Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Seattle Sounders: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions travel across the continent, looking for a result in a tough place to get one.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday late night matchup between Orlando City (7-5-6, 27 points) and the Seattle Sounders (8-7-4, 28 points) at Lumen Field (10:30 p.m., Apple TV+ (free)). It’s the only scheduled meeting between these cross-conference opponents.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the game.
History
The Lions are 1-4-1 against Seattle in the all-time series since the club joined MLS, and 0-2-1 on the road. The last meeting between the sides saw Orlando City capture its first win in the series, with Kyle Smith’s stoppage-time goal lifting the Lions to a 3-2 home win over the Sounders on Aug. 31, 2022. Albert Rusnak and Raul Ruidiaz staked the Sounders to a 2-0 lead, but Facundo Torres pulled one back a minute after Ruidiaz scored. Ercan Kara leveled the score from the penalty spot to set the stage for Smith’s dramatic winner.
Prior to last season’s meeting, the teams had not played since before the pandemic. The most recent meeting in Seattle came on May 15, 2019, resulting in a 2-1 Sounders victory over a heavily rotated Orlando squad. Ruidiaz and Handwalla Bwana gave the Sounders a 2-0 lead before Chris Mueller pulled one back with a quarter of an hour to play. However, the Lions couldn’t find an equalizer.
On Oct. 17, 2018, the Sounders jump out to an early 2-0 lead in Orlando on goals by Victor Rodriguez and Bwana in the game’s first 13 minutes. Dom Dwyer scored his 13th goal of the year to put the Lions on the board but the Lions couldn’t complete the comeback in a 2-1 loss.
Orlando City got its first ever point in the series at the stadium then known as CenturyLink Field on June 21, 2017, 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 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 a Martins penalty.
Overview
The Lions enter on a two-game winless streak after Jose Martinez’s ridiculous equalizer on Wednesday. Orlando City drew the Philadelphia Union 2-2 as a result of career prime Cristiano Ronaldo momentarily inhabiting Martinez’s body and referee Alex Chilowicz lacking any actual chill whatsoever in overturning Ivan Angulo’s goal just moments earlier. Orlando City is 4-2-2 on the road in 2023 but lost its last away game at New England last Saturday. Cross-country flights aren’t the best way to recover from a match but that’s what the Lions are faced with.
Orlando City is 3-0-0 against teams from the Western Conference this season, however, the three clubs in question — Minnesota United, the LA Galaxy, and the Colorado Rapids — currently occupy the bottom three spots on the table.
Seattle started the season on fire but the Sounders have cooled some recently, settling into third place in the West entering tonight. The Sounders are coming off a 1-0 midweek loss at LAFC, but are 5-3-2 at Lumen Field this season. Seattle has dropped points in its last two home matches (0-1-1) against rival Portland and the San Jose Earthquakes.
The Sounders are where they are due to (no pun intended) sound defense, keeping nine clean sheets in their 19 matches this season. In three of their losses this year, they’ve allowed only a single goal. A quick, physical defense in front of standout goalkeeper Stefan Frei makes it difficult to break through against Seattle.
In cross-conference matches against East teams, the Sounders are 1-1-1, beating the Red Bulls, losing to Cincinnati, and drawing Charlotte in a wild 3-3 affair.
The Sounders are never an easy team to beat, especially at home. Despite the fact that Jordan Morris and Roldan brothers Cristian and Alex are on international duty, Seattle has plenty of attacking ability, even without Ruidiaz, who will miss tonight’s match to attend his father’s funeral.
Nicolas Lodeiro, Heber, Rusnak, and Fredy Montero can all provide offense. Seattle’s danger largely comes from the versatility of the team’s attacking players to either score goals when given even the smallest of spaces, or to set up someone else for the goal. This will be a huge test for the Orlando City back line and central midfield. The Sounders are equally adept at scoring from buildup play or a quick counter.
“We have a quick turnaround against Seattle. Our boys need to recover, the boys that are coming from a national team will join us too,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after Wednesday’s match. “It’s a long trip, but this is our job. We have to prepare for this next game once again and we are optimistic and we’re going to keep going.”
Orlando City will be without Adam Grinwis (concussion protocol) and Abdi Salim (knee). Gaston Gonzalez (thigh) is listed as questionable but I’d be shocked if he’s on the match day team sheet after sustaining an injury late against Philadelphia. Seattle will be without previously mentioned internationals Morris and the two Roldans, as well as Xavier Arreaga (quad), Ethan Dobbelaere (hamstring), Sota Kitahara (quad), and Ruidiaz.
Match Content
- Our Intelligence Report provides more background on the Sounders with the help of Dave Clark of Sounder at Heart.
- Our most recent PawedCast features our key matchups and score predictions for tonight’s match as well as a deeper dive into the Sounders with Dave Clark.
Official Lineups
Orlando City (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.
Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, Michael Halliday.
Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.
Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Martin Ojeda, Facundo Torres.
Forward: Duncan McGuire.
Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Luca Petrasso, Kyle Smith, Rodrigo Schlegel, Felipe, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Mauricio Pereyra, Ramiro Enrique, Ercan Kara.
Seattle Sounders (4-3-2-1)
Goalkeeper: Stefan Frei.
Defenders: Nouhou, Jackson Ragen, Yeimar, Cody Baker.
Defensive Midfielders: Obed Vargas, João Paulo.
Attacking Midfielders: Léo Chú, Albert Rusnák, Nicolas Lodeiro.
Forward: Heber.
Bench: Stefan Cleveland, Abdoulaye Cissoko, Reed Baker-Whiting, Dylan Teves, Kelyn Rowe, Josh Atencio, Fredy Montero.
Referees
REF: Pierre-Luc Lauziere.
AR1: Lyes Arfa.
AR2: Walt Heatherly.
4TH: Brad Jensen.
VAR: Kevin Stott.
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert.
How to Watch
Match Time: 10:30 p.m.
Venue: Lumen Field — Seattle.
TV/Live Stream: Apple TV+ (free).
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game (English), Accion 97.9 FM and 810 AM (Spanish).
Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).
Enjoy the match. Go City!