FC Cincinnati and host Orlando SC will look to continue their recent run of MLS success when they square off on Saturday after wrapping their Leagues Cup participation.
Cincinnati (7-6-5, 26 points) heads south for their first regular-season MLS match in two weeks, sitting in a tie for fifth place in the East. They are 2-1 in their three MLS matches since returning from the World Cup break and 4-2 overall since the two-month respite.
The Orange and Blue have had a busy start to August, playing once in MLS (a 4-2 home win over San Jose on Aug. 1) before three matches in League Cup competition. Cincinnati captured the first two of those competitions against Liga MX teams before dropping a 2-1 decision to Atlas on Tuesday despite an early goal by Evander Da Silva Ferreira.
Cincinnati’s loss (combined with additional results on Aug, 12 and 13) kept it from reaching the Leagues Cup quarterfinals. Coach Pat Noonan said his team would need to be more engaged and have a better understanding of game management as it moves forward.
“How do we improve as a team in these moments?” Noonan asked this week. “If you look at the three games, it was a lot of good but it’s overshadowed by those last 15 minutes, and that’s what we’re trying to eliminate.
“(We have to overcome) the emotional fragility, to have that leadership when things don’t go our way and not let it affect us so much that things go downhill when things don’t go our way.”
Evander and Kevin Denkey are tied for the team lead with 11 goals while Evander paces the Orange and Blue in assists (11), shots (63) and key passes (54).
The Lions (6-10-2, 20 points) start the weekend in 10th place in the conference, three points below the postseason line. Orlando has played well of late, posting back-to-back clean sheet wins before losing 3-2 in New Jersey to the Red Bulls on Aug. 1 in its most recent MLS match.
Orlando went 2-1 in the Leagues Cup, finishing that part of its schedule with a shootout home win over Atletico de San Luis on Wednesday. Daryl Dike and Justin Ellis had goals in regulation play for the Lions before they finished with a 5-3 edge in the shootout.
“Excited to come back to MLS (play and) looking forward to compete in the best way as possible,” Orlando City interim coach Martin Perelman said. “Of course, get the points for us, which is what we always want, and even more when we play at home.
“We know them, they know us,” Perelman said about Cincinnati. “So it’s going to be a tough game like always. We will fight, and we will play, and we will try to win, and hopefully we can do it.”
The Lions will be without leading scorer Martin Ojeda, who is nursing a thigh injury. Ojeda’s 11 goals are seven more than Tyrese Spicer on the team’s stat sheet.
Orlando’s 47 goals allowed this year are a league-high while its minus-17 goal differential is the worst in East — second only to Sporting Kansas City’s minus-28 in MLS.
Six of those goals came in a 6-2 road defeat to Cincinnati on May 23. Evander tallied twice in the rout.
–Field Level Media
