Orlando City (11-6-7, 40 points) vs St. Louis CITY SC (14-8-2, 44 points)
When: Saturday, 7:30 PM
Where: Exploria Stadium, Orlando, Fla.
Radio: 96.9 The Game (English), Acción 97.9 FM (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for Orlando City vs. St. Louis CITY SC in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestone watch
-- Pedro Gallese notched his 300th save in an Orlando City shirt during Sunday’s win over Chicago. The victory puts El Pulpo one away from 50 as the Lions’ starting keeper.
-- Robin Jansson is three appearances away from becoming the first player in club history to reach 150 matches played for Orlando.
-- Facundo Torres matched Tesho Akindele for sixth on the Orlando City scoring charts with his goal against the Fire. Torres’ next goal, his 22nd as a Lion, will see him tie Chris Mueller for fifth in club history.
Stats and storylines
-- Orlando City continued a historic away campaign with yet another road win this past weekend, knocking off Chicago 3-1 at Soldier Field. The Lions are 6-3-3 away in MLS play this year, tied with Real Salt Lake for the best mark in the league. The six away wins is a new club record.
-- The Lions will be back at home this weekend, where they have dramatically turned around their form after a rough start to the campaign. City is unbeaten in eight consecutive home games in all competitions, putting the team one match shy of the club-record nine in a row set in 2020. Orlando has not lost a home game since April 22.
-- Overall, Orlando City is 7-2-3 over its past 12 MLS matches. The run has seen the Lions climb to fourth in the Eastern Conference table.
-- César Araújo picked up his sixth assist of 2023 on Sunday night in all competitions after notching just one in 2022. Araújo ranks third on the team in assists behind Martín Ojeda and Mauricio Pereyra. The Uruguayan is second in all of MLS in fouls won and ranks 10th overall in American Soccer Analysis’ catch-all goals added metric.
SERIES HISTORY
All-time vs. St. Louis - First meeting
Meet the opponent: Chicago Fire FC
-- Orlando City welcomes expansion side St. Louis CITY SC to the City Beautiful for the very first time this Saturday. St. Louis has put together a dream inaugural season, sitting seven points clear at the top of the Western Conference after a 6-3 demolition of Austin FC this past Sunday night. No expansion team in MLS history has led their conference this deep into the season before.
-- St. Louis’ leading goalscorer is former Lion Niko Gioacchini, who notched a brace against Austin on Sunday to bring his tally for the year to 10. St. Louis took Gioacchini from Orlando with the top pick in the Expansion Draft last fall.
-- Other key players for the newcomers are DP midfielder Eduard Löwen, who has six goals and nine assists on the year, and former Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki, who was named an MLS All-Star and has American Soccer Analysis’ highest shotstopping grade in the league.
-- Orlando has had success in recent years against expansion clubs. The Lions swept Charlotte FC in the Crown’s inaugural campaign last season and knocked off Inter Miami in their first meeting at the MLS is Back Tournament in 2020.
