After a landmark 1-3 win over Atlanta United, Orlando City SC face another game in quick succession, this time visiting Nashville SC for the very first time in Major League Soccer.
Only facing Gary Smith’s side a week ago, the Lions travel to Nissan Stadium buoyed by two wins from two, including the recent 3-1 home triumph over the Tennessee side.
Right now, the confidence, belief and togetherness in the Orlando City SC dressing room is contagious.
Finally conquering our demons by defeating rivals Atlanta United at the ninth attempt, the Lions completely merited their handsome two-goal victory.
Not only were City clinical on the counter attack, they were well organised, composed and ultimately, confident.
Fresh off a midweek game against Nashville SC too, there was so much to be proud of.
With Oscar Pareja making five changes to the starting eleven, fresh legs helped and it’ll be interesting to see if the Colombian makes as many changes here.
The most interesting switch was the reintroduction of Júnior Urso, deployed as a 10.
Subbed in and unlucky not to score against Nashville SC, the Brazilian capped a superb performance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with his first goal.
Giving Pareja plenty of food for thought, it’s just another option for Papi whose City side are like Swiss Army Knife at the minute.
Earning the 1-3 victory without Nani starting or Mauricio Pereyra in the squad, we now travel to Nashville SC with huge momentum.
On Sunday, the Music City side earned their first ever home victory in MLS. A single Aníbal Godoy goal was enough to defeat Inter Miami 1-0.
With Hany Mukhtar missing a second-half penalty to give Gary Smith’s side breathing space, Nashville SC just about clung on.
Putting a lot of energy into the win though, maybe Orlando City SC can make their one days’ extra rest count.
Nashville SC vs Orlando City SC – Head-to-head stats
With Nashville SC and Orlando City SC‘s last meeting only a week old, 20-year-old Daryl Dike was the hero of the night.
A breakout game for the 6 ft 1 in, striker, Dike bagged a brace in a 3-1 victory to break an MLS record for a rookie.
Scoring three goals in his first two career starts, Orlando City SC actually started the night on the back foot.
With David Romney putting Nashville SC into an early 0-1 lead, Oscar Pareja‘s side didn’t panic.
After Chris Mueller equalised just six minutes later, Orlando City SC seized the initiative in this one.
The second-half brace from Daryl Dike was particularly pleasing.
Handed a big opportunity with Dom Dwyer and Tesho Akindele missing, he seized it with both hands.
Orlando City SC 3 Nashville SC 1 – Highlights – August 26, 2020 (Credit: Nashville Soccer Club)
As we stated prior to the clubs’ inaugural fixture last week, defeating new MLS entrants is key.
With Orlando City SC making their six-year league experience count last week, City will be hoping to repeat that feat here.
In a stop-start year, this is only Nashville SC’s third ever home game at Nissan Stadium.
Valiantly losing 1-2 to Atlanta United in their inaugural MLS fixture in February, they did beat Inter Miami 1-0 on Sunday.
Going 1-1-3 in their five-game road streak prior to this matchup, Gary Smith’s side will relish playing back in Tennessee.
Nashville SC form
While Orlando City SC face a Nashville SC side buoyed by the first home win in MLS, Gary Smith’s side are very low scorers.
Indeed, the Tennessee side have failed to score more than ONE goal in any of their SEVEN league fixtures so far.
Winning TWO games so far, both victories were by a single goal at FC Dallas (0-1) and against Inter Miami (1-0).
Given Nashville SC have been wasteful in front of goal, they could be in real trouble if Orlando City SC score the first goal here.
Nashville SC 1 Inter Miami 0 – Highlights – August 30, 2020 (Credit: Nashville Soccer Club)
Orlando City SC form
Well would you look at that?
Right now, Orlando City SC are the highest scoring team in the Eastern Conference with 15 goals from eight games.
Of MLS as a whole, the Lions only trail Sporting Kansas City (18) and Los Angeles FC (16) for goals scored.
A huge part of the Oscar Pareja revolution has been increased goal contributions from all over the park.
Daryl Dike‘s recent scoring streak has been part of this and ultimately, the competition for places is yielding hungrier performances and grasped opportunities.
As we just mentioned, while Orlando City SC are no longer so reliant on Nani scoring all the goals, the Portuguese is still doing his bit too.
The 33-year-old is still every bit the talismanic captain we admire, scoring in THREE of Orlando City SC‘s last FIVE MLS fixtures.
In this streak, Nani scored FOUR times against Minnesota United (2), Inter Miami (1) and Atlanta United (1), leading by example to the younger Lions around him.
Atlanta United 1 Orlando City SC 3 – Highlights – August 29, 2020 (Credit: Atlanta United FC)