Orlando City (11-6-7, 40 points) vs St. Louis CITY SC (14-8-2, 44 points)
When: Saturday, 7:30 PM
Where: Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Fla.
Radio: 96.9 The Game (English), Acción 97.9 FM (Spanish)
New enemies
Saturday’s match will serve as the inaugural match between Orlando City SC and 2023-expansion side St. Louis CITY SC. St. Louis is currently seven points clear at the top of the Western Conference standings. Overall, City holds a 4-3-2 record in inaugural matchups against expansion teams since the Club joined the MLS back in 2015. More recently, the Lions drew Austin FC 2-2 at Q2 Stadium in the Club’s last inaugural matchup against an expansion side.
Climbing the Ranks
Forward Facundo Torres scored his eighth goal of the year across all competitions, converting a penalty kick to ice the Club’s most recent game against Chicago Fire FC. With that, Torres now sits sixth all-time for the Lions in goals scored with 22, tied with former Lion Tesho Akindele and just one behind Chris Mueller for fifth in Club history. Torres also recorded his fourth assist of the year in the match. The performance was good enough to earn MLS Team of the Matchday honors for the week.
Double Returns
The match against the Fire saw two players return to the field for the Lions. Entering the match as a second-half substitute, defender Mikey Halliday made his first appearance for the Club since June 24 at the Seattle Sounders, battling back from injury. Also coming on in the second half, midfielder Júnior Urso made his return to the pitch in a City kit after being re-signed by the Club back on July 19.
Road Warriors
Orlando City picked up another road win in the Windy City over the Fire, giving the Club its sixth away win of the season in MLS regular-season action this year. The six wins is tied with Real Salt Lake for the most away wins across the league this season and is also a new Club record for most away wins in an MLS season.
Getting Comfy
The Lions are returning to Exploria Stadium where they have seen a decent turnaround in home form recently. City is unbeaten in eight consecutive games at home in all competitions. The eight matches stand just one shy of the Club-record nine in a row set back in 2020. Dating back to April 22, the Lions have not lost a game at Exploria Stadium.
Milestone Tracker
- Pedro Gallese’s next clean sheet will be his 30th in all competitions for Orlando City.
- Facundo Torres’ next goal will tie Chris Mueller for fifth on the all-time scoring list.
- Defender Robin Jansson is three appearances away from 150 all-time appearances across all competitions.
