Orlando City SC vs. Real Salt Lake | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Orlando City SC vs. Real Salt Lake
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 10
Orlando City Stadium — Orlando
May 6 – 5 pm ET
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Orlando City SC take their league-leading five-match winning streak back home to take on a Real Salt Lake squad that hasn’t put any streak together — wins, losses or draws — through their first eight games.

The surging Lions are coming off a come-from-behind victory over the Colorado Rapids last week, while RSL suffered a 2-0 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC last Friday.

Orlando is unbeaten in three matches against Real Salt Lake (1W-2D), scoring at least once in all of them, per Opta.

Orlando City SC

Despite trailing at halftime, Orlando (5-2-1) rallied to beat the Rapids 2-1 Sunday in Commerce City. Cristian Higuita leveled in the 52nd minute and Yoshi Yotun, who was named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 9, put the Lions ahead in the 77th minute from the penalty spot.

It is the fourth one-goal victory of this five-game winning streak for Orlando City SC, and the third time they’ve won after conceding first.

“For me it’s a continued reminder to ourselves about who we are,” Jason Kreis said. “We didn’t feel overly bad about ourselves in the first three matches, I know there were a lot of people who did, but in our locker room we didn’t. And now we don’t feel overly good about ourselves and there probably are a few people out there who may think more of us than we do. We know who we are. Our feet are on the ground, we’re humble, we’re hungry and we know that we need to improve.”

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

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Joe Bendik — Will Johnson, Lamine Sane, Amro Tarek, Mohamed El-Munir — Cristian Higuita, Yoshi Yotun — Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, Justin Meram — Dom Dwyer

Notes: Lamine Sané last weekend became the sixth Orlando City player to tally 6+ clearances, 4+ tackles and 3+ interceptions in a MLS match. … The Lions have now won five consecutive MLS matches, scoring 2+ goals in each match. This is tied for the longest winning streak in franchise history (Sept. 13-Oct. 16, 2015).

Real Salt Lake

Mike Petke made two changes to his starting XI from a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rapids, bringing on 19-year-old Pablo Ruiz at left back and Corey Baird replacing Luis Silva up top.

For the third time this season, Real Salt Lake (3-4-1) suffered defeat following a win, dropping a 2-0 decision to the Vancouver Whitecaps at BC Place Friday night. There were positive signs despite defeat, but Petke said his club wasn’t clinical enough in the final third.

“I was very pleased with our patience, with our quick play, but again we have nothing to show for it at the end of the day,” Petke said. “It’s one of those things where I think we took some pretty good strides forward, but now we have to figure out the other part of it, which is getting behind defenses.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Tony Beltran (right knee surgery), M - Jordan Allen (knee), D - David Horst (knee), GK - Alex Horwath (Achilles); QUESTIONABLE: D - Taylor Peay (knee), D - Shawn Barry (hamstring), D - Demar Phillips (ankle), D - Marcelo Silva (groin), F - Luis Silva (ankle); PROBABLE: D - Aaron Herrera (hamstring)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Nick Rimando — Brooks Lennon, Justen Glad, Nick Belser, Danilo Acosta — Damir Kreilach, Albert Rusnak, Kyle Beckerman — Joao Plata, Corey Baird, Jefferson Savarino

Notes: Nick Rimando has conceded multiple goals four times in eight games. He has never conceded multiple goals in more than 10 games in a single season. … Real Salt Lake is winless in their last eight road games (6L-2D), scoring multiple goals just once in that time. Additionally, they have been shut out in three of their last five away games.

All-Time Series

Overall: Orlando City SC 1 win, 4 goals … Real Salt Lake 0 wins, 3 goals … 2 ties
At Orlando: Orlando City SC 0 wins, 2 goals … Real Salt Lake 0 wins, 2 goals … 1 tie
Last meeting at Orlando: Orlando City SC 2, Real Salt Lake 2 (March 6, 2016)