ORLANDO, Fla. (July 3, 2017) - Five days after its 1-0 win over RSL, Orlando City SC (8-6-5, 29 points) hosts second-place Toronto FC (10-3-5, 35 points) on Wednesday, July 5. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at Orlando City Stadium.
The match will be locally televised on WRDQ TV27 and transmitted locally in English on Real Radio 104.1 FM and in Spanish on La Nueva 990 AM.
“[Toronto FC] is a very good opponent and it’s one of those games where you don’t feel like you’re going to have to motivate your players at all because they know we have an extremely big challenge in front of us,” Lions head coach Jason Kreis said. “[Toronto is] a top team in our conference that’s been playing very well so for me, it’s a massive opportunity for us to make a statement.”
City is coming off a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake to close out a three-game road trip with four points. Will Johnson knocked home the loose ball in the 17th minute after José Aja’s header rang off the bar. The Lions held RSL to just two shots on target as they picked up their sixth clean sheet of the season.
Johnson’s goal gave him two on the season, which is fourth on the team behind Cyle Larin’s eight and Carlos Rivas and Kaká, who have three each. Bendik’s sixth shutout of the year sets his career high and is his 11th as a Lion, the most by any goalkeeper in the Club’s MLS history.
Toronto FC is coming off a 3-1 loss at FC Dallas on Saturday. The Reds outshot Dallas, 15-6, but two goals from Roland Lamah and a goal and assist from Maxi Urruti handed Toronto its second loss in four games. Despite the loss, the Reds have won nine of their last 12 games but fell into second in the Supporters’ Shield race, two points behind Chicago.
Orlando City enters the match in fifth in the Eastern Conference, six points behind Toronto, and seventh in the Supporters’ Shield standings.
This will be the second meeting of the season between these two teams. On May 3, Toronto snapped the Lions’ four-game winning streak. Kaká’s strike into the roof of the net in first-half stoppage time brought the Lions within one following Giovinco’s brace but that was all the scoring.
The match will be the last of a stretch of six games in 22 days. City began the run on June 14 in U.S. Open Cup, followed that with a match against Montreal three days later before embarking on a three-game road trip played in three time zones over 10 days.
Following Wednesday, the Lions will have over two weeks before their next game on Friday, July 21, when 2017 expansion side Atlanta United FC visits Orlando City Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
