Orlando City is back in action after the international break, and with only six games left in the regular season, the Lions face a tough fight in the table with several teams fighting for the top spots.
The Lions (13-7-8, 47 points) travel to take on DC United (5-15-9, 24 points), looking to earn three points on the road Saturday starting at 7:30 p.m.
“We took advantage of the fact that we have this FIFA [break] and tried to generate space for the players, where some of them needed to rest and kind of bring that energy back again, but also some others that needed to work and participate in the drills and the training and keep them active,” Orlando coach Oscar Pareja said.
“We’re good, we’re mentally prepared to continue our journey towards the next objective.”
Orlando holds an all-time record of 9-3-9 against DC, beating them by a combined 12-3 in the last three matchups. DC has allowed 54 goals this season, the worst in the Eastern Conference, giving Orlando’s front line the perfect opportunity to get back to scoring ways.
However, that doesn’t mean Orlando is taking this challenge lightly. DC has plenty of goalscoring threat thanks to Christian Benteke, and the Lions will be looking to close up shop and keep a clean sheet for the first time in three games.
“Every game you have to take the same way. If we treat it as a playoff game, it’s a must-win every game for us. It’s how we have our mentality going into each week,” Orlando forward Duncan McGuire said. “So even though DC is maybe mathematically eliminated, they’re still gonna take it seriously. And we can’t go in there expecting an easy win against a team that’s very dangerous going forward.”
The Lions stand a good chance of coming home with all three points if they can keep their composure at the back and unleash the attacking prowess of a healthy McGuire, Martin Ojeda, and Marco Pašalić to add to the club’s league-leading 54 goals.
