3 reactions to Orlando City's humiliating home loss to Chicago | OneFootball

Saturday's home matchup with an inconsistent Chicago Fire should have provided the ideal opportunity for Orlando City to make amends for Wednesday night's capitulation at Florida-Georgia rivals Atlanta United.

Instead, Orlando's first-half performance was about as bad as things have been under manager Óscar Pareja at any point.

As Pareja served a one-game touchline ban for his red card at Atlanta, it was assistant coach Diego Torres who took charge of the encounter. It is not difficult to imagine the look on the Colombian's face watching from afar as the visitors raced to a 3-0 lead after a half hour, via Philip Zinckernagel's fortuitous strike and Hugo Cuypers' quick-fire double.

Although Alex Freeman soon reduced the arrears by nodding in from a corner, the Lions failed to test Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady frequently enough thereafter to mount any realistic threat of a comeback.

Chicago were deserved winners, and another road win leaves Gregg Berhalter's side within striking distance of the playoff positions with two games in hand. For Orlando, a second loss in four days sees them head into a two-week pause on the very worst of notes.

Here are three things that should frustrate all Orlando fans for the next thirteen days:

Orlando needs to make up its mind

Orlando has been an entertaining watch this season. But entertaining alone does not win you games.

The fluidity in attack with the likes of Luis Muriel, Martín Ojeda and Marco Pašalić has seen Orlando score plenty of goals on several occasions. At other times, the side has often been difficult to break down, claiming a generous seven MLS clean sheets.

However, it has become apparent that Orlando can rarely score and be defensively stoic at the same time. The 2025 season so far has been marked by high-scoring wins, losses, and ties (numerous 4-2, 3-2, and 3-3 scorelines), as well as four 0-0 stalemates.

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Pareja's Orlando used to be famous for grinding out 1-0, 'Papi Special' wins, but that approach has seemingly gone out of the window this season.

This is partly down to inconsistent performers at both ends of the pitch, but it is also due to a lack of tactical balance. Natural center back David Brekalo has been deployed at left back of late, which both limits Orlando's attacking prowess and leaves the defense vulnerable.

The resultant imbalance has seen the likes of Freeman and Eduard Atuesta camped in the opposition half alongside the regular attackers, which causes chaos and leaves dangerous amounts of space for an opposition counter. When Orlando does sit back (often on the road), there is not enough of an attacking outlet on the left flank to cause any trouble.

Pareja's flawed loyalty

Yet another blank from winger Iván Angulo saw him hooked at half-time, and more defensive woes for Rodrigo Schlegel saw him follow suit shortly after. Angulo, still yet to score this season, again looked devoid of ideas, while Schlegel's lackluster positioning and mobility gave Cuypers a free pass to extend the Chicago lead twice within a minute.

The problem is, despite their continued poor performances, both players are among the least likely to be dropped from Pareja's XI. Angulo has started every league game this term, featuring in every MLS game since 2022. The only time Schlegel hasn't been included in Pareja's league lineup was in April's trip to CF Montréal, for which he was suspended.

However, this season has seen other players dropped for far less. A slow start to the campaign for full-backs Rafael Santos and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson saw them relegated to the bench early on, and both have really struggled for minutes since. Thorhallsson making way for MLS All-Star nominee Freeman is more understandable, but Santos was dropped purely to accommodate keeping Schlegel in the team.

Santos' crosses looked a huge threat after entering the game in the second half on Saturday, while Thorhallsson has notched three goals in all competitions this season in limited minutes. Both deserve more game time than they are currently getting, but they seem firmly out of favor.

All of this points to an uncomfortable question of whether Pareja is willing to scapegoat certain players while protecting others.

Saturday's result was a long time coming

Orlando has demonstrated signs of inconsistency, deficient mentality, and embarrassing discipline at times this season, but these last two games have been marred by a combination of all of them at once.

A hotter-than-usual start to an MLS campaign, combined with the expectation the team will embark on one of its notorious post-Leagues Cup winning streaks, have distracted from all of these issues. The recently squandered 12-game unbeaten run looked impressive on the surface, but six of those games were draws. This included stalemates away at a struggling Montréal and a 10-man Chicago, as well as surrendering a two-goal advantage at home to New England Revolution. One of those six wins, at bottom side LA Galaxy, only came about through a last-minute gaffe from 'keeper John McCarthy.

César Araújo's red card initiated Orlando's collapse on Wednesday, and Pareja's post-match comments (instead blaming referee Filip Dujic) hardly instilled any confidence that his side would take accountability and learn from its mistakes. Orlando's shocking opening 30 minutes against Chicago may well have been the product of that.

Pedro Gallese has seen a worrying amount of mistakes enter his game these last two campaigns, and letting Zinckernagel's easily saveable effort slip through his fingers saw Orlando begin the game in the worst possible fashion.

Muriel and Pašalić have been outstanding at times this season, but both squandered massive opportunities to reduce the deficit. Captain Robin Jansson was lucky not to be dismissed himself, with Cuypers getting the better of their duels and tricking the Swede into several yellow card-worthy actions.

With a whole two weeks to lament recent performances, Orlando fans will hope these issues will be addressed to the necessary degree. There is no guarantee Orlando will replicate its post-Leagues Cup trend from 2023 and 2024, but Pareja's side certainly has the quality to trouble most sides in the league when at their very best.