Orlando City vs. Seattle Sounders: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Welcome to your match thread for tonight's match-up between Orlando City (7-20-4, 25 points) and the Seattle Sounders (15-11-5, 50 points) at Orlando City Stadium. It’s the only scheduled meeting between these cross-conference opponents.

Look, I’m just diving right in because it’s late in the season and it’s hard to rehash these types of numbers every week and retain any kind of sanity. This kind of season shouldn’t even be possible but here we are.

History

The Lions are 0-2-1 against Seattle in the all-time series since the club joined MLS, and 0-1-0 at home. Orlando City got its first ever point in the series last season at CenturyLink Field, when Scott Sutter’s stoppage-time header equalized in a 1-1 road draw. Will Bruin scored for Seattle in the first half.

In 2016, the Sounders came into Camping World Stadium in August and won, 3-1. The Lions struck first through a Seb Hines goal, but Clint Dempsey’s hat trick more than brought the Sounders back.

The Sounders blew Orlando off the pitch in 2015 in the Lions’ first trip to Seattle, cruising to a 4-0 victory. Right back Tyler Turner picked up a pair of first-half yellow cards in that match and the Lions were forced to play 50+ minutes a man short. Obafemi Martins scored a brace and Seattle added goals by Nelson Valdez and Thomás. The final score would have been worse if not for goalkeeper Tally Hall stopping Martins on a penalty.

Overview

The Lions are 0-9-3 in their last 12 matches and 1-18-3 in their last 22, failing to score a goal in their last five. On the season, Orlando is just 5-6-4 in the friendly confines of the purple palace. Seattle, meanwhile, has won 11 of 13, including the last two straight, and is 5-1-2 in its last eight road matches.

Orlando City is missing Yoshimar Yotún, Mohamed El-Munir, and Amro Tarek to international duty. Jonathan Spector (back) and Pierre Da Silva (knee) are out. In fact, Da Silva had season-ending surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Stefano Pinho (quad) is still not fully training, while Uri Rosell (ankle) is working his way back into the lineup. For Seattle, Jordan Morris (ACL), Harry Shipp (hamstring), Brad Smith (hamstring), Roman Torres (knee), and Felix Chenkam (back surgery) are injured. Four Sounders are on international duty: Nicolas Lodeiro (Uruguay), Raul Ruidiaz (Peru), Gustav Svensson (Sweden), and Jordy Delem (Martinique). That number of absences might give most teams a fighting chance against the streaking Sounders but this year’s Orlando City team has not shown any ability to take advantage of these kinds of situations.

Mandatory Match #Content

• Our Intelligence Report gives us more about the Sounders from Dave Clark of SB Nation’s Seattle blog, Sounder at Heart.
• This week’s PawedCast features our key match-ups and score predictions for the match.

Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Adam Grinwis.

Defenders: Will Johnson, Lamine Sané, Shane O’Neill, Scott Sutter.

Defensive Midfielders: Carlos Ascues, Oriol Rosell.

Attacking Midfielders: Chris Mueller, Sacha Kljestan, Cristian Higuita.

Forward: Dom Dwyer.

Bench: Joe Bendik, Chris Schuler, Donny Toia, Tony Rocha. Cam Lindley, Richie Laryea. Josué Colmán, Cam Lindley.

Seattle Sounders (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Stefan Frei.

Defenders: Nouhou Tolo, Chad Marshall, Kim Kee-hee, Kelvin Leerdam.

Defensive Midfielders: Osvaldo Alonso, Jordy Delem.

Attacking Midfielders: Handwalla Bwana, Victor Rodriguez, Cristian Roldan.

Forwards: Will Bruin.

Bench: Bryan Meredith, Waylon Francis, Jordan McRary, Tony Alfaro, Alex Roldan, Henry Wingo. Raul Ruidiaz.

Referees

Ref: Mark Geiger.

AR1: Brian Poeschel.

AR2: Jose Da Silva.

4th: Rubiel Vazquez.

VAR: Chris Penso.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m. ET.

Venue: Orlando City Stadium — Orlando, FL.

TV: WRDQ TV27 (local only).

Radio: 104.1 FM Real Radio (English), La Nueva 990 (Spanish).

Streaming: MLS Live.

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

Match Thread Rules

This is your live thread for posting comments on the match. So use our comments section below to talk about the game in real time with other supporters. If you’re new, welcome to our happy home! While you’re here, please observe a few basic rules:

• Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They can get us in trouble, and no one wants that.
• Try not to be the person who spews nothing but venom and hate for the team. It’s OK to be critical, and, let’s face it, sometimes even the best teams can be frustrating to watch, but being overly negative relentlessly can sap the enjoyment for others.
• Keep it somewhat clean and fair when criticizing players / officials. You never know who might be reading.
• Do unto others in the match thread, the way you would have others do unto you. We are a fun community and want to keep it this way. We have a moderator, but we’d rather let him enjoy the game instead of having to play babysitter.

Enjoy the match! Go City!