FIFA 15 Predicts: Orlando City vs Seattle Sounders

It’s been almost two full months since the last FIFA prediction, so it was just about time to dust off the old game system and give it another go. Since it’s still a bit early to tell who will play in the game, I went with the lineup that Orlando City will most likely run. I put new acquisition David Mateos and Adrian Winter on the bench as well.

Orlando's starting 11 for the game:

G: Tally Hall; D- Tyler Turner, Aurélien Collin, Seb Hines, Corey Ashe; M- Cristian Higuita, Darwin Cerén, Luke Boden, Kaká, Eric Avila; F- Cyle Larin

The game started off with Orlando asserting control and attacking the Sounders‘ defense. After a few minutes of passing it around, Darwin Cerén took a spinning shot, which deflected off of Brad Evans. Dylan Remick tried to run it down, but instead dribbled it out of bounds.

Off the ensuing corner corner came more bad defense from the Sounders — this time from Obafemi Martins — as Cyle Larin finished off a Kaká cross easily to put the Lions up 1-0 and subsequently break the rookie scoring record.

Now it was Seattle’s turn to try to get one back. Almost immediately after the restart, a cross from Lamar Neagle almost found Martins but Seb Hines was able to get it out of the box and clear the danger.

The clearance found its way back to the Sounders, but they almost immediately turned the ball over and started an Orlando counter attack.

Cerén was able to find a sprinting Larin on the left wing, who tried to get a cross in, but the ball was deflected out of bounds for another corner only 12 minutes into the game. Deciding to take a short corner, the team began to pass the ball around the outside of the box for a bit. After some good interplay between Cerén, Kaká and Higuita, they eventually found Larin, who shot it right into goalie Stefan Frei's hands.

A good run around by Higuita in the 29th minute found Cerén all alone. The Salvadorian national played a give-and-go with Larin, but had his shot blocked away by Chad Marshall for Orlando’s third corner of the game. The team once again took a short corner and eventually, after another blocked shot, Higuita was flagged for offside.

A bit more back and forth later, halftime approached. Right at the 45th minute, Seattle managed to get into good position behind the Lions' defense and Lamar Neagle took a shot, which ricocheted off the crossbar and was cleared by Turner, ending the half.

Orlando still maintained the 1-0 lead after the first 45 and also held possession, commanding 53% of the ball as well as hitting over 90% passing accuracy.

The second half began with Orlando moving the ball up the field, just as the Lions did in the first half. Around the 50th minute, after an Orlando turnover, Seattle countered up the left side of the field, combining good passes and eventually found the foot of Dylan Remick, who put a good cross into the box, finding the head of Erik Friberg, who just put it over the crossbar.

Off the restart, Orlando pushed the ball deep into the Sounders' half and, after a cleared cross, a foul was committed on Kaká and a free kick was awarded 25 yards out. Before the free kick, Adrian Winter made his second appearance for the club, coming on for Luke Boden. Meanwhile, Kaká skied the free kick and missed everything.

Seattle then made a sub, bringing Gonzalo Pineda on for Friberg.

The next half an hour for Orlando was a bit dicey. In the 61st minute, Dempsey found himself open on goal after a missed Collin tackle, but Tally Hall came up with a big diving save and allowed the team to clear the danger. Then, in the 69th minute, Dempsey dribbled around Collin and found himself open, but completely skied the shot.

A minute later, Andy Rose was subbed off for new acquisition Andreas Ivanschitz, making his debut for the club.

Off the restart from the sub, Hines passes the ball out of bounds for no apparent reason. Then, off the throw-in, Obafemi Martins got in on goal and Hall was again able to get a piece of it and deflected it out for a corner. The corner itself resulted in the ball missing everyone in the air and going out for an Orlando throw-in.

In the 77th minute, Avila made way for Carlos Rivas and immediately off the restart from the sub, Rivas got the ball on the wing and promptly dribbled it out of bounds.

As the game wore on, it seemed Orlando was employing the old "park the bus" strategy, hoping for the clock to run out and the team to be able to seal the win.

Meanwhile, Seattle continued to desperately search for the equalizer, but no such luck was coming for the home team. In the 87th minute, Servando Carrasco came on for Higuita, wasting a bit more time in the process and getting fresher legs on the field to finish out the game.

Finally, in the 90th minute, Collin was able to get his head on a cross from the Sounders and sent it towards midfield. Rivas was able to race and catch up to it and began to make his way downfield. The young Colombian was able to show some good composure not to take it all the way himself, pulling back and wasting time. Then for some weird reason, he decided to take a shot from 30 yards out on his right foot and it ended up exactly where you would expect, out of bounds.

Seattle had one last chance, as they took the ball from the restart into the heart of Orlando's defense, but team captain Kaká came up with a steal and Corey Ashe cleared the ball to end the game, sealing a crucial three points for the Lions.

Going back to previous simulations, they have so far all been wrong.

OCSC vs. NYCFC Prediction: 4-1 (Actual 1-1)

OCSC vs. Montreal Impact Prediction: 0-0 (Actual 2-2)

OCSC vs. Columbus Crew SC Prediction: 2-0 (Actual 0-3)

OCSC vs. Chicago Fire Prediction: 0-1 (Actual 3-2)

Let's hope that this one sticks and Orlando can pull out a much needed win on the road this Sunday.