Martín Ojeda's Late Header Lifts Orlando City Past Union 4-3 as Cavan Sullivan Scores First MLS Goal

Orlando City SC spent seven minutes turning a comfortable 3-1 lead into a 3-3 mess, and then Martín Ojeda decided enough was enough. With the 90th minute ticking over at Inter&Co Stadium, Adrián Marín whipped in a cross and Ojeda threw himself at it, steering a header from the left side of the six-yard box into the bottom right corner. Chaos, resolved.

Orlando City SC beat the Philadelphia Union 4-3 on Wednesday night in a game that had no business being this wild. The Lions led 2-0 at halftime and 3-1 with 18 minutes left before the Union scored twice in four minutes, including Cavan Sullivan's first MLS goal. Ojeda, who also converted a first-half penalty, made sure Philadelphia's comeback earned it nothing.

Two Teams, Zero Chill

The first half was a lesson in finishing. Philadelphia actually came out flying, firing six attempts in the first 16 minutes, but it was Orlando that scored. Ojeda drew a foul from Union goalkeeper Andrew Rick in the box at 17 minutes, Rick was booked, and Ojeda buried the left-footed penalty into the top right corner two minutes later. At 27 minutes, Griffin Dorsey made it 2-0 with a left-footed finish from the middle of the box into the high center of the net.

Philadelphia's night got stranger before halftime. Jovan Lukic went off injured at 43 minutes, Sullivan replaced him, and within a minute Sullivan's cross after a corner found Geiner Martínez, whose header crashed off the crossbar.

The Union finally broke through at 54 minutes, when Milan Iloski finished a Nathan Harriel pass with his left foot into the bottom left corner. Orlando answered the threat with a bench overhaul: Luis Otávio, Marín and Tyrese Spicer came on between the 63rd and 64th minutes, and Duncan McGuire followed at 70. Two minutes after entering, McGuire ran onto Spicer's pass on the break and slotted it into the bottom right corner. 3-1. Done, right?

Not even close. At 75 minutes, Sullivan finished from the center of the box. At 79, Ben Bender fired a left-footed shot from the left side of the box into the bottom right corner off a Stas Korzeniowski feed. Then Harriel smashed a shot off the crossbar at 88 minutes. The Union were one bounce from completing the comeback before Ojeda flipped it back.

Ojeda and the Kid Who Stole the Spotlight

Martín Ojeda finished with two goals on six shots, and Orlando's match report says they were his eighth and ninth of the 2026 season. The club adds that he now has 42 goals across all competitions for Orlando, two behind Cyle Larin for second on the club's all-time list.

Cavan Sullivan might have been the most entertaining player on the field despite coming off the bench at 43 minutes. He scored, took three shots, set up Martínez's header off the bar and Harriel's late effort off the bar, and also teed up Korzeniowski for a shot that Maxime Crépeau saved. ESPN credits Bruno Damiani with the assist on his goal; MLSsoccer.com describes the finish as coming off a Bender cross. Either way, MLSsoccer.com notes that at 16 years and 227 days, Sullivan is the eighth-youngest player to score in an MLS regular-season match.

"It is a pretty great feeling scoring my first. I have been working on this one for a while," Sullivan told Apple TV, per MLSsoccer.com. His coach, Bradley Carnell, was just as blunt: "He has a chip on his shoulder."

Duncan McGuire made his only shot count. Orlando says his goal was his 32nd for the club, moving him past Nani into fourth on the all-time scoring list.

Milan Iloski was Philadelphia's volume shooter, with seven attempts, two on target and a goal.

The 90th Minute Rescue

Orlando had every reason to fold. It had blown a two-goal lead in four minutes, and Philadelphia had just rattled the crossbar again. McGuire didn't sugarcoat it afterward. "We made it harder on ourselves than it needed to be, but we did a good job responding when they tied it," he said, per Orlando City's postgame quotes.

That response came from a substitute and a star. Marín, on since 64 minutes, delivered the cross. Ojeda supplied the finish. Dorsey, who scored his first MLS goal for Orlando according to the club, was honest about the collapse that preceded it. "We gave them opportunities to get back into the game when we shouldn't have," he said.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Philadelphia 26, Orlando 12. The Union put seven on target to Orlando's six.
• Finishing: Orlando scored four times on six shots on target.
• Woodwork: Philadelphia hit the crossbar twice, through Martínez and Harriel.
• Corners: Philadelphia earned 11 to Orlando's two.
• Saves: Crépeau made four. Rick made two.

What It Means

Orlando improves to 4-1-8 with 13 points and has now alternated wins and losses across its last five matches. The club notes it has scored four goals in four of its past six matches across all competitions. Interim head coach Martín Perelman kept the message simple. "What I learned from this game is to enjoy the victories and that's what we're going to do," he said. Orlando hosts Atlanta United FC on Saturday.

Philadelphia drops to 1-3-9 with six points, and the numbers are getting harder to look at. The Union have gone six matches without a win since beating CF Montréal on April 11, with three draws and three losses in that stretch.

Sullivan's Moment, Orlando's Points

This one felt like a sitcom episode where every character makes the worst possible decision and somehow the finale still lands. Orlando got sloppy, Philadelphia got brave, and a 16-year-old got his first league goal. But the last word belonged to Ojeda, which is exactly how Orlando drew it up, even if the middle of the script went sideways.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by Orlando City SC and MLSsoccer.com; additional notes from Orlando City SC's match report and MLSsoccer.com.