Orlando City
Orlando City vs. D.C. United: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions look to start their stretch run on a positive note with a visit to Audi Field.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (13-7-8, 47 points) and D.C. United (5-15-9, 24 points) at Audi Field (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). This is the second of the two scheduled MLS matches this season between the Lions and the Black and Red.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
The Lions are 9-9-2 against D.C. in the all-time league series since the club joined MLS, and 9-9-3 in all competitions. Orlando is 3-5-1 on the road in MLS games against D.C. and 3-5-2 away in all competitions against United. Oscar Pareja is 8-6-2 in his managerial career against United.
The most recent meeting between the sides took place in Orlando on March 22. All three of Orlando City’s Designated Players scored goals, as did fullback Alex Freeman, and Javier Otero won 4-1 in his first MLS start. However, a Lukas McNaughton goal in stoppage time spoiled Otero’s shutout bid.
Orlando City swept the season series a year ago. The teams met on July 6, 2024 in Orlando, with the Lions running roughshod over visiting United in a 5-0 win on the night when Kaká became the first player inducted into the Legends Terrace at Inter&Co Stadium. Martin Ojeda, Robin Jansson, Ivan Angulo, Facundo Torres, and Ramiro Enrique all got on the scoresheet, with three of those goals coming before United center back Lucas Bartlett was sent off for denying Angulo a goal-scoring opportunity late in the first half.
The Lions visited Audi Field on April 13, 2024. United went ahead twice in the match on goals by Christian Benteke and Gabriel Pirani and led the game late. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson equalized in the first half, and David Brekalo made it 2-2. Duncan McGuire’s well-timed breakaway goal in stoppage time lifted Orlando to a 3-2 road win.
Prior to Orlando’s 2024 sweep, the Black and Red had managed four consecutive results in the series (3-0-1). The last meeting in 2023 took place in Orlando on April 22, 2023, with D.C. scoring twice in the second half to snap a 1-1 deadlock and win, 3-1. Taxiarchis Fountas, Donovan Pines, and Benteke scored for D.C. to more than offset McGuire’s strike.
These teams squared off just a few weeks before that in D.C., splitting the points in a 1-1 draw on March 11. McGuire scored his first MLS goal but Chis Durkin leveled things late in a match that was sandwiched between Orlando City’s two legs of Concacaf Champions League play against Tigres UANL.
D.C. swept the season series in 2022, despite being a terrible team that “won” the league’s Wooden Spoon by no small margin. The meeting in D.C. that year took place July 31 and saw Orlando City dominate the first half but miss multiple glorious chances to put the game away early. The Lions were wasteful, taking only a 1-0 lead into stoppage time thanks to Junior Urso’s first-half goal, only to fall 2-1 on stoppage-time strikes by Durkin and Fountas.
The teams also met on Independence Day at Exploria Stadium, with D.C. putting together a performance out of nowhere in a 5-3 road win. Fountas netted his first MLS hat trick and Kimarni Smith and Nigel Robertha added their first goals of the season. Torres, Ercan Kara, and Alexandre Pato scored for Orlando, threatening to bring the Lions back, but Orlando could never get on level terms.
The teams met twice in 2021, including Oct. 2 at Exploria Stadium. Daryl Dike scored deep in stoppage to lift the Lions to a 2-1 home victory. Jansson scored a first-half goal off a corner kick scramble to offset an early Julian Gressel strike. The first match of 2021 took place on May 16 in D.C., with the Lions winning 1-0 on an early Mauricio Pereyra goal. That win snapped United’s 3-0-1 streak in the series in league play and 3-0-2 in all competitions dating back to City’s previously most recent win over D.C. back in 2017.
The teams did not meet in what was an odd 2020 season.
D.C. United swept the season series in 2019, winning 1-0 at Audi Field back on June 26, 2019. Wayne Rooney’s wondergoal from his own half of the pitch caught Brian Rowe napping. The Lions fell 2-1 at home on March 31, 2019, with set pieces ruining the night for Orlando. You might recall the controversy that surrounded the winning goal, with then-coach James O’Connor visibly upset after the match. Steve Birnbaum scored the first on a set piece and Rooney scored the second on a free kick that he took from wherever the hell he wanted rather than where the foul occurred. Frederic Brillant bulldozed Rowe on the play as the ball sailed into the net.
D.C. was 1-0-2 in three total meetings (two in league play) in 2018. Orlando swept the two league meetings in 2017, the teams split two lopsided games in 2016 — with each team winning at home — and the Black and Red went 2-1-0 in the first three meetings back in 2015.
Overview
Orlando City is coming off a 2-1 road loss at the LA Galaxy in Leagues Cup play back on Aug. 31. Ojeda’s tying goal didn’t keep the match level long, and the Lions hit the woodwork twice, but the club looked as leggy as one might expect of a team that was playing its eight match of the month and had crossed the country from coast to coast four times in that span. Orlando needed the international break badly, as the team resets for the final stretch run of the MLS regular season.
The Lions are winless in four (0-3-1) and have lost three straight, but only one of those games was in MLS play. Orlando is 6-3-5 on the road in 2025 during the regular season, and the Lions will look to get the final six matches off to a good start.
D.C. United shouldn’t be taken lightly, despite sitting in the last place in the Eastern Conference. The club, whichi is 2-6-6 at Audi Field this season, has gotten a result in eight of 14 games at home. United has gone three straight without a loss (1-0-2), including a win at New York City FC in its last outing, and draws against Inter Miami and CF Montreal. This mini surge by D.C. has been fueled by better defense, which has allowed just one goal in each of the last three matches, despite conceding 54 goals — third most in MLS behind Sporting Kansas City’s 59 and the Galaxy’s 56.
Benteke (eight goals, two assists) and Pirani (six goals, four assists) lead the D.C. attack in goals and assists, respectively. The Lions will need to be aware of where Benteke is at all times. The former Crystal Palace, Liverpool, and Aston Villa man has the size and strength that make him difficult to defend in the air, so Orlando City will need to pull out all the stops to try to starve his service while making him uncomfortable in the box. Newly arrived Caden Clark, who came over from CF Montreal before the transfer window closed, offers another scoring option and an additional setup man in the D.C. midfield. René Weiler is the club’s third manager of the team following the sacking of Troy Lesesne on July 10 and a few games under interim coach Kevin Flanagan, so this won’t look like the same United squad the Lions beat 4-1 back in March at home.
“It’s a team [D.C. United] that changed its manager, and the reactions are very visible,” Pareja said ahead of the match. “You can notice some of the changes. We are preparing our strategy like usual, while being very aware of what they have changed and trying to neutralize what we think we have to. We’re trying, as always, to be effective in the way we do things.”
The Lions will be without Luis Muriel (suspension — red card at Nashville), Zakaria Taifi (thigh), Wilder Cartagena (Achilles), and Yutaro Tsukada (knee), while Cesar Araujo (lower back) and Adrian Marin (thigh) are questionable. D.C. will be without Dominique Badji (thigh), Kristian Fletcher (knee), Aaron Herrera (suspension), and Randall Leal (leg).
Match Content
- Our most recent episode of The Mane Land PawedCast includes our match preview, key matchups, and predictions for the game.
- Our David Rohe provides his three keys to an Orlando City victory over D.C. United.
Official Lineups
Orlando City (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.
Defenders: David Brekalo, Robin Jansson, Rodrigo Schlegel, Alex Freeman.
Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Joran Gerbet, Eduard Atuesta, Marco Pasalic.
Forwards: Martin Ojeda, Duncan McGuire.
Bench: Javier Otero, Tahir Reid-Brown, Kyle Smith, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Colin Guske, Favian Loyola, Nico Rodriguez, Shak Mohammed, Tyrese Spicer.
D.C. United (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper: Luis Barraza.
Defenders: David Schnegg, Lukas MacNaughton, Lucas Bartlett, William Antley.
Midfielders: Brandon Servania, Matti Peltola, Jackson Hopkins.
Forwards: Joao Peglow, Christian Benteke, Gabriel Pirani.
Bench: Jordan Farr, Derek Dodson, Kye Rowles, Boris Enow, Jared Stroud, Rida Zouhir, Hosei Kijima, Caden Clark, Jacob Murrell.
Referees
Ref: Chris Penso.
AR1: Nick Uranga.
AR2: Kevin Klinger.
4th: Sergii Demianchuk.
VAR: Michael Radchuk.
AVAR: TJ Zablocki.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Audi Field — Washington, D.C.
TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).
Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at our Bluesky Social account (@themaneland.bsky.social), as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).
Enjoy the match. Go City!