Orlando City (2-5-3, 9 points) at Philadelphia Union (3-2-5, 14 points)
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Subaru Park, Chester, PA
Radio: Real Radio 104.1 FM, (English), Mega 97.1 (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for the Lions match on the road against Philadelphia in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestones
- Duncan McGuire’s next appearance will be his 50th in all competitions for Orlando City. McGuire’s next goal (his 21st) will tie him with Tesho Akindele for seventh on the club’s all-time scoring chart. He is two goals away from catching Chris Mueller for sixth.
- Facundo Torres’ next goal (his 32nd) will put him second all-time in club history, passing Nani. Cyle Larin has the club record with 44 career goals.
- Pedro Gallese’s next win will be his 50th in MLS and his 60th overall for Orlando City.
Stats & Storylines
- This past weekend’s match with Cincinnati fell squarely under Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Orlando City conceded a goal within 17 seconds, saw a first-half red card, lost starting fullbacks Dagur Dan Thórhallsson and Rafael Santos to injury, and had an equalizer ruled out for offsides in a 1-0 defeat to the reigning Supporters’ Shield holders.
- Rodrigo Schlegel’s 23rd-minute red card was the first time Orlando City had a player sent off in the first half since September 15, 2021, when Nani picked up a second yellow in the 35th minute against CF Montréal. The last time an Orlando player was sent off earlier than Schlegel was on September 24, 2017, when Jonathan Spector picked up two yellows in 14 minutes against Portland.
- At 1-3-2, Orlando City now sports MLS’ second-worst home record, clocking in at 0.83 points per game. Only last-place New England (0.8 home PPG) is worse. Philadelphia, Orlando’s opponent this week, is tied for the third-worst home record (1.0 PPG) and has lost two straight home matches.
- On the positive side, Orlando City only conceded 0.96 expected goals to Cincinnati despite being down a man for well over an hour. More than a third of the xGA total came on the opening play of the match. The Lions have almost identical xG for and against this year despite a -7 goal differential.
Series History
All-time vs. Philadelphia - 6-8-6, -9 GD (3-6-1, -9 GD away)
MLS only vs. Philadelphia - 5-7-6, -9 GD (3-5-1, -8 GD away)
2015 - D 0-0 (H), L 1-0 (A)
2016 - L 2-1 (A), D 2-2 (H), W 0-2 (A)
2017 - W 2-1 (H), L 6-1 (A)
2018 - W 0-2 (A), L 1-0 (A/USOC), D 2-2 (H)
2019 - L 1-3 (H), D 2-2 (A)
2020 - D 1-1 (N)
2021 - W 2-1 (H), L 3-1 (A)
2022 - W 2-1 (H/USOC), L 0-1 (H), L 5-1 (A)
2023 - W 1-2 (A), D 2-2 (H)
Meet the opponent: Philadelphia Union
- Orlando City nearly pulled off a sweep of the Union in 2023. The Lions won in Chester in late March, then held a lead in the return game at Inter&CO Stadium and appeared to go ahead 3-1 late in the contest. However, the goal was called back controversially due to a foul in the build-up when José Martínez appeared to flop on incidental contact from Ercan Kara. Moments later, Martínez would score his first MLS goal from 35 yards out (on his 100th career shot, no less) to salvage a point for Philly.
- The Union got off to a strong start in 2024, going unbeaten into late April, but lately their form has dipped. Philadelphia are winless in four and have lost back-to-back home games for the first time since May 2021. Orlando City was the only team to beat Philadelphia in an MLS match at Subaru Park last season.
- The Union will be without center forward Julián Carranza, who will be suspended for yellow card accumulation. Carranza scored his first two MLS goals against Orlando way back in 2020 when he was playing for Inter Miami.
- Martín Ojeda scored in both games against Philadelphia last season. Duncan McGuire and Iván Angulo also got on the scoresheet against the Union in 2023.
