Orlando City vs. Chicago Fire: 2015 U.S. Open Cup – How to Watch, Live Stream, Open Thread, and More

For once, Orlando City won’t be the team out for revenge when it steps out of the tunnel to take on the Chicago Fire in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tonight.

That's because when the clubs met back in early June in a league match, it was the Lions who came out on top in dramatic fashion, scoring two goals in the last ten minutes to poach a 3-2 victory. To add insult to injury for Chicago, two of Orlando's goals were own goals, though one could say that City certainly put it good work to force the mistakes.

Things have been all downhill since then for Chicago, who own the worst record in the league, and are the only club with a points per game lower than 1.00. The Fire also have the worst goal differential in MLS at -8, though to their credit, their 20 goals scored are only second worst in the league.

All that said, one has to wonder whether this could be a trap game for Orlando City, which is just barely clinging on to the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference after an intensely difficult two weeks of league play. While there's little doubt that Adrian Heath will play with every intention of winning this deep into the tournament, it would be understandable if players and coaches alike are more focused on league play at the moment. If Wigan can beat Manchester City in Cup play, there's no doubt that the struggling-but-motivated Fire could take down Orlando.

All that said, Orlando City’s the better team right now, and the three questionable suspensions incurred in last weekend’s match against New York Red Bulls don’t apply to Cup play, meaning Adrian Heath, Cristian Higuita, and Cyle Larin are all eligible for the match.

Larin absolutely torched the Fire as a late substitute in the previous meeting, scoring the second goal and forcing an own goal to win it. Unless his red card from the New York Red Bulls match is rescinded prior to kickoff, he’s the likely starter here, with what will be a weekend off coming up.

The fire hardly rolled over in Orlando’s last visit though, with Kennedy Igboananike and David Accam both scoring and forcing Tally Hall into a number of difficult saves. While the Fire are in free-fall at the moment to be sure, I wouldn’t rule out the side without much else to play for in this Open Cup match.

Official Lineups:

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Tally Hall

Defenders: Luke Boden, Sean St. Ledger, Seb Hines, Rafael Ramos

Defensive Midfielders: Darwin Ceren, Cristian Higuita

Attacking Midfielders: Pedro Ribeiro, Kaká, Eric Avila

Forward: Cyle Larin

Bench: Earl Edwards Jr., Tyler Turner, Tommy Redding, Conor Donovan, Servando Carrasco, Danny Mwanga

Chicago Fire (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Jon Busch

Defenders: Joevin Jones, Adailton, Eric Gehrig, Matt Polster

Midfielders: David Accam, Razvan Cocis, Matt Watson, Patrick Nyarko

Forwards: Jason Johnson, Shaun Maloney

Bench: Sean Johnson, Lovel Palmer, Greg Cochrane, Michael Stephens, Collin Fernandez, Kennedy Igboananike, David Accam

How to Watch:

Alas, this match is not televised, but it will be streamed live online (below!).

Match time: 8:30 p.m. (ET)

Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL

TV: None, sorry.

Radio: Nope. Sorry again.

Streaming: YouTube and OrlandoCitySC.com.

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City's official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

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