Time flies when you’re having fun, right? Today, we’re celebrating our third birthday here at Orlando City UK with our Official International Fan Club of Orlando City SC established three years ago.
Although 2018 was extremely disappointing for Orlando City SC on the pitch, Orlando City UK went from strength to strength this year.
One Orlando City SC game
Orlando City SC versus Minnesota United panorama (Credit: © Taylor Williams)
Between myself and my Dad, we had attended eight live Orlando City SC fixtures prior to the 2018 Major League Soccer campaign kicking off.
When it came to 2018, one game stood out above any other, the March visit of Minnesota United and the return of legendary former Orlando City SC head coach Adrian Heath.
Both attending this fixture on March 10, I witnessed Orlando City SC lose for the very first time (my good luck charm was over!) with an Ethan Finlay brace helping the Loons to a 1-2 victory.
That said, we spent an amazing eight days in Central Florida catching up with now lifelong friends and taking in some incredible experiences! Read below to find out what we got up to.
Exclusive locker room access
Having received exclusive training ground access and stepping foot on the Orlando City Stadium turf as part of the Player Rally Tunnel in 2017, we ticked another amazing experience off our Orlando City SC bucket list in 2018.
As part of our March 2018 trip to The City Beautiful, Orlando City UK were granted behind-the-scenes locker room access to see where Jason Kreis and later James O’Connor bark out orders to the Orlando City SC squad on home gamedays.
#OrlandoCityUK On Tour 2018 🇺🇸
So we had our FIRST EVER glimpse of the @OrlandoCitySC home locker room on Friday! 😱
What an experience! 👏🏽
💜🦁💛#OCSC #MLS pic.twitter.com/BtABRNZt8e
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) March 13, 2018
Meeting the 2018 roster
As well as heading inside the locker room during our trip, we also met the majority of the 2018 Orlando City SC roster too.
Thanks to each member of the playing squad who stopped by for a photo and chat.
One Watch Party
Orlando City UK members certainly couldn’t complain about the amount of live Orlando City SC fixtures on Sky Sports in 2018 with 13 games televised this year.
Running one Watch Party for Orlando City SC‘s away fixture at Colorado Rapids back on April 29, we timed our gathering to perfection with Orlando City SC picking up one of their only two away victories all year.
Not only fantastic because Orlando City SC came from one goal down to overcome Rapids thanks to goals from Cristian Higuita and Yoshimar Yotún, this was also our largest Orlando City UK Watch Party to date with 10 of us keenly supporting the Lions from the Euston Flyer pub in London.
Half-time calls for a squad photo in the @EustonFlyer! 📸
1-0 down but still full of hope @OrlandoCitySC! 💪🏽🙏🏽#COLvORL #OCSC #MLS pic.twitter.com/amWH2GHqSA
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) April 29, 2018
Membership growth
Welcoming even more Orlando City UK members in 2018, our Official International Fan Club of Orlando City SC now boasts 42 loyal and passionate members spread across the UK, Europe and North America.
Our latest member to sign up is actually the father of our current Orlando City SC assistant coach Sean McAuley!
With the majority of our members based right here in the UK of course, squeezing you all onto our Orlando City UK Fan Map has been quite a challenge!
To sign up for Orlando City UK membership today, click here.
Live Blog matchday coverage
Staying up late into the early hours has become second nature for Orlando City UK having watched the vast majority of Orlando City SC fixtures since 2015.
Yet again this year, we provided our fair share of Live Blog matchday coverage, commentating key plays in real-time on Twitter.
Something we love doing, live blogs are a superb way for Orlando City UK to connect, engage and talk with hundreds of Orlando City SC supporters spread across North America.
Our most dramatic of Live Blog of 2018 certainly has to be our controversial 3-2 defeat at Columbus Crew back on July 21.
Dumbfounded by Silviu Petrescu’s horror decision to hand Crew an 88th minute penalty for the ball hitting Patrick Mullins’ head without any contact from R. J. Allen, Orlando City SC went on to lose this game, sparking a good old fashioned Orlando City UK rant the next morning!
The morning after the night before… 😑
Still livid! 😡 My take on THAT penalty decision in @ColumbusCrewSC vs @OrlandoCitySC! 🏊♂️
The officials should hang their heads in shame… 🙈#CLBvORL #OCSC #MLS pic.twitter.com/ZPNJUzrHzs
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) July 22, 2018
37 Stats Previews
Orlando City UK yet again provided comprehensive statistical previews for every single one of Orlando City SC‘s 34 regular season fixtures in MLS with each article featuring five individual stats.
Add in our stats previews for Orlando City SC‘s 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup fixtures with Miami United FC, D.C. United and Philadelphia Union, and Orlando City UK generated a massive 185 individual stats in 2018.
These stats were also shared with the Orlando City SC Twittersphere as part of our gameday social media schedule.
Regular news & interview articles
NEW #OrlandoCityUK blog | Are @OrlandoCitySC experiencing fitness issues? 🤔 Andrew Sharp crunches the numbers…
READ 📕: https://t.co/HzNNvbLPRo#OCSC #MLS pic.twitter.com/b0UZY5YpWh
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) August 14, 2018
While statistical previews provided the majority of our website content throughout 2018, Orlando City UK continued to engage Lions supporters with all of the biggest Orlando City SC headlines this year.
Swapping coaches mid-season with James O’Connor succeeding Jason Kreis on June 29, Orlando City UK wrote features about Kreis’ exit and O’Connor’s arrival as part of our crowdsourced ‘Twitter Reacts‘ segment.
This segment also included reaction features about the off-season transfers of Sacha Kljestan, Josué Colmán, Justin Meram and Lamine Sané plus the mid-season addition of Carlos Ascues.
We also ran regular interviews with Orlando City UK members Charlotte Patterson, Harry Salvidge and Dan Berridge.
This is not forgetting a series of in-depth data led features by Orlando City UK staff writer Andrew Sharp.
Andrew dug deeper into Orlando City SC‘s season with pieces including “Orlando City SC’s pick ‘n’ mix defence leaves a sour taste“, “Are Orlando City SC experiencing fitness issues?“, “Just how bad was Orlando City SC’s 2018 MLS campaign?“ and more.
Thanks for your support!
Looking forward to providing coverage of Orlando City SC throughout the off-season and into 2019, we’d like to take this moment to say thanks to all of you for your continued support.