{"id":430282,"date":"2026-10-17T06:54:24","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T06:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/430282\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T06:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T06:54:24","slug":"how-argentine-roots-shape-orlando-citys-scouting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/430282\/","title":{"rendered":"How Argentine roots shape Orlando City\u2019s scouting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MikeORLANDO, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n

Orlando City supporters see the finished product on the field each week, but the process of building the club\u2019s roster begins long before a player joins the Lions. <\/p>\n

Felipe Lema, Orlando City\u2019s head of scouting, helps identify and evaluate prospective players from leagues around the world. For Lema, that means spending much of his time watching soccer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do watch a lot,\u201d Lema said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a way of life now. I live like this every day, watching games.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lema said the scouting department monitors players in South America, Europe and other markets as it searches for talent that could fit the club. <\/p>\n

A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lema initially hoped to become a professional soccer player. When that did not happen, he pursued a career that would keep him close to the sport. <\/p>\n

\u201cI always wanted to be a professional soccer player,\u201d Lema said. \u201cLike many of us, since I couldn\u2019t, I started my major studies related to sports.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lema studied sports journalism and communications before beginning his career as a video analyst for a third-division club in Argentina. His first major opportunity came with Argentinos Juniors, where he transitioned from video analyst to scout. <\/p>\n

He joined Orlando City\u2019s scouting department in 2021 and was assigned to monitor some of South America\u2019s<\/a> most prominent leagues. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a different world for me,\u201d Lema said. \u201cI had to be in charge of South America\u2019s important leagues and to be a representative of an important club like Orlando.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lema has helped scout and recruit players including Facundo Torres and Iv\u00e1n Angulo. He also played a role in Orlando City\u2019s yearlong pursuit of Mart\u00edn Ojeda. <\/p>\n

Identifying a potential player, however, is only the beginning of the recruitment process. <\/p>\n

Lema said the club\u2019s scouts evaluate a player before arranging an in-person visit. Lema or lead scout Oliver Wyss may then travel to watch the player and meet with the player and his agent. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long process,\u201d Lema said. \u201cNormally, our scouts identify the player. They go into our process.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ricardo Moreira, Orlando City\u2019s general manager and sporting director, said Lema was initially hired as an Argentina-based scout tasked with mapping the country\u2019s soccer market. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving someone on-site is always better for us for the way that we like doing scouting,\u201d Moreira said. \u201cWe want to know the players.\u201d <\/p>\n

Once the scouting department completes its evaluation, Moreira helps lead negotiations and the final steps toward a possible signing. <\/p>\n

Lema said his Argentine upbringing continues to influence his approach to the job and the perspective he shares with his colleagues. <\/p>\n

\u201cArgentina taught me a lot of things, and it still does,\u201d Lema said. <\/p>\n

He said the country\u2019s passion for soccer is deeply rooted in its culture. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow we live, how we feel every day about this game, about this sport \u2014 I think that\u2019s difficult to find sometimes because it\u2019s culture,\u201d Lema said. \u201cFrom my side, I try to share that with everybody.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Orlando City supporters see the finished product on the field each week, but the process…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[4101,13984,11853,169002,2309,139,4786,141,140,9387,45369,169003,91699,103772,2062,6993,197],"class_list":["post-430282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-argentina","tag-club","tag-department","tag-felipe-lema","tag-lion","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-player","tag-ricardo-moreira","tag-roster-building","tag-scout","tag-scouting","tag-soccer","tag-south-america","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430282","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=430282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}