Orlando City

Orlando City vs. New England Revolution: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions close out their home regular season slate looking to avenge a midsummer loss and clinch a top-four spot.

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7 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC

Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City and the New England Revolution (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+ (free)). This is the second of the two scheduled meetings between the two MLS Eastern Conference rivals this season and Orlando City’s home finale for the regular season.

Here’s what you need to know for the match.

History

The Lions are 2-7-7 in the all-time, regular-season series against New England and 3-8-7 in all competitions. At home, Orlando City has dropped points more often than not in the series, playing to a 2-1-5 record against the Revs in league play and 3-2-5 in all competitions in the City Beautiful.

New England got the better of the Lions in the previous matchup this season, winning 3-1 at Gillette Stadium on June 17. The Lions were sloppy throughout but played through a scoreless first half. The Revs then went up by two with goals from Emmanuel Boateng and Gustavo Bou 18 minutes apart. Duncan McGuire pulled one back late but Carles Gil scored the dagger five minutes later.

These teams last met at Exploria Stadium on Aug. 6, 2022 and the previously struggling Revolution whipped Orlando City, 3-0. New England got goals from unlikely sources, as central midfielders Matt Polster and Wilfrid Kaptoum and center back Henry Kessler provided the offense. The teams met at Gillette Stadium on June 15 of last year, when the Revs went ahead on a Gil goal but the Lions pulled that back with a Robin Jansson strike en route to a 1-1 road draw.

New England went unbeaten in the 2021 season series. The teams played to a 2-2 draw at Exploria Stadium on Oct. 24, 2021. The Lions built a 2-0 lead through goals by Nani and Daryl Dike, but two late Adam Buksa goals allowed the Revs to steal a point. The teams met at Gillette Stadium just over a month prior to that draw in Orlando, with Nani’s missed penalty a costly one in a 2-1 Revs home win. The Revolution jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a goal by Buksa and an own goal off of Rodrigo Schlegel, in which the referee was quite lenient with Buksa’s treatment of the Orlando defender in the lead-up to Tajon Buchanan’s cross. Dike pulled one back for the Lions and won a penalty, but Nani’s attempt to go down the middle was read at the last second by Matt Turner, who got his shoulder to it to preserve the lead. Orlando played well in that match but wasn’t clinical enough with its chances.

The Revolution ended the Lions’ season at Exploria Stadium in the 2020 playoffs, knocking Orlando City out of MLS Cup contention in the conference semifinal round on Nov. 29, 2020 That 3-1 win by the Revs was the first road win for either side in the all-time series in any competition. Gil put the Revs up early from the penalty spot after a call against Uri Rosell, and Bou doubled the lead eight minutes later, finishing a play that started with a Nani turnover the captain said should have been called a foul. Junior Urso pulled a goal back before the halftime whistle, but Mauricio Pereyra was sent off for a studs-up challenge on Polster at the hour mark. Still, Nani had a chance to equalize from the spot, but a poor penalty was saved by Turner. Bou added a late insurance goal.

In the final year of the pre-pandemic times, the Revs went 1-0-1 in the season series. The Lions and Revolution met at Exploria Stadium on Sept. 14, 2019, with Orlando overcoming a Tesho Akindele own goal and two deficits — the second by two goals — and rallying for a 3-3 draw. Akindele’s own goal opened the scoring 15 minutes in, but Nani tied things up less than 10 minutes later. Cristian Penilla and Bou scored goals five minutes apart just before halftime to seemingly give the visitors control. But Dom Dwyer pulled one back after the restart and Nani tied it up with more than a half hour to play. Neither side could find a winner, however.

The teams also met at Gillette Stadium in 2019 on July 27, and the Revs put the Lions on full blast, 4-1. Bou scored within the first two minutes of the game and the Revolution got more goals from Penilla, Gil, and Diego Fagundez. Akindele pulled one back to avoid the shutout.

The teams also met at Exploria Stadium in U.S. Open Cup action that year on June 19, with the Lions scoring twice in a 30-minute extra time session and holding on for a 2-1 victory. Benji Michel and Akindele staked Orlando to a 2-0 lead before Justin Rennicks pulled one back off a Gil back-post cross. City was able to see the game out.

The last meeting of 2018 saw the Revs top a depleted Orlando side, 2-0 in Gillette Stadium on Oct. 13. Penilla and Fagundez provided the offense. In the first matchup of 2018, the teams combined for six goals in a 3-3 draw at Orlando City Stadium on Aug. 4. Orlando battled back from a 2-0 deficit after Juan Agudelo and Penilla found the net. Dwyer pulled one back and Amro Tarek scored his first MLS goal to level things. Teal Bunbury restored the Revolution’s lead, but Scott Sutter headed home a Yoshimar Yotún set piece delivery in stoppage time to rescue a point for the Lions.

Orlando City and New England split the season series in 2017. City completed a 6-1 demolition of 10-man New England at home Sept. 27, 2017. Kaká scored a brace, with Dwyer getting his first home goal as an MLS Lion and Yotún and Antonio Nocerino each scoring their first-ever goal with OCSC. Seb Hines also scored for Orlando and  Lee Nguyen got the Revs’ only tally on a free kick. New England won at Gillette Stadium that year by a 4-0 count and it could have been worse. Kei Kamara netted a hat trick and Bunbury also scored, with Nguyen assisting on all four goals to tie an MLS record. Jose Aja was sent off after receiving two yellow cards.

The Lions went 1-0-2 in the series in 2016, winning 3-1 at home on July 31. The teams played a controversial 2-2 draw in Orlando on April 17, 2016. The second 2016 meeting reached the same final score on April 30 in New England.

The teams met twice in 2015, with Orlando City rallying from a 2-0 deficit in the final 17 minutes to draw 2-2 at the Citrus Bowl in April. The Sept. 5 rematch at Gillette Stadium didn’t go as well, with New England taking a 3-0 win. Fagundez, Agudelo and Chris Tierney scored for the Revolution.

Overview

Orlando City is coming off a crafty 1-0 road win at Nashville SC on Wednesday. The hosts started on the front foot but once the Lions found their way into the match, they basically controlled things the rest of the way. Orlando’s only goal came courtesy of McGuire just before halftime. City is 8-3-5 at home this season and the Lions are riding a home unbeaten streak of 13 matches (8-0-5) in all competitions.

The Revolution lost at home on Wednesday to Columbus, 2-1. It was their first home loss of the year. However, they have struggled away from Gillette Stadium. New England is on a winless streak of 0-5-6 on the road in all competitions.

That doesn’t mean this match will be a comfortable one for Orlando City, despite the disarray caused by the investigation into Bruce Arena and his subsequent resignation as head coach. The Revs have the fourth-best defense in the Eastern Conference, conceding 39 times this season. New England also has the conference’s fifth best offense, with 52 goals scored — two more than Orlando — on the season.

Having any success against New England always demands that the opposition keeps tabs on Gil, one of the league’s most lethal playmakers and a guy who can score goals of his own as well. Bou is another deadly finisher and is in the midst of coming back from injury, so he may not start but will likely play half the game or so. Bobby Wood has seven goals and five assists on the year, Giacomo Vrioni has six goals and two assists, and newcomer Tomas Chancalay has four goals in just eight matches.

“Most important is that we can get to the game with energy and healthy,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said. “After that, the tactics as always, especially in this semester that has been very busy, on trying to be efficient and communicating to the players the gameplan and make sure that they understand, which is something easier for me because they absorb the information very easily. We’re good. Our motivation is high being in front of our fans in the last game of the [regular] season, and the ambition to just keep ascending and be solid in our objectives in the playoffs.”

Orlando City enters the game just two men down, as depth players Adam Grinwis (thigh) and Favian Loyola (arm) are the only players listed out on the availability report. New England will be without Dylan Borrero (knee), Brandon Bye (knee), Ian Harkes (head), and Damian Rivera (knee), while Nacho Gil (leg) and Kessler (hamstring) are listed as questionable.

Match Content

Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.

Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Mauricio Pereyra, Facundo Torres.

Forwards: Duncan McGuire.

Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Luca Petrasso, Michael Halliday, Antonio Carlos, Felipe, Junior Urso, Gaston Gonzalez, Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique.

New England Revolution (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Earl Edwards, Jr.

Defenders: Matt Polster, Dave Romney, Omar Gonzalez, DeJuan Jones.

Defensive Midfielders: Mark-Anthony Kaye, Noel Buck.

Attacking Midfielders: Tomas Chancalay, Carles Gil, Nacho Gil.

Forward: Giacomo Vrioni.

Bench: Tomas Vaclik, Ryan Spaulding, Christian Makoun, Henry Kessler, Emmanuel Boateng, Tommy McNamara, Esmir Bajraktarevic, Gustavo Bou, Bobby Wood.

Referees

REF: Allen Chapman.
AR1: Brian Poeschel.
AR2: Ryan Graves.
4TH: Chris Penso.
VAR: Alejandro Mariscal.
AVAR: Diego Blas.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30p.m. ET.

Venue: Exploria Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+ (Free).

Radio: FM 96.9 The Game (English), Accion 97.9, 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!

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