After May struggles, Orlando finds out what works, what doesn’t against first-place Kansas City – Equalizer Soccer

© Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

The Orlando Pride are in the middle of a rough stretch. The defending National Women’s Soccer League shield winners and champions opened their season with a dominant 6-0 thrashing of the Chicago Stars before going on to win three-straight games and stay at the top of the standings for the first month of the season.

Since their last win on April 12 against the Seattle Reign, though, the Pride have amassed a 1W-1D-3L record that has left them winless in the month of May. Their most recent match, a physical battle against the first-place Kansas City Current, was a useful exercise to reveal what has been working for the Pride — and what has not worked as well — through the first third of the season. 

Banda as the focal point of the Orlando attack

As was clearly evident in their loss to the Current, the most fruitful attacking strategy for the Pride is any sequence that runs through star forward Barbra Banda. This should not come as a surprise for the player that leads all of the league’s strikers in offensive net goals added, which is a good measure of how much a player’s on- and off-ball play contributes to their team’s chances of scoring (or conceding!) goals (American Soccer Analysis).