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Orlando City vs. Philadelphia Union: Final Score 1-0 as Two Controversial Calls Both Go Union’s Way

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4 years ago

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Two pivotal video review decisions both went the Phildelphia Union’s way and Orlando City lacked precision in front of goal as the Lions fell 1-0 in a key Eastern Conference battle at Exploria Stadium. Orlando (8-8-6, 30 points) fell back below .500 at home in 2022 (5-6-0) by getting only one lousy shot on target all night and seeing two key moments in the game go to the Union (11-2-9, 42 points).

Daniel Gazdag scored the game’s only goal, although it was originally ruled offside and required a lengthy review both upstairs and on the field before it was given to Philadelphia. The decision that particularly infuriated the Lions was the second one, which came in stoppage time on what appeared to be a foul in the box that would have handed Orlando a late penalty.

“I think you have to start with that incredible call that the referee made. It frustrated us all,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the match. “I’m not going to blame it on that. We’ll take the responsibility of the result but I have to say it was very clear. But we have to be really clear to say that we had some chances, especially in the first half, where we need to open the game. And (against) a team that defends well, you have to be polished and we couldn’t do it.”

Pareja’s lineup included Pedro Gallese in goal behind a back line of Joao Moutinho, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, and Ruan. Cesar Araujo was joined in the central midfield by Andres Perea behind an attacking line of Jake Mulraney, Mauricio Pereyra, and Facundo Torres, with Ercan Kara up top.

The first half was a bit sloppy from both teams, who took turns moving the ball into the offensive end but without creating much of anything. Philadelphia’s lines were compact and organized and created issues as a result, because they had enough numbers to pressure wide when the Lions got the ball to the flanks and drop into passing lanes when Ruan (especially) got into some space. Both teams had some early set pieces but nothing came of them.

Orlando got a look in the 16th minute when Pereyra chested a ball out of the air and hit it on the volley but he couldn’t keep it down and it sailed high. Moments later, a Ruan cutback pass hit off a defender and had a lot of spin on it so Pereyra kind of whiffed on his shot attempt. Torres’ effort on the rebound was blocked.

The captain then turned over Jakob Glesnes at the top of the area. Mulraney picked it up but lost it immediately.

Araujo had a rare howler of a giveaway near midfield in the 27th minute. Julian Carranza saw Gallese well out of his net and went for glory from midfield, but his shot was just wide.

The Lions had a huge opportunity to take the lead a minute later. Gallese sent a great ball up that Kara flicked on to Pereyra. The captain sent Torres into the area and the Uruguayan cut inside his defender and fired a shot toward the far post but it skipped just wide of goal.

“We did get some chances but we didn’t capitalize on them,” Moutinho said.

Carranza sent a header toward goal off a corner kick in the 34th minute that hit a defender and deflected wide. In the 39th minute, the Union scored off another corner. Or did they?

Kai Wagner’s ball found Glesnes in the area and he flicked it toward goal. Gazdag headed it past Gallese but the flag came up for offside. Ruan had been marking Gazdag — and make no mistake, Ruan should never be the guy marking Gazdag 1-v-1 in front of goal — but had stepped up and offside was called. After a lengthy check by Video Assistant Referee Jair Marrufo, referee Alex Chilowicz went to the monitor and he took another long look at it before awarding the goal. He ruled that Ruan’s foot clearly kept Gazdag onside. The visitors led 1-0.

Araujo got the last look at goal of the half for Orlando. Finding himself in space, he had a go from outside the area and struck his shot hard, but it was right at Andre Blake for an easy save. The Union took a 1-0 lead into the break.

Orlando City had more possession (60%-40%) and passing accuracy (87.5%-81.1%) but the Union got more shots (6-4) and corners (4-0). Each team got just one shot on target.

Benji Michel replaced Mulraney to start the second half.

The Lions earned an early corner that deflected out of the area to Araujo. The midfielder hit it first time but couldn’t keep his shot down and it sailed well over the bar. Three minutes later, Orlando worked the ball well up the right side and it ended up on Torres’ left foot but he hit his shot wide of the target.

Torres had a shot inside the top of the box in the 64th minute but the defense blocked it. Michel tried a scissor kick on the rebound but only succeeded in committing a foul.

Substitute Alexandre Pato fired a shot wide in the 72nd minute.

Philadelphia employed all of the dark arts in the final 20 minutes, with players going down repeatedly. This stalled the game and helped prevent the Lions from finding any rhythm whatsoever, though the time wasted was made up for with nine minutes of stoppage time.

“It was messy game for me. I don’t think that it had a lot of continuty,” Pareja said. “Stopping the game. The players laid on the ground. I don’t know how much time they spent. It’s not the way MLS wants (it). And that frustrated us more.”

Down the stretch, the possession was almost all Orlando City’s way but the Union parked the bus well and they knew their assignments. Part of that was allowing Torres to go to his right but the Young Designated Player wouldn’t try a right-footed cross. Instead, there were a series of back passes out of the right flank that ended up repeatedly resetting the attack.

Still, Orlando’s best chance to equalize fell to Torres’ foot in the 91st minute. A long throw-in from Araujo skipped off the head of a defender and fell for Torres near the back post. He stabbed a shot toward goal but it went just a bit wide.

The most controversial play came in the 93rd minute after Michel won the Lions a corner. Gazdag pulled on the arm and shirt of substitute Antonio Carlos, clearly impeding his ability to elevate toward the cross. The defender went down screaming at Chilowicz for a call. Marrufo did talk with the referee, who went to the monitor at the next whistle. After another lengthy look at the play, he ruled that he did not make an error on the no-call. The crowd, the players on the field, and the Orlando bench were incensed.

This was the reply from the question by the pool reporter (a.k.a. me) about the play that was submitted after the match:

“Upon reviewing the APP (attacking phase of play), the referee determined that Antonio Carlos pulled the shirt of Gazdag first and committed a holding foul. Therefore, the foul in the in the APP by Antonio Carlos preceded the pull by Gazdag and negated the penalty claim. The final outcome was a direct free kick for Philadelphia for the foul by Antonio Carlos.”

I have to admit, it’s certainly a cool story. Carlos did have a hold of Gazdag’s shirt — like every player in the box on every set play ever — but there didn’t seem to be any clear pull or tug on his part, while Gazdag made damn sure Carlos wasn’t going to get up to head that ball. He must have known he was guilty because he threw up his hands in the universal “I did it but am going to protest my innocence anyway” gesture.

Anyway…

The last opportunity came in the 99th minute. Michel floated a cross from the right over Blake to the far post. Tesho Akindele got his head to it but couldn’t get on top of the slow floater and he popped it up just over the bar.

Moments later the whistle blew and the Lions fell at home again.

Orlando finished with more possession (63.5%-36.5%), shots (11-9), and passing accuracy (87.2%-76.9%). The Union won more corners (5-2), and each team finished the match with just one shot on target.

Beyond the two frustrating referee decisions, the loss can be pinned squarely on Orlando City not hitting the target. There were opportunities to score, even against the stingy Union defense, but being inaccurate was a problem, as was the constant recycling around the area. Players still have to try to get the ball in with their weaker foot sometimes in top flight soccer, and the movement and decision-making has to be faster in order to maximize the chances of catching the defense off guard. The Lions couldn’t do those things and that resulted in a shutout loss at home in a pivotal game.

“We did not have the creativity to break them up,” Pareja said.

“They’re very organized team and the spaces in between their lines are really hard to find because they’re very cohesive,” Moutinho said. “Even though that’s the case, I think we did a we did a good job finding the spaces. It was just that final third, that final pass that was missing tonight.”

The Lions have yet another short turnaround before hosting the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals.

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Orlando City vs. Charlotte FC: Final Score 4-0 as Lions End Road Trip with Blowout Loss

The Lions’ playoff hopes are in trouble after another poor road performance.

Published

14 hours ago

on

October 31, 2026

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Image of Marco Pasalic trying to fire a shot through traffic against Charlotte.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

Orlando City was wasteful in front of goal and terrible in the defensive end once again in a costly 4-0 loss to Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium this afternoon. The Lions (12-14-7, 43 points) will rue the missed opportunities that could have helped them stay in the game, but two unnecessarily conceded set pieces, an early second-half goal, and another late strike gave Charlotte (15-10-8, 53 points) a comfortable home win.

It was a result reminiscent of the 0-3-0 start to the season that saw Oscar Pareja depart as head coach.

Henry Kessler, Allan Saint-Maximin, Abdoulaye Doucouré, and Rodolfo Aloko did the damage on the scoreboard for the hosts, who finished a man down after a late red card for a brainless obscene gesture toward Wilder Cartagena. Charlotte FC got its first-ever home win against the Lions in the regular season in emphatic fashion.

“Very disappointed in the result in this moment,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said after the game. “We do the best that we can. Sometimes it is not enough. It’s not good enough. Like today, we are the first ones aware of that.”

Perelman rotated little from the squad that blew a 2-0 lead and drew 2-2 at Chicago in the midweek, despite most of that starting XI playing either all 90 minutes or the vast majority of those minutes. Maxime Crepeau started in goal behind a back line of Vinicius Nogueira, Cartagena — deputizing for the suspended David Brekalo — Iago, and Zakaria Taifi. Braian Ojeda and Luis Otavio played in central midfield between wingers Ivan Angulo and Marco Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Antoine Griezmann up top.

Each team got an early spell of possession in the opening minutes, with the best opportunity being a blast from Pasalic on the right that forced a good diving save from Kristijan Kahlina.

But then the Lions handed Charlotte an easy opening goal. Braian Ojeda committed a foul he had no reason to commit against Saint-Maximin near the left corner of the box. Ashley Westwood sent in a good cross to a completely unmarked Kessler, who simply nodded his free header down and past Crepeau for a simple goal and a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute.

“I think today they were ready on 90 minutes, and we lacked focus those moments of execution and mental focus on the set piece,” Crepeau said. “Free header, where we knew that they were going to play those sorts of balls between me and the defenders. It’s a free header when nobody is around. It’s unacceptable, because it’s just mental focus at that point.”

“It’s a mistake that we shouldn’t commit when you play this type of game at this stage on the road. Against these opponents, it’s hard.”

That was the 75th goal conceded by Orlando City in 2026, which set a new club single-season record — not a mark the Lions wanted to set, but nothing has changed in the way the team has defended all year. They went on to concede goals nos. 76, 77, and 78 before the final whistle.

Charlotte got a chance to make it 2-0 just moments later when Liel Abada got his shot blocked in the 10th minute. Djibril Diani collected the rebound and sent a soft shot skipping wide. Charlotte kept the ball for a spell and created a good opportunity in the 20th minute when a cross in from Orlando’s defensive left found Idan Toklomati in front alone, but he couldn’t get any power on the header, giving Crepeau some catching practice.

Martin Ojeda took a cutback pass from Angulo in the 22nd minute in good position on the left, but with Kessler closing fast, the Argentine had only enough time to toe poke it toward goal with his weaker right foot and Kahlina made a comfortable stop.

Saint-Maximin was permitted to run straight down the right channel with the ball in the 24th minute but Iago was able to block his shot.

Through the middle of the first half, the Lions looked discombobulated, not creating anything and often turning the ball over after crossing midfield. During that spell, Charlotte didn’t create a lot either, but that didn’t stop Iago from committing a clumsy challenge and then demonstrably disagree with the call to earn a yellow card in the 25th minute, suspending him for the season finale against New England with the Lions already short of bodies on the back line. Both the foul and the reaction were unnecessary and emblematic of the Brazilian’s lack of discipline during his first season in Orlando.

Toklomati was poorly marked on a corner in the 27th minute but couldn’t get his header down, sending it high over the bar.

With so few looks at goal to that point in the game, Braian Ojeda tried a hopeful shot from a long way out in the 34th minute but sent it wide of the right post. A minute later, Martin Ojeda took a pass in the center at the top of the box but Westwood blocked his shot and it hit the Argentine’s arm on the rebound, ending the threat.

A Saint-Maximin cross cleared Iago in the 37th minute but about a foot too far in front of Abada at a wide-open back post.

The Lions closed the half looking a bit better and with more urgency. Angulo won a set piece from distance in the closing minutes and Griezmann sent a good curling cross in front of goal. Otavio couldn’t make good contact with it in the air, knocking it off Iago’s chest and down in front of goal, where it hit the right post. The rebound came back to Iago, but he sent it wide of the same post.

The last good look of the half for either side fell to Orlando in the 44th minute. A ball across the box deflected through everyone in front and fell to Pasalic on the right. The Croatian had a defender closing, so he fired a hard shot with his weaker right foot and sent it just wide and into the outside netting.

At the break, the Lions held the edge in possession (51.5%-48.5%), shots (10-7), shots on target (3-2), and passing accuracy (89.9%-88.7%), with Charlotte winning more corners (3-2). The difference was that Orlando was punished for shoddy set piece defending on a free kick that shouldn’t have been conceded while lacking clinical finishing on two excellent chances.

Perelman sent Eduard Atuesta and Adrian Marin on for Otavio and Nogueira at the break.

The changes didn’t help, and Orlando allowed Charlotte an easy second goal right just moments after the restart. Saint-Maximim came right down the center. Orlando’s back line dropped back to stay with the passing options while Pasalic jogged behind. With no pressure on him, the forward blasted a shot just inside the left post to make it 2-0 in the 49th minute.

“We tried to adjust for the second half, and then the second half again it’s opened by I think a sequence very difficult, and then the game is is hard, and we couldn’t perform as we should,” Perelman said.

“He’s dribbling at our defense. He has a fake shot and we (commit) a bit fast, and then he has an open shot, I think right above the box, and he smashes it,” Crepeau said. “And those moments are difficult. When it’s right around a restart, it’s difficult for us to absorb that, and it hurt us.”

Orlando could have pulled that second goal right back two minutes later. A ball played centrally in front from the left was cleared only as far as Braian Ojeda in the box. The midfielder had time and space but sent a soft shot at the goalkeeper.

Martin Ojeda tried a volley effort in the 55th minute on the left side but he didn’t hit the shot well and it sliced wide of the left post. Five minutes later, it was Pasalic making a mess of a shot, sending a left-footed effort wide from the top of the box in the middle.

Perelman sent attacking subs on down the stretch to try to claw back into the game, but without having to go forward, Charlotte was content to stay organized and look for counterattacking opportunities. That made it difficult to find space for chance creation and made for some nervy defensive moments. Iago was caught cheating forward to maintain possession, allowing an odd-man break in the 66th minute but a heavy touch and an offside flag prevented further damage at that time. A minute later, Pep Biel cut in from the left and blasted a shot from distance that crashed off the crossbar behind Crepeau.

Kahlina made a brilliant save in the 70th minute that won’t count, after Griezmann’s free kick found Adrian Marin for a flicked header. Kahlina made the diving save but Marin was offside anyway.

Crepeau kept things from getting worse (for the moment) in the 74th minute, getting down to deflect a cross that would have given Charlotte an easy tap-in goal at the back post.

Martin Ojeda’s header went straight at Kahlina a minute later, and seconds after that, the Argentine, looking like he felt every one of the 256 minutes he played during the last eight days, fizzed a shot over the crossbar.

Griezmann fired an acrobatic volley shot in the 77th minute as Orlando kept trying to cut into the lead. Kahlina, who might become the latest Orlando City opponent to win Player of the Matchday honors in a season filled with such occurrences, made yet another diving stop. Griezmann sent a low shot a minute later off a cross into the box that bounced in front, but Kahlina squeezed his knees together and made the block. The ball popped high into the air, with Daryl Dike soaring over the defense to get to it, however, the big striker jumped too early and Charlotte survived the rebound.

Charlotte put the game to bed a few minutes later on a play that started with an Orlando corner kick. Griezmann sent a ball in that found its way to the top of the area. There were no Lions in a spot where you’d normally expect at least one attacker, but Eduard Atuesta had run from the middle to the left inviting a short corner to be played. Perhaps someone missed an assignment on the set play, but Charlotte broke with numbers the other way.

Angulo caught up with Aloko as the two men entered the box, but a heavy touch was taking the Charlotte forward wide on the right. Angulo applied pressure from behind and unnecessarily made contact from behind that referee Victor Rivas felt was too heavy (it was), awarding Charlotte a penalty. Saint-Maximin took the spot kick, sending it toward the left post. Crepeau made the save, but he couldn’t control the rebound.

Doucouré was easily the first to the ball, slotting home the hosts’ third goal in the 84th minute as three different Charlotte attackers were quick to get into the box while Orlando players were caught flat-footed.

“He has a lot of penalties under his belt throughout his career, so I knew I just needed to hold a bit longer to make him choose a side, basically,” Crepeau said. “And I was able to go to the right side, and we were not able to follow up on the rebound. And 3-0 was the goal that hurt us, because at 2-0 you still believe a little bit and the three, 10, maybe 15 minutes before the end hurts us a lot.”

With the outcome all but official at that point, things took a weird turn in the 89th minute, when Rivas went to the monitor to review something that happened off the ball. Saint-Maximin had been chirping with Cartagena and grabbed his crotch. Rivas sent the Charlotte attacker off for making an obscene gesture, though it was too late to impact the match. In fact, instead of Orlando spoiling Kahlina’s shutout, the Lions meekly failed to even threaten to get a shot away and the hosts added a goal in stoppage time. With three defenders tracking Biel’s run, no one bothered to even look at Aloko, who took a cross from Tyger Smalls and beat Crepeau while Marin bathed in all the space in which he was defending no one.

The final whistle was a mercy to an Orlando City side that has slipped into the play-in game positions.

At full time, Orlando held a deceptive statistical advantage. The Lions led in possession (51.1%-48.9%), shots (17-14), shots on target (7-6), and passing accuracy (87%-85.3%). Both teams finished with four corner kicks.

“We don’t like this result. We don’t like this way,” Perelman said. “This is not the way we want. But we will, for sure, like we did it in the past, we will recover ourselves, and we will prepare (for) the next one, because this team started the season in a really difficult situation, went through very difficult moments, and was very resilient. So, this is not going to be the exception for us, and we’re going to be ready for next one.”

“We know what’s happening at the moment,” Crepeau said. “We need a win against New England. That being said, today is not acceptable for every player that got rostered. It’s not good enough. A lot of people deserve better than what we have put out there today. That’s the reality of things.”

The Lions end the regular season with a terrible 3-10-4 road record, having not won away from home since Sept. 9, going 0-3-2 away and conceding 17 goals (3.4 goals against per match) in that span. If they squeak into the postseason, the road is where they’ll be, so that’s not a great sign. It was also the first time Orlando City has been shut out in a game since May and ended Griezmann’s five-game goal-scoring streak.

Orlando City dropped to ninth place and awaits results from the New York Red Bulls and Toronto FC on Sunday. If both teams lose, they would be unable to catch Orlando on points on Decision Day. The Red Bulls are at Nashville, which has already clinched the Supporters’ Shield, while Toronto visits lowly 14th-place Atlanta.

The Lions return home for their regular-season finale against the high-flying New England Revolution a week from today.

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Orlando City vs. Charlotte FC: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions head to Charlotte looking for an elusive road win after blowing late leads in the last two away matches.

Published

21 hours ago

on

October 31, 2026

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Image of Justin Ellis playing the ball against Charlotte.
Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match preview and live thread for a Saturday matinee matchup between Orlando City (12-13-7, 43 points) and Charlotte FC (14-10-8, 50 points) at Inter.co Stadium (1 p.m., Apple TV). This is the second of the two games on the slate between the Eastern Conference rivals in 2026.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

The Lions are 5-1-3 in the regular-season series and 7-3-3 in all competitions against Charlotte. Orlando City is 1-0-3 on the road in the regular season and 1-2-3 away across all competitions against the North Carolina-based side.

Orlando got its biggest win in the series in the most recent meeting, a 4-1 home win for the Lions on April 22. The Lions rode a big second half to the victory after Luis Otavio and Morrison Agyemang traded first-half goals. Martin Ojeda notched a brace after halftime and Ignacio Gomez scored his first MLS goal to add some late insurance.

The teams last met in Charlotte on July 5, 2025, playing to a 2-2 draw at Bank of America Stadium. The hosts took a 2-0 lead on goals by Pep Biel and Bill Tuiloma, but Ramiro Enrique and Marco Pasalic brought the Lions back to earn a point on the road.

Earlier in the 2025 campaign, the teams met on May 14 in Orlando, with Luis Muriel and Ojeda giving the Lions a 2-0 lead inside the game’s first 25 minutes. Wilfried Zaha pulled the visitors within a goal before the break, making for a tight second half, but Enrique’s late goal put the game to bed in Orlando City’s 3-1 home win.

Prior to 2025, the teams met in the first round of the 2024 MLS Cup playoffs. Orlando City claimed two of the three matches, winning the first outright, dropping the second on penalties after a late goal was called offside in the buildup, and advancing after a penalty shootout win following the third match of the best-of-three series.

On Nov. 9, 2024, Facundo Torres’ penalty late in stoppage time canceled out a Karol Swiderski goal and sent the deciding third match to penalties with a 1-1 score. Pedro Gallese made two saves and Orlando City won the shootout 4-1, advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The teams played eight days before that in Charlotte, without either side scoring in normal time, as Torres’ strike was disallowed for offside on Nico Lodeiro on Muriel’s through ball. Charlotte won the ensuing penalty shootout 3-1 after the scoreless draw to tie the series at 1-1. That followed Orlando City’s 2-0 home win the previous Sunday. Torres and Ojeda scored the goals on either side of halftime to lead the Lions to the Game 1 win. It was the first time Orlando scored more than one goal in an MLS playoff game.

The teams met a month and a half prior to their first playoff meeting on Sept. 18 in Orlando. The Lions got second-half goals from Torres and Duncan McGuire to win 2-0, claiming the first multiple-goal win in the series. The teams also met on June 19, 2024, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and played to a 2-2 draw. The hosts struck first with an early Kerwin Vargas goal and the Lions pulled one back through McGuire in the second half. But despite Charlotte going down a man on Scott Arfield’s red card, Brandt Bronico restored the hosts’ lead shortly after McGuire’s strike. Torres struck back moments later but the Lions could not find a winner on the road.

The previous match was also a draw at Bank of America Stadium, finishing 1-1 on Aug. 30, 2023. Enzo Copetti’s late penalty appeared to wrap things up for the hosts on a rainy night in Charlotte, but Ojeda’s seeing-eye set piece equalized just before stoppage time as the teams split the points.

Charlotte claimed a 1-0 “home” victory in U.S. Open Cup play on May 9 of that year. That game took place at Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews, NC, rather than at the club’s regular stadium. The first matchup of the 2023 season didn’t go any better for Orlando City, finishing as a 2-1 Charlotte win at Exploria Stadium on March 18. Copetti and Vargas put Charlotte up 2-0 by halftime. Ojeda pulled one back, but the Lions were wasteful in front of goal and couldn’t pull level.

In 2022, the teams met at Bank of America Stadium on Aug. 21. After a scoreless first half, Ercan Kara put the Lions ahead on the road, only to see McKinze Gaines equalize just four minutes later. Tesho Akindele’s late goal lifted Orlando to a 2-1 victory.

Orlando City won the first-ever meeting between the sides on April 30, 2022, at Exploria Stadium. Ruan scored the opening goal and set up Torres on the counter for the second as the Lions took a 2-0 lead into the locker room. Christian Fuchs scored from the spot after Rodrigo Schlegel was called for a foul in the box in the second half, but that was as close as Charlotte got in what was ultimately a 2-1 Orlando victory.

Overview

Orlando City enters the match in an odd way, because although the Lions have gone unbeaten in their last five games (2-0-3), they’ve also dropped three late leads in the last four, coughing up six points in a tight Eastern Conference playoff race. That includes Wednesday’s match at Chicago, which ended in a 2-2 draw, and the home game against New York City FC a week ago, another 2-2 draw. Orlando led in the 69th and deep in stoppage time of those games, respectively. Antoine Griezmann is almost singlehandedly willing Orlando to stay above the playoff line with a goal-scoring streak of five matches.

But the Lions enter tonight just 3-9-4 on the road in league play in 2026 and haven’t won away from Orlando since Sept. 9 at Atlanta and going 0-3-2 in five road matches in all competitions since then.

Charlotte enters tonight fresh off a 4-0 home beatdown of CF Montreal in the midweek and although both clubs are on the same rest, Orlando has traveled to Chicago and Charlotte over the last few days and stayed on the road in between, while tonight’s hosts have been sleeping snugly in their beds since returning home from a 3-2 loss at Portland a week ago. Charlotte FC is 9-3-4 at Bank of America Stadium in MLS play this year and have won two straight on their own patch.

Orlando City will need to be patient to avoid giving up dangerous counterattacks, as the Lions have struggled to defend them all year, and the club will be without three-quarters of its starting back line, with Griffin Dorsey and Robin Jansson out with injuries and David Brekalo suspended for yellow card accumulation. The back line will be a makeshift one, which is less than ideal against players like Biel (13 goals, 16 assists), Idan Toklomati (15 goals, 6 assists), and Liel Abada (8 goals, 5 assists). Charlotte has the Eastern Conference’s sixth-best offense and the East’s fourth-best defense, led by goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina.

In addition to being without Brekalo (suspension), Jansson (foot), and Dorsey (back), Orlando also won’t have winger Tyrese Spicer (foot). Charlotte will be without Will Cleary (illness), Nimfasha Berchimas (lower body), Archie Goodwin (lower body), Aron John (upper body), and Tim Ream (lower body).

Match Content

Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Vinicius Nogueira,Iago, Wilder Cartagena, Zakaria Taifi.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Luis Otavio, Braian Ojeda, Marco Pasalic.

Forwards: Martin Ojeda, Antoine Griezmann.

Bench: Javier Otero, Adrian Marin, Nolan Miller, Joran Gerbet, Eduard Atuesta, Justin Ellis, Tiago, Harvey Sarajian, Daryl Dike.

Charlotte FC (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Kristijan Kahlina.

Defenders: Harry Toffolo, Henry Kessler, Morrison Agyemang, Nathan Byrne.

Midfielders: Pep Biel, Ashley Westwood, Djibril Diani.

Forwards: Allan Saint-Maximin, Idan Toklomati, Liel Abada.

Bench: Tyler Miller, Andrew Privett, David Schnegg, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Luca de la Torre, Brandt Bronico, Nathan Richmond, Tyger Smalls, Rodolfo Aloko.

Referees

Ref: Victor Rivas.
AR1: Mike Nickerson.
AR2: Ben Pilgrim.
4th: Nabil Bensalah.
VAR: Kevin Terry Jr.
AVAR: Kathryn Nesbitt.

How to Watch

Match Time: 1 p.m.

Venue: Bank of America Stadium  — Charlotte.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Orlando City’s Spookiest Games

In the spirit of the season, let’s look at some of Orlando City’s most haunting results from recent years.

Published

2 days ago

on

October 30, 2026

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Saturday is Halloween, which means that we’re officially in the spookiest time of the year. Things are scary for Lions fans in more ways than one at the moment, as the team is clinging to a playoff spot and has two difficult games to close the season. With how frightening the current landscape is, this seems like a good time to look back on some of Orlando’s spookiest, scariest, most scream-inducing games from recent years. Some are included on this list because of ugly scorelines, while others are more about the circumstances surrounding the matches, so bear that in mind. Also, beware the Ides of March (and November), apparently.

New York City FC 5-0, Orlando City, March 7, 2026

Where better to start than the match that cost Oscar Pareja his job? It certainly hadn’t been an ideal start to the 2026 season for the Lions, as they suffered back-to-back home losses to the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami. Still, there were the mitigating circumstances of Robin Jansson’s and Joran Gerbet’s unavailability, Griffin Dorsey attempting to adapt to new surroundings on the fly, and Pareja being forced to use a combination of Tahir Reid-Brown, Nolan Miller, and David Brekalo on the back line against the Herons. While things rarely go well on the road against NYCFC, there was some hope that the team could build on some of the good things it showed against Miami. We were quickly disabused of that notion in painful fashion, as Maxime Crepeau picked up an 18th-minute red card for handling the ball outside the box and thereby denying a goal-scoring opportunity. The Pigeons scored four minutes later, and the rout was on from there.

Nashville SC 5-0 Orlando City, March 21, 2026

We next turn to another game from this season, picking things up in Martin Perelman’s second match in charge as interim head coach. His tenure got off to a decent enough start, as OCSC got its first win of the season at home against a CF Montreal side that was admittedly among the favorites to finish last in the East. Still, you can only beat who’s in front of you, and the Lions did so playing an open and chaotic but exciting style that helped build a little optimism which was then promptly shattered at Geodis Park. Nashville scored just five minutes into the game and while it was only 2-0 at halftime, the ‘Yotes scored three in the second half and Sam Surridge bagged a hat trick to bring Orlando and its fans back to Earth in resounding fashion. It was a game marked by bad goalkeeping, bad defending, bad finishing, and bad giveaways, and it was a harsh reality check after the high of getting a first win of the season.

Inter Miami 5-0 Orlando City, March 2, 2024

Orlando was having a decent enough start to its 2024 campaign, with away and home wins against Cavalry FC in the Concacaf Champions Cup sandwiching a draw on opening day. Then the Lions hit the road to play Inter Miami and looked like they never got off the plane. Luis Suarez scored twice in the first 15 minutes, the Herons were up 3-0 after 30 minutes, and a five-minute Lionel Messi brace in the second half made it 5-0. This wasn’t a game that featured some of the errors or bookings of our previous two entries. Instead, OCSC flat out got knocked into the dirt after failing to take the chances it managed to generate when the game was still close. Losing 5-0 is always bad, losing 5-0 to Miami is a particular type of horror.

New York Red Bulls 1-0 Orlando City, Nov. 30, 2024

We now fast forward from March two years ago to the game that ended the 2024 campaign. This makes the list not due to the margin of defeat, which was negligible, but because of the circumstances surrounding it. Not only were the Lions hosting an Eastern Conference final at home, but the bracket had opened up beautifully for Orlando to make a run to its first-ever MLS Cup final. Atlanta United knocked out no.1 seed Miami in the first round, the Red Bulls took out no.2 seed Columbus Crew early, and NYCFC eliminated no.3 seed FC Cincinnati to leave Orlando as the highest seed left in the East. The Lions took care of business first against Charlotte FC and then against Atlanta in a rivalry match, but couldn’t get over the hump against the Red Bulls. It was a close game with good chances at a premium, and it came down to New York taking its best opportunity through Andres Reyes, while Facundo Torres was stonewalled by Carlos Coronel on the break. It was simply an agonizing way to go out, especially considering how well things seemed to be lining up for the team to play for a trophy.

Columbus Crew 2-0 Orlando City, Nov. 25, 2023

We end with the playoff elimination from the previous year, which came in the Eastern Conference semifinals at home. This was horrifying to Orlando fans for a couple different reasons. Obviously, getting knocked out of the postseason is never fun, but it was also the team’s first loss at home since April 22 of that year and just the third loss in all competitions since the beginning of August. The Lions had powered through the back half of the season with 10 wins in their final 13 league games, including the playoffs, but simply couldn’t get much going offensively in game no. 14. Still, the match was tied as the clocked ticked past the 75th minute and I, for one, felt reasonably good about Orlando’s chances in extra time at home. Everything changed when Rodrigo Schlegel picked up a second yellow card in the 77th minute though, and OCSC was suddenly staring down the barrel of playing the last 40 minutes of the game with 10 men. The Crew broke the deadlock in the 93rd minute, bagged an insurance goal in the 118th, and stopped what had been an elite end to the season for the Lions dead in its tracks, and in their own barn no less.

Are there any Orlando City games from over the years that still haunt you to this day? Be sure to let us know down in the comments, and have a happy Halloween!

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