It can’t be happening again, can it? Right now, it appears as if Orlando City SC are enduring something of a summertime sadness for the second consecutive season.
Losing our last four straight games in Major League Soccer, injuries haven’t helped matters but the fact is that Orlando City SC are sinking down the Eastern Conference with each passing week.
Forced to play Tony Rocha and R.J. Allen out of position at centre back in the 3-0 loss at New York City FC, situations such as this are far from ideal.
However, due to a lack of ruthlessness in recent weeks, Orlando City SC find themselves looking over their shoulder in the Eastern Conference rather than focusing on the teams above them.
Granted, if Josué Colmán‘s first-half strike off the post and Sacha Kljestan‘s missed penalty were inches to the left, we could’ve been talking about a different game at Yankee Stadium but things just aren’t falling for the Lions at the moment.
But feeling sorry for ourselves simply isn’t an option.
Now facing a long-haul trip to the farthest outpost in all of Major League Soccer, Vancouver Whitecaps away is where Jason Kreis‘ side will hope to turn it around.
Ultimately, this Orlando City SC side needs to prove to both themselves and the supporters that they can cope with the busy summer schedule, something that got the better of us and dented confidence throughout the middle and back end of 2017.
Carl Robinson’s Whitecaps side currently find themselves sixth in the Western Conference (20 points, 15 games played).
Starting strongly, Caps have struggled to win regularly in recent weeks but have remained extremely difficult to beat, salvaging deficits in FOUR of their last FIVE MLS fixtures.
There’s also two familiar faces on Vancouver Whitecaps’ roster, both José Aja and Brek Shea, the latter of which came back to haunt Orlando City SC with a goal last season.
2015/17 head-to-head stats
Playing with next to no confidence whatsoever throughout August last year, Vancouver Whitecaps stole all three points at Orlando City Stadium in a barren month for the Lions.
Picking up a single point from a possible 12 that month, Brek Shea scored for the visiting Caps to rub further salt into the wounds.
With Shea anything but a regular goal scorer in his time with Orlando City SC, his goal plus a first-half Tommy Redding own goal did the damage before Cyle Larin struck what turned out to be a consolation goal in the 62nd minute.
Orlando City SC 1 Vancouver Whitecaps 2 – Highlights – August 26, 2017 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
The cold hard facts are that Orlando City SC are still yet to defeat Vancouver Whitecaps in three separate MLS attempts.
Having only visited BC Place once before in Major League Soccer, their July 2016 trip to Canada ended in a 2-2 draw.
The result was a decent road point at the time considering not only the distance travelled but the fact Bobby Murphy was in interim charge following Adrian Heath‘s dismissal.
With Júlio Baptista and Cyle Larin grabbing the goals for the Lions, a point would usually be a great result here but the Lions really need all three in their current predicament.
That will be hard to come by however with Carl Robinson’s men having only lost a single game (0-2 to Los Angeles FC) from seven home fixtures so far.
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 Orlando City SC 2 – Highlights – July 16, 2016 (Credit: Vancouver Whitecaps FC)
Vancouver Whitecaps form
Extremely hot right now, Uruguayan forward Cristian Techera is the player Orlando City SC defenders need to watch like a hawk!
The 25-year-old is currently Vancouver Whitecaps’ leading goal scorer on six strikes with four of these coming in his last two outings for the Canadian side.
Scoring a hat-trick against New England Revolution in Caps’ last home game, the feat was all the more impressive considering Vancouver Whitecaps were trailing the game 0-3 in the 48th minute!
With Kei Kamara boasting a healthy goal scoring record against the Lions from his Columbus Crew days too, there are multiple threats on Caps’ roster.
Vancouver Whitecaps 3 New England Revolution 3 – Highlights – May 26, 2018 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
As mentioned at the outset, Vancouver Whitecaps have been struggling to win regularly of late. Nevertheless, Carl Robinson’s side have been extremely resilient.
With the Caps’ last THREE home fixtures ending in draws, Vancouver Whitecaps were trailing in all of those games demonstrating the never-say-die attitude that Orlando City SC displayed towards the beginning of 2018.
Orlando City SC form
It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, Orlando City SC are in a hole right now!
Losing our last FOUR consecutive MLS fixtures, confidence will be draining out of the Lions with each passing week so the next victory can’t come soon enough.
Looking back, this current away streak always looked tough on paper but the home loss to Chicago Fire (1-2) was extremely tough to take, especially considering this was a game in which Orlando City SC dominated for long spells.