{"id":352734,"date":"2026-07-26T06:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T06:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352734\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T06:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T06:13:13","slug":"antoine-griezmann-effect-takes-hold-of-orlando-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/352734\/","title":{"rendered":"Antoine Griezmann effect takes hold of Orlando City"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lions topped Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC<\/a>, 1-0<\/a>, Saturday night in Griezmann’s home debut at a sold-out Inter.Co Stadium, further building on the momentum created by the superstar French striker’s arrival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orlando have now won two in a row since Griezmann’s maiden appearance on Wednesday, which he marked with his first MLS goal<\/a> in a 4-0 blowout win<\/a> at the San Jose Earthquakes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Lions won just four of their first 15 games before the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> break.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows his maturity, and it shows humility,\u201d said Tyrese Spicer<\/a>, who scored Saturday’s game-winner in the 72nd minute. \u201cJust to work off the ball and on the ball. I think it shows that no matter where you are, you could keep working.<\/p>\n

“… No matter how big you are, if you’re a DP or not, we work together. It’s a big thing.”<\/p>\n

\n Tifo honor<\/p>\n

While Griezmann\u2019s brilliant debut came on the road against the Earthquakes, the months-long lead-up time between his March signing<\/a> and home debut on Saturday allowed Orlando\u2019s supporters plenty of time to put together a massive tribute for his first game at Inter.co Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tifo pictured players sprawled upon a battle scene, inspired by iconic French artwork, with Griezmann rising in the middle – complete with his 2018 World Cup trophy with France – as its final piece.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had [goosebumps],\u201d Griezmann said of the display. \u201cI wanted to cross the field [to salute the supporters], but Nashville was on that side so I could not do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the rigors of a cross-country trip in a double matchweek, the 35-year-old played the full 90 minutes in each match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A two-time third-place finisher for the Ballon d\u2019Or, Griezmann admitted he cut his vacation time short to better prepare through the World Cup break for his first games in MLS.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to arrive here a little bit early, to get to know the group, the tactics, really bond with the locker room, and get to work,\u201d Griezmann said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s gone well, but we continue to work, continue to bond with the locker room, get closer to my teammates, and we\u2019ll push forward for a good year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Hope rises<\/p>\n

Ahead of kickoff, Orlando honored the team\u2019s three 2026 World Cup veterans, Maxime Cr\u00e9peau<\/a>, Marco Pasali\u0107<\/a> and Braian Ojeda<\/a>, while also sending off Cr\u00e9peau to Wednesday’s 2026 MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime (8 pm ET | Apple TV<\/a>).<\/p>\n

While Griezmann\u2019s addition was nearly assured to help the attack, the World Cup seems to have aided Cr\u00e9peau\u2019s confidence. After allowing 44 goals in the first 15 games of the season, the Lions have kept back-to-back clean sheets, with the Canadian World Cup starter shining in both matches with a combined nine saves.<\/p>\n

\u201cMax came back from the World Cup at a really good level,\u201d said interim head coach Mart\u00edn Perelman. \u201cHe\u2019s now heading to the MLS All-Star, and he will represent us as well in there, and we are proud… in the last two games he had to appear, and he did it [well].\u201d<\/p>\n

With Saturday’s result, Orlando are just two points behind D.C. United<\/a> for the Eastern Conference’s ninth and final Audi MLS Cup Playoffs spot. And with Leagues Cup<\/a> 2026 taking place next month and a US Open Cup<\/a> semifinal date at the Columbus Crew<\/a> in September, there is plenty of silverware to play for.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have everybody in the team focused on winning every single game,\u201d said Griezmann. \u201cI know that every single player, when they’re selected to go out on the field, every single one of us is going to give 100%, and that’s the most important thing.<\/p>\n

“Give everything to go out there and win for the badge… I have full confidence in the group.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lions topped Supporters’ Shield-leading Nashville SC, 1-0, Saturday night in Griezmann’s home debut at a sold-out Inter.Co…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47194,16163,139,4786,141,140,143721,4959],"class_list":["post-352734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-antoine-griezmann","tag-match-reaction","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlvsnsh-07-25-2026","tag-sendtonews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352734","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=352734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}