Let’s take a look at what happened this week in MLS.

A coherent Orlando City SC

Orlando City have a history of starting seasons well and then surrendering for the rest of the year. In 2018, they won six in a row early on and then won two games for the entire rest of the season and settled in last place.

To start this year, however, they have looked better than usual, as though they are crafting something closer to an identity. Their two draws—2-2 at home against NYCFC and 1-1 in Chicago—were uninspiring on the surface, but actual tactics and team congruity existed. Orlando weren’t flailing around the field.

Manager James O’Connor has successfully implemented a 5-3-2 shape, confounding Chicago with it on Saturday. By keeping his deepest midfield two in tight centrally, he forced Chicago to rotate the ball to the wings and adjust their patterns of possession. He set it up in a way that forced Bastian Schweinsteiger to float to new, less threatening areas, and completely eliminated Djordje Mihailovic from significant influence.

These adjustments—pinning Will Johnson and Sebastian Mendez back in front of Orlando’s center backs—resulted in some unusual rotations.

Good clip of Orlando's defensive shape from yesterday. Nani/Dwyer/Kljestan push and pull is important. Wingbacks with big responsibilities. pic.twitter.com/nMQEGXWFDH

— Harrison Hamm (@harrisonhamm21) March 10, 2019

The above sequence features the front three of Dom Dwyer (on as an injury sub for Tesho Akindele), Nani and Sacha Kljestan spreading across the front three, magnetically moving back and forth based on each other’s pressing. Having these three lead the line in such an active way replaces the usual rotations of Johnson and Mendez and drags the wingbacks (especially Kyle Smith) further upfield. 

Notice how, at one point, Mendez darts forward as Mihailovic receives the ball, closing him off and forcing a pass back across the field. This was Orlando’s goal: suffocate the Fire’s game-dictating midfielders and push the ball to the flanks.

O’Connor deserves credit for the intricacy with which he implemented these rotations. Dwyer and Nani were crucial figures in the Lions’ defensive shape, preventing Chicago from infiltrating the areas that Orlando’s midfield-focused system left open. The Fire’s fullbacks, who have struggled mightily in the first couple of weeks (particularly Jorge Corrales, who was sent off in the 64th-minute), failed to take advantage what Orlando gave them.

Ten-man Chicago eventually equalized in stoppage time, spoiling what would have been a nice road win for the Lions. CJ Sapong’s winner reminds of Orlando’s pitiful franchise history up to this point, with the weak defending that gave Sapong an open header in the box. Alex De John and Shane O’Neill did not exactly shower themselves in glory on the play.

It will take some time for Orlando to grow into a consistently competitive team. Their defensive and midfield personnel might not be good enough. Nani has to be elite as an attacker to live up to expectations, and that hasn’t happened yet. There were certainly kinks throughout the Chicago game; they were lucky that Nemanja Nikolic missed a pair of gimmes in front of goal.

But they’ve shown they can be versatile with that 5-3-2, and change their strategies to match the opponent. Having a manager who can play chess—as O’Connor did against Veljko Paunovic on Saturday—is important. Orlando could stick around in the playoff race.

Lass Bangoura, playing with the ball on a string

A missed call by VAR marred the Vancouver Whitecaps’ 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake—the penalty kick that decided the game should not have been given, as Jake Nerwinski did not, in fact, touch Corey Baird in the box. That mistake should not preclude us from enjoying Lass Bangoura’s magical performance off the bench for the ’Caps. 

Bangoura is a crafty little dribbler, with an agility that seems somehow enhanced when he has the ball at his feet. He dips and weaves under defenders with an instinctive sense of where he has to put the ball to keep his dribble going at full speed. Defenders can’t step in front of him because Bangoura has already calculated the possibility of them doing that and adjusted for it.

He is a sight to see.

via GIPHY

He keeps his head up while in full glide, scanning for the right time to slow down his dribble and make a decision with the ball. It doesn’t always quite come off, but many times it does, and it’s often glorious regardless.

Is now the time for Minnesota United?

After Minnesota’s second road win to start the season, this time a cruise in San Jose, manager Adrian Heath told the media that “we’ve got a team that’s comparable with a lot of teams. We haven’t had that in the past.” Heath’s honesty, which he followed by saying that “I’ve always known what I was doing” and that he was hampered by his previous teams’ lack of quality, is fairly unusual. 

He is right in a couple of respects: Minnesota do indeed have a competent-looking team, and they did not have that in the past. But Heath was surely at least partially responsible for the Loons’ utter failures in their first two years of existence. He is also undoubtedly a lower-tier MLS coach and has not inspired confidence that he is anything more, going back to his struggles in Orlando. 

His ability to lead this Minnesota team forward will be dictated by how he handles the rest of this season. The Loons should be eyeing the playoffs, with the debut of their new stadium approaching quickly and fans growing restless at the franchise’s inability to put together a talented roster.

Two wins to start the season against Vancouver and San Jose is no guarantee of future success. The ’Caps and Quakes are bad teams. The schedule will get harder, with a couple more road games remaining until the opening of Allianz Field. But away results have always been tough for this team, so grabbing a pair to start the season is encouraging, regardless of the opposition. 

The roster playing cohesively helps as well. The Jan Gregus-Ozzie Alonso midfield tandem has fared well, with Gregus showing an active, fiery style of play that bodes well for a formation that sometimes morphs into an attacking 4-4-2. Darwin Quintero drives the attack and periodically goes into takeover mode, flipping a game on its head with an unstoppable burst of on-goal action. He already has two goals and three assists this season, contributing to five of Minnesota’s six goals and putting him squarely in the lead in the early MVP discussion.

Francisco Calvo shifting to left back from center back has helped the backline immensely. Ike Opara, wielding his influence everywhere, has lessened the Loons’ usual defensive struggles. He is fantastically versatile.

Ike Opara is a treasure pic.twitter.com/juGKoC78Ny

— Harrison Hamm (@harrisonhamm21) March 10, 2019

Questions persist at striker, where Romario Ibarra appears to have usurped Angelo Rodriguez, and on the left wing, where Rasmus Schuller is for some reason playing. The slow returns of Ethan Finlay and Kevin Molino from torn ACLs could add a jolt to the attack, as could the further development of players like Mason Toye and Abu Danladi. 

There is hope yet in Minnesota. The stadium opening will be fun. Heath now has to back up his words.

Zack Steffen & Tim Melia can’t stop saving PKs

Both Steffen and Melia, two of the top three goalkeepers in the league, saved penalty kicks and played crucial parts in their teams’ wins. Steffen’s stop came on Diego Fagundez in Columbus’ eventual 2-0 win.

Zack Steffen just keeps getting better. Yet another penalty stop from the man who earned a big money move to Manchester City this upcoming summer. Proving his worth. #CREW96 #MCFC pic.twitter.com/QKh7panreq

— MLS Buzz (@MLS_Buzz) March 9, 2019

Melia’s was on Marco Fabian in Sporting KC’s 2-0 victory.

The latter was Melia’s eighth save on the 21 regular-season penalties he’s faced. That is an incomprehensible percentage. Per Paul Carr, league average is 17 percent. Melia is at 38 percent. He is an unbelievable asset for a team which will likely keep ending up in PK shootouts, in the U.S. Open Cup, MLS postseason or even Concacaf Champions League.

That Steffen save was impressive for its difficulty—not only did he get down to a shot that did not sit up perfectly for him to parry, but he got a strong enough hand on it to keep it out of the goal. Many goalkeepers, even if they guessed correct in that situation, would have only been able to deflect the ball into the goal. Steffen, in midair, arranged his right hand and wrist in a position that kept Fagundez’s shot out. These subtle things will serve him well at Manchester City.

Harrison Hamm is a sportswriter who covers American soccer and MLS for FloFC. He also covers sports for FanSided and The Comeback, and has freelanced for the Washington Post.