Orlando City
Orlando City vs. Cavalry FC, Concacaf Champions Cup: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions have the advantage heading into tonight’s second leg against Cavalry.
Welcome to your match thread for a Tuesday night Concacaf Champions Cup matchup between Orlando City and Cavalry FC of the Canadian Premier League at Inter&Co Stadium at 6 p.m. (FOX Sports 2). It’s the second meeting ever between the teams, who met for the first time just six days ago in Langford, British Columbia.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
There is exactly one game’s worth of history in this not-exactly-storied rivalry. Orlando City won the first match last Wednesday by a 3-0 scoreline at Starlight Stadium. Duncan McGuire put the Lions on the board first and Facundo Torres added a brace in a dominant performance by Orlando City. Those were Orlando’s first three away goals in continental competition and their first win on the road as well.
The Lions are experiencing their fourth international cup competition and their second foray into Concacaf Champions League/Cup, having drawn twice against Tigres UANL last season. Orlando bowed out of last year’s competition due to the away goals tiebreaker. Orlando City has also competed twice in Leagues Cup.
Overview
Orlando City is coming off a 0-0 draw against CF Montreal on Saturday in its MLS season opener at home. Pedro Gallese kept a clean sheet, keeping alive the club’s 10-year unbeaten streak in MLS openers (3-0-7). The Lions have not conceded a goal in their opener since Oscar Pareja became head coach, with three 0-0 draws, a 1-0 win over New York Red Bulls (2023), and a 2-0 win over CF Montreal (2022).
Cavalry FC hasn’t played since these teams met last week. The Canadian side is coming off a season in which it finished top of the table in the regular season but fell 2-1 after extra time in the CPL championship match against Forge FC. As far as CPL teams go, the Lions will be facing one of the league’s best, as you’d expect in a competition called “Champions Cup.” Cavalry showed its quality last week, jumping out to the more energetic start in each half and fashioning some good scoring chances in the second half.
The Lions will likely rotate some personnel for this match, given that they’ve played twice in the last six days and enjoy a three-goal advantage entering the second leg. Orlando City would advance with a win, a draw, or a loss by two goals or fewer, but there is a path for Cavalry FC. Here’s how the teams can advance:
“A very important match. The context of it, people may think the job has been done. The message today to the players was the game is not done yet,” Pareja said. “We respect our rival and the competition. We’re going in with full cylinders (tonight) trying to achieve us advancing to the next phase with a lot of responsibility because the tournament requires it.”
Orlando City has everyone available for tonight, including new striker Luis Muriel.
Official Lineups
Orlando City (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Mason Stajduhar.
Defenders: Rafael Santos, Rodrigo Schlegel, Kyle Smith, Michael Halliday.
Defensive Midfielders: Wilder Cartagena, Felipe.
Attacking Midfielders: Ramiro Enrique, Martin Ojeda, Shak Mohammed.
Forward: Luis Muriel.
Bench: Pedro Gallese, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Abdi Salim, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Cesar Araujo, Jeorgio Kocevski, Nico Lodeiro, Ivan Angulo, Facundo Torres, Jack Lynn, Duncan McGuire.
Cavalry FC (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Marco Carducci.
Defenders: Bradley Kamdem, Daan Klomp, Callum Montgomery, Shamit Shome.
Defensive Midfielders: Eryk Kobza, Charlie Trafford.
Attacking Midfielders: William Akio, Sergio Camargo, Fraser Aird.
Forward: Myer Bevan.
Bench: Jack Barrett, Jesse Daley, Tom Field, Diego Gutierrez, Michael Harms, Ali Musse, Lucas Dias, Lleyton Brooks, Tobias Warschewski.
Officials:
REF: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico).
AR1: Christian Espinosa (Mexico).
AR2: Michel Espinoza (Mexico).
4TH: Cesar Ramos (Mexico).
VAR: Adonai Escobedo (Mexico).
VAR1: Benjamin Whitty (Cayman Islands).
How to Watch
Match Time: 6 p.m.
Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.
TV: FOX Sports 2.
Streaming: The match can be streamed on FOX Sports GO, and the FOX Sports app.
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!