Twitter reacts to… Orlando City SC’s Dom Dwyer entering free agency

/ Taylor Williams

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In an action-packed first week of Orlando City SC‘s 2020/21 off-season, it was announced yesterday that longtime Lion Dom Dwyer is entering the free agency market.

With the 30-year-old’s contract expiring at the end of City’s 2020 campaign, the club legend departs Central Florida after a five-year association with the club, spread across two spells in USL (2013) and Major League Soccer (2017-2020).

Unfortunately, Dom Dwyer only played two games under Oscar Pareja due to a knee injury he sustained in the #MLSisBack Tournament.

Never getting to prove his worth for Papi, Dwyer stayed at Orlando City SC in 2020 after off-season speculation that he’d be reuniting with Adrian Heath at Minnesota United.

Mooted as a possible replacement for Darwin Quintero prior to the Colombian joining Houston Dynamo, the four-time capped USMNT forward now faces a crossroads in his career.

Departing Exploria Stadium having scored 24 goals in 67 MLS appearances for Orlando City SC, Dom Dwyer unfortunately couldn’t recreate his prolific goalscoring form as showcased at Sporting Kansas City.

While 24 MLS goals in three-and-a-bit years isn’t a bad return, it’s still underwhelming for a player scoring at a rate of almost every other game for SKC.

League record trade

Ultimately, Dom Dwyer‘s second spell at Orlando City SC can be considered disappointing.

A transfer with league-wide approval in 2017, the nostalgia of a former Lion joining Orlando City SC in the big league, not to mention Dwyer gaining U.S. citizenship and his first USMNT recognition the same year, the transfer captured the imagination.

Orlando City SC supporters everywhere remembered Dom Dwyer‘s incredible heroics in the 2013 USL Pro Playoffs Final where his four goals helped City overcome Charlotte Eagles 7-4.

In hindsight, splashing up to $1.6 million in allocation money was a huge deal for a club not in the same league as MLS’s big spending powers like Atlanta United and Los Angeles FC.

As is the case in soccer, money heralds expectation and with more pressure growing for Orlando City SC to finally reach the MLS Cup Playoffs, so too grew supporter desperation for Dom Dwyer to rediscover his best form.

Unfortunately, this never came.

With Orlando City SC‘s suffering fanbase demanding so much more given Dom Dwyer‘s top earner status and former glory in the club’s USL days, the honeymoon period was quickly unravelling.

A stop-start 2019

2019 saw Dom Dwyer playing with less confidence than ever before and increasingly, more diving, whining and tussling with opposition centre halves out of frustration.

Several high profile misses at Atlanta United and New York City FC away made Dwyer look a shadow of the player who burst into the USMNT’s 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad with two goals in his first two caps.

Scoring seven goals in 16 Major League Soccer starts in 2019, Dom Dwyer‘s absence and decline in form hurt Orlando City SC badly.

By no means the sole reason why Orlando City SC didn’t reach the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs, a side harbouring post-season ambitions needed their first choice centre forward to be fit and firing consistently.

Granted, 2019 saw Dom Dwyer and his wife Sydney Leroux of Orlando Pride celebrate the birth of their second child Roux but despite this big change in their private lives, Dwyer unfortunately couldn’t find happiness on the pitch.

Losing heroic status

Reflecting on Dom Dwyer‘s second spell in Central Florida, the way things played out is a real shame.

Somebody engrained in the culture of Orlando City SC having represented the club for five years, the way he’s exiting City is far different from the way he famously re-entered at Orlando International Airport (MCO).

Greeted by swarms of joyful Lions supporters upon re-signing for the club in July 2017, many (not all) unfortunately lost faith in Dom Dwyer‘s playing style and demeanour on pitch.

No doubt a pest of a forward who you’d love on your side in peak form, there was sadly too much tussling and too little goalscoring by the end of his spell in purple.

Thank you

Nevertheless, Orlando City UK would like to take this moment to thank Dom Dwyer for all his contributions in the purple USL and MLS jerseys of Orlando City SC.

A player that will always hold Orlando City SC close to his heart, we wish you and your family all the best heading into the future.

The fans’ view

With #OCTwitter still reacting to the news of Dom Dwyer‘s departure, Orlando City UK gathered the best tweets following the announcement.

What are YOU making of Dom Dwyer becoming a free agent? Is it the right or wrong decision?

Comment below or tweet us at @Orlando_CityUK to let us know!

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