2020 Orlando City SC season
The 2020 Orlando City SC season is the club's tenth season of existence in Orlando and sixth season in Major League Soccer, the top-flight league in the United States soccer league system. Alongside Major League Soccer, the club also competes in the U.S. Open Cup.
Season review
Pre-season
On October 7, 2019, one day after the final game of the 2019 season, Orlando City parted ways with head coach James O'Connor.With the addition of Nashville and Inter Miami in 2020, MLS held an Expansion Draft on November 19, 2019. Orlando City had 13 players exposed. None were taken.
On November 21, 2019, it was announced that a total of 14 players would not return either because their contract had expired, they had their contract option declined or, in the case of Danilo Acosta, they returned to their parent club after their loan expired. Orlando City had an option to buy Acosta at the end of the loan but declined. However, Ruan had his purchase option exercised following his loan in 2019. Another notable departure was Cristian Higuita who had been the sole remaining member of the team's inaugural MLS roster in 2015 and departed as the club's leading appearance maker with 108 across all competitions. Having initially had their options declined, Uri Rosell, Alex DeJohn and Mason Stajduhar all later renegotiated new contracts with Orlando.
On December 4, 2019, Óscar Pareja was announced as Orlando City's new head coach. Pareja had previously worked with Orlando's VP of soccer operations Luiz Muzzi at FC Dallas.
Having emphasized the importance Homegrown players the previous offseason, Orlando signed the sixth and seventh Homegrown players in club history in December, signing David Loera following his junior year at NC State and Jordan Bender from USL affiliate Orlando City B. The team also did a significant amount of recruiting in South America, bringing in Colombian midfielder Andrés Perea, Argentine defender Rodrigo Schlegel and Brazilian defender Antônio Carlos all on one-year loans from Atlético Nacional, Racing Club and Palmeiras respectively while Brazilian midfielder Júnior Urso joined permanently from Corinthians. Peruvian international goalkeeper Pedro Gallese also joined on a free having last played for Alianza Lima, on loan from Veracruz.
On January 17, 2020, Orlando officially opened the new Orlando City SC Training Ground at Osceola Heritage Park.
February
Orlando's sixth MLS campaign began at home to Real Salt Lake on February 29, a repeat of the 2016 season opener. Just like 2016, the game once again finished level, this time goalless as debutant goalkeeper Pedro Gallese kept Orlando's first clean sheet in nine games stretching back to the previous season. The result meant Orlando remained unbeaten on matchday one since joining MLS. The game was also notable for the substitute appearance of on loan Andrés Perea who became the first person born in the 21st century to play for Orlando City SC.March
March 7 saw Orlando's first away game of 2020. It ended in a 2–1 defeat to Colorado Rapids as Drew Moor headed a 90th-minute winner from a corner after substitute Chris Mueller had scored the team's first goal of the season to tie up the game in the 82nd minute. It was the first time Orlando had lost to Colorado in the two teams' six meetings.COVID-19 pandemic
On March 12 it was announced that the 2020 Major League Soccer season had been temporarily suspended for 30 days on the advice of public health authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the situation developing, the suspension was extended until at least June 8. On May 6, MLS allowed voluntary individual workouts on outdoor fields for the first time since the suspension. Every Orlando City player opted to train at the team's Kissimmee training facility.MLS is Back Tournament
On June 10, MLS announced a return to play via a one-off MLS is Back Tournament. The competition will run from July 8 to August 11 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Orlando's first match was the tournament opener, scheduled against newly-created Florida rivals Inter Miami. Orlando won the game 2–1 after trailing thanks to goals from Mueller with his second goal of the season and then a 90+7 minute winner from captain Nani in his first appearance of the year. In the second game Mueller scored twice in the opening ten minutes as Orlando earned back to back MLS wins for the first time since May 2018, running out 3–1 winners over New York City FC with Tesho Akindele also scoring his first goal of the season during the match. The result, coupled with Philadelphia Union beating Inter Miami later that evening, meant Orlando sealed qualification to the knockout round with a game to spare. A 1–1 draw against similarly already-qualified Philadelphia in the final group game, in which Mauricio Pereyra scored his first goal for the club, ensured Orlando finished top of Group A on goal difference.Orlando faced Montreal Impact, who qualified as one of the best third-place teams, in the round of 16. Orlando won 1–0, earning their first shutout of the tournament and second of the season. The team progressed to the semi-final stage following a penalty shootout win over Los Angeles FC with the teams tied 1–1 after 90 minutes. Nani had a penalty saved in the second half before Wright-Phillips opened the scoring shortly after. João Moutinho forced the shootout, scoring an equalizer against his former club off a corner in the 90th minute, his first goal for Orlando City. Nani went on to score the decisive penalty in the 5–4 shootout victory with every Orlando player scoring their penalty.
Roster
Staff
Competitions
Friendlies
Orlando City reported for the start of preseason at their new training facility on January 20 before a closed-door friendly against Stetson University five days later. The team traveled to Cancún, Mexico, for a nine-day training camp beginning January 27 that was supposed to feature games against Columbus Crew and third-tier Mexican team Inter Playa although Columbus later pulled out. The team returned to Orlando for further friendlies against Montreal Impact, Tampa Bay Rowdies, D.C. United, reigning Icelandic champions KR Reykjavík and San Antonio FC with both the Montreal and KR games open to the public at Exploria Stadium. The KR match was the first time since the 2016 game against Bahia that Orlando had hosted foreign opposition in preseason.Major League Soccer
Outside of the club, Inter Miami and Nashville SC joined the league as expansion franchises, bringing the total number of MLS clubs to 26. Orlando were due to play Miami for the first time at home on July 10 with the away tie on August 20. Because Nashville were placed in the Western Conference the teams were only scheduled meet once in regular-season league play in 2020, in Orlando on September 12.Keeping to a 34-game schedule, it meant that for the first time Orlando would not play every team in MLS. They were still scheduled to play every Eastern Conference opponent both home and away, and all but three Western Conference opponents once. The three teams Orlando would not face in regular-season league play in 2020 were Los Angeles FC, San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders.
Results summary
Results
Standings
Eastern Conference tableOverall table
MLS is Back Tournament
A one-off World Cup style tournament featuring all 26 MLS teams, the MLS is Back Tournament consists of six groups with each team playing three group matches. The top two teams from each group along with the four best third-place teams will move on to the knockout stage, beginning with the Round of 16. The draw for the group stage took place on June 11 with Orlando City placed as the top seed A1 in Group A as the designated host. Inter Miami were predetermined as A2 prior to the draw taking place in order to make the first meeting between the two teams the tournament opener. New York City FC and Nashville SC were randomly drawn as the two other group stage opponents. Nashville later withdrew from the tournament after nine players tested positive for COVID-19. Philadelphia Union replaced them as Orlando's final group stage opponent.Group Stage
Knockout Stage