ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Major League Soccer returns to the pitch Saturday with 13 matches \u2014 including the New York Red Bull paying a visit to Orlando City SC at Inter&Co Stadium starting at 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
After advancing to the MLS Cup Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season in 2025, the Lions underwent an offseason overhaul of their roster, and the 2026 club will feature nine new first-team players, including three Under-22 Initiative signings.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur objective always is winning. Despite that we have some transformation, the team still has big objectives,\u201d coach Oscar Pareja says. \u201cIt starts with New York and then the next game against Miami, and our aim is to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pareja said qualifying for the playoffs is not good enough anymore. It will be a process and the young players will need to be developed, he said, but the club is looking to finish better as the growth continues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to win the MLS Cup,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Who is new?<\/p>\n
Among the higher-profile offseason signings are goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, the Canadian international who was signed after time spent with the Portland Timbers, and Braian Ojeda, who the Lions acquired from Real Salt Lake in exchange for $650,000 in 2026 general alllocation money and $650,000 in 2027 general allocation money. Salt Lake could also receive $475,000 more in general allocation money if Ojeda reaches several performance-based metrics. Real Salt Lake will also retain a sell-on percentage on Ojeda if he moves again in the future. Additionally, Orlando City has signed Ojeda to a new contract through the 2028-29 season, with a club option for the 2029-30 season.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Lions also acquired defender Griffin Dorsey from Houston Dynamo FC in exchange for $600,000 in 2026 general allocation money and $400,000 in 2027 general allocation money. Houston could receive another $200,000 if Dorsey meets some specific performance incentives and will retain a sell-on percentage if he is moved in the future. Dorsey signed a new contract with Orlando City through the 2027-28 MLS season, with a club option for 2028-29.<\/p>\n
Orlando City\u2019s three U22 Initiative additions are midfielder Luis Otavio from Brazilian Serie A side Internacional and forward Tiago Souza. Tiago will join the Lions via transfer from Esporte\u00a0Clube Bahia of S\u00e9rie A, Brazil\u2019s top division, through\u00a0the\u00a02027-28\u00a0season, with a club\u00a0option\u00a0for\u00a02028-29,\u00a0pending receipt of his P-1 visa and International Transfer Certificate. Center back Iago Teodoro served as captain for Brazil at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup and helped Flamengo win several titles.<\/p>\n
General Manager and Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira said it was a combination of coincidence and planning that led Orlando City to bring in multiple Brazilian players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe brought in players that we believe will fit more naturally in our culture, in the culture of the locker room and in the culture of our city,\u201d Moreira said. \u201cBrazilians are known for that in Orlando and Orlando City, and in Florida in general, so that plays a good part on this. \u2026We did lots of changes in the roster, so we were trying to minimize the risk of adaptation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orlando City continued to add players as late as Friday, when it signed Academy and Orlando City B product Justin Ellis to a first-team contract as a homegrown player through the 2027 MLS season, with\u00a0club options for 2027-28 and 2028-29. The forward has made one first-team appearance while on a short-term agreement for part of last season.<\/p>\n
Orlando also made four first-round picks in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft, signing two to first-team contracts \u2014 attacker Harvey Sarajian, the No. 5 overall pick out of Wake Forest, and center back Nolan Miller, the No. 9 overall selection out of Michigan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moreira confirmed that the Lions still have an open designated player position that they hope to fill before the current transfer window closes in mid-March. If they don\u2019t add a DP before then, he said another player could be added in the summer.<\/p>\n
Who is back?<\/p>\n
The new players will join forward Duncan McGuire, designated player Marco Pasalic, who scored 15 goals and had six assists and made an MLS All-Star appearance last season, and attacker Martin Ojeda, who signed a new deal in the offseason that will keep him in the club\u2019s control through the 2029-30 season. Ojeda scored 20 goals and assisted on 19 for the 2025 Lions. McGuire scored just three goals and made two assists last season after needing surgery on each of his shoulders but said he is eager to return to the form that has left him one goal behind former captain Nani for fourth all-time with the club.<\/p>\n
Among the other returning players are are midfielders Wilder Cartagena, who missed last season after needing surgery to repair an Achilles’ tendon, and midfielder Eduard Atuesta, who signed a new contract that keeps him with the Lions through the 2028-29 Major League Soccer season. The deal includes a club option for the 2029-30 campaign.<\/p>\n
Who has moved on?<\/p>\n
Gone are longtime goaltender Pedro Gallese, who signed with Colombian side Deportivo Cali after the expiration of his contract, and striker Luis Muriel, who returned to Atletico Junior in Colombia. Uruguayan defensive midfielder Cesar Araujo signed with LIGA MX\u2019s Tgres UANL when his contract ended, and Orlando City transferred center back Rodrigo Schlegel to LIGA MX\u2019s Atlas after six seasons in Orlando.<\/p>\n
Defender Kyle Smith became a free agent and signed with FC Cincinnati, and 2025 MLS Best XI right back Alex Freeman was transferred to LaLiga’s Villarreal CF, reportedly for up to $7 million.<\/p>\n
What’s happening on game day?<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s opener will give fans a chance to see the team\u2019s newcomers for the first time and get an idea of how Pareja hopes to bring them all together. Fans who don\u2019t already have tickets in Inter&Co Stadium\u2019s The Wall supporter section won\u2019t be able to watch from there because it has sold out. However, tickets to the match are still available<\/a>.<\/p>\n Pareja said the Red Bull also saw a lot of roster moves in the offseason so the Lions have watched some of the team\u2019s preseason activity to prepare. He said the early games each season are always a little unpredictable because of the changes, but the team is confident it will be ready for the first match.<\/p>\n Fans should plan to leave home early because a large section of downtown is closed because of IMMERSE 2026. Orange Avenue is closed all the way down to Anderson Street. There also are closures on Pine Street, Church Street, South Street and Jackson Street \u2014 all at Orange Avenue. See Real Time Traffic for alternative routes<\/a> if you usually would take those roads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Major League Soccer returns to the pitch Saturday with 13 matches \u2014 including the New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1242,1238,274,28,1236,115,1335,139,4786,141,140,2062,1241,110,1237,278],"class_list":["post-163419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-professional-sports","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-florida","tag-florida-sports","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-soccer","tag-spectrum-sports-staff","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}