay with me, both Cincinnati and LAFC scored six on the Lions this season, so this is not completely unreasonable) on Saturday, they will get to an even 2.00 goals scored per game, something that has happened only 30 times in league history.
Whether the Lions win, lose, draw, get shut out, or score six (please, let them score six, if only to see Antoine Griezmann break out some kind of improvised six-shooter goal celebration), the playoff streak will extend through this season and be active when the 2027 sprint season starts in February. Finishing in the play-in game two years in a row would be disappointing, not to mention stressful, but championship runs can only happen after a team earns an invitation to the dance.
Where, hopefully for the Lions, the playoff beat will go on, everlasting.
Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City
Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Three Keys to Victory
What do the Lions need to do to earn all three points at home against New England?
Decision Day is almost here, and even though Orlando City is already in the playoffs, where the club finishes is still up for grabs. The Lions are currently sitting in ninth place but could climb back out of the play-in match with a win over New England and some help from the teams above them. With that in mind, what must the Lions do to get a victory over New England on Saturday?
Oodles of Offense
Orlando City has scored 62 goals this season, thanks to a good cadre of attackers, including Martin Ojeda, Antoine Griezmann, Justin Ellis, Marco Pasalic, and even Ivan Angulo. When the offense is in sync there are few defenses that can stop the Lions. That is especially true at Inter.co Stadium.
Scoring multiple goals won’t be easy against New England, as the Revs have only allowed 46 goals so far this season. A big reason for that is USMNT goalkeeper Matt Turner is minding the net for New England. Orlando City’s attack needs to be clinical in finishing to get the ball past Turner. The Lions will need to score multiple goals, given Orlando City’s defensive woes. Speaking of…
Seal Off Gil
If you’re not familiar with New England’s Carles Gil, welcome to Major League Soccer. He has been a royal pain in Orlando City’s collective rear for years. Keeping him from scoring a goal or providing an assist is always a challenge. So far this season, Gil has scored 13 goals and provided 13 assists in 33 matches. Granted, those are not Griezmann-level per-match numbers but they are still good.
The problem with stopping Gil is that it will fall to Orlando City’s broken back line to do it. The Lions have allowed 78 goals so far this season. It’s historically bad and will likely get worse on Saturday. Orlando City will almost certainly start Zakaria Taifi, David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena (Iago is suspended), and Vinicius Nogueira. You may have noticed that those players on the back line have not exactly been a brick wall. If they can at least slow down Gil, there will be a better chance at victory.
Home Field Advantage
Orlando City has a chance at winning this match because it is taking place at home. The Lions have been much better in Orlando than on the road. I know that’s generally true for most clubs, but for Orlando City it’s not even close, given the Lions have a home record of 9-4-3 and an away record of 3-10-4. It’s the final regular-season match, and if the supporters show up and show out, the noise can be a big advantage for Orlando City. If the players can jump out to a quick start and the supporters keep the momentum going, the Lions have a chance to get all three points. If not, the play-in match looms. I’d much rather that Orlando City skips all of that.
That is what I will be looking for on Saturday afternoon. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Vamos Orlando!
Lion Links
Lion Links: 11/5/26
Lions called up for international duty, USMNT roster announcement, UEFA Champions League roundup, and more.
Happy Thursday, beautiful readers. Decision Day is almost upon us, but we can’t go getting too far ahead of ourselves just yet. There’s plenty of soccer news taking place in the here and now, and that news is what we need to talk about this morning. Let’s have a gander at today’s links.
Lions Set for International Duty
Three Orlando City players have been called up (so far) to represent their nations in the upcoming November international window. Justin Ellis will join the United States Men’s National Team as it faces Haiti across two legs in a Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal.
Maxime Crepeau is back in the fold for Canada for its Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal matches against Guatemala.
Finally, David Brekalo will join Slovenia for a pair of matches against North Macedonia and Switzerland.
Congratulations to all three players, and good luck!
Mauricio Pochettino Names November Squad
In addition to Justin Ellis, Mauricio Pochettino has named the full 25-player roster that will take on Haiti in the Concacaf Nations League. Former Lion Alex Freeman is unsurprisingly included, and the roster also sees the return of big guns like Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic, Chris Richards, Tyler Adams, and Folarin Balogun. Philadelphia Union youngster Cavan Sullivan is in too, while defender Reed Baker-Whiting and midfielder Santiago Castaneda will have chances to earn their first caps with the USMNT. The first leg of the quarterfinals will take place on Nov. 14 at Inter Miami’s Nu Stadium, with the second leg set for Nov. 17 at FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium.
UEFA Champions League Recap
Matchday four of the UEFA Champions League is in the books, and we were treated to a wild Wednesday of games. The most eye-popping result of the day belonged to Cesc Fabregas’ transcendent Como side, which went on the road and thrashed Lens 9-1 to settle nicely into fourth in the table. Fenerbahce scored in the 73rd and 79th minutes to come back and secure a 3-2 win over Liverpool at home, while Real Madrid got a 92nd-minute winner from Federico Valverde to break the hearts of AEK Athens fans in the Greek capitol. The other big result of the day was Porto putting a 4-1 beatdown on Napoli at Estadio Do Dragao, and with Napoli eighth in Serie A and 27th in the UCL table, Massimiliano Allegri’s days at the club could be numbered.
Transfer Rumor Roundup
Every season is transfer season, so let’s take a look at some of the most interesting rumors floating around at the minute. We start with Juventus, which is reportedly contemplating moves for Benjamin Sesko and Folarin Balogun in the January window, as the Italian side is said to be on the hunt for a physical striker. Real Madrid is reportedly close to signing former Manchester United youth player JJ Gabriel, who asked to leave the Red Devils in September. Sunderland is said to be interested in signing Almeria midfielder Stefan Dzodic, although the club would likely face competition from Atletico Madrid and several other English clubs. Finally, Napoli reportedly intends to submit a bid for Barcelona midfielder Gavi during the January window, as he has had difficulty securing regular playing time for Hansi Flick this season.
Free Kicks
- Orlando City celebrated Wilder Cartagena after the midfielder made his 100th appearance for the team.
- Martin Ojeda has been honored with a special card in EAFC 27.
- Check out this teaser for a biopic about Marta.
- A mind-melting 51 red cards were shown in a South American youth game. Rodrigo Schlegel is smiling somewhere.
That’s all I’ve got for you today. Vamos Orlando!
Orlando City Is Streaking Into The Postseason…Sort Of
Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Three Keys to Victory
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