Orlando City (4-8-6, 18 points) vs Chicago Fire (4-8-6, 18 points)
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m
Where: INTER&Co Stadium, Orlando, FL
Radio: 96.9 the Game FM, (English), Mega 97.1 (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for the Lions' weekend match vs Chicago Fire in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestones
- Facundo Torres’ next appearance will be the 100th of his Orlando City career. Torres is second all-time in club history with 33 goals and just picked up his 20th career assist against Charlotte, making him the fifth Lion to reach that mark after Mauricio Pereyra, Nani, Chris Mueller, and Kaká.
- Duncan McGuire scored his 22nd Orlando City goal on Wednesday night, tying him with Mueller for sixth in club history. McGuire needs two more goals to catch Dom Dwyer for fifth and three more to pull even with Kaká in fourth.
- César Araújo is two appearances away from 100.
International Update
- David Brekalo made another late cameo in Slovenia’s 1-1 draw with Serbia on Thursday morning at UEFA Euro 2024, his second appearance in as many matches. Slovenia have two points through two matches and can guarantee qualification to the knockouts with a win over England on Tuesday, June 25.
- Wilder Cartagena and Pedro Gallese are expected to be key starters for Peru as it opens its Copa America campaign on Friday, June 21 at 8 p.m. ET against Chile at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
Stats & Storylines
- Orlando City made it six results in seven away matches on Wednesday night, coming from behind twice to draw Charlotte FC 2-2 at Bank of America Stadium. The Lions are 3-1-3 in their past seven away matches.
- Duncan McGuire scored his first goal since May 11, coolly knocking home a headed Facundo Torres cross with the outside of his boot. In the past month, McGuire has missed two games and most of a third with an injury and spent the international break with the United States Olympic team.
- Nicolás Lodeiro set a club record for passes completed in a match last weekend against LAFC with 107, then proceeded to smash that mark against 10-man Charlotte. Lodeiro completed 116 passes against the crown and touched the ball 148 times, providing an assist and 10 key passes. Lodeiro currently ranks seventh in MLS in expected assists and is tied for fourth in progressive passes.
- Luis Muriel has provided assists in back to back matches, earning the secondary assist on McGuire’s goal against Charlotte.
Series History
All-time vs. Chicago - 7-6-7, -5 GD (3-4-4, -8 GD away)
MLS only vs. Chicago - 7-5-7, -3 GD (3-3-4, -6 GD away)
2015 - W 2-3 (A), 5-L 3-1 (A/USOC), D 1-1 (H), W 0-1 (A)
2016 - D 1-1 (H), D 2-2 (A)
2017 - D 0-0 (H), L 4-0 (A)
2018 - L 1-2 (H), L 4-0 (A)
2019 - D 1-1 (A), L 2-5 (H)
2020 - W 4-1 (H)
2021 - L 3-1 (A), W 1-0 (H)
2022 - D 0-0 (A), W 1-0 (H)
2023 - W 3-1 (H), W 1-3 (A)
2024 - D 1-1 (A)
Meet the opponent: Chicago Fire
- Orlando City and the Chicago Fire tangled just three weeks ago, playing to a 1-1 draw at Soldier Field. The Lions extended their unbeaten run against the Fire to six matches, but were unfortunate not to come away with all three points thanks to a controversial non-call on an Iván Angulo penalty shout late in the first half.
- The Lions still maintain a sterling record against the Fire under Oscar Pareja, going 5-1-2 against Chicago since 2020, including a perfect 4-0-0 mark at Inter&Co Stadium. Orlando City thrashed Chicago in the City Beautiful last July 1 thanks to a brace from Facundo Torres and a late cherry on top from Ramiro Enrique.
- Torres has four goals in his career against Chicago, including one during the match last month. Iván Angulo also has a goal against the Fire on his ledger.
- Chicago has turned things around a bit after a dismal start to the campaign. The Fire have won two straight and are unbeaten in four, coinciding with a switch to a back three. Most recently, Chicago went up to BMO Field and crushed Toronto FC 4-1, getting goals from Maren Haile-Selassie, Hugo Cuypers, Mauricio Pineda, and Allan Arigoni.
- Big-money DP Cuypers has turned things on lately, scoring in each of his last three matches. The Belgian has six goals in 18 games in his debut MLS campaign.
- DP attacking midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri will once again be absent for Chicago, as he is currently with the Swiss national team at UEFA Euro 2024. Shaqiri has scored three goals for Switzerland in 2024 while only netting twice for the Fire in about three times as many minutes.
