Griezmann's brace lifts Orlando City to a resounding 4-1 win over D.C. United

Antoine Griezmann scored twice, Martin Ojeda and Marco Pasalic added the other goals, and Orlando City SC ended up hammering D.C. United 4-1 at Inter&Co Stadium, in an MLS match that was decided in just 35 minutes of intense soccer, stretching from the end of the first half into the start of the second.

Orlando City SC came out looking to attack from the start, and it paid off quickly. In the 14th minute, Griezmann finished with his right foot from the center of the box, after an assist from Ojeda, to make it 1-0. Seven minutes later, in the 21st, Ojeda returned the favor with a low shot just inside the post, finishing off a through ball from Griezmann, for 2-0. The hosts were clearly in control and the match looked set to go smoothly from there.

But D.C. United found a quick way back into the game: in first-half stoppage time, a foul by Wilder Cartagena on Sean Nealis inside the box led to a penalty, which Tai Baribo converted in the 46th minute to make it 2-1. The blow didn't last long, though: right at the start of the second half, in the 49th minute, Griezmann struck again, this time with his left foot, for 3-1 and his second goal of the night. That effectively settled the match, though there was still one more chapter to come: in second-half stoppage time, in the 94th minute, Marco Pasalic sealed the scoring with a shot just inside the post off a Justin Ellis assist on a counterattack, making the final score 4-1.

A match that looked even on paper, lopsided on the scoreboard

The stats tell a story that was closer than the result suggests. D.C. United had more total shots (15 to 13) and more corners (8 to 1), while Orlando City SC controlled possession and was more clinical when it mattered.

The expected goals figure, calculated after the fact based on shot locations, also leans toward the visitors: Orlando City SC generated an xG of 2.60, while D.C. United reached 3.36. In other words, the team that ended up on the losing end of a rout was, by this measure, the one that produced the higher-quality chances overall, something the final score doesn't reflect at all.

That lines up, in part, with what we projected before the match: our model gave Orlando City SC a 59% chance of winning, against **20%** for D.C. United and **21%** for a draw, with total expected goals of 3.79 (2.40 for the home side and 1.39 for the visitors). Orlando City SC's favorite status held up and then some in the final result, even surpassing what those numbers anticipated, though the flow of play, with D.C. United generating more and better chances at various points, showed that the gap on the field was considerably tighter than the final 4-1 suggests.

What it means in the standings

In the Eastern Conference, Orlando City SC moves to 41 points from 30 matches played (12 wins, 5 draws, 13 losses), with a goal difference of -12, sitting in seventh place. D.C. United, meanwhile, has 33 points from 29 matches (7 wins, 12 draws, 10 losses), with a goal difference of -14, in 12th place. The gap between the two sits at 8 points in the standings, a margin this rout doesn't fundamentally change, though Orlando City SC did pick up three points it badly needed after a season with more losses than wins so far.

For D.C. United, the takeaway is more bitter: despite holding its own in the underlying numbers, including a higher xG than its opponent, the club came away empty-handed and with a weak goal difference that keeps getting worse. Griezmann's brace and Orlando City SC's sharpness in the key moments ended up outweighing the volume of play generated by the visitors.