ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 10, 2020) - Orlando City SC (8-2-6, 30 points) returns to The City Beautiful on Sunday, Oct. 11 to take on Columbus Crew SC (9-3-4, 31 points) at Exploria Stadium. A limited number of tickets for the match can be found here.
The match will be locally broadcast on Fox 35 Plus with Evan Weston, Miguel Gallardo and Ali Krieger on the call, while also being transmitted on 96.9 The Game in English and Acción 97.9FM, 810AM in Spanish.
“Obviously the boys are excited to get into this challenge knowing the importance of not just the three points, but the message that we can send in facing Columbus. We’re good. The energy is like always, getting prepared and training well and looking forward to the game,” Head Coach Oscar Pareja said. “They have a very good roster. They have players with a lot of experience, a good group of players with a lot of talent so I have to recognize that they have been gelling together. But like any other team in the league they are showing some weaknesses and some opportunities that hopefully we can take advantage of.”
The Lions enter the match looking for a six-point swing in the race for the Supporters’ Shield, with the Crew sitting a point ahead of City in the standings, tied with Philadelphia Union for second in the league. The Reds of Toronto FC hold the current lead for the Shield with 34 points.
City comes into Sunday’s contest after extending its Club-record unbeaten run to double figures on Wednesday night, battling to a scoreless-draw against Atlanta United FC for its 10th-consecutive result. Goalkeeper Brian Rowe registered three saves in his first start of the year to earn the clean sheet for the Lions.
Chris Mueller leads the Lions with seven goals and six assists this season, followed by Daryl Dike, Nani and Benji Michel with four finishes each. The captain and Mauricio Pereyra sit next in line in assists, with five apiece to their credit.
Columbus comes into the match after falling 2-1 to the Montreal Impact at the midweek. Gyasi Zardes scored the lone goal for the Crew just before the halftime break, but Bojan was able to convert from the spot in the 74th minute for the eventual game-winner for the Impact.
Zardes leads the Crew with 10 goals this year, sitting at second in MLS behind LAFC’s Diego Rossi. Pedro Santos leads Columbus in assists in 2020 with seven on his resume.
Following Sunday’s match, the Lions will close out a two-game home stint on Wednesday, Oct. 14 against 2015 expansion rivals New York City FC at Exploria Stadium. A limited number of tickets for that fixture can be found here.
