After the high of defeating Columbus Crew and Tampa Bay Rowdies within just five days, Orlando City SC were brought back down to Earth with a bump last Sunday.
Comfortably swept aside 0-3 by New York Red Bulls at home, Oscar Pareja‘s Lions were worryingly tepid as they passed up a huge opportunity to go top of the Eastern Conference.
The lack of urgency and inability to change things up was the most alarming takeaway from the Red Bulls loss.
Under Gerhard Struber, New York Red Bulls have won the last three head-to-heads with Cristian Cásseres Jr. scoring in all three games.
Sunday’s meeting was most certainly the most one-sided affair however.
Starting the game aggressively, Red Bulls truly weren’t in any real danger throughout the entire 90 at Exploria Stadium.
A statement fourth away victory in a row for Red Bulls, Struber’s game plan was executed extremely well in fairness.
With Alexandre Pato, Facundo Torres and Ercan Kara completely nullified throughout the game, the Orlando City SC defence were poor too.
Looking like strangers at times, Ruan is no longer making effective explosive runs forward and is lacking composure defensively.
Everyone knows that New York Red Bulls are one of the best pressing sides in Major League Soccer.
On the latest evidence, it appears Red Bulls are Oscar Pareja‘s Achilles heel when it comes to the Colombian outwitting their tactics.
The result now means Orlando City SC‘s three MLS defeats have all come at home this season. Who would’ve ever said that City look stronger away from home?
A truly bad day at the office, Orlando City SC must dust themselves down quick for another home game – this time against 2022 new boys Charlotte FC.
The inaugural meeting of the Central Florida and North Carolina sides, Miguel Ángel Ramírez’s team have started life in MLS solidly.
Going 3-1-5 so far this season, CLTFC picked up their first road point at Colorado Rapids (0-0) last weekend.
Hopefully, Orlando City SC are fresher, staying home while the Queen City side just completed a 3,116 mile round-trip to Commerce City.
Orlando City SC vs Charlotte FC – Head-to-head stats
This fixture will represent the first time that Orlando City SC and Charlotte FC have faced each other in Major League Soccer.
The clubs bear similarity in the fact they have both captured the imagination in their local market as part of their inaugural MLS seasons.
After drawing 74,479 fans to Bank of America Stadium for their inaugural MLS fixture against LA Galaxy on March 5, Charlotte FC attendances have been solid since.
Drawing crowds of 29,318, 30,242 and 32,496 to home games against New England Revolution, FC Cincinnati and Atlanta United, CLTFC won all three of these games too.
For any new MLS expansion franchise, home form is super important and on the early evidence, it seems Charlotte FC’s vociferous home support have been doing their bit too.
Orlando City SC form
From 2015 to 2020, Orlando City SC have gone 3-1-3 in their inaugural fixtures against new MLS expansion sides.
Additionally, our THREE victories actually came most recently in 2019 and 2020 against FC Cincinnati (5-1), Inter Miami (2-1) and Nashville SC (3-1).
- 2015 – vs. New York City FC (1-1)
- 2017 – vs. Atlanta United (0-1)
- 2017 – @ Minnesota United (1-0)
- 2018 – @ Los Angeles FC (4-1)
- 2019 – vs. FC Cincinnati (5-1)
- 2020 – vs. Inter Miami (2-1)
- 2020 – vs. Nashville SC (3-1)
Oscar Pareja will hope his Lions side can start off the new game series against Charlotte FC in the best possible fashion.
Orlando City SC 3 Nashville SC 1 – Highlights – August 26, 2020 (Credit: Nashville Soccer Club)
During last Sunday’s 0-3 loss to Red Bulls, ESPN commentators Steve Cangialosi and Brian Dunseth pointed out an intriguing Orlando City SC stat.
In nine MLS games so far this season, Orlando City SC have failed to score a single goal between 60 and 90 minutes.
Sure, context is key here because Benji Michel and Ercan Kara both scored on 59 minutes in home victories over CF Montréal and Chicago Fire.
Nevertheless, Orlando City SC are struggling to score late in games for whatever reason.
As Orlando City SC supporters know, this stat would’ve been irrelevant had Ismir Pekmic not incorrectly ruled out Júnior Urso‘s legitimate goal at Chicago Fire.
Charlotte FC form
Here’s some good news heading into this one. Charlotte FC have failed win a single MLS road game in FIVE attempts.
In fact, CLTFC have lost FOUR of their FIVE away games so far.
The Queen City side actually picked up their first road point at Colorado Rapids (0-0) last weekend.
For any new MLS expansion franchise, inaugural seasons are tough, especially on the road.
If Orlando City SC can grab the first goal early in this one, perhaps Charlotte FC may experience that familiar sinking feeling away from Bank of America Stadium again.
Colorado Rapids 0 Charlotte FC 0 – Highlights – April 23, 2022 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Studying Charlotte FC’s first nine games in Major League Soccer, their Designated Player Karol Świderski is their goals and assists leader right now.
Scoring FOUR goals and tallying ONE assist so far, the Polish international bagged two back-to-back home braces against New England Revolution (3-1) and FC Cincinnati (2-0).
His free-kick in the 2-0 win over FC Cincinnati was simply sensational.
Scoring once every three games for Greek giants PAOK prior to his Charlotte FC switch, the Orlando City SC defence will have to marshal the 25-year-old carefully.
Charlotte FC 2 FC Cincinnati 0 – Highlights – March 26, 2022 (Credit: Charlotte FC)
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