ORLANDO, Fla. (March 7, 2018) - Following Saturday’s thrilling home opener, Orlando City SC (0-0-1, 1 point) hosts Minnesota United FC (0-1-0, 0 points) on Saturday, March 10. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at Orlando City Stadium.
Single-game and season tickets are still available at OrlandoCitySC.com/tickets or by calling 855-ORL-CITY.
The match will be locally televised on WRDQ TV27 and transmitted on Real Radio 104.1 in English and La Nueva 990 AM in Spanish. The pregame, halftime and postgame shows will be streamed on Periscope, Facebook Live and the LionNation app.
“We know that it’s a team that will have an emotional charge with the coach that’s coaching them coming back to the stadium that he rightly and correctly had a lot to do with the building of,” Lions head coach Jason Kreis said. “It’ll be another emotional affair for us to deal with against a team that has a little bit of a statement to make of their own after a loss last week. We know this is a dangerous situation. We know that they have some fantastic attacking players. [Kevin] Molino, obviously. After last week [when] he scored two goals he’s probably going to be on a confidence high. There’s going to be things we need to be very focused on to attain our objective, which is three points at home.”
The Lions are coming off a stoppage-time equalizer on Opening Day. D.C. United took a first-half lead and City was reduced to 10 men when PC was sent off following Video Review. But in the 91st minute, Justin Meram slid a ball through for Jonathan Spector, who cut it back for Stéfano Pinho to power inside the far post. Goalkeeper Joe Bendik made four saves, including a spectacular stop on Darren Mattocks’ penalty kick attempt in the first half.
Seven Lions - Pinho, Mohamed El-Munir, Amro Tarek, Cam Lindley, Meram, Chris Mueller and RJ Allen - all made their Club debuts. Bendik is one start away from tying Kaká for second with 69 games started all-time for City.
Minnesota lost its first match of the season 3-2 at San Jose. The Loons were down 3-0 before Kevin Molino scored in the 81st and 85th minutes.
This is the second all-time meeting between City and United. The Loons took a 1-0 decision at TCF Bank Stadium on May 21, 2017, as Bobby Shuttleworth made seven saves to earn a clean sheet.
The match will mark the return of former Lions head coach Adrian Heath and assistant coaches Ian Fuller and Mark Watson. Heath led City for five and a half years from 2011 to July 2016. Fuller played for the Lions in USL Pro from 2011 to 2013 and Watson joined the coaching staff ahead of City’s jump to MLS in 2015. It will also mark the return of Molino, who scored 41 goals with City during the USL Pro days, and Harrison Heath, who played for City from 2014 to 2016.
