Orlando City SC Collapse in Stoppage Time vs Toronto FC

Orlando, FL – Heading into tonight’s match vs Toronto FC, Orlando City hadn’t exactly found their form. However, after their rough start to the season, they did seem to find a competitive groove once again. Orlando hadn’t lost a match since March 17th. Since then, they won two and drew two. Today, however, Orlando collapse after being up 1-0 in stoppage time vs Toronto FC, giving up two goals in the ensuing minutes only to lose in the process.

Team Challenges

The problems that persist today aren’t much different from what they were experiencing at the beginning of the season. The new signings haven’t meshed with the established OCSC players. On top of that, they haven’t figured out their identity as a team yet.

The Luis Muriel / Nico Lodeiro signings haven’t exactly shown fruit. Orlando’s in the bottom half of goals scored thus far this season. These two were brought in to light it up, and they’ve fallen well short of that expectation. They’re both ranked top five in Orlando for “shots on target”, but only Lodeiro has managed to score a goal. He’s also notched two assists, which is tied for the team lead with Ivan Angulo and Martin Ojeda. To me, that’s more an indictment of their lack of scoring. For reference, the league-leader in assists heading into the matchday, Cristian Arango, has seven assists. Muriel has none.

In the postgame presser, Lodeiro even admitted to some challenges in acclimating to the team, saying “…This is my challenge for this year. Try to connect with them. I know it’s a process. Different team, different formations, different group…”

This is the duo #OrlandoCity fans have wanted to see build up some momentum. What a play!#VamosOrlandopic.twitter.com/ZvnSl0KQwV

— Gustavo Chacon (@onaPSIh) April 28, 2024

What’s Worked

On the flip side, Duncan McGuire is scoring with some consistency. He leads the team in goals. In fact, he’s the only player with more than one goal across all MLS matches this season. The young goal-scorer hasn’t started with enough consistency. However, with Muriel struggling to find success, maybe we can expect Duncan to take on more playing time.

He did start Saturday’s game, and with Facundo Torres managing the middle for a second-straight match, I fully expected them to connect. I thought it would come a lot sooner, but in 37′, Facu received a lob pass from Jansson on the left, with room to run. He got just inside the 18 and crossed it, only to find Duncan, who one-touched it into the back of the net.

Moving Forward

Duncan isn’t really a playmaker, unless he’s creating for himself with room to run. However, he’s a damn good finisher. Consistently pair him with a playmaker, like Facu, and goals will follow. At this point, Orlando should be creating some consistency with Facu and Duncan. It’s clearly going to take some time for Lodeiro and Muriel to find their groove within the squad, but with some consistency, they’ll be chasing a moving target.

Next up, Orlando host a very good Cincinnati FC, who sit at #2 in the East, this Saturday at 7:30PM.