Orlando City SC vs. Chicago Fire | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Orlando City SC vs. Chicago Fire
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 13
Orlando City Stadium — Orlando
May 26 - 7:30 pm ET
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Something has to give as Orlando City SC host the Chicago Fire in an Eastern Conference showdown of two teams looking to bounce back from consecutive losses.

The Lions are coming off a 2-1 loss to Toronto FC last Friday, while the Fire fell at home to the Houston Dynamo, 3-2.

This will be the eighth regular season meeting between the two teams. They have drawn four of the previous seven games (two Orlando wins and one Chicago win). All three games played in Orlando have finished in draws, per Opta.

Orlando City SC

With Yoshi Yotun suspended for yellow card accumulation, Jason Kreis started Uri Rosell alongside Cristian Higuita in the midfield with Stefano Pinho replacing the injured Dom Dwyer.

Ten minutes after Jay Chapman put Toronto FC in front in the 63rd minute, Higuita leveled for Orlando City SC (6-4-1) before Ryan Telfer netted the dramatic winner for the Reds three minutes from full time.

“It’s the details now,” Kreis said. “I really feel like and I think once we put those details together and marry them with the performance we’re seeing in 90 percent of those matches, I expect real positive results here in the very near future.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: D - Amro Tarek, M - Yoshi Yotun
Injury Report: OUT: GK - Mason Stajduhar (Localized Ewing Sarcoma), D - Jonathan Spector (concussion), F - Dom Dwyer (lower body injury); QUESTIONABLE: D - Scott Sutter (lower body injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Joe Bendik — Will Johnson, Lamine Sane, Chris Schuller, Mohamed El-Munir — Uri Rosell, Cristian Higuita — Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Meram — Stefano Pinho

Notes: Mohamed El-Munir had five tackles and five interceptions against Toronto last weekend, the fifth time he has had five tackles and five interceptions in the same MLS game this season. No other player has achieved that statline more than twice this season. … Orlando’s six-game win streak has now been punctured by consecutive losses. OCSC also lost two games in a row prior to the beginning of their six-game streak.

Chicago Fire

Veljko Paunovic made three changes to his side that lost to Columbus Crew SC, 3-0, a week earlier. Grant Lillard returned from injury to start alongside Johan Kappelhof centrally in the four-man backline, Bastian Schweinsteiger returned to the lineup and started centrally in the midfield between Mo Adams and Tony Tchani.

Nemanja Nikolic and Diego Campos struck two minutes apart after Romell Quioto put Houston in front after four minutes, but Alberth Elis struck for a second-half brace as the Fire (3-6-2) conceded three times in a second consecutive loss and fourth at Toyota Park this season.

“It’s not good enough, that’s clear,” Schweinsteiger said after the game. “We played home, too many losses. There are some situations in the game where we are feeling OK, now we’re in a good way, but then we kill ourselves unnecessarily.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Djordje Mihailovic (right ACL surgery), F - Michael de Leeuw (left ACL surgery), D - Matt Polster (MCL sprain), F - Luis Solignac (left quad injury), M - Jon Bakero (right ankle injury), M - Dax McCarty (hamstring strain), F - Elliot Collier (left gastroc injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Richard Sanchez — Kevln Ellis, Johan Kappelhof, Grant Lillard, Brandon Vincent — Mo Adams, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Tony Tchani — Diego Campos, Nemanja Nikolic, Aleksandar Katai

Notes: Nikolic’s goal last weekend snapped a four-game scoreless streak, his second longest scoreless streak in his MLS career. Nikolic now has 30 regular season goals, the second most of any player in the league since the start of last season. … Chicago have only won three of their last 13 regular season away games (8L-2D) and have conceded an average of 2.2 goals across the 13 road matches.

All-Time Series

Overall: Orlando City SC 2 wins, 8 goals … Chicago Fire 1 win, 10 goals … 4 ties
At Orlando: Orlando City SC 0 wins, 2 goals … Fire 0 wins, 2 goals … 3 ties
Last meeting at Orlando: Orlando City SC 0, Chicago Fire 0 (June 4, 2017)