ORLANDO, Fla. (June 28, 2025) – Orlando City SC (9-5-6, 33 points) suffered a 2-1 defeat to FC Cincinnati (12-5-3, 39 points) on Saturday night at Inter&Co Stadium. Rodrigo Schlegel returned to the starting lineup after serving a suspension earlier in the week due to yellow card accumulation.
Designated Player and forward Marco Pašalić continued his strong form, following up his brace in the previous match with Orlando’s lone goal of the night. With his goal tonight, Pašalić became the eighth player in Orlando City’s MLS era to reach double-digit goals in their debut season with the club.
Martín Ojeda and Ramiro Enrique provided the assists on Pašalić’s tally. Ojeda’s assist marked his eighth of the season and the 31st of his Orlando career. Enrique notched his second assist of the season across all competitions and seventh overall with the club.
Next up, the Lions will travel to face Charlotte FC on Saturday, July 5, at Bank of America Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, with live coverage available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, FS1 and FOX Deportes.
Scoring Summary:
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“After time in the locker room and seeing things, I'm feeling even more frustrated with what I saw on the pitch. A continuous disagreement that we had there with the officials, and it is really frustrating. But as a matter of respect, I'm going to leave it there and talk about what I saw on the pitch – that was a good game. It was a game that represented the force and the protagonism and the confidence between FC Cincinnati and Orlando City. We're going to take responsibility for the goals that we conceded and the goals that we couldn’t score, but a game that was well played for both teams, very level. It seems like we need to push much more than that to win it, and we'll do it, we will prepare for it. But I have to manifest – I'm proud of the boys and the effort. We could have tied the game at the end with those two options and maybe another one, and we could have scored. We played a good game, and that's what satisfies my view of the game. But again, just let me express that the frustration was big on all the things, but we're going to move on and prepare for the next one.”
Match Notes
- Forward Marco Pašalić scored his 10th goal of the season across all competitions for Orlando City.
- With his goal, Pašalić became the eighth player in Orlando City’s MLS era to reach double-digit goals in their debut season with the club.
- Midfielder Martín Ojeda recorded his eighth assist of the season and 31st across all competitions for Orlando City, setting up Marco Pašalić’s 87th-minute goal.
- Forward Ramiro Enrique recorded his second assist of the season across all competitions, contributing to Marco Pašalić’s 87th-minute goal.
- Orlando City made one change to the Starting XI after the side’s last match against St. Louis CITY SC, with defender Rodrigo Schlegel returning to the starting lineup.
