A week after losing 2-4 to Los Angeles FC, Orlando City SC bounced back with a morale-boosting 1-0 victory over Chicago Fire, inflicting Fire’s first loss of the season.
With Ercan Kara‘s first City goal proving the difference, Oscar Pareja‘s Lions now visit Columbus Crew for their fourth road trip of the 2022 season.
Against Fire, all that mattered was three points. Especially after the 2-4 defeat to LAFC and losing Antônio Carlos for 12 to 16 weeks with a high hamstring injury.
At full-time, City supporters were relieved to get back to winning ways.
However, on a sunny afternoon at Exploria Stadium, Orlando City SC could, and probably should’ve beaten Chicago Fire much more comfortably.
Outshooting Fire 21 to 7, Orlando City SC missed several gilt-edged chances to effectively kill off the encounter.
Orlando City SC‘s cause was boosted when Brian Gutiérrez petulantly picked up two yellows (and a red) in the first-half.
Right before the hour mark, there was a mighty satisfying moment as Ercan Kara scored his first ever Orlando City SC goal.
A huge confidence booster for the Austrian international, Kara’s point-blank header rounded off a smart free-kick routine.
After Facundo Torres sent in a free-kick to the back post, Alexandre Pato cushioned a header across Fire’s penalty area for Kara to head home.
From here, Orlando City SC should’ve made it easy on themselves. But it wasn’t to be.
Between the 73rd and 87th minutes, Benji Michel, Ercan Kara and Alexandre Pato all missed huge chances to make the game safe.
Kara missed a point-blank header and Pato hit Gabriel Slonina’s bar. A little more poise from City would’ve made for a more handsome scoreline.
Nevertheless, Orlando City SC would’ve been delighted to create so many opportunities despite not finishing all of them off.
Now visiting Columbus Crew, City face a team in a slump. Crew have just suffered two back-to-back 0-1 / 1-0 defeats to Nashville SC and Philadelphia Union.
Our second ever MLS trip to Lower.com Field, this is another good opportunity for Orlando City SC to extend their unbeaten streak on the road.
Columbus Crew vs Orlando City SC – 2015/21 head-to-head stats
The last time Orlando City SC faced Columbus Crew, our hopes of reaching the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs took a big blow.
Defeated 3-2 at Lower.com Field in our penultimate away game, the scoreline looked close. However, Crew were by far the better side.
After Miguel Berry and Derrick Etienne Jr. goals gave Crew a commanding 2-0 half-time lead, City were on the ropes.
Then came a lifeline on 52 minutes. Daryl Dike‘s retaken penalty (after an initial miss) beat Eloy Room to reduce the arrears to one.
Just nine minutes after this lifeline, Lucas Zelarayán hit an unstoppable golazo from range to regain a two-goal cushion.
From here, it was real tough. Robin Jansson‘s stoppage time consolation goal unfortunately came too late.
Columbus Crew 3 Orlando City SC 2 – Highlights – October 27, 2021 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
After last season’s pair of 3-2 home victories for Orlando City SC and Columbus Crew, everything is equal in this Eastern Conference game series.
With City and Crew sharing SIX victories each, we’ve also had THREE draws since our 2015 MLS debut.
In last season’s first meeting (3-2), Oscar Pareja officially became the winningest head coach in City’s MLS history (23 wins).
Racing into a 2-0 lead through Daryl Dike and Silvester van der Water, City looked back to their dominating best.
But you can’t take anything for granted in Major League Soccer.
In the blink of an eye, a second-half Antônio Carlos own goal and a Miguel Berry strike saw Caleb Porter’s Crew draw level within just 120 seconds.
Instead of panicking, Orlando City SC rallied. Júnior Urso’s sweet strike on 69 minutes sealed all three points to City supporters’ relief and delight.
Orlando City SC 3 Columbus Crew 2 – Highlights – September 4, 2021 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Orlando City SC and Columbus Crew have been evenly matched over the years.
In SEVEN of the last EIGHT MLS head-to-heads, just ONE goal has separated the sides.
Before last season’s pair of 3-2 home victories, Orlando City SC beat Crew 2-1 at Exploria Stadium in November 2020.
Chris Mueller opened the scoring on 27 minutes. Then Nani received a ridiculously harsh red card for a foul on Artur in the 52nd minute.
A decision later rescinded by the Independent Review Panel, Harrison Afful equalised just four minutes later.
The Lions stuck to their task however. Benji Michel scored a fantastic solo goal in the 84th minute to raise the roof off Exploria Stadium!
Columbus Crew form
Perhaps this is the best time to be playing Columbus Crew?
After all, Caleb Porter’s side have just suffered two consecutive 0-1 / 1-0 defeats.
When you add on a 1-1 draw with New York Red Bulls on March 19, there have been UNDER 2.5 GOALS SCORED in Crew’s last THREE MLS fixtures.
Seventh in the Eastern Conference, Columbus Crew do have the joint second-best goalscoring record in the East however.
With 10 goals to their name, four of which came on opening day, perhaps their recent scoring struggles are purely coincidental.
Philadelphia Union 1 Columbus Crew 0 – Highlights – April 9, 2022 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Orlando City SC form
Win most of your home games and stay resilient on the road. That’s the formula to a successful regular season, right?
In this embryonic stage of the season, Orlando City SC have performed admirably away from Exploria Stadium.
The good news is that the Lions are unbeaten in THREE away games so far.
We should’ve won at Chicago Fire, we won at LA Galaxy, and almost snatched another win at Portland Timbers.
This isn’t bad going, especially when you consider the distance travelled for those West Coast games, plus new faces acclimatising to Oscar Pareja‘s methods.
Sure, it hasn’t been pretty at times but Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC certainly know how to tough it out hundreds and thousands of miles from home.
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