Predictions for Orlando City’s August Fixtures

This year’s Major League Soccer season has gone by in the blink of an eye, and when Orlando City returns from a slightly over two-week layoff from games due to Leagues Cup, the Lions will only have 11 games left in the season. Three will be played in August, five in September, and the final three during October. With the home stretch of the season nearly here, I took it upon myself to predict OCSC’s three August matches: away to Chicago Fire, home against St. Louis City, and away against Charlotte FC.

Aug. 20 — at Chicago Fire

This will be the second meeting between the two teams after Orlando City claimed a 3-1 win on July 1 at Exploria Stadium. Chicago has had a solid year and will enter the match with a record of 8-7-8, and the Fire rattled off three straight wins following the loss to Orlando, including a nice 1-0 win over Nashville SC. The Fire have been outstanding at home this year and have only lost once at Soldier Field in league play, with one other loss coming against Club America in the team’s final game of Leagues Cup group stage play. Both teams will be well-rested, and Orlando City should have a nearly clean bill of health by the time this one rolls around. I’ll bet on a rested, healthy OCSC to continue the team’s strong away form in 2023.

Prediction: Chicago 1-2 Orlando City.

Aug. 26 — vs. St. Louis City

St. Louis has had an outstanding maiden MLS season and is currently atop the Western Conference with 41 points and a record of 13-8-2. The team won four of its last five games going into Leagues Cup, but lost both of its group stage games and exited the tournament early. The team has a very respectable record of 6-4-1 away from home, but lost its last two away games — three if you count Leagues Cup. St. Louis should likely have Joakim Nilsson back from a knee injury, and Head Coach Bradley Carnell said on Wednesday that he hopes to have Joao Klauss back in partial training next week, which means he’ll likely be questionable. I think this one is going to be a very tight affair, and I’m afraid Orlando will come out on the wrong side of things.

Prediction: Orlando City 1-2 St. Louis.

Aug. 30 — at Charlotte FC

Orlando lost the home fixture against Charlotte earlier this season by a score of 2-1, and also lost in the U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 to the team from North Carolina. Charlotte hasn’t had a great season, and a record of 6-9-8 finds them on 26 points and sitting 12th out of 15 teams in the East. The team has been good at home and has only lost three times, with all of those losses coming against teams currently above the playoff line. They’ve also hit a patch of good form in Leagues Cup and have two wins and two penalty shootout wins, and face Inter Miami in a quarterfinal match tonight. Even if they don’t manage to get past Miami, they’ll enter the match against Orlando with significantly less rest than the Lions, and that sort of thing can add up during the grueling summer months. I like OCSC to get revenge for the two matches earlier in the year, and split the MLS series with Charlotte.

Prediction: Charlotte 1-3 Orlando City.

If my predictions go according to plan, the Lions will pick up a perfectly respectable six points from three matches, although there will likely be some angst about losing at home, regardless of whether or not the team beating Orlando is top of the West. All we can do now is sit back and see how things shake out. Vamos Orlando!