Twitter reacts to… Oscar Pareja’s new Orlando City SC contract through 2025

/ Taylor Williams

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“It’s done” as Frodo Baggins famously said in the Lord of the Rings! After guiding Orlando City SC to the MLS Cup Playoffs for four consecutive seasons, the hugely popular Oscar Pareja has now signed a new two-year deal, keeping our winningest head coach in club history at Exploria Stadium until at least the end of 2025.

During his four-year tenure in Central Florida, the 55-year-old Colombian has successfully turned around the Lions’ losing culture in Major League Soccer, so much so that City broke their own regular season records this year to finish runners-up to FC Cincinnati in the 2023 Supporters’ Shield despite having the lowest salary spend of all – a hugely impressive feat.

So far, the man affectionately known as Papi has built a genuine brotherhood in the City locker room, one that yielded silverware last year when Orlando City SC defeated Sacramento Republic 3-0 to win the 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final at Exploria Stadium – our first major title as an MLS club.

Words from the Front Office

Speaking after Oscar Pareja‘s contract extension, Orlando City SC Majority Owner and Chairman Mark Wilf said: “Oscar has been integral to what we are building, and his leadership and dedication to winning championships has set an example for everyone at our club.

“Oscar takes great pride in representing Orlando City SC and has established a culture that embodies everything our organisation is about and a team of which our fans can be proud.

“The positive relationships and respect Oscar creates with his players has built a critical foundation for success.

We are excited to have Oscar continue to lead us into the future.”

On his own contract extension, Oscar Pareja said: “I first want to say how grateful I am to the Wilf family and the whole ownership group for the support that they’ve given us and allowing us to create the culture here that we have built these last few years.

“The support that the fans have shown us has been incredible through everything and, along with everyone working at the club, they’ve made me feel like this is home.

“We know that there are things left that we want to achieve here in Orlando and I feel like we can accomplish those objectives.

“I’m excited to stay here in Orlando and for what’s to come.”

Oscar Pareja: 2020 season

MLS:

  • 4th (Eastern Conference); 5th (Supporters’ Shield)
  • 23 games managed
  • 11 games won
  • 8 games drawn
  • 4 games lost
  • 41 points won
  • 40 goals scored
  • 25 goals conceded
  • Named head coach of the MLS Team of the Matchday 3 times

MLS Cup Playoffs:

  • 2 games managed
  • 1 game won
  • 1 game lost
  • 2 goals scored
  • 4 goals conceded

#MLSisBack Tournament:

  • Tournament runners-up
  • 7 games managed
  • 5 games won
  • 1 game drawn
  • 1 game lost
  • 12 goals scored
  • 7 goals conceded

Oscar Pareja: 2021 season

MLS:

  • 6th (Eastern Conference); 10th (Supporters’ Shield)
  • 34 games managed
  • 13 games won
  • 12 games drawn
  • 9 games lost
  • 51 points won
  • 50 goals scored
  • 48 goals conceded
  • Named head coach of the MLS Team of the Matchday 0 times

MLS Cup Playoffs:

  • 1 games managed
  • 1 game lost
  • 1 goal scored
  • 3 goals conceded

Leagues Cup:

  • 1 game managed
  • 1 game lost
  • 0 goals scored
  • 1 goal conceded

Oscar Pareja: 2022 season

MLS:

  • 7th (Eastern Conference); 13th (Supporters’ Shield)
  • 34 games managed
  • 14 games won
  • 6 games drawn
  • 14 games lost
  • 48 points won
  • 44 goals scored
  • 53 goals conceded
  • Named head coach of the MLS Team of the Matchday 0 times

MLS Cup Playoffs:

  • 1 game managed
  • 1 game lost
  • 0 goals scored
  • 2 goals conceded

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup:

  • Tournament winners
  • 7 games managed
  • 7 games won
  • 0 games lost
  • 14 goals scored
  • 5 goals conceded

Oscar Pareja: 2023 season

MLS:

  • 2nd (Eastern Conference); 2nd (Supporters’ Shield)
  • 34 games managed
  • 18 games won
  • 9 games drawn
  • 7 games lost
  • 63 points won
  • 55 goals scored
  • 39 goals conceded
  • Named head coach of the MLS Team of the Matchday 4 times

MLS Cup Playoffs:

  • 3 games managed
  • 2 games won
  • 1 game lost
  • 2 goals scored
  • 2 goals conceded

CONCACAF Champions League:

  • 2 games managed
  • 0 games won
  • 2 games drawn (lost on away goals rule)
  • 1 goal scored
  • 1 goal conceded

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup:

  • 1 game managed
  • 0 games won
  • 1 game lost
  • 0 goals scored
  • 1 goal conceded

Leagues Cup:

  • 3 games managed
  • 2 games won
  • 1 game lost
  • 5 goals scored
  • 6 goals conceded

Big signings = high expectation

Heading into 2023, Orlando City SC were eager to erase memories of a feeble 2-0 defeat to CF Montréal in the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs.

City went out with a whimper, much like they did in a 3-1 defeat to Nashville SC in the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs.

Limping over the finish (red) line with a dramatic 2-1 win over Columbus Crew on 2022 MLS Decision Day, City went 7-4-6 in the first half of 2022 and 7-2-8 in the second-half.

Losing Daryl Dike (10 goals) and Nani (10 goals) at the end of 2021, these key goalscorers were always going to be difficult to replace.

With no contract renewal for Nani, the Portuguese joined Venezia, and Daryl Dike joined West Bromwich Albion.

Nevertheless, backed by the Wilf family’s multi-million dollar ownership, City spent big in the 2022 off-season to recruit Designated Players Ercan Kara and Facundo Torres.

The 2023 off-season was courageous too with Martín Ojeda becoming City’s third Designated Player after an outstanding season with Godoy Cruz.

Elsewhere, captain Mauricio Pereyra and inspirational keeper Pedro Gallese were importantly retained too.

In both off-seasons, it was clear for all to see that the Wilf family wasn’t resting on their laurels and content for City to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs and post-season alone.

Struggling in transition

Assimilating attacking Designated Players Kara, Torres and Ojeda into the team would take some time. After all, this trio hadn’t experienced MLS before.

But despite their obvious talent, Oscar Pareja persisted with pragmatic game plans and tactics throughout 2022 and into early 2023 – the stuff he’s managed to forge a successful career upon.

While 2022 could fairly be labelled a transitional season, patience was running thin just four MLS regular season games into 2023 following a bitterly disappointing 1-2 home defeat to then bottom side Charlotte FC.

Already eliminated from the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League by Tigres UANL – albeit valiantly via the away goals rule – any remaining patience ran out for many after the Lions were miserably dumped out of the 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

With Charlotte FC inflicting another painful defeat on City yet again – this time 1-0 – the Lions really disappointingly failed to defend their victorious 2022 title at the very first hurdle – on a college field no less.

After a critically-acclaimed 2023 off-season of refreshment, this excitement simply didn’t translate into both early regular season performances or results.

Disappointingly, two cup competitions were already surrendered by early May.

Granted, several new faces always need time to gel and forge team chemistry, but overall, our early 2023 performances were sloppy and uninspiring with the team still seemingly set up not to lose, despite the attacking firepower recruited.

Unlike Daryl Dike before him, Ercan Kara didn’t play with his back to goal, using his brute strength to unsettle opposition defenders.

Instead, the Austrian relied on a consistent supply of crosses, like most tall centre forwards.

As for Facundo Torres, the 22-year-old’s talent and soccer IQ is clear for all to see.

You’re not called up to Uruguay’s 2022 FIFA World Cup squad for no reason!

However, as a young player, Torres is still learning all the time, unlike former inspirational captain Nani who had seen it all and done it all in an esteemed playing career.

Besides captain Mauricio Pereyra, a quiet leader by comparison to Nani, Oscar Pareja no longer had a ready-made star to make the difference at the sharp end of the pitch.

It says a lot when your club is too reliant on one single player.

And it’s true. Throughout 2022, Orlando City SC looked half decent with Mauricio Pereyra and deeply deficient without him.

In that season, Oscar Pareja‘s tried-and-tested tactic of getting the ball to speedster Ruan and hoping for quality delivery proved way too one dimensional.

Turning a tough start to 2023 around

After our aforementioned below par start to 2023, Orlando City SC – to their credit – started turning things around only a game after their disappointing 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup elimination.

With Duncan McGuire rescuing an unlikely 2-2 draw at Columbus Crew on May 13, the rookie forward’s then fourth goal of the season heralded the start of a timely personal hot streak and by extension, improved team performances and consistent results.

Looking back, Papi’s fast-tracking of McGuire into the first team, the rookie’s meteoric rise, and the unseating and then sale of Ercan Kara had a lot to do with our turnaround.

Additionally, Oscar Pareja‘s timely decision to ditch his 3-4-2-1 formation – experimented with early in the campaign – to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 shape sparked our upturn in form too.

With Iván Angulo and Gastón González no longer deployed as wing backs, all hail the double pivot instead!

Indeed, the central midfield combination of César Araújo and Wilder Cartagena – deployed in a 4-2-3-1 formation – started to physically dominate MLS games.

This helped change our fortunes in turn.

Following a morale-boosting Sunshine Clásico victory over Inter Miami (1-3) in Fort Lauderdale in late May, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC didn’t look back!

Losing just THREE MLS regular season games beyond May 13, this complete turnaround in form and consistency included noteworthy statement victories over rivals Atlanta United (1-2), plus conference topping duo St. Louis CITY SC (2-1) and FC Cincinnati (0-1).

This was not to mention a highly memorable 2-3 July triumph over Santos Laguna that dramatically sealed our group stage qualification in the 2023 Leagues Cup.

Or the simply incredible 4-3 comeback victory from 1-3 down against Columbus Crew on September 16.

Such was Orlando City SC‘s mid-season improvement that despite a big and disappointing setback on August 2, many City supporters were incredibly proud of the team’s fight and spirit after exiting our third and final cup competition of 2023 – a controversial 3-1 defeat against Lionel Messi and rivals Inter Miami in the 2023 Leagues Cup Round of 32.

Of all Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami games so far, the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner was undoubtedly most rattled in this game against Florida rivals Orlando City SC.

This didn’t go unnoticed by former USMNT forward and pundit Herculez Gomez who, later on in the tournament, commented on the Lions’ unique approach to unsettle Messi.

When it looked early on as if acclimating too many new faces at once, and playing attractive, attacking soccer, was going to prove a bridge too far for Oscar Pareja, the much-loved Colombian, his coaching staff, and the players pivoted in the face of adversity, maturely turning things around at just the right time.

Digging deep at the training ground, City’s coaching staff and locker room rallied to transform a forgettable MLS regular season into a highly promising one – one with genuine renewed hope and optimism.

Remarkably finishing the 2023 MLS regular season having won more games than ever before (18) and achieving our highest all-time single-season points tally (63) – finishing a mightily impressive second in the 2023 Supporters’ Shield despite having the lowest salary spend of all – Orlando City SC‘s complete turnaround culminated in home field advantage in the post-season and 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup qualification too.

Momentum is a huge thing in soccer and from here, things got even better in the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.

Impressively only requiring two games, not three, to overcome Nashville SC in the Round One Best-of-3 series in the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs, this set up our second ever Eastern Conference Semi-Final – a home tie with Columbus Crew at Exploria Stadium.

Agonisingly, this was the end of the road for Orlando City SC on a sobering and anticlimatic night.

Indeed, City frustratingly put in their worst performance in months to fall 0-2 at home to Columbus Crew.

Admittedly, the Ohio side were deserved winners on the night.

Of all the levels in which this post-season defeat stung, it was Rodrigo Schlegel’s reckless 77th minute red card that hurt the most.

Fatefully, Schlegel deservedly received a second yellow card and a red from referee Jon Freemon for tugging down Diego Rossi.

It was incredibly frustrating to be reduced to 10 men for a second successive Eastern Conference Semi-Final.

Timeline-wise, Mauricio Pereyra‘s untimely red card against New England Revolution in 2020 and Rodrigo Schlegel‘s untimely red card against Crew are three whole years apart.

Yet, there is the lineage of Orlando City SC becoming overly emotional in the heat of post-season battles and making rash decisions that have ultimately cost us dearly.

Papi’s brotherhood built in “the bubble”

Oscar Pareja continues his spell as Orlando City SC head coach with most City supporters’ best wishes having undoubtedly changed the club’s fortunes when nobody before him could.

Taking the Lions to the promised land of the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time in 2020, he repeated the feat in 2021, 2022, and for a fourth time in 2023.

In his debut 2020 campaign, a campaign blighted by an unprecented COVID-19 layoff, nobody will forget how Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC shocked everybody to reach the #MLSisBack Tournament Final – a competition hosted locally at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World.

Narrowly defeated 2-1 by Portland Timbers, Pareja was oh so close to pulling off a managerial masterstroke, taking all the plaudits he deserved as tournament runners-up.

It was in “the bubble” that Pareja’s band of brothers forged a special unbreakable bond, believing in themselves like no previous MLS iteration of Orlando City SC had before them.

Steering the City ship to the 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs too, no City fan will ever forget our first round penalty shootout victory over New York City FC when the legend of Rodrigo Schlegel was born!

Cruelly defeated 1-3 by New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final, Orlando City SC were no longer an MLS laughing stock and also-ran but a competitive, determined, and battle-ready outfit instead.

Performing in the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in 2023, by virtue of our 2022 U.S. Open Cup title, Orlando City SC impressively drew 0-0 and 1-1 with tournament favourites Tigres UANL.

Only eliminated in the Round of 16 by the away goals rule, Oscar Pareja‘s side did themselves proud considering the game came so early in 2023.

After all, it was our debut appearance in North America’s elite club competition.

Congratulations, Oscar!

Oscar Pareja has been one of the most experienced managerial figures in MLS having spent two seasons as Colorado Rapids head coach, five seasons at FC Dallas, and now four seasons at Orlando City SC.

One of the most dedicated and hardworking coaches around, Papi has so far coached the Lions for 1,476 days in total.

Orlando City UK would like to take this moment to say congratulations to Oscar Pareja on his contract extension and thank you for all his efforts since arriving in Central Florida in December 2019.

Incredibly passionate about Orlando City SC, to which we have no doubt, let’s hope that Oscar Pareja can finally deliver that elusive MLS Cup in his time remaining with the club.

The fans’ view

Following news of Oscar Pareja’s contract extension, Orlando City UK gathered the best of what Lions supporters are saying on Twitter.

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