Orlando City and the Columbus Crew will meet in Central Florida on Saturday night in a match that will be critical for both teams’ playoff positioning.
All nine Eastern Conference MLS Cup Playoff participants have already been finalized more than two weeks ahead of the final day of regular-season play on Oct. 18.
But both seventh-place Orlando (14-7-10, 52 points) and ninth-place Columbus (13-8-11, 50 points) are still fighting to avoid the East wild-card game, which will be between the teams finishing in eighth and ninth.
For much of the season, Columbus looked on track to be competing for the higher East positions.
But after a stretch of only one win and six points earned in the last seven matches, manager Wilfried Nancy’s side would face a must-win wild-card match on the road if the postseason began now. With only two games left on the schedule, Nancy is trying to impart to his team that it still has the quality of the side that took 24 points from its first 11 games.
“We are qualified for the playoffs,” Nancy said, “because of the way we started the season. And this we have to think about it. … We are qualified because we had the best start of the season in the club’s history. So they can not forget that.”
Nancy also suggested leading scorer Diego Rossi is questionable this week after missing the last three matches.
Orlando’s trajectory has been the reverse, with the Lions at one point winning four straight league games through July and August.
More recently, the team has used stoppage-time goals from Duncan McGuire and Alex Freeman, respectively, to earn dramatic late results in a 3-2 home win over Nashville on Sept. 20 and a 1-1 draw at FC Cincinnati last Sunday.
Orlando City have also won three in a row at home and could move as high as fifth with a fourth consecutive home victory and other favorable results Saturday. Orlando also has a match in hand on Charlotte and Nashville, the current fifth- and sixth-place sides.
“It’s something that at the beginning of the season was a challenge, but now we have that record that inspires us,” Orlando manager Oscar Pareja said of that recent home form. “The boys were talking about it … how important the game is, but how important it is to play it in front of our people.”
–Field Level Media
