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
(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
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
A veteran of 88 MLS regular season appearances for Orlando City SC, the Lions today confirmed that defender Antônio Carlos has completed a transfer to Campeonato Brasileiro Série A side Fluminense back in his native Brazil.
Initially signed on loan at Exploria Stadium back in 2020, the 30-year-old departs Central Florida as a hugely popular player, one whose esteemed centre back partnership with Robin Jansson has been pivotal in our upward trajectory under Oscar Pareja. Continue reading
Today, Orlando City SC officially announced their updated first team roster following the end of the 2023 Major League Soccer campaign.
The first comprehensive evidence as to who is staying, potentially remaining and departing Exploria Stadium before 2024, just two players were named in the ‘option declined’ column. Continue reading
This past week, we asked the Orlando City SC Twittersphere to select their Orlando City SC Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year for 2023 as part of our annual Orlando City UK end-of-season awards.
A public vote designed to recognise the standout Orlando City SC players in our highly impressive, yet agonisingly unfruitful 2023 campaign, we can now proudly reveal the winners as voted by you! Continue reading
Reaching the MLS Cup Playoffs for a fourth consecutive season and qualifying for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup too, Orlando City SC have come a long way since our disappointing early years in Major League Soccer.
In a year that saw the Lions win more games than ever before (18) and achieve their 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 – our latest public vote is designed to recognise the standout players in the Lions’ 2023 season. Continue reading
Warning; this blog comes with a disclaimer. Before you read any further, we’d like to warn you that there is a high probability that you risk upsetting yourself all over again as we delve deep into Orlando City SC‘s crushing 0-2 home defeat to Columbus Crew last night in the Eastern Conference Semi-Final stage of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.
With #HuntingSeason now officially over, our crushing defeat stings on so many levels and not just for the simple fact that we had Crew’s number during the regular season, yet fell to the Ohio side in the post-season when it truly mattered most. Continue reading
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, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC are now set to contest their second ever Eastern Conference Semi-Final. Now reverting back to a single elimination format, just two games separate the Lions from 2023 MLS Cup itself, the holy grail fixture that may yet be hosted at Exploria Stadium, barring overall number one seed FC Cincinnati reaching this stage of course.
Now hosting overall number three seed Columbus Crew, qualifying from their own Best-of-3 series after a game three win (4-2) over Atlanta United on November 12, Orlando City SC drew 1-1 and won 4-3 against Wilfried Nancy’s Crew side in the MLS regular season. Considering the Ohio side had to contest a third game in Round One compared to the Lions, City have enjoyed more rest regardless of the recent international break, something that we hope provides us some form of advantage in our biggest MLS game since our Eastern Conference Semi-Final defeat to New England Revolution (1-3) back in November 2020. Continue reading
A TOP TWO seed for the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs, subsequent home field advantage in the post-season, and 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup qualification have now all been clinched! Indeed, the Lions achieved these fantastic feats after defeating New England Revolution 3-2 in our final home game of the 2023 MLS regular season. With City’s victory and a 0-0 tie between Philadelphia Union and Nashville SC sealing our top two status, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC now visit BMO Field to face Eastern Conference whipping boys Toronto FC on 2023 MLS Decision Day.
Sealing our ninth home victory of the MLS season back on October 7, a result that saw us reach 60 points in the East, a first-half Mauricio Pereyra masterclass helped the Lions on their way to another morale-boosting win – our first MLS victory over bogey opponent Revs in 11 league meetings.
In all my years watching the team, the last month or so has seen Orlando City SC produce the most convincing and consistent soccer we’ve ever played in MLS. Already clinching our spot in the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs back on September 20 – earlier than ever before with five games to spare – this MLS Decision Day is refreshingly stress-free for City supporters.
Indeed, on MLS Decision Day in both 2021 and 2022, Orlando City SC agonisingly went into the final day of the regular season knowing that by full-time, they could be in or out of the post-season. Fortunately making it on both occasions, 2023 MLS Decision Day is excitingly all about extending our fine form into the post-season. Successfully securing our top two seeding prior to the international break, City can now look forward to hosting two home games in the newly revamped Round One Best-of-3 series of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. The icing on the cake, the Lions can also look forward to appearing in the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup too, qualifying for the tournament for a second successive season courtesy of having secured a top two Eastern Conference finish.
All that’s left for Orlando City SC to find out on 2023 MLS Decision Day is whether they will be facing Atlanta United, Nashville SC or New England Revolution in Round One of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. Continue reading
