Orlando City SC 2021 Season Preview: New Faces, Same Mentality
Orlando City SC forward Ruan Texeira celebrates with his teammates after Orlando scores a penalty kick during Orlando City's Audi MLS Cup Playoffs debut at Exploria Stadium Saturday, November 21, 2020. Photo: Willie David/Florida National News.
ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – With excitement in the air ahead of Saturday’s season opener against Atlanta United, Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja answered questions in Tuesday’s press conference alongside Alexandre Pato and Luis Nani about the expectations of this coming season. Last year’s season for Orlando City brought a lot of hope, but the ending of their run caused heartache for both players and fans. This year Pareja looks to right those wrongs with more depth and a refortified roster including a variety of homegrown and international signings.
Orlando City 2021 Season Preview: New faces, Same Mentality
Orlando City were a few key moments (and two less red cards) away from achieving record success last season through their playoff run. Despite a dominant regular season, the wheels started to come off for Orlando due to injuries at the back and a variety of booking issues that complicated each successive game, which is why the transfer plan for Orlando City this year was tailored to correct those issues that plagued them in 2020.
This offseason alone, the Lions have added two key role players, Jonathan Suarez and Alexander Alvarado, to their ranks from Mexico and Ecuador respectively. This scouting of players comes directly from the mastermind of Oscar Pareja as he’s spent many seasons scouting talent and coaching in the Mexican and South American professional leagues.
In conjunction with the signing of Silvester van der Water, Orlando City has added depth in each department this offseason. This strategy will bode well for them come playoff time when injury bugs hit and the strength of schedule starts catching up to certain teams.
Oscar Pareja still has not forgotten the failures of last season’s playoff run, which was the impetus for constructing this year’s squad the way he did:
“I haven’t gotten over it [the losses]. I always carry those with me and try to learn from them and use them as motivation to encourage our players to get better. The first message for the players [upon returning to preseason] was reminding them that this is a continuation of our journey, this is not a start over.”
Despite those assertions, Orlando City is starting with less firepower than they were used to during their 2020 playoff run. Against Atlanta United this Saturday, Mauricio Pereyra will be ineligible for selection due to the red card he received during their final playoff game against New England Revolution.
Daryl Dike continues his successful short-term loan in England for at least another month until Barnsley’s season is over on May 8. These key absences could complicate the depth chart, but it also gives an opportunity for new signings like Pato, van der Water and Alvarado to show off their talents in front of the local fans.