One step forward and two steps back. Frustratingly, Orlando City SC‘s disappointing season continued last Saturday. Oscar Pareja‘s Lions painfully suffered their third consecutive home defeat in MLS.
Comfortably beaten 1-3 by Wayne Rooney’s D.C. United; sloppy defending, individual errors, and a lack of attacking quality all contributed to yet another sobering evening at Exploria Stadium.
Playing with clarity in road games, Orlando City SC are suffering a real lack of identity and belief at home.
Not only that but when Donovan Pines and Christian Benteke plundered D.C.’s second and third goals, heads genuinely seemed to drop.
Probably the most telling takeaway of all, this isn’t something we’ve associated Oscar Pareja‘s City teams with too often.
Usually never giving up, there was a real air of resignation after Benteke baited The Wall with his signature Lebron James inspired celebration after scoring on 62 minutes.
When Duncan McGuire went off injured, after equalising with a well-taken 23rd minute strike, this was a real gut punch.
In what promised to be a super exciting campaign, it’s only really been young rookie McGuire who has looked convincing in front of goal.
And having to rely on an MLS SuperDraft pick for attacking ingenuity definitely wasn’t the plan going into 2023.
Too many Orlando City SC players are hiding right now.
The once dependable Robin Jansson looks off the pace, Mauricio Pereyra is struggling to impact games, and new boy Martín Ojeda has been missing in action for big stretches.
Probably most alarming of all, Facundo Torres currently looks a shadow of the player that dazzled crowds in the second half of 2022.
It’s actually been wing backs Iván Angulo and Gastón González who’ve looked more convincing than their esteemed counterparts.
This has all made for a frustrating first third of the 2023 Major League Soccer regular season.
While some time and leeway is afforded to new faces to acclimate to a new team and new league, that excuse is now wearing very thin.
An inability to build winning streaks is really hurting Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC. Ultimately, they desperately owe our supporters a big performance and result against LA Galaxy.
Not only a second home game in a row; Greg Vanney’s Galaxy side are second bottom of the Western Conference.
Amid the backdrop of supporter unrest with current Galaxy president Chris Klein, all has not been well in Carson with this cross-conference affair involving two under-fire teams.
That said, LA Galaxy do come into this game fresh off the back of a morale-boosting 2-0 victory over Austin FC in Gameweek 9.
This was shockingly LA Galaxy’s first MLS victory of 2023 at the ninth attempt!
Certainly not the kind of form you’d associate with such a storied Major League Soccer franchise.
Orlando City SC vs LA Galaxy
Last 3 head-to-heads
- July 29, 2018: LA Galaxy 4 Orlando City SC 3 (MLS)
- May 24, 2019: Orlando City SC 0 LA Galaxy 1 (MLS)
- March 19, 2022: LA Galaxy 0 Orlando City SC 1 (MLS)
2015/22 head-to-head stats
- It was 0-1 to Orlando the last time the sides met (March 2022)
- Played Galaxy 6 times in MLS – Orlando 3, Draws 0, Galaxy 3
- The last 4 MLS head-to-heads have been separated by one goal
- Orlando have failed to win their last 4 home fixtures in MLS
- LA Galaxy have conceded at least 2 goals in 3 of their last 4 MLS fixtures
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Watching the game
Orlando City SC vs LA Galaxy will be shown live on Apple TV at 00:30 (GMT) on Sunday, April 30.
Remember, UK supporters can watch all of Orlando City SC‘s 2023 MLS regular season fixtures by subscribing to Apple TV’s “MLS Season Pass”.
Subscribe now by clicking here.
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