1. Yet another wild match on the road for Orlando City SC in 2024, as the Lions clawed out a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night. It's the second season in a row that the Lions have taken down their Eastern Conference foes in Chester, Pennsylvania.
2. Welcome to the scoresheet, Luis Muriel! The Designated Player forward opened up his MLS account with an absolute banger just before halftime, a cathartic feeling for the forward and all Lions fans. He followed that goal up with a second just 18 seconds into the second half, after getting on a perfect through ball by Nico Lodeiro. That brace from Muriel becomes the fastest second-half goal in City's history.
3. Speaking of Nico Lodeiro, he assisted on every goal that the Lions scored tonight, becoming only the third player in Lions history to record three assists in a match. The last player to do it was Yoshi Yotun back in 2018 and Kaká before him. The midfield maestro now has seven assists on the season, leading the team.
4. Lodeiro's other assist came on the goal not scored by Muriel. Duncan McGuire's fifth goal of the season was a bullet header in the box, putting on a slick move to get in front of the defender and nod in Lodeiro's cross. Big Dunc has now scored in two away matches, the last one being a game-winner in D.C. With his goal, he also moves into 7th in the club's all-time scoring chart to tie Tesho Akindele for the spot.
5. The comeback kids: Orlando City has now gotten eight points from losing positions in MLS this season, with only the Lions' next opponent, Inter Miami CF, getting more. The club's last three positive results have been comebacks, with D.C., Montreal and now Philly all coming from losing positions.
6. Speaking of those three games, they have all come on the road. Still many more games to play in 2024, but if the Lions can continue their winning ways away from Orlando, they can turn their early season woes into wins.
7. El Pulpo redemption. After a slow start to his season, Pedro Gallese came up huge late in the game for the Lions. In addition to the penalty save he had on Daniel Gazdag, the keeper was immense late in the game, especially in the 18 minutes of stoppage time that came past the 90th minute. He also notched his 50th win as a Lion with his performance. A good step in form for the Lions' #1.
8. With all the good news, there is some bad. Robin Jansson had to be stretchered off with an apparent ankle injury, which would be a massive blow to the Lions defense. The captain has been a rock for Orlando since 2019, appearing in the most games in the team's history.
9. It's a short turnaround for Orlando as the team gets set to host a midweek matchup against Miami. That Wednesday match will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET at INTER&Co Stadium.
