Braian Ojeda has scored twice for Orlando City. One of those goals is going to help open the postseason in Orlando. MLS put him in its Matchday 35 starting eleven on Monday, two days after he scored the only goal against New England. Orlando won 1-0.
The league honor makes sense for the quality of the volley alone. There’s more to it for Orlando. The Lions needed a win to have a shot at hosting, and Ojeda supplied the goal that let them take advantage when Cincinnati lost. Orlando had already qualified. What it earned Saturday was the right to start at home.
Antoine Griezmann sent a cross into the area. New England cleared it toward Ojeda, just outside the box, and the midfielder caught the ball on the volley. The shot went past Matt Turner into the upper-right part of the goal. The clearance had done what New England needed for a moment. Ojeda made that moment very short.
For Ojeda, the tally was his second since joining Orlando and the sixth of his MLS career. Orlando had already secured a seventh consecutive trip to the postseason, the longest active streak in MLS according to the club. Saturday was about where that trip would start.
The Lions finished eighth in the Eastern Conference with 46 points, one behind seventh-place Columbus. That gap is small in the table and substantial in the bracket.
The first seven seeds go directly into Round One. Seeds eight and nine face a Wild Card game first. Orlando therefore did not skip the preliminary hurdle, but it did earn the better setting for it: FC Cincinnati will visit Inter&Co Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m.
Eastern. The winner advances into the main playoff round; the loser does not get the benefit of another opening-stage opportunity.
Orlando finished with 46 points, level with Cincinnati, which lost to Nashville. A draw against New England would have left Orlando on 44. Columbus won and finished one point ahead of the Lions, so there was still a Wild Card game to play. Ojeda’s goal and a shutout changed whose stadium would host it.
Still, the scorer cannot receive all the credit for a 1-0 result. Maxime Crépeau reached five MLS clean sheets for the season, while New England went after the equalizer after halftime. Ojeda created the separation, but Crépeau and the defenders preserved it. Their work made the volley decisive rather than temporary.
That defensive side changes how the goal should be remembered. Orlando did not build an expansive scoreboard cushion around Ojeda’s finish. It asked one goal to survive the rest of the match, and the back line and goalkeeper handled that responsibility. A one-goal lead can make a highlight look larger because every defensive intervention afterward protects the same piece of work.
