Match Preview: Orlando City Look to Continue Run of Form Against Sporting Kansas City
Orlando are beginning to replicate their consistency from last season. Can they keep it up?
Fresh off the excitement and ecstasy of last week’s triumph over Inter Miami CF, Orlando City will host the West’s Sporting Kansas City in a cross-conference match before Leagues Cup quarterfinals. Kansas City is visiting with hopes to reverse their fortune inside the Western Conference with only one win in their last six fixtures. Orlando is feeling as confident as ever with a sweep of Miami and a quarterfinal bout to look forward to on Wednesday.
It has been a rough season for Sporting Kansas City. Despite adding attacking talent in Dejan Joveljic, the team has struggles to pose a real threat in the Western Conference. Even more, Sporting has managed to be the second worst defense in their conference only being “beaten” in goals conceded by last place LA Galaxy. The club did recently sign a new defender, Alan Montes, from Necaxa in Liga MX who made his debut off the bench in a 0-2 loss to San Diego. The outlook is bleak for Kansas City; their only real hope may lie in Orlando opting to rotate their lineup ahead of the Leagues Cup quarterfinal.
The Lions are roaring in Orlando right now. With recent dominant victories against the likes of Columbus (3-1), Necaxa (5-1), and Miami (4-1), Orlando has found itself in the best run of form all season. Their lineup of Designated Players- Ojeda, Muriel, and Pasalic- has amased a monumental 70 goal contributions across all competitions this season; in MLS, the Lions are tied with San Diego and Inter Miami for most goals scored so far. It wouldn’t surprise me if Orlando took this game to give certain players such as Muriel a bit of rotation in preparation for a strenuous road trip over the next few matches which will see the club travel to Los Angeles for their match against Toluca, then to the Music City to battle third place Nashville SC, and then back to Orlando where they’ll host the very good Vancouver Whitecaps. If Orlando want to prove they are more than a “mid” team, they will need to maintain their focus for the next couple weeks. After all, it is MLS and a team becoming hot at the right moment can end up with the cup when all is said and done.
I don’t want to write off Kansas City entirely because this Orlando team is not immune to an odd blunder against weaker opponents. Just think back to their failure to take all three points at home vs. Montreal in July. However, I fully expect the Lions to have yet another successful hunt at home before shifting gears to Leagues Cup.
Here is tonight’s Orlando lineup. The game is currently under a weather delay.