Orlando City SC vs. New England Revolution | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Orlando City SC vs. New England Revolution
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 23
Orlando City Stadium — Orlando
August 4 - 7:30 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

It’s three straight losses, and 12 in the last 13 for Orlando City SC, who have conceded nine goals in those three consecutive defeats. But there’s reason for optimism for the Lions, who host a New England Revolution side that has won just once away from Gillette Stadium this season and have dropped three in a row as well.

Orlando City are unbeaten at home against the Revolution (2W-2D), outscoring them 13-6 in the process. The Lions scored six goals in their last game with New England, their most ever in a MLS match, per Opta.

Orlando City SC

Orlando (7-14-1) had three leads Sunday night at the StubHub Center, but a second-half Zlatan Ibrahimovic hat trick, his first in MLS, sunk the Lions, 4-3.

Despite playing on short rest following a cross-country flight, the Lions took the game to the LA Galaxy in the first half with Cristian Higuita opening the scoring in the 18th minute. And just five minutes after Giovani dos Santos leveled, an own goal by Michael Ciani forced by Sacha Kljestan put Orlando in front at the break.

Seven minutes after Ibrahimovic’s first goal, Dom Dwyer headed Orlando back in front, but Ibra added two more in a four-minute span to send the Lions back home without a point.

“It definitely hurts but when you look at the quality of play you can take a lot from the first-half performance,” James O’Connor said. “We expect to be better. You can’t come away, score three goals and not get anything out of the game. The level of the performance at times, the quality of the football at times is really, really good. But again, it becomes irrelevant when you don’t win the game.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: GK - Mason Stajduhar (Localized Ewing Sarcoma), D - Lamine Sane (quad injury), D - Jonathan Spector (hamstring injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Earl Edwards Jr — Scott Sutter, Chris Schuler, Shane O'Neill, Amro Tarek — Uri Rosell, Cristian Higuita — Yoshi Yotun, Sacha Kljestan, Mohamed El-Munir — Dom Dwyer

Notes: Last weekend, Kljestan became the ninth player in league history with 90 career assists. With his next, he’ll tie Cobi Jones for the eighth most in MLS history. … Orlando have lost four of their last five league home games (1W), conceding multiple goals in each defeat. They had lost four of their last 12 MLS home games.

New England Revolution

New England (7-7-7) had a Week 22 bye after falling to the New York Red Bulls, 2-0, at Red Bull Arena on July 21. It was the Revs third straight loss and fourth game without a win, having conceded seven times in the three consecutive losses.

The Revs frustrated the Red Bulls in the opening hour before Danny Royer and Bradley Wright-Phillips scored late for the hosts. Teal Bunbury had a chance to give New England an early lead, but Luis Robles came off his line bravely.

“We said good teams never lose two in a row,” Brad Friedel said. “Here we are with three, three losses in a row. I think it's a big mentality check for us as a staff and us as a team and the whole.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Chris Tierney (torn right ACL)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Matt Turner — Andrew Farrell, Antonio Delamea, Jalil Anibaba, Claude Dielna — Luis Caicedo, Wilfried Zahibo — Juan Agudelo, Diego Fagundez, Cristian Penilla — Teal Bunbury

Notes: Bunbury has tallied five game-winning goals this season for New England. Only Atlanta’s Josef Martínez (eight) has more. … The Revolution are winless in their last seven league road games (3L-4D), conceding 2.3 goals per game in that time.

All-Time Series

Overall: Orlando City SC 2 wins, 15 goals … New England Revolution 2 wins, 15 goals … 3 draws
At Orlando: Orlando City SC 2 wins, 13 goals … Revolution 0 wins, 6 goals … 2 draws
Last meeting at Orlando: Orlando City SC 6, New England Revolution 1 (Sept. 27, 2017)