Lions backline is key to success
Orlando City strengthens its defense to supply aggressive press as MLS Tournament nears.
As Orlando City prepares for its first match in the MLS is Back Tournament, the team is focused on creating the same style as it started the season — an aggressive press built out of a rigorous backline.
The team’s two-a-day training sessions have been focused on rebuilding the team’s endurance and speed as quickly as possible.
It’s an exhausting process. Players say they spend most of their downtime in the hotel resting and recovering, doing low-energy activities like reading or playing video games. But that effort is paying off as they begin to feel their leg strength returning.
“This has not been optimal for anybody,” centerback Robin Jansson said. “We’re getting there and I feel the level of the training is very high. For myself, I feel like body-wise, I’m getting there.”
On the backline, outside backs will be tested the most in the opening matches of the season. In the first two matches of 2020, new coach Oscar Pareja showed his preference to utilize his outside backs from end-to-end.
Speedy outside backs Ruan and João Moutinho fit into this model immediately, but that nonstop pace will be more difficult to maintain after several months off the pitch.
Moutinho, however, said he’s trying not to worry about how the time off will affect his game.
“I wouldn’t say that it’s easier or tougher than a regular season because it’s equal for everyone,” Moutinho said. “Every single team is gonna be here. We’re all under the same circumstances and conditions, so there’s no excuses.”
When he first arrived in Orlando, Pareja’s ideology for play often sounded attack-oriented. He likes to build high-scoring, highflying teams that utilize an aggressive press to stretch out and wear down opponents. But his approach to the game is rooted in rigorous attention to the backline.
Assistant coach Josema Bazan says Pareja is grounded in pragmatism, which keeps him from getting overly lost in the romanticism of the game. Pareja aims to instill in his team the understanding that without a disciplined defense, even the most lethal offensive teams