After a brief respite with a feel-good win over CF Montreal, the Lions went back to getting throttled, falling 5-0 to Nashville SC at Geodis Park. The hosts led just five minutes in through Cristian Espinoza, and Sam Surridge scored from the penalty spot before the break and added two more goals in the second half. The Lions (1-4-0, 3 points) wasted the few chances they created in a thorough defeat to Nashville (4-0-1, 13 points), and Warren Madrigal added to the Lions’ misery with a goal late.
That the loss wasn’t worse came down to a few big saves from Maxime Crepeau and some near misses by Nashville attackers on a night that thoroughly exposed the inexperience and lack of quality of Orlando’s back line and an underachieving midfield.
“We faced a team who is in another moment than us,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said after the match. “Of course, we’re sad because we represent our community, our people, but as I spoke with the players, everybody, can be sure that this team is going to be fine. We’re going to work as we always did, and we’re going to be fine.”
Fullback Griffin Dorsey offered up a more blunt summary of the game.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. I think it’s pretty obvious at this point,” Dorsey said. “We need to prevent goals. We need to score goals. We just have a lot of work to do. We’re not going to quit, we’re not going to give up, we’re not going to throw in the towel. The season’s long, f**king long year, and we have a team that’s f**king willing to fight, so with all the results that have happened up until now, we can promise you as a player pool, as a coaching staff, we will continue to f**king push every day to be better.”
Perelman’s lineup changed yet again due to mounting injuries to the squad that kept Eduard Atuesta and David Brekalo out. Crepeau returned from his red card suspension to start in goal behind a back line of Adrian Marin, Iago, Nolan Miller, and Dorsey. Luis Otavio slotted into the starting lineup for Atuesta, joining Braian Ojeda in central midfield between wingers Ivan Angulo and Marco Pasalic, with Martin Ojeda and Duncan McGuire up top.
Nashville, which played on the road in a heavy downpour Wednesday night, looked like the fresher team from the jump, and the Lions wasted no time falling behind. Left with space in the right channel wide of the penalty area, Espinoza smashed a cross or a shot that hit the crossbar close to the near post, beating Crepeau and making it 1-0 in just the fifth minute. Marin gave Espinoza at least 12 yards of space on the play, forcing Angulo to mark two players. The Colombian could not track back quickly enough to prevent the shot/cross and it was costly.
The hosts kept Orlando pinned in their end for stretches and the Lions were sloppy trying to break out of the pressure, allowing Nashville to stay on the front foot. Nashville won a corner in the 12th minute when Dorsey did well to block a point-blank header from Surridge out for a corner. The ensuing set piece was recycled to Maxwell Woledzi at the top of the area but he fired over the bar.
Orlando City had a chance to tie things up against the run of play when a good ball in behind found McGuire, but he tried to go over Brian Schwake and the shot was at a good height for Nashville’s keeper to make a good save in the 14th minute.
Surridge was left completely unmarked two minutes later, sending a header just wide but he was ruled offside anyway, sparing both the striker and Orlando’s defense some blushes.
Nashville won another corner in the 25th minute and it helped the hosts double the lead. Miller was on Jeisson Palacios but panicked and pulled the center back down by his shirt. Victor Rivas immediately pointed to the spot and booked the rookie defender. Surridge scored from the spot to make it 2-0 a minute later.
Orlando City won a corner in the 31st minute but did nothing with it, and the hosts took control again. Surridge fired from point-blank range after getting onto a back-post ball in the 34th minute. Crepeau made a good reaction save. The rebound went out to the right, where Nashville smashed it into the outside netting.
Crepeau made another good reaction save in the 36th minute when Mukhtar laid off a pass for Patrick Yazbek’s shot from point-blank range. The Canadian goalkeeper could only make himself big and hope for the best, and the shot hit him and rebounded away. Nashville regrouped and Mukhtar tried to set himself up for a shot from distance but he telegraphed the attempt and Braian Ojeda was able to deflect it to take the sting out of the attempt.
Angulo got Orlando’s last look of the half, trying a shot from outside the box in the 43rd minute. It went just wide, and Schwake may have gotten a fingertip to it but a goal kick was given.
The hosts closed the half strong, winning a corner and then setting up Espinoza for a shot that went just wide of the left post in stoppage time. The halftime whistle finally provided the Lions with some relief.
Nashville dominated the stat sheet as it did the scoreboard in the first half, finishing with a big advantage in possession (64%-36%), shots (9-4), shots on target (5-1), passing accuracy (90.2%-76%), and corners (3-1). The score was only 2-0, but it could have been much worse, and the possession definitely felt more lopsided than the statistician says.
“The (halftime) message (from Perelman) was not prevent whatsoever. The message was, we’re going out there to push for a goal, one goal at a time,” Dorsey said. “Obviously, that didn’t happen, but we’re never going to go out there just to prevent, just to stay stuck in and not get scored on. The message was very clear that we’re going to push for a goal, and we’re going to push to get back in this game. I think at two-zero, we did have some opportunities. Obviously, the game got away from us, but once again, we’re a team that’s going to push for for whatever we can.”
Colin Guske subbed on for Otavio at the half. The young Brazilian MLS U22 Initiative player has played 90 minutes of MLS soccer and departed with a -5 goal differential when on the pitch. While circumstances dictated some of that, Orlando’s inability to control the midfield was partially due to his play, and Guske helped settle things down a bit after coming on.
Orlando City won some early set pieces in the second half but couldn’t pay them off due to wasteful service. The best opportunity to climb back into the game came on a long throw by Marin that ricocheted through the area to Pasalic, but his shot from close range deflected off a defender and out for another corner opportunity that the Lions wasted.
It nearly got worse for Orlando in the 52nd minute with a ball into the box that took a fortunate deflection away from a Nashville attacker, allowing the defense to clear. It didn’t make much difference, as Surridge scored again three minutes later.
Orlando City turned the ball over in the attacking half, igniting the counterattack. Iago got caught straying too far from Mukhtar in transition, and Dorsey and Miller both took the same guy, with the fullback arriving late. The ball popped out in front to Nashville’s top scorer, who was wide open in front of goal. Surridge easily made it 3-0 in the 55th minute.
Dorsey had a chance to stop the bleeding in the 58th minute. McGuire fed the right back a good ball to send him in on goal. Dorsey beat Schwake but couldn’t beat the left post. The ball caromed off the upright and just past the onrushing Angulo, allowing Nashville to clear the danger on Orlando’s best scoring opportunity of the night.
That pass, which should have been an assist, was McGuire’s last involvement on the night. Tiago replaced him and Zakaria Taifi came on for Marin. Taifi was gifted a great opportunity shortly after coming on. Taking a layoff at the top left corner of the box, the Homegrown fullback had space to shoot, but his curling effort was off target, sailing over the crossbar at the hour mark.
Moments later, Tiago drew a foul near the right corner. Martin Ojeda went for goal at the near post, but he missed and instead found the outside netting in the 65th minute.
Nashville punished Orlando’s wasted chances almost immediately on yet another transition attack when Espinoza stole the ball off Taifi. As the hosts poured forward with numbers, Iago and Miller both closed down Espinoza in the middle, leaving him a gaping channel on the left. Espinoza easily threaded a diagonal pass to Nashville’s most dangerous attacking threat, who extended the lead to 3-0 in the 67th minute.
Yutaro Tsukada replaced Dorsey, taking over the left wing spot and moving Angulo to right back. Aside from that, nothing really changed. Iago picked up a yellow card after getting drawn too high by Mukhtar, who then easily rounded him. The Brazilian chopped him down from behind, taking the booking.
For a brief moment, Orlando City players thought they’d gotten something to go their way when Angulo got forward and sent a good, low cross in front for Tiago, who flicked it into the net. However, the young Brazilian was just about a foot offside and the goal didn’t count.
Three minutes later, Taifi and Iago each made desperation blocks in front to keep the match at 4-0. That didn’t last long, because Iago’s deflection went out for a corner and the hosts made it pay off. Nashville sent a ball in to the top of the area, and Madrigal curled in a screamer to make it 5-0 in the 80th minute.
The Lions learned nothing from the first 80 minutes and kept giving up excellent transition chances. Ahmed Qasem missed just wide of the right post in the 82nd minute, and Crepeau was forced to make a critical save on a Mukhtar breakaway after the Nashville Designated Player’s run was ignored by the back line near midfield.
After Orlando couldn’t pay off a set piece that Tsukada won, it was Woobens Pacius’ turn to have a wide open shot on the counter, which he sent just wide in the 86th minute.
Orlando City’s last good chance to spoil the shutout came two minutes later, when Martin Ojeda found space just outside the box and smoked a shot just over the crossbar.
Madrigal was left alone again in the third minute of stoppage time but he couldn’t hit the target on the final good opportunity of the match.
Nashville didn’t just destroy the Lions on the scoreboard. The hosts owned every major category on the stat sheet, finishing with more possession (58.2%-41.8%), shots (18-10), shots on target (9-1), and passing accuracy (90.2%-83%). By winning a few late ones, Orlando managed to equal Nashville’s five corner kicks.
“It’s tough to analyze now the game,” Perelman said. “As I said, I think this is a moment to stay calm, to work. We need to work. We need to work. We will do it. We know this league, this (season) is long, and we know how to how to go through the league. And I will repeat it once and once and once again, we’re going to be fine, because we’re going to work.”
“There’s no doubt that we we knew that they had just played away and yeah, the message for us was was pretty clear on the fact that we wanted to start strong, and that obviously didn’t happen,” Dorsey said. “So, once again, we just have some work to do, and in all facets of the game, start to finish.”
It’s unknown how much work will be required to fix a defense that is now on pace to concede 115 goals this season. The club’s record for goals allowed over a full season is 74, which is 41 goals fewer than what the 2026 team is on pace to concede. Orlando City has been outscored 10-0 in its two road matches — both 5-0 losses — but this time the Lions weren’t down a man for more than 70 minutes, finishing the game with a full 11 that looked more like seven or eight at times.
Orlando City has a pause for the international break before it continues this three-game road trip with a visit to LAFC on April 4.