It’s been a bumpy first part of the season for Orlando City SC. The Lions opened the 2026 campaign with three consecutive losses, leading to the departure of head coach Oscar Pareja.
Martín Perelman took over for Pareja — who had led the Lions to six consecutive postseason appearances — as the interim coach. After 12 matches, Perelman’s tenure has been defined by extremes. Thrilling results like the 4-3 comeback win against Inter Miami have been offset by collapses like the 6-0 loss at LAFC and the 6-2 defeat at Cincinnati in the final game before the long World Cup break.
With the recess over, Orlando City returns to action Wednesday at 4-9-2 with 14 points through 15 MLS matches.
Where has the Lions’ season gone wrong? The uneven overall performance can be traced back — first and foremost — to a leaky defense. Orlando City has conceded 44 goals in 15 league matches, worst in MLS.
The attack has also been less consistent than in 2025, when the team scored a club-record 63 goals, but Martín Ojeda has still produced at a high level with 11 goals across all competitions. The issues are overwhelmingly on the other end of the field.
There’s been significant roster turnover, too. Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese left at the end of his contract. Defender Alex Freeman, the 2025 MLS Young Player of the Year and Best XI selection, transferred to Villarreal in Spain’s La Liga for a reported $7 million, a club-record fee for a Homegrown Player. Freeman became a breakout star for the U.S. Men’s National Team in the World Cup.
Midfielder César Araújo’s contract expired and he signed a free-agent deal with Tigres UANL in Mexico. Defender Rodrigo Schlegel left for Atlas in Liga MX. In their place came goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, Brazilian center back Iago Teodoro, midfielder Braian Ojeda, forward Tiago, and arguably the biggest signing in club history: Antoine Griezmann.
Martin Perelman, middle, took over the head coaching duties for Orlando City SC after the club lost its first three matches this season and parted ways with Oscar Pareja. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
Orlando City resumes MLS play Wednesday at San Jose. After facing the Earthquakes, the Lions come home to play Nashville SC on July 25 in Griezmann’s expected home debut.
Looking ahead to the remainder of Orlando City’s season, here are some of the storylines to follow:
Can Antoine Griezmann elevate this team?
Griezmann has already played in two preseason friendlies with the club after the MLS secondary transfer window opened July 13, and he is expected to make his competitive debut when the season resumes.
The 35-year-old arrives as Atlético Madrid’s all-time leading scorer with 211 goals in 488 appearances. He won the 2018 World Cup with France, retired from international soccer in 2024 with 137 caps and 44 goals, and finished third in Ballon d’Or voting twice. He is the second World Cup winner to play for Orlando City after Kaká, who joined the club in 2015.
Griezmann’s profile allows him to operate as a secondary forward or attacking midfielder, dropping deep to facilitate progression. His flexibility allows Perelman to tweak his preferred formation to find which setup works best. He is a creative attacking player, and his ability on the ball immediately makes him one of the more serious scoring threats in MLS.
The club also traded striker Duncan McGuire to Houston on July 10 for up to $2.4 million in general allocation money, and Daryl Dike is reportedly returning to the club, per The Athletic. When you factor in Griezmann’s arrival, McGuire’s departure and Dike’s potential addition as a physical target forward, the attacking makeup of this team looks very different from what it was at the break. Whether Griezmann can lift a squad that was 12th in the Eastern Conference when play paused is the defining question of the second half.
Is Martín Perelman the coach going forward?
Perelman took over on an interim basis after Pareja’s departure, and the club has not indicated whether he will be retained beyond this season or replaced by a permanent hire.
The results have not answered the question. Orlando City has been wildly inconsistent, a side capable of a 4-3 comeback at Inter Miami and a 4-1 U.S. Open Cup rout of Atlanta in the same stretch where it lost 6-0 at LAFC and 6-2 at Cincinnati. Perelman has leaned into a 4-4-2 formation and given young players meaningful minutes, but the defensive record has been historically poor on his watch.
The U.S. Open Cup run has helped his case. Perelman has guided the team to three straight wins in the tournament, including a 4-3 comeback against New England in the Round of 16 and the 4-1 quarterfinal win over Atlanta, where the team scored four goals in the first half. He was named to the U.S. Open Cup Team of the Round following the Atlanta match. If Orlando reaches or wins the Open Cup final, that changes the conversation around his future entirely.
Griezmann’s arrival adds another layer. Perelman is the coach tasked with integrating a world-class player into a struggling team. How he manages that, and whether results improve, will likely determine his future. A strong second half could make the interim tag disappear. A poor one could accelerate the search for a permanent replacement.
The defense needs reinforcements
Orlando has conceded 44 goals in 15 league matches. Opponents have scored in all 15 regular-season matches, meaning Orlando has not recorded a shutout this season. The 2.93 goals-per-match concession rate is the worst in MLS.
The roster turnover at the back has been significant. Gallese was a steady presence in goal for five seasons. Freeman developed into one of the best young defenders in the league before leaving for La Liga. Schlegel and Araújo both departed, further thinning a group that was already being rebuilt. Captain Robin Jansson missed the first several weeks of the season recovering from foot surgery, leaving 21-year-old Iago to start alongside David Brekalo before Jansson returned in early April.
Crépeau has filled the goalkeeper role but has been asked to do too much behind a back line that gives up chances at an alarming rate. The team is on pace to concede roughly 100 goals, which would obliterate the current MLS single-season record of 77 goals allowed, set by the San Jose Earthquakes in 2024.
The secondary transfer window opened July 13, and the front office has already made one move, trading McGuire to Houston for a GAM bounty. That money could be directed toward defensive reinforcements. Whether the club makes another acquisition before the window closes will say a lot about how the front office views the second half, whether as a chance to compete or a period to build toward 2027.
How the young players perform will set this team’s ceiling
Orlando City fielded five players under the age of 22 in the season opener against New York, the first time the club had done so in MLS play since its inaugural 2015 season. That number alone captures the shift this roster is going through.
Colin Guske, 19, was forced into the opening match when Wilder Cartagena went down with a hamstring injury in the 14th minute. With Eduard Atuesta already out, the teenager played 76 minutes and held his own in the midfield pivot. Iago, 21, started at center back before Jansson’s return and had a rough debut, but Pareja said at the time the young Brazilian had been pushed into action too soon. He has had more time to adjust since.
Tiago, the 21-year-old Brazilian forward, scored during his MLS debut in the season opener and added two more goals in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal against Atlanta. He has three goals across all competitions. Justin Ellis, the 19-year-old homegrown forward, has two. Zakaria Taifi, 20, and Luís Otávio, 19, have both received regular minutes in the midfield. Nolan Miller, the 21-year-old SuperDraft pick, has provided depth at center back.
Orlando City’s Tiago celebrates after scoring a goal in his MLS debut on Feb. 21 against Red Bull New York. The 21-year-old has three goals across all competitions for the Lions. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)
With McGuire gone and Griezmann at the top of the attacking hierarchy, the young players around Griezmann and Ojeda need to produce. Tiago and Ellis, in particular, will be asked to contribute in the attacking half. This is one of the youngest Orlando City rosters in the MLS era, and the second half is where the club finds out whether that’s a foundation or a limitation.
The cup competitions offer a realistic path to silverware
Orlando sits 12th in the Eastern Conference with 14 points and 19 games remaining. Making the playoffs from that position would require a dramatic turnaround that the first 15 games gave little reason to expect. Griezmann’s addition should help, but the chances of turning things around enough to be a serious MLS Cup contender are slim.
The cup competitions are a different story. Orlando has already reached the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, where it will face the Columbus Crew on Sept. 16. This is Orlando’s third Open Cup semifinal after 2019, when the club lost to Atlanta, and 2022, when it won the tournament for the only trophy in the club’s MLS era.
The run has been one of the few bright spots of the season. Orlando beat FC Naples 1-0 on the road in the Round of 32, came back from three separate deficits to beat the New England Revolution 4-3 in the Round of 16, and routed Atlanta 4-1 in the quarterfinals behind two goals from Tiago and goals from David Brekalo and Griffin Dorsey.
The Leagues Cup begins Aug. 4, with Orlando City hosting Monterrey, León, and Atlético San Luis in phase one at Inter&Co Stadium. All three matches are at home, and the Leagues Cup offers another potential route to CONCACAF Champions Cup qualification.
With Griezmann now available for all of these matches, the cup competitions may be where this season’s bottom line is decided.