The 2025 season for Duncan McGuire was one of the toughest in the young pro's career. After needing shoulder surgery in December of 2024, which kept him out of the early part of last season, the forward slowly started to get back to game form in April.
Then, after a game against Atlanta United back in May, that momentum came to a screeching halt. Another injury, the same as before, only on the other shoulder. That meant yet another surgery, another three months of recovery and rehab.
"It was definitely difficult going through two of the exact same surgeries on both of my shoulders," McGuire told OrlandoCitySC.com. "Knowing the second time around, I was going to do the exact same thing for the same amount of time was definitely tough.
"But I kind of thought about perseverance, and knowing that if I just have trust in my training staff and in myself, I can get back on the field sooner than expected, and I was able to. Finally, I'm 100% now, so I'm excited to get the season started."
Naturally, having back-to-back injuries is extremely tough. But for McGuire, already knowing the road ahead was a big help in his recovery, both mentally and physically.
"I definitely knew what areas I was able to push in and which areas weren't going to work well for me," he said. "The second time around definitely went smoother and a little bit quicker. It was helpful to hurt the same exact thing, as much as it can be."
Now fully healthy heading into his fourth season with Orlando, McGuire finds himself in a different situation than in past years. From his rookie year onward, he's been in a battle for the starting spot up top with other high-quality attackers. This year, he enters the season as the team's primary striker, making it his spot to keep as the season begins.
"I know I can score goals and that I can help the team when I'm on the field," McGuire said. "I try not to look at it as being the only striker technically on the team. I'm just going to give it all I can to be that starting striker and to be the man this year."
McGuire's game has evolved significantly since his 2023 rookie days. One of the skill sets that he hangs his hat on the most is his movement off the ball. Running in behind defenses, creating chances with his pace, and pressing opposition back lines.
"The more you press, the less time they have the ball," he said. "You might as well run 10 yards as hard as you can to press rather than run 70 yards back for not pressing hard enough. It's just my mentality."
The key early on for Duncan was honing that energy when pressing. In college, you could get away with going 100% for 30 minutes, then sub off and sub back on later after a breather. That can't happen at the pro level. Learning to sustain that intensity over a full 90 minutes has been one of the bigger adjustments of his professional career.
"Oscar had a talk with me early on, saying, 'I love the energy and the pressure, but you might be running aimlessly a few times,'" McGuire recalled. "I've gotten better at managing when's a good time to press, when's a good time to hold. My teammates have been helpful in communicating when we're ready to go. I've definitely gotten better. The cramping early on in games in my rookie year is long gone now."
The other dimension McGuire has added to his game came from playing alongside former striker Luis Muriel last season and the year prior. Learning from a veteran of the Italian Serie A, who's played at the highest level both for Club and country, can be a valuable well of information, someone that McGuire tapped into often to improve his game.
"With Muriel last year, I learned a lot about holding the ball and playing a little bit more underneath, instead of my main game, which is just running behind and being dangerous," he said. "The way I can improve this year is just being better at holding the ball for the team when we're in a low block, helping us relieve pressure and getting us out of tough situations."
Now, with the season opener looming, the chemistry in the attacking group will be crucial heading into that match against Red Bull New York. Having played with Martín Ojeda for the past three seasons and having built a rapport with Marco Pašalić and Tyrese Spicer last year, McGuire is hoping for another big breakout season in the attack.
"This preseason has been very good about giving us good looks with different guys, and I think we've been meshing well early on, combining well in the front group," McGuire said. "It should be exciting to see how much more we can put together over these next few days before our home opener."
