Michael Halliday

STATS PREVIEW: Orlando City SC vs Toronto FC – 27.04.2024

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After rescuing a 2-2 draw at CF Montréal last Saturday, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC now face another Canadian opponent in Toronto FC but this time back in our familiar surroundings of Inter&Co Stadium.

Currently fifth in the Eastern Conference on 13 points, John Herdman’s TFC come into this game rejuvenated after a 1-0 win against New England Revolution last weekend plus a 5-0 2024 Canadian Championship preliminary round win over Simcoe County Rovers FC yesterday.

Speaking of TFC’s last league fixture, an incredible acrobatic goal from Prince Owusu helped The Reds to a 2024 sweep over Revs, ending their streak of three consecutive MLS defeats in turn. Continue reading →

Twitter reacts to… Orlando City SC’s 2023 end-of-season roster update

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Today, Orlando City SC officially announced their updated first team roster following the end of the 2023 Major League Soccer campaign.

The first comprehensive evidence as to who is staying, potentially remaining and departing Exploria Stadium before 2024, just two players were named in the ‘option declined’ column. Continue reading →

STATS PREVIEW: Orlando City SC vs Nashville SC – 30.10.2023

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After all the thrills and spills of a MLS regular season that saw Orlando City SC win more games than ever before (18) and achieve their highest all-time single-season points tally (63) – finishing a mightily impressive second in the 2023 Supporters’ Shield despite having the lowest salary spend of all – it’s now time for the agony and the ecstasy of the post-season.

City now face the side that finished seventh in the East, Nashville SC, at Exploria Stadium in game one of the newly revamped Round One Best-of-3 series of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. The Lions have crucially secured home field advantage in this round courtesy of our Eastern Conference top four seeding (number two overall in MLS). Continue reading →

STATS PREVIEW: Orlando City SC vs New England Revolution – 07.10.2023

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Defeating one bogey opponent – Nashville SC (0-1) – in another statement road win last night, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC now face another – New England Revolution – in our final home fixture of the 2023 MLS regular season. Just our second win over the Music City side in nine league meetings, yesterday’s victory means City are now the outright best team on their travels in MLS. Indeed, we’ve earned eight wins and four draws (28 points) across 16 away fixtures this season – a mightily impressive tally that is just one point fewer than the 29 points we’ve collected at Exploria Stadium.

Also conceding the joint second fewest amount of goals (37) in the Eastern Conference, the Lions are full of hope, optimism, and belief ahead of the post-season, and are hitting form at exactly the right time. While the wind is firmly in City’s sails, a top four seed isn’t clinched just yet. Despite Atlanta United losing 3-2 at Philadelphia Union, Columbus Crew’s late 1-2 victory at New England Revolution means we are still patiently waiting to lock in the hosting of two home games in the Round One Best-of-3 series of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs. Continue reading →

STATS PREVIEW: New York City FC vs Orlando City SC – 20.09.2023

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After defeating Columbus Crew 4-3 in a quite remarkable three-goal comeback victory, Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC now visit Queens, not The Bronx, for a Wednesday night showdown with 2015 MLS expansion rivals New York City FC at Citi Field.

With City players and supporters running on adrenaline after Ramiro Enrique‘s buzzer beater against Crew, the Lions left everything on the field against quality opposition in undoubtedly one of the craziest and most exciting games of the entire Major League Soccer season so far – a game that’ll live long in the memory. Continue reading →

STATS PREVIEW: Orlando City SC vs Philadelphia Union – 21.06.2023

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Defeated 3-1 at New England Revolution, the hectic mid-season schedule heats up with Orlando City SC returning home to face Philadelphia Union at Exploria Stadium this Wednesday.

Comfortably beaten by the better side in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the Revs are now undefeated in their last 10 MLS head-to-heads with City who saw their six-game unbeaten streak ended by well-taken Emmanuel Boateng, Gustavo Bou and Carles Gil second-half goals. Continue reading →

STATS PREVIEW: Inter Miami vs Orlando City SC – 20.05.2023

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Ifs, buts, and maybes. Unfortunately that was the tale of Wednesday evening after Orlando City SC conceded an 89th minute equaliser to draw 1-1 with New York City FC at Exploria Stadium.

Now twelve MLS regular season games into 2023, our disappointing and inconsistent campaign shows no signs of truly turning a corner. Oscar Pareja‘s Lions now visit Florida rivals Inter Miami who will no doubt be fired up for the first Sunshine Clásico of the year. Continue reading →

STATS PREVIEW: CF Montréal vs Orlando City SC – 06.05.2023

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Desperately searching for not only a positive result but performance in an inconsistent 2023 campaign, Orlando City SC achieved both against LA Galaxy last weekend.

Just the tonic we needed, Oscar Pareja’s Lions prevailed 2-0 with Designated Players Ercan Kara and Facundo Torres scoring in a satisfying, convincing display. Continue reading →

STATS PREVIEW: Philadelphia Union vs Orlando City SC – 25.03.2023

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Gameweek 4 was one to forget, and fast, for Oscar Pareja‘s Orlando City SC who suffered our first loss of the season – a bitterly disappointing 1-2 home defeat to bottom side Charlotte FC.

Coming just three days after our narrow 2023 CONCACAF Champions League elimination, there’s frustratingly more questions than answers right now, albeit at this early stage of the campaign. Continue reading →