Orlando City
Orlando City vs. D.C. United: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions visit D.C. looking to build on their big win over Charlotte.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (2-6-1, 7 points) and D.C. United (2-4-3, 9 points) at Audi Field (7:30 p.m., Apple TV). This is the first of the two scheduled MLS matches this season between the Lions and the Black and Red, with the return fixture in Orlando scheduled for Oct. 17.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
The Lions are 9-9-3 against D.C. in the all-time league series since the club joined MLS, and 9-9-3 in all competitions. Orlando is 3-5-2 on the road in MLS games against D.C. and 3-5-3 away in all competitions against United.
The most recent meeting between the sides also took place at Audi Field on Sept. 13, 2025. Jackson Hopkins and Alex Freeman exchanged goals on either side of halftime but the Lions could not take advantage of 33 minutes with a man advantage after Lukas MacNaughton was sent off and the game ended in a 1-1 draw.
The other meeting last season took place in Orlando on March 22. All three of Orlando City’s Designated Players — Luis Muriel, Martin Ojeda, and Marco Pasalic — scored goals, as did Freeman, and Javier Otero won 4-1 in his first MLS start. However, a MacNaughton goal in stoppage time spoiled Otero’s shutout bid.
Orlando City swept the season series in 2024. The teams met on July 6 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. 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 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 that season, 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 an improbable 4-1 win over Charlotte FC at home on Wednesday. The Lions had only scored six times in eight games before exploding for four in the midweek against what had been the third-place team in the Eastern Conference with one of the better defensive records. Orlando City got goals from sources both likely (Ojeda twice) and unlikely (Luis Otavio, Ignacio Gomez), scoring three times in the second half to blow open a match that was 1-1 at the half. The Lions are winless on the road in 2026 (0-3-1) and have given up five or more goals in the three losses, but they managed their first result in their most recent MLS away game, a 1-1 draw in Columbus, and then won a road game in U.S. Open Cup play, although that 1-0 win over FC Naples was anything but convincing.
D.C. United enters tonight fresh off a wild 4-4 draw on the road against the New York Red Bulls. It was the third consecutive draw in all competitions for the Black and Red, who are 1-2-0 at home this season. Former Philadelphia Union forward Tai Baribo is far and away the most dangerous player on United, coming off a hat trick and MLS Player of the Matchday performance, building his goal total on the season to a team-leading six. Matti Peltola and Hopkins are the only other D.C. players to score in MLS play in 2026, scoring once each. Joao Peglow leads all D.C. players in assists with three.
The Lions will need to pass and attack the spaces the way they did on Wednesday to get their first win of the season tonight. Orlando City connected well from back to front for one of the few times this season, and certainly in the most fluid manner to date in 2026.
“D.C. tries to press. They’re organized and direct in the way they attack and they have really good players, basically what everyone else sees,” Orlando City interim head coach Martin Perelman said ahead of the match. “We’ll be focused on ourselves, trying to play our game and stick to our game plan and hopefully we can win the game.”
The Lions will be without Pasalic (thigh), McGuire (lower leg), and Joran Gerbet (knee), while Eduard Atuesta (shoulder), Brekalo (lower leg), Wilder Cartagena (thigh), and Griffin Dorsey (thigh) are all listed as questionable. D.C. will be without Sean Nealis (shoulder) and Gabriel Segal (lower leg), while Baribo (thigh) and Louis Munteanu (thigh) are questionable.
Match Content
- Our most recent episode of The Mane Land PawedCast includes our match preview, key matchups, and predictions for the game.
- Our Ben Miller provides his three keys to an Orlando City victory over D.C. United.
Official Lineups
Orlando City (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Maxime Crepeau.
Defenders: Adrian Marin, Robin Jansson, Iago, Zakaria Taifi.
Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Luis Otavio, Braian Ojeda, Tiago.
Forwards: Martin Ojeda, Justin Ellis.
Bench: Javier Otero, Tahir Reid-Brown, Griffin Dorsey, Nolan Miller, Wilder Cartagena, Colin Guske, Bernardo Rhein, Harvey Sarajian, Tyrese Spicer.
D.C. United (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Sean Johnson.
Defenders: Keisuke Kurokawa, Kye Rowles, Lucas Bartlett, Silvan Hefti.
Midfielders: Joao Peglow, Brandon Servania, Matti Peltola, Aaron Herrera.
Forwards: Louis Munteanu, Jackson Hopkins.
Bench: Alex Bono, Jordan Farr, Conner Antley, Nikola Markovic, Hosei Kijima, Caden Clark, Jared Stroud, Jacob Murrell, Gavin Turner.
Referees
REF: Chris Penso.
AR1: Ryan Graves.
AR2: Ben Pilgrim.
4TH: Nabil Bensalah.
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard.
AVAR: Jeff Muschik.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Audi Field — Washington, D.C.
TV/Streaming: Apple TV.
Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).
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!