Both Orlando City and the New England Revolution will attempt to rebound from devastating defeats when they meet on Saturday night in Foxborough, Mass.
For Orlando (9-6-8, 35 points), it was a late collapse in the form of two goals conceded after the 87th minute in a 2-1 home loss to New York City FC on Wednesday night.
The result marred what had been an extremely promising performance for the first hour, with the Lions outshooting their opponents 14-3 overall and 4-0 in efforts on target before halftime.
But the inability to find a second goal to add to Robin Jansson’s late-first-half tally resulted in the extension of a winless run to four matches, with three of those played in Central Florida.
“There is a consciousness within the group of the need to win games, especially at home,” manager Oscar Pareja said of the team mood after the latest defeat. “But at the same time, we cannot lose the confidence that we have to keep doing what has brought us here and execute much better the actions that is going to put us in a better position.”
Marco Pasalic and Martin Ojeda alone combined for 11 shots without being able to add to their respective 10-goal MLS totals. And the night reflected the reality that Orlando’s attack has run hot and cold, with 24 of their 41 MLS goals scored across seven matches.
The sixth-place Lions still enter Saturday’s clash in a considerably better position than the Revolution (6-9-7, 25 points), who enter in 11th and seven points out of the ninth and final East playoff place.
And despite Leonardo Campana’s third and fourth goals, the Revs conceded five times between the 56th and 88th minutes to see a two-goal lead turn into a 5-3 defeat at the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday.
Manager Caleb Porter’s side has won only once in its last 12 and is running out of time to avoid a second consecutive postseason absence.
“I feel like we have to put together a complete performance,” Porter said. “Because we have games where we defend really well but we don’t finish, and we have games where we attack really well but then in that second half, we don’t defend well.”
–Field Level Media
