After a huge morale-boosting 2-1 win over Philadelphia Union, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC now fly north to face New York City FC at Yankee Stadium.
NYCFC’s first game back in The Bronx after a five-game home streak at Red Bull Arena, the Lions are aiming for back-to-back victories to put pressure on first-placed New England Revolution.
In truth, Thursday’s victory over Philadelphia Union felt like more than just three points.
And not just because of a lengthy weather delay!
Near the end of a busy week, a week that saw the Wilf family seize ownership, the DeVos family purchasing a minority stake, and Chris Mueller signing a pre-contract agreement with Hibernian, it felt good to get back to on-field soccer.
Union are a tough side too.
Unbeaten in TEN of their ELEVEN games heading into Thursday’s 2-1 loss at Exploria Stadium, Orlando City SC‘s win jumped them above Union as well.
With Oscar Pareja‘s side currently sitting second in the Eastern Conference, confidence is flowing again.
Despite the Lions missing Jhegson Méndez and Júnior Urso in central midfield, stand-ins Andrés Perea and Uri Rosell performed well.
With Andrés Perea grabbing his second City goal in just three games, Benji Michel opened the scoring in only the tenth minute.
Connecting with an inch-perfect trademark Mauricio Pereyra assist, the Uruguayan seemed to have his mojo back.
Before Thursday’s game, Ruan did an Instagram Live story in which he revealed both he, and Júnior Urso, should be in contention for this game at NYCFC.
With Ruan out injured for several months, that gives City another boost despite Kyle Smith‘s incredible performances in the team.
As for New York City FC themselves, Ronny Deila’s side earned a 1-0 victory over CF Montréal on Wednesday night.
Snapping a two-game winless streak in the process, NYCFC will relish playing back in their Yankee Stadium home.
New York City FC vs Orlando City SC – 2015/21 head-to-head stats
Meeting as recently as May 8, Orlando City SC and New York City FC played out a 1-1 draw at Exploria Stadium.
Maintaining our unbeaten start to 2021, it was our third draw in our opening four games however.
Had it not been for João Moutinho carelessly conceding Valentín Castellanos’ penalty, we may well have stolen all three points.
But during this game, you could see early on in the season that Oscar Pareja‘s side were 100% fighting for the badge in an exciting affair.
If you haven’t seen Nani‘s 52nd minute opener yet, watch it!
His third goal in his opening four games, our captain was seemingly creating his own Goal of the Season competition.
Orlando City SC 1 New York City FC 1 – Highlights – May 8, 2021 (Credit: New York City FC)
Facing New York City FC more than any other MLS opponent, there’s now been EIGHTEEN league meetings between these 2015 expansion rivals.
The good news is that Orlando City SC have come out on top two more times than NYCFC.
Holding SEVEN league victories to New York City FC’s FIVE, we’ve also seen a lot of draws (SIX) in this super competitive series too.
Even better, Orlando City SC are unbeaten against NYCFC in the last SEVEN head-to-heads across all competitions.
This includes MLS, U.S. Open Cup, #MLSisBack Tournament, and 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs play.
New York City FC last tasted victory over Orlando City SC way back in July 2018.
A 0-2 win at Exploria Stadium helped earn NYCFC a clean sweep of three straight 2018 victories over the Lions (7-0 on aggregate).
Since then however, its fortunately been all change.
Crucial to this has been the fact that Orlando City SC have taken the lead in the last FIVE MLS head-to-heads.
In this five-game streak, Orlando City SC have gone 2-3-0.
The two wins were the super memorable victories in #MLSisBack Tournament Group A, and that 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs shootout.
Orlando City SC 1 New York City FC 1 (A.E.T.) (6-5 on penalties) – Highlights – November 21, 2020 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
New York City FC form
Currently seventh in the Eastern Conference, New York City FC games have predominantly been tight affairs all season long.
Remarkably, NYCFC’s last EIGHT consecutive Major League Soccer fixtures have all been separated by ONE goal.
With Ronny Deila’s side going 4-0-4 in this eight-game streak, nobody has comfortably seen The Pigeons off so far this MLS campaign.
On Wednesday evening, a single Ismael Tajouri-Shradi goal was enough to defeat CF Montréal 1-0 at Red Bull Arena.
New York City FC 1 CF Montréal 0- Highlights – July 21, 2021 (Credit: New York City FC)
Orlando City SC form
With the exception of D.C. United (0-1), Toronto FC (2-3) and Chicago Fire (3-1), Orlando City SC have a habit of conceding the first goal on the road.
The Lions have conceded first goal in FOUR of SEVEN road games so far this season.
Given the vast distances travelled, and home supporters present, this isn’t the most surprising stat.
Nevertheless, Oscar Pareja will want to kick this habit and avoid giving ourselves a mountain to climb away from Exploria Stadium.
…
Don’t forget, New York City FC vs Orlando City SC will be shown LIVE on Sky Sports Football on Sunday evening at 23:00 (GMT).
You can view our TV Fixture Tracker by clicking here.
GOOD NEWS 🚨 | @NYCFC 🆚 @OrlandoCitySC is LIVE on @SkySports Football at 11PM on Sunday evening. 😁👏🏽🦁
It’s our third game live on Sky this season. ⚽️
VIEW TV TRACKER 📺: https://t.co/KV9JvpAA0o#NYCvORL #NYCFC #OrlandoCity #MLSUK pic.twitter.com/qx0PUNILhT
— Orlando City UK (@Orlando_CityUK) July 23, 2021