{"id":410851,"date":"2026-07-24T15:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410851\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T15:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:20:19","slug":"character-earns-first-clean-sheet-for-orlando-city-over-san-jose-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/410851\/","title":{"rendered":"Character earns first clean sheet for Orlando City over San Jose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Orlando City staff didn\u2019t sleep during the World Cup break. They loaded the Lions\u2019 roster for the strong teams they would meet.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5e\">The San Jose Earthquakes awaited Orlando City SC, standing on 32 points in the MLS Western Conference. The Lions took their pitch with a modest seven points.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5h\">No one at the stadium had any idea what the Lions had cooking for the Earthquakes. Just seven minutes into the match at PayPal Park, Eduard Atuesta took a free kick that was headed home by David Brekalo.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5k\">Then, in the 29th minute, Ivan Angulo drove the ball for a score, assisted again by Atuesta with a second assist from Braian Ojeda.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">Justin Ellis served Antoine Griezmann, who banked on his chance in the 48th minute. There was time in the 73rd minute for one more header. This one came from Ojeda, who gathered assists from Atuesta and Ellis.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">San Jose goalkeeper Angus Gunn could never get into the right position against the Lions\u2019 attack. Their favored formation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2026\/matches\/sjvsorl-07-22-2026\/lineups\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">remained the 4-4-2<\/a> throughout the match. Interim head coach Martin Perelman has had enough of marching in place with this team, and the players responded.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">Although the Earthquakes matched the Lions with seven shots on target, Orlando keeper Maxime Crepeau saved them all. He was helped by an energized Orlando defense. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/01ky8kmv42ft8dhcc2vq.jpg\" alt=\"Antoine Griezmann supporter\" title=\"Antoine Griezmann supporter\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"63\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 9, 2024; Paris, France; French fans wave flags and hold up a cutout of midfielder Antoine Griezmann before the men&#8217;s soccer gold medal match against Spain during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Parc des Princes. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">San Jose was shut out 4-0. Yet by luck and mathematics, their stagnant 32 points kept them tied for first place in the MLS West with the Vancouver Whitecaps. The resulting 10-point total for Orlando puts them solidly in 10th place in the East.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">In the strongest campaigns of the Lions\u2019 recent past, they played <a href=\"https:\/\/otowns11.com\/formation-variations-no-problem-for-orlando-city-sc-in-playoffs-01jdw61v69wk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tough but always with their heads<\/a>. They were prepared to use whatever works to manufacture a victory. This has now become the focus of their 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandocitysc.com\/news\/they-said-it-martin-perelman-and-maxime-crepeau-share-their-thoughts-after-win-at-san-jose\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Perelman called the victory<\/a> with clean sheet the result of energy and character by Orlando City. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">It\u2019s the first clean sheet of the season for Orlando City SC. But it\u2019s not the last.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow otowns11.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=otowns11.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orlando City staff didn\u2019t sleep during the World Cup break. They loaded the Lions\u2019 roster for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-410851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}