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A historic game lays in wait on Sunday evening as Orlando City SC take on New England Revolution in Jason Kreis‘ first Major League Soccer fixture as the Lions’ head coach.
Having been appointed back on July 19th, Kreis takes over an Orlando City SC side in seventh place (23 points) in the Eastern Conference after Bobby Murphy oversaw a 2-2 tie at Columbus Crew.
This third and final 2016 regular season meeting against Jay Heaps’ Revs takes on even more significance given the fact the Foxborough-based side are the team directly above Orlando City SC in the MLS Cup play-off spots following Gameweek 20.
With the Lions trailing Revs by just three points following this gameweek, Jason Kreis‘ immediate mission will be to lock down Orlando City SC‘s defence that have been conceding too many goals all season long.
As has been the case since March, City have needed to rely upon outscoring the opposition because Joe Bendik just hasn’t received enough protection from his back four.
The good news however is that club captain Kaká returned to great effect at Columbus Crew last time out and despite playing in the 2016 MLS All-Star Game this week, he should be involved again here.
Orlando City SC have been within touching distance of the MLS Cup play-off places all season long given the tight nature of the Eastern Conference but now is the time to put a run together before we run out of games like last season under Adrian Heath.
Heading into this latest meeting between the sides, New England Revolution can take heart from the fact they’ve denied Orlando City SC three points in all of the last three head-to-heads.
2015/16 head-to-head stats
We already know that Orlando City SC seem to have a fantasy with drawing 2-2 and this is typically the case when facing Revs.
Of the FOUR Major League Soccer meetings between the two sides thus far, we’ve seen a 2-2 full-time result on THREE of those occasions proving there is little to choose between the teams.
And after all, with Revs sixth in the East and the Lions seventh following Gameweek 20, this demonstrates the point perfectly.
New England Revolution 2 Orlando City SC 2 – Highlights – April 30, 2016 (Credit: New England Revolution)
The cold hard fact of the matter is that Orlando City SC are yet to inflict defeat on Jay Heaps’ New England Revolution in MLS.
Outside of the three 2-2 draws to date, Revs won the other fixture by a convincing 3-0 scoreline at Gillette Stadium back in September 2015 with goals scored by Diego Fagúndez, Juan Agudelo and Chris Tierney.
Somebody who’ll be looking to complete a hat-trick of sorts is Kevin Molino with the Trinidad and Tobago international having scored against New England Revolution on both of the last two occasions.
Scoring a dramatic stoppage time goal that all Orlando City SC fans thought was a winner in the April 17th meeting before Baldomero Toledo and Lee Nguyen conspired to steal the win away in an eventual 2-2 draw, Kevin Molino also scored in the April 30th meeting at Gillette Stadium.
An equaliser that got Orlando City SC back into the game on the latter occasion, we seem to get the best out of Molino when he faces Revs.
Orlando City SC 2 New England Revolution 2 – Highlights – April 17, 2016 (Credit: WOUNA)
Orlando City SC form
Whenever Orlando City SC embark on a home game at Camping World Stadium, we always say it!
Indeed, New York Red Bulls are STILL the last team to have stolen all three points away from Orlando City SC at home way back in July 2015.
Orlando City SC‘s undefeated home run now stands at a whopping 16 games although under Jason Kreis, we need to turn more one point hauls into three to realise our MLS Cup play-off qualification goal.
The Lions’ most recent 2-2 draw against Columbus Crew last weekend was the umpteenth occasion whereby Orlando City SC ensured they had their own supporters’ hearts within their mouths.
Don’t get us wrong, it was absolutely fantastic the way in which Bobby Murphy oversaw Orlando City SC overturn a two-goal deficit to get back in the game through both Kevin Molino and Cyle Larin.
However, we really need to stop giving ourselves way too much to do in games so stamping out huge errors such as the one that led to Tony Tchani’s opener will prove vital.
Columbus Crew 2 Orlando City SC 2 – Highlights – July 23, 2016 (Credit: Polem Music)
In Bobby Murphy’s four-game stint as interim head coach, Orlando City SC shipped TWO goals in three of those four encounters.
This mini run contributed to the fact that the Lions have now conceded AT LEAST TWO GOALS in EIGHT of their last NINE Major League Soccer fixtures.
Lucky that Joe Bendik has been truly excellent between the sticks while keeping the score down on many occasions.
However, Joe can’t do it alone and perhaps new Orlando City SC signing José Aja will have a role to play in our defensive record hopefully improving under Jason Kreis going forward.
New England Revolution form
The good news for Orlando City SC heading into Sunday evening’s fixture is the fact that New England Revolution are poor travellers on the road.
Jay Heaps’ men have failed to pick up all three points in TEN of their last ELEVEN away fixtures in MLS.
Drawing 0-0 with Real Salt Lake in their last away game on July 16th, this result followed two away losses to both D.C. United and Montreal Impact.
Jason Kreis and the Lions should really be earmarking this game as an opportunity to gain all three points with the season reaching a critical period.