ORLANDO, Fla. – March 17, 2016 – In a battle of the unbeaten, Orlando City SC (0-0-2, 2 points) will take the pitch at Yankee Stadium for a heated Eastern Conference showdown against New York City FC (1-0-1, 4 points).
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. E.T. The game will broadcast live on UniMás, with an English broadcast version available via the SAP function, and on Real Radio 104.1 FM in English. It will also be transmitted in Spanish on La Grande 1030 AM locally.
“Obviously, [NYCFC] is at home and they have a decent record there,” said Orlando City Head Coach Adrian Heath. “But I’m mainly concerned with ourselves and how we approach the game. It’s the first away game for us and, hopefully, we can have the result like we had on our first away game last year.”
Following draws against Real Salt Lake and Chicago Fire, the Lions will go on the road aiming to earn their first three points of the season.
Having shared experiences of debuting MLS expansion teams in 2015, the two clubs competed in three highly intense fixtures together - splitting results with a draw and a win for each side. During the most recent meeting, City overcame a late first-half goal from New York’s Kwame Watson-Siriboe at home with a second-half brace from Cyle Larin to extend its winning streak to six on Oct. 16.
This will be the second time both sides meet at Yankee Stadium, after a thrilling 5-3 New York City FC victory that, again, featured a standout performance by Larin, who scored his first professional hat-trick and earned MLS Player of the Week honors.
Fans can expect an exciting offensive face-off between the unbeaten forwards, who relentlessly prove their goal-scoring prowess. Spanish forward David Villa has tallied seven goals in eight home games for NYCFC while the 2015 MLS Rookie of the Year Larin has notched a total of eight goals in his last six MLS matches. Additionally, the Canadian has registered two hat-tricks in his two visits to ‘The Big Apple’.
Coming off a 1-1 draw against the Chicago Fire at home, the undefeated Lions concentrate on maintaining intensity going into Friday’s match.
Villa, after scoring both goals in New York City’s Draw against Toronto FC, will look to continue his positive start to the 2016 MLS season, as he has two goals through NYC’s first two matches.
