Here are five storylines to watch for Saturday’s home match vs New York City FC:<\/p>\n
\n One Away From 50\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mart\u00edn Ojeda enters Saturday\u2019s matchup with New York City FC on the verge of another major club milestone after scoring his team-leading 16th goal of 2026 across all competitions in the Lions\u2019 last outing. The goal, an acrobatic scorpion kick that earned MLS Goal of the Matchday honors, brought Ojeda to a club-record 49 goals across all competitions, leaving him one shy of becoming the first player in Orlando City history to reach 50. The Argentine also recorded his 46th assist for the club and now sits one shy of former captain Mauricio Pereyra\u2019s club record of 47.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Griez Lightning\u00a0<\/p>\n
Antoine Griezmann continued his impressive run of form in the Lions\u2019 last outing, scoring his 11th and 12th MLS goals of the season for his third brace of 2026 while adding his seventh assist across all competitions. The performance extended his streak of MLS matches with a goal contribution to 10 and brought him to 20 goal contributions, with 13 goals and seven assists, in 18 appearances across all competitions since joining Orlando City in July. Griezmann also became the first player in MLS history to record a goal contribution in 12 of his first 14 league appearances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Double Recognition\u00a0<\/p>\n
Antoine Griezmann and Mart\u00edn Ojeda were both named to the MLS Team of the Matchday following their performances in the Lions\u2019 last outing, with Griezmann also earning MLS Player of the Matchday honors. The recognition marked Griezmann\u2019s second Player of the Matchday award of the season, making him the first player in Orlando City history to win the honor twice in the same campaign. It also marked the third time an Orlando City player has earned Player of the Matchday honors in 2026, with Griezmann winning twice and Ojeda once. Ojeda\u2019s scorpion-kick finish also took home MLS Goal of the Matchday honors, adding another accolade to a standout performance from the Lions\u2019 Designated Players.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n The Designated Difference\u00a0<\/p>\n
All three of Orlando City\u2019s Designated Players found the back of the net in the Lions\u2019 last outing, with Antoine Griezmann scoring twice and Mart\u00edn Ojeda and Marco Pa\u0161ali\u0107 each adding a goal. The performance marked the first time all three of the Lions\u2019 Designated Players scored in the same match since Orlando City\u2019s 4-1 home victory over Inter Miami CF in 2025 at Inter.co Stadium. Pa\u0161ali\u0107\u2019s strike was his fourth goal of 2026 across all competitions and the 19th of his Orlando City career.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Elite Ellis\u00a0<\/p>\n
Homegrown forward Justin Ellis continued his productive 2026 campaign in the Lions\u2019 last outing, recording his 13th assist of the season across all competitions. The helper moved Ellis into a tie with Iv\u00e1n Angulo for the team lead, adding to a breakout year for the Orlando City Academy product.<\/p>\n
\n Milestone Tracker<\/p>\n
– Mart\u00edn Ojeda (46) needs one assist to tie Mauricio Pereyra\u2019s club record of 47 across all competitions, while Iv\u00e1n Angulo (44) needs three helpers to tie Pereyra.\u00a0<\/p>\n
– Daryl Dike (22) is one goal away from tying former Lion Dom Dwyer (23) for eighth on the Club\u2019s all-time scoring charts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are five storylines to watch for Saturday’s home match vs New York City FC: One Away From…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47194,117174,7706,7700,4792,115,139,4786,4788,141,140,170379,9017],"class_list":["post-436811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-antoine-griezmann","tag-daryl-dike","tag-justin-ellis","tag-marco-pasalic","tag-martin-ojeda","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlvsnyc-10-24-2026","tag-what-to-watch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436811","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=436811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}