After a frustrating 0-0 draw against CF Montréal in our 2024 MLS home opener last Saturday, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC now contest one of the biggest games on this year’s schedule – an away trip to Fort Lauderdale to face fierce Florida rivals Inter Miami.
This year’s Sunshine Clásico falls earlier than ever before with the Lions hoping to achieve the mouthwatering prospect of defeating Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and co in The Herons’ own backyard at Chase Stadium. Continue reading
Last Wednesday, Orlando City SC comprehensively defeated Cavalry FC 0-3 in leg one of our 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup Round One tie. Now contesting leg two at Inter&Co Stadium, the Lions are coming off a frustrating 0-0 draw against CF Montréal in our 2024 MLS home opener on Saturday.
Considering the Canadian Premier League is only five seasons old, there was a huge gulf in quality between Cavalry FC and Orlando City SC at Starlight Stadium. In this return leg, Oscar Pareja will be demanding another professional performance to finish off the job and seal our passage through to the Round of 16 where Tigres UANL await – just as they did last year – in a much more difficult proposition. Continue reading
After a short, breathless, and exciting off-season of refreshment, anticipation fills the air as Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC kick off the 2024 Major League Soccer campaign.
Starting at home for a tenth consecutive MLS season, City open against CF Montréal (just like we did in 2022) after our crushing 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs defeat to Columbus Crew back in November. Continue reading
After selecting him as the 21st overall pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft back on December 19, Orlando City SC have today announced that midfielder Jeorgio Kocevski has been signed to a first team contract at Inter&Co Stadium.
Part way through Round 1 of the draft, the Lions traded $50,000 in 2024 General Allocation Money and $75,000 in 2025 General Allocation Money to Colorado Rapids in exchange for the 21st overall pick. Clearly hoping to get their hands on Kocevski, it all turned out as planned for the Orlando City SC Front Office. After all, the 21-year-old is now officially a Lion and hoping to emulate the success of former draft picks Cyle Larin, Daryl Dike, and Duncan McGuire before him. Continue reading
Heavily linked with Orlando City SC since January 31, the Lions have today announced the signing of experienced striker Luis Muriel from Atalanta. Becoming our third Designated Player after Facundo Torres and Martín Ojeda, and our fifteenth ever DP in MLS, the 32-year-old has signed a three-year contract through 2026 at Inter&Co Stadium for a fee believed to be worth around €2 million.
Despite Duncan McGuire returning to Central Florida after his six-month loan to Blackburn Rovers collapsed, the 45-cap Colombian international Muriel will now, in all likelihood, lead the line for City with the Orlando City SC Front Office pulling the trigger on his permanent transfer now rather than waiting for him to become a free agent in June when his current contract was set to expire in Bergamo, Italy. Continue reading
(Credit: Orlando City SC)
Probably more important than any on-field signing Orlando City SC could have made this off-season, the Lions have crucially retained the services of dynamic Brazilian duo Luiz Muzzi and Ricardo Moreira who have each signed new two-year contracts through 2025 at Inter&Co Stadium yesterday.
Executive Vice President of Soccer Operations and General Manager Luiz Muzzi, and Technical Director Ricardo Moreira were last promoted back in January 2022 and have each played a pivotal role in City’s player recruitment and subsequent upward trajectory since being hired ahead of the 2019 season – moves that saw Moreira join from Columbus Crew and Muzzi reunite with Oscar Pareja after working together at FC Dallas. Continue reading
Heavily linked with Orlando City SC since early January, the Lions have today announced the signing of centre back David Brekalo from Viking Stavanger with the 25-year-old signing a contract through 2027 (with a club option in 2028) at Inter&Co Stadium for a fee believed to be worth $2.5 million.
After City overcame a cheeky beat-the-deadline loan bid from Blackburn Rovers, the 6 ft 1 in Slovenian international of 11 caps now fills the void left by former City favourite Antônio Carlos who departed Central Florida this winter, returning to his native Brazil when joining Fluminense back in December. Continue reading
Signed from AIK back in March 2019, longtime Lion and club captain elect Robin Jansson has now signed a new contract through 2025 with a club option in 2026, keeping the man affectionately known as “The Viking” at Inter&Co Stadium for at least the next two seasons. A hugely popular player and quite simply the greatest defender in Orlando City SC‘s MLS history, Robin Jansson‘s 2023 campaign was undoubtedly his best in a purple jersey so far.
While the once-capped Swedish international couldn’t toast 2023 with silverware – like he did in 2022 – Jansson started 31 of the Lions’ 34 regular season fixtures and was part of a City defence that conceded just 39 goals. This is by far the fewest amount of goals we’ve conceded in a complete 34-game Major League Soccer regular season. Not bad for a former horseshoe factory worker, right? Harshly not named as a 2023 MLS Defender of the Year finalist, us Orlando City SC supporters truly recognise the 32-year-old’s worth, especially those incredibly accurate raking upfield passes from deep, his immaculate reading of the game, and those surgically precise last ditch tackles that he’s forged a successful MLS career upon. Continue reading
With England’s January transfer window deadline having just closed at 11pm (GMT), Orlando City SC have now announced that Duncan McGuire has joined EFL Championship side Blackburn Rovers on a six-month loan. With Tom Bogert confirming that the loan fee is worth $700,000 with a purchase option of around $7 million, plus $2.5 million in add-ons, McGuire’s move across the pond comes after he reportedly rejected a contract extension in Central Florida. This alone is merely half the story however!
A high drama situation that has been unravelling all week, Blackburn looked all set to wrap up the deal yesterday. However, despite McGuire flying to England on Wednesday to seal his transfer to Ewood Park, Rovers then pulled out of a rumoured $4 million deal for the recently capped USMNT striker at the eleventh hour due to ‘financial reasons’. This not only left McGuire – on his transatlantic flight at the time – in limbo but also the Orlando City SC Front Office and City supporters who all faced an unprecedented transfer saga, or should we say soap opera, that has truly had supporters, journalists, and pundits transfixed since last weekend. News of the Blackburn deal collapsing then alerted McGuire’s other suitors Sheffield Wednesday with the striker spotted at Kenwood Park Hotel in Sheffield this morning.
Are you still following? From here, after cheekily attempting to hijack Orlando City SC’s move for David Brekalo, Blackburn remarkably re-entered negotiations for Duncan McGuire, and at 4:15pm this afternoon, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano put everybody out of their misery by tweeting that McGuire was “on his way to Blackburn to sign on loan with an option to buy clause.”
A saga that has had more twists and turns than the VelociCoaster at Universal Islands of Adventure, it’s been one of the craziest weeks in Orlando City SC‘s MLS history. With Duncan McGuire joining Rovers on loan until July, City must now wait to cash in on the 22-year-old with the start of our 2024 campaign looming large. A shock for some and an inevitability for others, City have now been forced back into the transfer market to find a starting centre forward replacement for the recently capped USMNT striker with Colombian international Luis Muriel looking the most likely candidate as we speak. Continue reading
After hitting a stumbling block in pursuit of our top defensive transfer target David Brekalo, Orlando City SC now appear to have cast their net wider in the search for Antônio Carlos‘ replacement at centre back.
In a translated version of an article by Jorge Romero in En Cancha today, the Chilean source claims that Orlando City SC are the Major League Soccer team “that has made enquiries about” Colo-Colo defender Alan Saldivia “both in its representation agency and in the club.” Continue reading
