Simulating Orlando City vs.Charleston Battery with FIFA

As I did a few days ago, we used the help of FIFA 15 to simulate the game between New York City FC and Orlando City SC. This time out, (again, thanks to ModdingWay for the help), I used FIFA 14 to simulate tomorrow night’s match between the Lions and the Charleston Battery.

Orlando's starting 11 for the game:

G: Ricketts; D Ramos, Collin, St. Ledger, Shea; M Okugo, Higuita, Molino, Kaká, Neal; F Rochez.

Within the first few minutes, Orlando City dominated possession. The ball barely left Orlando’s attacking third and, just as in real life, the play on the left side of the field between Kaká, Lewis Neal and Brek Shea gave the Lions many opportunities early on.

Orlando, however, was not able to capitalize with their possession or chances. City's best chance came in the 25th minute off of a set piece. After a questionable foul called against Charleston's Michael Chang on Lewis Neal, Kaka took a free kick, which he lobbed in the air, meeting the head of Aurélien Collin. Collin nodded the ball to Neal, who took a shot that went wide right.

Orlando's next best chance came in the 43rd minute, after Kevin Molino found a wide open Bryan Rochez in the box. Rochez took a shot on goal, only to have it blocked by Charleston goalie Odisnel Cooper. The subsequent corner kick resulted in no chances for the Lions, as the whistle blew for halftime.

At the scoreless first half, Orlando held a dominating possession advantage, 62%-38%, while taking four shots on goal. Charleston, meanwhile, had no shots on goal whatsoever.

At the start of the second half, Cristian Higuita was subbed out for Darwin Cerén at defensive midfield. As the game commenced, Charleston came out with a bit more drive for scoring. That being said, the Battery still were not able to get a shot on goal.

On the other end of the field, Orlando still tried to find a breakthrough. On a counter attack in the 56th minute, Molino tried a cross into the box, where Rafael Ramos was waiting. Ramos was able to get his head on the ball, but it went outside the box to Amobi Okugo who tried to volley it back in, but his attempt was well under struck and ended up out of bounds.

For the next 30 or so minutes of game time, Orlando was still able to control the game, but never broke through, as the game ended in a 0-0 draw. Unfortunately, the recording stopped after the 82nd minute, so I wasn't able to salvage the final stats. The one thing I do remember from the game, however, is the fact that Charleston did not have a shot on goal in the entire game.

We shall see tomorrow if these predictions come to fruition in real life.