Orlando City

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

The Lions meet the Red Bulls in another semifinal as the teams meet for the right to advance to MLS Cup.

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2 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread and preview for a Saturday night Eastern Conference final matchup between Orlando City and the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). This is the third meeting of 2024 between the teams this season and the first-ever meeting in the postseason.

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

History

The Lions are 8-10-3 in 21 league meetings with the Red Bulls in the all-time series (9-10-3 in all competitions), with a record of 4-4-2 in home league matches and 5-4-2 in Orlando in all competitions.

The teams last met on June 1 at Red Bull Arena, with the hosts coming away with a 1-0 win on a set piece goal from John Tolkin. Orlando City wasn’t in the best run of form at the time, and it was the third shutout the Lions suffered in a five-game span. The first meeting of the season came at Inter&Co Stadium on March 30, with the two sides playing to a 1-1 draw. A Kyle Smith foul in the box allowed Lewis Morgan to put the visitors ahead, but a late own goal by Noah Eile resulted in a stalemate. Ivan Angulo and Jack Lynn combined to force the own goal.

Orlando City got the sweep last year and did not concede a goal in the series, winning the last meeting 3-0 at Red Bull Arena. Facundo Torres scored twice — once from the spot — after Angulo opened the scoring for an easy road win. The two sides met in Orlando on opening day of 2023, with Orlando City winning 1-0 on a Torres penalty kick on Feb. 25. Sean Nealis’ handball allowed the Lions to start the season with a victory.

Orlando City won at Red Bull Arena 1-0 on Aug. 13, 2022, thanks to a Torres goal. That allowed the Lions to split the regular-season meetings and take two of three against New York in all competitions in 2022.

The Lions scored five unanswered goals to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 romp in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals on July 27, 2022 at Exploria Stadium. Cesar Araujo scored his first two professional goals on set pieces, while Mauricio Pereyra, Torres, and Benji Michel also found the net. Lewis Morgan scored New York’s lone goal.

The win in August had allowed the Lions to snap a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) in the regular-season series. The last of those non-wins came on April 24, 2022, when the Lions were walloped 3-0 at home on goals by Luquinhas, Cristian Casseres Jr., and Morgan, and Orlando City failed to get any of its measly three shot attempts on target.

The Red Bulls swept the season series in 2021. The teams met at Exploria Stadium on July 3 of that season with New York taking home a 2-1 win. Casseres opened the scoring just six minutes in, but Chris Mueller pulled the Lions level early in the second half. Fabio’s late goal lifted the visitors. Pereyra’s poor penalty was saved by Carlos Coronel, which cost Orlando City a better result.

The Red Bulls also handed Orlando City its first loss of the 2021 season, a 2-1 affair at Red Bull Arena, on May 29, 2021. Nani was suspended for that match and it showed, as the Lions were sloppy in possession and lacked composure on the ball. New York took the lead on goals by Caden Clark and Casseres, before Silvester van der Water pulled one back late. The Dutchman had a golden opportunity to tie the match moments later but skied his shot well over the bar.

The Lions got a road draw on Oct. 18, 2020, with Brian White equalizing deep in stoppage time in a 1-1 match. Nani had put the Lions ahead in the second half with a penalty kick goal and Orlando clinched its first ever MLS playoff spot despite spilling those late two points. That was the last match in the club’s record 12-match unbeaten streak in MLS play.

Orlando got the better of New York at Exploria Stadium on Oct. 3, 2020, winning 3-1 on goals by Daryl Dike, Junior Urso, and Antonio Carlos. Florian Valot scored for New York.

The Red Bulls won 1-0 at Exploria Stadium on July 21, 2019. White’s goal stood up as Carlos Ascues, Tesho Akindele, and Sacha Kljestan each hit the woodwork in the second half. Prior to that, the Lions eked out a 1-0 win at Red Bull Arena on Kljestan’s goal on March 23, 2019. Before that game, the home team had won each of the previous five home games in the series, splitting a pair of matches during the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

The teams split two meetings in 2018, with the Red Bulls grabbing a 1-0 result in the 2018 season finale to capture the Supporters’ Shield and the Lions pulling off a 4-3 home victory on March 31, 2018. Each team won at home in 2017 to split the two-game series, with New York winning 3-1 on Aug. 12, and Orlando City opening the season series with a 1-0 win on April 9 behind Servando Carrasco’s goal.

The teams met three times in 2016, with New York going 2-0-1. The teams split two games in 2015, with the road team winning both times, including Orlando City’s 5-2 win in New Jersey behind a Cyle Larin hat trick.

Overview

Orlando City is coming off a 1-0 home win Sunday against Atlanta United. It was the third consecutive ugly game of the playoffs for Orlando, with Ramiro Enrique providing the only goal on a scramble off a corner kick that fell in the box. It was another offensively challenged postseason game for Orlando, and that’s unlikely to change tonight. The Red Bulls defend well, have a great goalkeeper, and have recently turned these matches into rock fights.

The Lions were 7-6-4 at home in the regular season and are 11-6-4 at home against MLS teams in all competitions in 2024. However, they have not scored a goal of their own against the Red Bulls this season, a year after blanking New York in both meetings. This is the second consecutive playoff opponent Orlando did not beat in the regular season.

New York is coming off a 2-0 “road” win over New York City FC at Citi Field a week ago. While that wasn’t NYCFC’s home stadium, it was still a baseball field, and the Red Bulls have been impressive in the postseason after going just 4-6-7 away from home in the regular season. That draw in Orlando was one of those seven deadlocks. Since the regular season, New York defeated defending champion Columbus 1-0 at Lower.com Field in the first-round, best-of-three series — then won in penalties in Game 2 to sweep the series — and then beat the Pigeons away to advance to the conference final.

As usual, the Lions will need to take care of the ball and avoid New York’s dangerous transition attack. Morgan led the Red Bulls in goals (13) and chipped in seven assists. With his history of scoring against Orlando, he’ll be a player the Lions will want to keep quiet. However, Emil Forsberg has been the player who has taken over as the leader of the offense, with the team slumping during his injury absence in the second half of the year. Forsberg scored nine goals and added five assists in the regular season. Dante Vanzier had a team-high 10 assists to go along with four goals. That’s the trio Orlando’s defense will need to try to slow down.

“We have tried during the week to stay concentrated on our responsibilities and the opportunity that we have in front of us,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “Certainly, we’re very proud to see that the group has achieved this for our club and our fans, but we’re eager to go for much more than that. And now we have this opportunity, but as we said before, we always play one game at a time, and now we’re so focused on New York [Red Bulls], trying to be prepared the best we can and have a good game to advance. Thats’ the process, nothing else than that.”

Both teams are mostly healthy entering the match. Orlando City will be without Mason Stajduhar (lower leg). New York will be without Roald Mitchell (knee) and Kyle Duncan (knee), while Cory Burke (illness) is 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, Martin Ojeda, Facundo Torres.

Forward: Ramiro Enrique.

Bench: Javier Otero, Luca Petrasso, Kyle Smith, David Brekalo, Felipe, Nico Lodeiro, Luis Muriel, Jack Lynn, Duncan McGuire.

New York Red Bulls (3-4-1-2)

Goalkeeper: Carlos Coronel.

Defenders: Sean Nealis, Andres Reyes, Dylan Nealis.

Wingbacks/Midfielders: John Tolkin, Peter Stroud, Daniel Edelman, Cameron Harper.

Attacking Midfielder: Emil Forsberg.

Forwards: Lewis Morgan, Dante Vanzeir.

Bench: Ryan Meara, Noah Eile, Dennis Gjengaar, Wikelman Carmona, Julian Hall, Elias Manoel, Ronald Donkor, Serge Ngoma, Cory Burke.

Referees

REF: Rosendo Mendoza.
AR1: Cameron Blanchard.
AR2: Jeremy Hanson.
4TH: Lukasz Szpala.
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard.
AVAR: Tom Supple.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.

Radio: Real Radio 104.1 FM (English), Mega 97.1 FM (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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