Orlando City (12-6-7, 43 points) at Charlotte FC (7-9-8, 29 points)
When: Wednesday, 7:30 PM
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
Radio: 96.9 The Game (English), Acción 97.9 FM (Spanish)
Climbing the Ranks x2
Forward Facundo Torres scored his ninth and 10th goals of the year across all competitions, converting a penalty kick to ice the Club’s most recent game against St. Louis CITY SC. With that, Torres now sits fifth all-time for the Lions in goals scored with 23, passing former Lion Chris Mueller. Torres sits just one goal behind Dom Dwyer for fourth in Club history. The performance was good enough to earn MLS Team of the Matchday honors for the week.
On The Road Again
The Lions are getting set to head out on the road for a two-match swing this week, first to take on Charlotte FC on Wednesday before heading to Eastern Conference leaders FC Cincinnati on Saturday. Orlando City is the best road team in the Eastern Conference at this point in the year, with a road record of 6-3-3, and sits tied with Real Salt Lake as the best road team in MLS in 2023.
Close Encounters
Orlando City and Wednesday’s opposition have met three times so far in regular-season play, with the Lions taking two wins out of those three meetings. To date, all three regular-season matchups between the two sides have been separated by one goal, with the resulting scoreline being 2-1 in each of those meetings.
Bear Sighting
Orlando City midfielder Júnior Urso made his return to Exploria Stadium on Saturday night, entering the match as a second-half substitute. The appearance served as Urso’s first in front of the City fans at Exploria Stadium since departing the Club at the end of the 2022 season and returning to the Lions in July of this year. All-time, Urso has played in 102 matches, scored 14 goals and provided 12 assists across all competitions for Orlando City.
Round Two
The Lions found the back of the net just out of the halftime break in their most recent matchup with St. Louis CITY SC, continuing their trend this season of scoring early on in the second half. So far in 2023, Orlando City has scored 15 of its 45 goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half and holds a +7 goal differential over its opposition in that same time span of the game.
Milestone Tracker
- Pedro Gallese’s next clean sheet will be his 30th in all competitions for Orlando City.
- Facundo Torres’ next goal will tie Dom Dwyer for fourth on the all-time scoring list.
- Defender Robin Jansson is two appearances away from 150 all-time appearances across all competitions.
