The vibes are generally good around Orlando City SC heading into Saturday's visit to Yankee Stadium for a clash with New York City FC (1 pm ET | TV & streaming info), buoyed by Nani’s dramatic late winner vs. Vancouver last week.
But with their results map reading "L-W-L-W-L-W" over the past six weeks, coach James O’Connor is eager to see the Lions stack up both steady play and steady results heading into a busy May.
“I think the biggest thing for us, going into this game against New York [City], is trying to get the level of performance that we all believe we've had,” O’Connor told reporters this week. “I would say for the most part we’ve been really pleased with the performances. I think some results haven’t gone the way we’ve wanted, that’s probably the biggest thing for us. So to maintain the level of performance that gets the result is really important.
“Going into an away game, you want to make sure you make it hard for the opponent and then equally with chance creation, hopefully it can stay high and we can cause New York some problems.”
Orlando presently sit in mid-table in the Eastern Conference with a 3-3-2 record, and in addition to this week’s test at surging NYCFC, face home games vs. Toronto FC and the LA Galaxy and visits to Atlanta and Seattle in the weeks ahead. It adds up to a sustained test for their rebuilding squad.
“We can be pleased from an attacking standpoint, with the chance creation,” said O’Connor, who cited the rising belief his players can glean from breakthroughs like the Whitecaps win but wants to see more consistency.
“With the conversion, there's been some games where we've been pretty clinical. We've had other games where we’ve maybe had some good chances and needed to be a little bit more clinical … it’s an ongoing process for us.”
The two City sides, linked by their status as 2015 expansion siblings, played out a riveting 2-2 draw on the season’s opening day. O’Connor warned his Lions that Saturday’s tight, tense setting in the Bronx will pose a very different challenge, however.
“We’ve played them in preseason, we played them in the first game of the season. I think where it becomes totally different is the arena and the field,” he said. “The games we’ve played have been on a much bigger field. We’re now going to go into an arena which is a lot tighter and a lot harder, so it will change the game somewhat. So we need to make sure that we understand that.”
