This Friday and Saturday, we might see the two biggest matches in Orlando City Stadium history.
On Friday night, Orlando City will host rival Atlanta United in a massive Eastern Conference showdown. With Orlando City sitting in 10th place, every point in the Lions' 10 remaining matches will be critical. A win against the current Eastern Conference leaders could vault the team into playoff contention.
Orlando City spent last week at IMG Academy during its bye week to reset and prepare for Atlanta. Head coach James O’Connor hopes it will help the team bring back a few players that they have been missing.
“I think for us it will give us a chance to get the ones who are carrying knocks back,” O’Connor said. “RJ [Allen] has been dealing with a concussion, we’ve had Yoshi [Yotún], Sacha [Kljestan], [Jonathan] Spector, Lamine [Sané], so I think it gives us an opportunity to be able to push them, try to get a closer look at where they are in their recovery.”
Friday night’s match will kickoff at 8:00pm. Tickets are still available here.
After Friday’s marquee matchup, the Pride will fight for their playoff lives on Saturday. With just two games remaining in the NWSL season, the Pride currently sit one point out of the playoffs. Luckily, they’ll face the team ahead of them in the standings, the Chicago Red Stars, this weekend.
“We’re still in the hunt here. We’re still right in the mix,” head coach Tom Sermanni said following the Pride’s loss in North Carolina over the weekend.
While a win would put the Pride in a playoff spot, the Red Stars would still control their own destiny, as they'll have six possible points remaining to Orlando Pride's three after this weekend.
The two teams will square off on Saturday starting 7:30. It will be the last home match for the Orlando Pride this season. Tickets are available here.
