Orlando City at Nashville SC (Round 1, City leads series 1-0)
When: Tuesday, 9:00 PM
Where: Geodis Park, Nashville, TN
Radio: 96.9 The Game, (English), Acción 97.9 FM (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for Orlando City's away leg of their Round 1 playoff match at Nashville SC in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestone watch
-- Orlando City tied a seven-year club record with its win over Nashville on Monday, going a 15th consecutive home match without a loss. The Lions went 15 straight unbeaten at home across the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Orlando has not lost at Exploria Stadium in more than six months.
-- The win technically goes into the record book as Orlando’s first in the MLS Cup Playoffs. While the Lions famously beat NYCFC in the “Schlegel Game” in 2020, any win on penalties officially goes down as a draw in the record books. The game was also Orlando’s first playoff clean sheet in five tries.
-- Orlando is seeking its first-ever road win of any kind in the MLS Cup Playoffs this week in Nashville. The Lions fell 3-1 in Tennessee in 2021 and 2-0 at Montréal last year. Orlando City had the best away record in MLS this season, going 9-4-4 on the road.
Stats and storylines
-- After taking the first match of the best-of-three on Monday night at Exploria Stadium, Orlando City goes for a clean sweep of Nashville SC this Tuesday at Geodis Park. Should the Lions fall, they’ll get another shot to finish off the series on Sunday, November 12 at Exploria (5 p.m. ET).
-- By winning the first game of the series, Orlando ensured it can only face one possible away elimination game in the entire MLS Cup Playoffs – a potential Eastern Conference Final against No. 1 seed FC Cincinnati. The Lions are guaranteed to host both their conference semifinal and MLS Cup should they advance that far. They will also host the conference final if it comes against any team other than Cincinnati.
-- Wilder Cartagena’s game-winning banger was just the third goal of his Orlando City career. All three have either tied a game (August 20 at Chicago) or given the Lions the lead for good (Monday and July 29 in second-half stoppage time vs. Santos Laguna in Leagues Cup).
-- Pedro Gallese made three saves, including two on reigning league MVP Hany Mukhtar, to record his first MLS Cup Playoffs clean sheet and the 33rd of his Orlando City career.
SERIES HISTORY
All-time vs. Nashville - 3-3-5, -1 GD (1-1-3, -1 GD away)
- 2020 - W 3-1 (H), D 1-1 (A), L 2-3 (H)
- 2021 - D 1-1 (A), D 2-2 (A), D 1-1 (H), L 3-1 (A/MLS Cup Playoffs)
- 2022 - D 1-1 (6-5) (H/USOC)
- 2023 - L 0-2 (H), W 0-1 (A), W 1-0 (H/MLS Cup Playoffs)
Meet the opponent: Nashville SC
-- For the first time in 11 matches in the Orlando/Nashville rivalry, one team has posted consecutive victories over the other. In addition to the Lions’ playoff win on Monday night, Orlando beat Nashville by the same 1-0 scoreline back on October 4 at Geodis Park.
-- That game was the first time Orlando visited Nashville’s new-for-2022 soccer-specific stadium, the largest in the United States (seating 30,000 at capacity). Nashville has struggled at home in recent months, going 1-3-2 in its final six league matches at Geodis Park and failing to score in four of those games.
-- Nashville has now been shut out in five of its past six matches overall going back to September 30.
-- Cartagena became the fourth player on Orlando’s roster with a goal against Nashville SC, joining Rodrigo Schlegel, Antonio Carlos, and Duncan McGuire. Bizarrely, McGuire is the only non-defensive player of the four to score against the Coyotes.
