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After what can only be described as an unacceptable team performance at Chicago Fire, Orlando City SC desperately need reinstall Lions supporters’ faith against Houston Dynamo.
Thrashed 4-0 at Toyota Park last Sunday, collective effort, determination and fight were all severely lacking in a lethargic performance that left a lot to be desired.
With Chicago Fire sitting beneath Orlando City SC propping up the Eastern Conference standings heading into the fixture, the home side equally had nothing to play for but pride – something the Lions’ performance was sadly deficient in.
Now trading places with Fire, Orlando City SC agonisingly sit at rock bottom in the East with just six games remaining in our most disappointing Major League Soccer campaign to date.
After the 4-0 defeat, Lions head coach James O’Connor conceded that there was a “lack of energy” and a “lack of commitment” with “too many (players) that just don’t have the right character” in a brutally honest assessment of his own team’s performance.
Our eighteenth defeat out of 28 MLS fixtures so far this season and the eighth loss under James O’Connor‘s watch, the habit of Orlando City SC‘s seasons fizzling out to nothing is becoming difficult for supporters to bear.
With former USMNT star and now commentator Stuart Holden going as far to say that Orlando City SC have quit on this season on national broadcast last Sunday, sadly it’s hard to disagree with his sentiment right now.
The good thing about football is that there’s always a next game to put things right and while our hopes of reaching the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs have long been extinguished, the squad can at least show the fans they care by putting in a far more committed display in front of our home crowd against Houston Dynamo.
2015/17 head-to-head stats
It’s not what we want to hear right now with the 4-0 loss at Chicago Fire sending shivers up our spine but this was also the result when Orlando City SC last faced Houston Dynamo in May 2017.
Having started the 2017 MLS campaign incredibly well with six victories from our first eight games, the Lions’ first major humbling came at BBVA Compass Stadium.
After Alberth Elis put Wilmer Cabrera’s side 1-0 up in the first-half, a second-half capitulation from the Lions saw Mauro Manotas (x2) and Romell Quioto strike within just 24 minutes to take the game way out of Orlando City SC‘s reach.
Houston Dynamo 4 Orlando City SC 0 – Highlights – May 6, 2017 (Credit: Nación Púrpura)
Being a Western Conference franchise, Orlando City SC only meet Houston Dynamo once a season in league play.
Three fixtures deep into this game series, things are all tied up with both sides having won, drawn and lost a game each.
Dynamo’s BBVA Compass Stadium home was actually the scene of Orlando City SC‘s first ever away victory in Major League Soccer back on 13 March 2015.
On that occasion, a solitary Tyler Deric own goal in the second-half handed the Lions all three points in a joyful plane journey home from Texas.
Houston Dynamo 0 Orlando City SC 1 – Highlights – March 13, 2015 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Casting our eyes back at the three MLS head-to-heads contested so far, the interesting observation is that TWO of these games have ended ‘to nil’.
Only one side completed the scoring in March 2015’s 0-1 victory for Orlando City SC and May 2017’s 4-0 triumph for Dynamo.
The other result was a 0-0 draw in July 2016, a fixture played in difficult circumstances only one day after the dismissal of Adrian Heath as head coach.
Orlando City SC 0 Houston Dynamo 0 – Highlights – July 8, 2016 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Orlando City SC form
Orlando City SC have discovered an unlikely goalscoring hero over the past month and a bit – Scott Sutter!
Scoring in Orlando City SC‘s last three consecutive home fixtures against New England Revolution, Atlanta United and Philadelphia Union, the English-born Swiss full back has certainly found his shooting boots of late.
With two of his three strikes coming in stoppage time to steal last gasp draws against Revs and Union, it’s this kind of never-say-die attitude and ability to play to the whistle that Lions fans want to see from the entire roster in the games that remain.
Houston Dynamo form
Some light at the end of the tunnel for Orlando City SC lay in the fact that Houston Dynamo have travelled poorly all season long but particularly since the end of July.
Winning just ONE away fixture all season long, a total one game worse than Orlando City SC‘s record, Wilmer Cabrera’s side have lost their last FOUR away games in a row.
Only losing out by one goal in games against Portland Timbers (2-1), Columbus Crew (1-0) and New York Red Bulls (1-0), their latest defeat came in the one fixture Dynamo fans can’t stand losing, a 4-2 loss to bitter Texas rivals FC Dallas on September 1.