The sacking has happened; now aim for the first Orlando City SC win of 2026 | OneFootball

Immediately following the New York City FC shutout of Orlando City SC, head coach Oscar Pareja knew what was coming.

Orlando City SC has begun 2026 winless and without a draw after three matches. The team lies at the very bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference. The only reason another floundering MLS team isn’t below the Lions is by comparing their Goal Differential.

Orlando’s Goal Differential is -8 through three matches. Another bewildered team, Atlanta United FC, is -5. This is the simplest comparison of team strength and success. Yet it is the most telling.

Three balls crossed the midfield and came under the control of the Lions, then scored. Then 11 balls came back and went into the Orlando net.

Almost half of those 11 early-season balls against the Lions came in their third match. From the 22nd minute through the 54th minute, New York City players scored.

Pareja has given Orlando players and supporters a good career of 103 wins, 72 losses, and 66 draws. The team under Pareja has a record of six consecutive appearances in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs.

In all but the 72nd loss, his post-game conference was enlightening. If losing or drawing, he noted succinctly what he and the players needed to win.

He saved superlatives for the wins. And during those wins, he and the players executed and adjusted their roles and formations with precision, such as when they were bringing in the back-three formation or switching between 4-4-2 schemes and the 4-3-3.

His conference after the New York City match reached toward a post-mortem and foreshadowed the announcement that he and the organization would part ways.

Pareja said it was a bad performance, didn’t represent who the Lions are, and he takes responsibility. What must they do to fix this? He respectfully left that answer for his replacement, interim Head Coach Martin Perelman.

The interim coach has served as First Team assistant since 2004. Before that, he served as Orlando City B head coach. So it’s natural that his former assistant there, B-team head Manuel Goldberg, will serve as his assistant on the First Team for the rest of this season.

This is who we have in place. We know the players. The immediate focus is to secure the first 2026 regular-season win.