BRADENTON, Fla. — As Orlando City’s Wednesday training session at IMG Academy in Bradenton started to wind down, the players who participating in the final scrimmage of the day were joined by someone who could be described as a mid-summer signing.
Coach James O’Connor, hired at the end of June, joined the players on the pitch for the final exercise of the day. The 38-year-old Irishman was basically a holding midfielder for both sides, joining whichever group was on the attack and dishing out passes. He occasionally stepped up as a defender, too.
Orlando City’s first bye week with O’Connor as the club’s head coach was out of the ordinary in a few ways.