Match report: Orlando City SC clinches spot in 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup with 3-2 win over New England Revolution

ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 7, 2023) – Orlando City SC (17-7-9, 60 points) defeated the New England Revolution (14-8-10, 52 points) 3-2 on Saturday night at Exploria Stadium. With the victory, the Lions have now clinched a spot in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup, making it the second consecutive year that the Club will appear in the tournament. The win, along with other results, also clinched the second overall seed for the upcoming Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs giving the Lions home field advantage.

The Lions were backed by a trio of first-half goals on the night, on all of which secondary assists were earned. The first came from rookie forward Duncan McGuire who has now found the back of the net in consecutive matches. The goal serves as his 11th of the regular season, which ties Damani Ralph for the second-most goals scored by a draft pick in their first MLS season out of college.  

Facundo Torres collected his 14th goal of the year, which is the most he has scored in a season while a part of the Lions. His 14 goals also lead the Club so far this year. The final City goal came from Iván Angulo just before the halftime break, serving as his fifth of the year. Angulo also earned an assist on the night, making it the second time this season he has had a goal and an assist in the same match.

Captain Mauricio Pereyra had a pair of assists which counted as his 11th and 12th of the 2023 campaign. The 12 assists set a new Orlando City record, previously held by Pereyra, for the most MLS regular-season assists in a single season. He also breaks his personal best in assists across all competitions.

Scoring Summary:

31’ Duncan McGuire (Dagur Dan Thórhallsson, Mauricio Pereyra) – ORL 1, NE 0 
The Lions struck first with Mauricio Pereyra finding Dagur Dan Thórhallsson who whipped in a ball from the right flank. Duncan McGuire made a run to the front post and the ball glanced off his head and into the back of the net.  

37’ Facundo Torres (Iván Angulo, Rafael Santos) – ORL 2, NE 0 
City scored their second with Rafael Santos finding Iván Angulo who floated a ball into the middle of the box. Facundo Torres hit it on the volley, left the goalkeeper frozen and doubled the home side’s advantage. 

42’ Carles Gil (Mark-Anthony Kaye) – ORL 2, NE 1 
The visitors grabbed a goal back just before the halftime break, with New England’s Carles Gil letting loose a low cutter from way outside the box. The ball skipped across the ground just in front of the net to throw off goalkeeper Pedro Gallese and into the net.  

45’ Iván Angulo (Rafael Santos, Mauricio Pereyra) – ORL 3, NE 1 
Orlando answered with Mauricio Pereyra dumping the ball out wide to Rafael Santos who cut the ball back to find Iván Angulo in the middle of the box. Angulo collected the pass and slotted the ball home for the Lions’ third of the night. 

90+3’ Carles Gil (DeJuan Jones) – ORL 3, NE 2 
New England scored a consolation goal in the final moments of the match with DeJuan Jones finding Carles Gil who was able to score his second goal of the match.

Head Coach Oscar Pareja:

“First on behalf of our players, coaching staff and directors and I am very sure from the whole Club, thank you guys so much for following this season. Thank you for being around the team and linking us with the fans and the community. This season, even in the moments where there was a maybe a storm, you guys were very objective and that pushed us too. Thank you for being so professional and I think this belongs to all of us. We are very proud of belonging to this City, belonging to this community and taking this team to second place and Concacaf [Champions Cup] again. We have a long journey still to go. The players know and the game today was a reflection of what we are. A very difficult game against New England, that first half was difficult, but we responded very well and scored goals. Second half, if we had better finishing then we would probably increase our goals and be more efficient and lethal. I thought we played probably with too much responsibility to get the job done and get the game done which tied us a little bit in conceding that second goal. I am proud of them. I am proud because they know they can relax themselves a little more. There are still a lot of things to do, but today we beat New England which is not an easy task. This journey in the last three weeks has been a lot of games and the boys responded well. Again, thanks to you and congratulations to the players.”

Match Notes

• Duncan McGuire scored his 13th goal across all competitions on the year and his 11th of the regular season. McGuire has now scored in back-to-back games after finding the back of the net earlier this week in the match against Nashville SC. It is the third time this season that McGuire has scored in consecutive matches. 
• With the first-half finish, McGuire tied Damani Ralph for the second-most goals scored by a draft pick in their first MLS season out of college. 
• Facundo Torres scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season. The 14 goals are the most goals he has scored in a single season since joining the Club. 
• Mauricio Pereyra provided his 11th and 12th helpers of the 2023 season, picking up the secondary on Duncan McGuire’s opener and Angulo’s finish. With that, he breaks his personal best from last season across all competitions and set a new Orlando City record for most MLS regular-season assists in a single campaign.  
• Iván Angulo scored his fifth goal of the year and earned his eighth assist of the regular season on Torres’ first-half finish. It is the second time this season that Angulo has scored and assisted on a goal in the same match, with the previous coming back on June 3 against the New York Red Bulls. 
• Rafael Santos picked up his fourth and fifth assists of the regular season, his first multi-assist game this year. 
• Dagur Dan Thórhallsson earned his third assist of the year on the McGuire finish. 
• With the start, Rodrigo Schlegel made his 100th appearance with the Club across all competitions. 
• The win serves as the third consecutive win for the Lions in regular-season play, the first time this season they have won three straight games.  
• Head Coach Oscar Pareja made two changes to his starting lineup since his side’s last match against Nashville SC with Dagur Dan Thórhallsson and Iván Angulo earning the start.