ORLANDO, Fla. – Words like “chippy,” “eventful” and “ramped up” have dotted Orlando City’s pregame conversation ahead of Saturday’s home showdown against Columbus Crew SC (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE), and they all highlight the mushrooming rivalry between the league newcomers and the Ohio club.
It’s hard to pinpoint the reasons behind this burgeoning enmity, but it will be the fourth meeting of the two teams in just five months and, with a 1-1-1 record in two league outings and one US Open Cup clash, the matchup couldn’t be more evenly poised.
The fact the teams will line up in identical 4-2-3-1 formations and look to out-possess the other is a possible mirror-image explanation for the head-to-head edge, as are the 13 yellow cards and two straight reds the teams have combined for in their three previous meetings.
“We’ve had three great games against them, but they have been a bit chippy, you could say,” said Orlando head coach Adrian Heath. “There have been sending offs, lots of action and lots of goals, so pretty eventful all in all.
“We both like to play an open brand of football and get after it, so I don't anticipate anything different this weekend. Just the importance of it has ramped up a little bit – certainly for us after the results in the past few weeks.”
City are bidding to shake off the first three-game losing league streak in their five-year history – four of them in USL – and a completely winless July that saw Orlando drop to eighth in the East.
The imminent arrival of new signingsDavid Mateos and Adrian Winter should give the Lions a boost and some extra intra-squad competition, but the likely continued injury absence of right back Rafael Ramos and the waiving on Saturday of center back Sean St. Ledger means more defensive reshuffling against the East’s most potent attack.
“We have to keep believing in what we are doing,” Heath added. “Our shape generally has been good and we have created enough scoring opportunities, but we are going to need the players to play better as this is one of the in-form teams in the league and it is going to be very tight this weekend.”
Recent defensive acquisition Corey Ashe is well aware Orlando needs to step up against the threat of league-leading scorer Kei Kamara and MLS-best assist man Ethan Finlay after the Lions looked distinctly vulnerable in last Sunday’s 5-3 defeat at New York City FC.
“In the last game, the defending wasn’t the best,” he admitted. “Their first goal by David Villa was a great goal but the other four could certainly have been prevented. I think what we are telling ourselves is that defensively we need to be more organized and harder to break down.
“But I feel like every team goes through spells like this when you hit a tough patch, but it just takes one game to turn it round. When you get that win, you start to build upon it and that’s what we will be trying to do on Saturday.”
Goalkeeper Tally Hall also sounded a battle-cry to get back on track defensively, insisting City can still figure prominently in the playoff race.
“It’s very important we refocus,” he said. “We’re capable of correcting the errors and ending the season on a positive run and doing something. We’re not playing for mediocrity. We’re playing to be the absolute best team in the country and that means getting excited for teams that are on fire and trying to stop them.”
Heath is also calling on the fans to make themselves heard like never before on Saturday, with another 30,000-plus crowd expected.
“My message to our supporters is ‘We need you more than ever this weekend.’ We need to make the Citrus Bowl bounce,” he said. “We need an incredible atmosphere, and, if we do, I’m convinced we’ll put in a performance to be proud of.”
