Attack is the best form of defense for Orlando City | OneFootball

Wednesday night's 4-2 win in St. Louis, Missouri marked a second consecutive road result for Orlando City.

These two wins out West served as the perfect response to surprise consecutive defeats to Atlanta United and Chicago Fire, which had snapped Orlando's record-breaking unbeaten MLS run.

The first 30 minutes on Wednesday were simply some of the best soccer Orlando has played under head coach Óscar Pareja. Majestic, back-to-front passing moves resulted in early goals for Ramiro Enrique and Marco Pašalić before Orlando's high press saw Eduard Atuesta dispossess Akil Watts on the edge of St. Louis' box to provide for Enrique's second.

It was an unusually bold road approach from Pareja, whose team is so used to playing conservatively away from Inter&Co Stadium. Usually, Orlando will try to steal an early goal against the run of play, before sitting back and defending this narrow lead.

However, just as Orlando attacked in an unfamiliar manner on the road, Pareja's defense was also not its typically mean self.

Orlando continued to press high up the field, rather than see out its 3-0 lead into half-time. St. Louis eventually bypassed this press with a long ball to Simon Becher, and Orlando's defense hardly covered itself in glory.

In just a matter of minutes, St. Louis was back within one. Atuesta completely miscued his attempted clearance in the six-yard box, allowing João Klauss to take advantage with a cool finish past Pedro Gallese.

With Rodrigo Schlegel suspended and Alex Freeman still away on Gold Cup duty with the USMNT, Pareja's gung ho approach was a risky one.

But it worked, and it was brilliant.

If not for Iván Angulo refusing to pass to Enrique for an easy open-goal finish, Orlando would've been 4-1 to the good at the half.

Pareja calmed his team at the break, suppressing the St. Louis advances long enough for Pašalić to get a brace of his own to secure the three points.

"I want to recognize the maturity of the group in the second half," Pareja stressed in his post-match interview.

The best way forward

Pareja also confirmed that he had observed specific weaknesses in St. Louis' game during his preparation, and tailored his team's approach to exploit this.

"We saw in St. Louis a group that want to aggressively play out from the back, and especially their goalkeeper (Roman Bürki). We were sure that with the pressure we were doing that we would have a chance in that phase of the game. That really happened with the goal Ramiro scored."

However, the Colombian is well aware that his attackers are more than capable of breaking down defenses in their own right, regardless of any mistakes the opposition may make.

"The spaces in the middle was probably the best part of our game, because those spaces were created by our players," he added.

Orlando undoubtedly has the attacking prowess to overwhelm any MLS defense, no matter how many goals they may concede at the back. This gung ho approach has to be the way forward for Pareja, and is his best chance of adding even more hardware to his storied coaching career.

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Unrivalled depth in attack

Having tallied 36 league goals already, Orlando currently sits as the joint-second highest-scoring side in MLS.

What's more, Pareja doesn't have to rely on just one man to provide in attack. Seven Orlando players have scored multiple MLS goals this season, among the league's best in that regard.

Nowhere is this depth more evident than at striker. Despite Duncan McGuire recently being ruled out for the remainder of the regular season, both Enrique and Luis Muriel are proven MLS outlets.

However, amid Muriel's recent goalscoring form, Enrique has struggled for enough minutes to reproduce the sort of form he displayed in abundance at the tail end of 2024.

"Ramiro is a tremendous talent, and the best part of his game is the effort and hard work that he has [...] If he is starting the game or coming from the bench, he's always giving his all for the team," Pareja said.

Given his struggles for game time in 2025, it would be understandable for the Argentine to feel frustrated. Yet, Enrique assured after the game that he is not letting Muriel's form get him down.

"As a football player you always want to play, you always want to start and have the most impact for the team you possibly can. But the way I am, whether I start the game or whether I am asked to enter the game from the bench, I am always going to give one hundred percent.

"We are a very united team, that's just the way we are," he continued.

With McGuire's long-term injury, Enrique should enjoy increased minutes throughout the rest of 2025. Both his talent and mentality will be integral to Orlando's success.

No Facu, no problem

Let's not forget, Orlando has managed its prolific attacking returns despite the loss of club all-time record goalscorer Facundo Torres to Palmeiras during the off-season.

Pašalić has slotted into Torres' right-wing role seamlessly. In his debut season in purple, the Croatian has already tallied 8 goals and 4 assists.

"[Pašalić] has similarities with the characteristics that Facu had. The way he has adjusted to the league and the group has been so fast, and I may even say that he has improved that position," Pareja said.

"We are very happy with the production the strikers and the forwards have had in the league. It's not easy to have that consistency, but we're blessed to have these guys that glue together so well. The glue that they have together is increasing every day."