Orlando City opened up the gates of its training facility today for season ticket members to take in a morning training session. The team took the field close to 8:30 a.m. and proceeded to run a first team vs. second team scrimmage for the better part of an hour. The first team was made up of mostly regular-season starters with the exception of those players currently representing their countries on international duty or those rehabbing injuries.

Efforts put in during practice and on the training pitch should always be taken with a small grain of salt, but what follows are my rapid reactions from a hot and sunny training morning.

4-4-2 Formation

The first-team Lions took the field in a 4-4-2 configuration with the likes of Rodrigo Schlegel, Nico Lodeiro, and Luis Muriel on the pitch in their usual positions. Prior to the last match, it appeared as if Orlando might move away from the 3-5-2, but it never changed back from the shape used for the better part of the last month. I do, however, expect that the team will utilize a four-man back line when Orlando City takes the pitch again on June 15 against LAFC with Duncan McGuire and Muriel up top.

The action during the scrimmage period was mostly one sided, but without playmakers like Facundo Torres on the pitch during training, it seemed as if most of the action was funneled through Ivan Angulo up the left side of the field. The back line played well together in the scrimmage but did allow the second-team players to complete several long balls from time to time.

Old Habits Die Hard

One of the things I was most interested to observe during the training session was how the team attacked the goal and how aggressive their shot taking would be. Unfortunately, it does appear that the old saying “you play how you practice” could be seen in full force as several culprits who have shown bad decision-making during matches used the same poor decision-making in practice. I wish that I could say the results were different but they were not. There are still a handful of players who are very touch happy and often missed out on opportunities to take shots by trying to over dribble or by being too cute with combination passes in the box.

For a team that mustered fewer shot attempts than I have digits on one hand during its last outing against the New York Red Bulls, I would love to see the boys in purple pull the trigger from anywhere and at any time. It seems as though some of the offensive issues that have plagued the attack during matches is coming from habits shown on the training ground.

Jack Lynn’s Impressive Scrimmage

With McGuire away with the U-23 USMNT squad and Ramiro Enrique not on the training pitch, Jack Lynn started alongside Muriel up top for the first team. Lynn was easily the most impressive player from the training session today, scoring in a variety of ways that show he has continued to put in effort behind the scenes to improve his quality. While he may be lacking some of the pure athleticism of McGuire or the savvy of Muriel, Lynn continued to press toward goal throughout the scrimmage and I stopped counting after his third goal.

My favorite effort of his during the session was his first shot on frame, which was a beautiful curling ball from outside the 18 into the upper 90. Lynn has shown glimpses of his ability when he has been called upon this year and may be in line for more playing time depending on how the summer transfer window shakes out. Based upon the effort of the training session today, he will be ready when his number is called.

All in all, even under the hot Florida summer sun, it was a really nice event that the club put on for season ticket members of all ages, and I hope to see Orlando City host more of these events in the future. The Lions are on a bye week and will look to get back to their winning ways on June 15 at home against LAFC. Vamos Orlando!

Orlando City has now used a 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 formation in its last six matches. The switch has been necessitated by a combination of injuries and suspensions to the team’s fullbacks and center backs, and I spent some time examining the first two games using the 3-5-2 several weeks ago. In that piece, I noted that the Lions looked better defensively when operating with three at the back, and had also done a decent job of creating chances, albeit in a small sample size. Now that we’ve got more minutes to examine, a picture is beginning to form of a team that still looks fairly solid defensively, but is struggling mightily at the other end of the pitch.

In the six games in which the team used a 3-5-2, Orlando recorded Expected Goals of 1.25, 0.72, 1.99, 1.29, 0.82, and 0.42, for an average of 1.08. That’s not great, as only three teams in the league have lower numbers: the New England Revolution (1.02), FC Dallas (0.99), and Sporting Kansas City (0.99). For those of you keeping track at home, the Revs are bottom of the East, SKC is bottom of the West, and FC Dallas is only two spots above Sporting. While the sample size isn’t as big as those other teams, the numbers are suggesting that this isn’t sustainable.

Expected Goals aren’t the holy grail of soccer statistics, but they generally provide a good metric of how well a team is attacking, but the eye test is perfectly useful in telling us that Orlando City mostly hasn’t been an attacking force across its last six matches.

Three at the back has worked pretty well from a defensive standpoint, as the Lions’ opponents have had xG numbers of 3.85 (2 actual goals), 0.61 (no goals), 0.62 (no goals), 2.19 (2 goals), 1.00 (1 goal), and 0.79 (1 goal), for an average of 1.51.

That number could certainly be better, as it would tie for seventh-highest in the league, although it’s worth mentioning that the three penalty kicks given up against the Philadelphia Union and Columbus Crew do unfairly skew that total, as each one is worth 0.79 xG. If we remove those and focus on open play, the number drops to 1.12, which would actually be the lowest in the league. To be clear, I’m not suggesting the Lions are actually that good defensively, but I do think it’s fair to say that they’ve mostly done well when defending during open play over the last six matches.

Whatever solution we come up with needs to involve a retention of the defensive improvements that the team has shown over the last six matches, while also helping the Lions become more potent offensively. With that being the case, I’m not opposed to keeping a three-man back line, but making a slight tweak to a 3-4-3 formation in order to unlock the team’s offensive potential. With all players healthy and suspension-free, we could see Pedro Gallese in goal, Robin Jansson, Wilder Cartagena, and David Brekalo on the back line, a midfield of Rafael Santos, Cesar Araujo, Nico Lodeiro, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, and a front three of Luis Muriel, Duncan McGuire, and Facundo Torres.

One of the biggest drawbacks of a 3-5-2, and something I noted in Player Grades pieces for the games against Philadelphia, Inter Miami, and the Chicago Fire, is that it burdens Facundo Torres with far too many defensive responsibilities. While availability issues meant there wasn’t much choice other than to play him as a wingback, if the team has a clean bill of health, you need the guy who’s been your best offensive player for the last two seasons to be put in the best possible position to succeed. Simply put, that does not involve him consistently defending at or below his own 18-yard box. A 3-4-3 shifts that defensive responsibility to Thorhallson/Santos, while allowing Torres to operate higher up the pitch, where he does his best work.

It also gets Muriel and McGuire on the field at the same time, as they’ve looked capable of forming a nice partnership when they’ve been healthy, rested, and sharing the field. They can play off each other and shift which one is playing through the middle to give the opposing team some different looks throughout the game.

As for the midfield, I have Nico starting, given the type of creative force he’s capable of being, and he’s also looked to have some good budding chemistry with Muriel. With that being the case, he can be swapped for Ivan Angulo or Felipe if Oscar Pareja wants to line his team up more defensively, and the Colombian speedster can also rotate in at winger or wingback as needed.

I’ve kept Cartagena in the middle center back spot for a couple reasons. For one, I don’t think a central midfield pairing of Wilder and Cesar has enough creative punch in a 3-4-3, and Nico should solve that problem. In addition, Cartagena’s shown well enough as the middle center back to keep running him out there, and that also means that you aren’t starting all three experienced, traditional center backs every game and thereby putting all your eggs in one basket.

For substitutions and rotations, Jack Lynn, Ramiro Enrique, and Martin Ojeda can come in at various positions across the front line, Angulo at midfield, winger, or wingback as previously mentioned, Felipe at midfielder, Kyle Smith at wingback or center back, and Rodrigo Schlegel at center back.

In theory, a 3-4-3 formation maintains the defensive stability OCSC has shown with a three-man defense, while putting enough dangerous offensive players on the field in their best positions to help juice things at the other end of the pitch. Whether or not it would actually work out that way is anyone’s guess, but what the Lions have been doing lately hasn’t worked out particularly well, so I think it’s worth a shot.

Happy Friday! It’s a fairly busy day with both the Orlando Pride and Orlando City B playing tonight. Hopefully both teams pull through and give us something to celebrate. I don’t have many plans this weekend beyond working and getting some reading done, but it should at least be a relaxing next few days for me. For now though, let’s get to the links!

Orlando Pride Face the San Diego Wave Tonight

The Orlando Pride are back in action tonight for a 10 p.m. road match against the San Diego Wave. It’s the fifth meeting between the two sides since the Wave joined the league and the Pride have only lost once in those games. They most recently met on April 19 in the City Beautiful, with Summer Yates scoring the decisive goal in a 1-0 win for the Pride. Orlando is unbeaten this year and enters this match on a historic eight-game win streak, while San Diego has only won one of its past five games. If Marta plays tonight, it will be her 100th regular-season appearance in the NWSL and all of those have been while with the Pride.

Barbra Banda Named NWSL Player of the Month

Orlando Pride forward Barbra Banda was selected as NWSL Player of the Month after scoring seven goals in the Pride’s five games in May. Banda was unstoppable last month, netting three braces to already tie a club record for the most braces in a season. She also had an assist in the Pride’s 4-1 win over the North Carolina Courage to start the month and drew the penalty in the the team’s 1-0 victory against Bay FC. The Zambian striker is a major reason why the Pride are at the top of the standings.

Getting to Marta and Adriana

Orlando Pride teammates Marta and Adriana both fielded questions regarding the growth of women’s soccer and the Pride’s title aspirations this season. Marta detailed the importance of the award created in her honor by FIFA, and how it represents the recognition of women’s soccer on the global stage. The club and country teammates also spoke on the growing number of Brazilians playing with the Pride and their hope that Orlando’s Brazilian community attends matches to cheer them on. Marta implored all fans to come out and attend games, so make sure to check out their schedule and come support the Pride!

Analyzing Colombia Ahead of USMNT Friendly

In preparation for the Copa America, the United Men’s National Team and Colombia will square off tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in a friendly. It’s the 22nd meeting between the two nations and should be a good match as the U.S. is ranked 11th in the world while Colombia is 12th. Head Coach Nestor Lorenzo has Colombia on a 21-game unbeaten streak heading into this match as well. Plenty of attention will be on creative attacker James Rodriguez, but it’s the players out wide who could cause the most trouble for the U.S. defense. Liverpool winger Luis Diaz may have a field day with American right back Sergino Dest sidelined. The USMNT will need to limit turnovers to deny Colombia chances to counter, which is easier said than done considering the intense pressure Colombia can put on its opponent.

Predicting the USWNT Olympic Squad

Emma Hayes started her tenure as the United States Women’s National Team’s head coach with a pair of shutout wins against South Korea, but now she faces the tough task of deciding which players will head to the Olympics this summer. Midfielder Lily Yohannes, who scored in her USWNT debut earlier this week, is the biggest wild card in the mix. The 16-year-old did well in that friendly and could find herself making the trip to Paris over players like Korbin Albert or Andi Sullivan. As for the attack, I’m interested to see if former Pride forward Alex Morgan can earn a spot on the roster for what would likely be her final Olympic tournament.

Free Kicks

• In case you missed it, Orlando midfielder Cesar Araujo made his debut for Uruguay and Facundo Torres featured as well in the team’s 4-0 win over Mexico.

• In The Soccer Tournament, former Lion Nani secured a spot in the knockout stage after his team beat Sergio Aguero’s squad 6-2.

• 2025 MLS expansion side San Diego FC officially signed winger Hirving “Chucky” Lozano as the club’s first Designated Player. The 28-year-old joins the club on a deal through 2028, with two option years as well.
• According to The Athletic‘s ($) Tom Bogert, Cruz Azul is reportedly finalizing a deal with Atlanta United to sign Greek forward Giorgos Giakoumakis for a fee around $10 million.
• Washington Spirit forward Croix Bethune was named NWSL Rookie of the Month for the second straight month after recording seven assists and a goal in May.
• Canada got run over in Jesse Marsch’s first match at the helm, with the Netherlands winning 4-0 in a friendly.
• New York Red Bulls midfielder Lewis Morgan received a call-up to Scotland’s squad for the Euros later this month. Scotland has been plagued by injuries and will face Germany in the tournament’s opener on June 14.
• Wolverhampton was the lone team that voted in favor of removing VAR for the next English Premier League season, meaning it will stick around for another year. The meeting did result in a discussion on ways to improve it moving forward though.
• Harry Maguire, Jack Grealish, and James Maddison were all omitted from England’s roster for the Euros.
• After coaching in an interim capacity to close out the season, Sabrina Wittmann will stay on as the permanent head coach for Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division. She’s now the first woman to be the head coach of a men’s team in a country’s top three divisions.
• South Korea, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Oman all advanced to the final round of AFC World Cup qualifying.

That’s all I have for you today. I hope you all have a fantastic Friday and rest of your weekend!