![\"Orlando](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/USATSI_27248387-1024x683.jpg\")
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Kim Klement Neitzel \/ Imagn Images<\/p>\n
March 11, 2026 4:58 pm EDT<\/p>\n
Orlando City parted ways with manager \u00d3scar Pareja on Wednesday, acting swiftly after a putrid beginning to the MLS season.<\/p>\n
Pareja, who had been in charge since 2019 and made the playoffs in each of his six seasons, was the casualty of an 0-3-0 start in which the Lions have a league worst -8 goal differential. Assistant coach Mart\u00edn Perelman will take charge in the interim after what the club called a mutual decision. Pareja is the first coaching dismissal of 2026 after there were 10 changes and\/or interim hirings becoming permanent across MLS \u2013 a third of the league \u2013 before this season. Pareja, who won a Supporters\u2019 Shield\/U.S. Open Cup double with FC Dallas in 2016, had been the second-longest tenured head coach in MLS behind Seattle\u2019s Brian Schmetzer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to express my sincere gratitude to the club\u2019s players, staff and supporters for the trust they\u2019ve given me over these last several years,\u201d Pareja, who also guided the club to the 2022 Open Cup title, said in a statement. \u201cTogether, we shared moments that will stay with me forever. While it is the right time for both me and the club to move in new directions, I leave proud of the work we did and with deep appreciation for the people who made it possible. Orlando will always have a special place in my heart, and I wish the team nothing but success in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear what, if anything, the managerial change means for the club\u2019s pursuit of France and Atl\u00e9tico Madrid star Antoine Griezmann, who indicated this week that he\u2019s likely to remain<\/a> with his Spanish side beyond the MLS transfer deadline (March 26) and until the summer, before taking another decision on his club career. Atl\u00e9tico Madrid remains alive in the UEFA Champions League (leading Tottenham 5-2 on aggregate<\/a> after the first leg of the round of 16) and will play in the Copa del Rey final (against Real Sociedad, Griezmann\u2019s first professional club, which is now coached by American Pellegrino Matarazzo).<\/p>\n Orlando, meanwhile, moves forward this week, when it hosts CF Montr\u00e9al Saturday night.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe this is the right moment to take the club in a new direction as we look to the next phase of our growth and ambitions,\u201d Orlando sporting director and general manager Ricardo Moreira said. \u201cWe are grateful for everything \u00d3scar has contributed and wish him nothing but success in the next chapter of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n Mar 12, 2026<\/p>\n Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kim Klement Neitzel \/ Imagn Images March 11, 2026 4:58 pm EDT Orlando City parted ways with manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[5692,139,4788,141,140,2062],"class_list":["post-188255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-mls","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188255","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=188255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n