Orlando City (1-3-1, 4 points) vs New York Red Bulls (3-1-1, 10 points)
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: INTER&Co Stadium, Orlando, FL
TV: Apple TV - MLS Season Pass (Subscription Required)
Radio: Real Radio 104.1, (English), Mega 97.1 (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for the Lions' home match against the New York Red Bulls in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestones
-Â Facundo Torres and Duncan McGuire return from international duty this weekend with their eyes on some goal-scoring milestones. Torres remains one goal away from equalling Nani for second in club history at 31 goals, while McGuire can break further into the top 10 with his next goal, which would tie Benji Michel and Daryl Dike for eighth in club history. McGuire is two away from 20 in all competitions for Orlando City.
- The next big goalscorer for the club could be Jack Lynn, who opened his MLS account in his first-ever Orlando City start on Saturday night against Austin. Lynn is the reigning MLS NEXT Pro MVP and the all-time leading scorer in that competition’s history, notching 34 goals in 45 appearances.
- Wilder Cartagena is two appearances away from 50 for Orlando City in all competitions.
Stats & Storylines
- Orlando City saw seven players called into their national teams during the March 2024 window, the second-most of any team in MLS (Philadelphia, 8). Here’s how they did:
- Facundo Torres started for Uruguay in a 1-1 draw against the Basque Country national team on Saturday in Bilbao, but didnt' feature in their 2-1 loss to. Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
- Wilder Cartagena played all 90 minutes for Peru in a 2-0 win over Nicaragua, while subbing in for the final 20 minutes of their second match, a 4-1 win over the Dominican Republic. Pedro Gallese did not feature, the first Peru match not started by El Pulpo since November 20, 2022, but played a full 90 minutes in the second match.
- Duncan McGuire played the final 15 minutes in a 3-0 win for the United States U23s against Guinea, then started in a thrilling come-from-behind 2-2 draw against France.
- David Brekalo subbed on for the final eight minutes and stoppage time for Slovenia in a 2-2 draw with Malta, but did not play in their 2-0 win over Portugal.Â
- Abdi Salim featured for Somalia as they fell 5-2 on aggregate across two legs against Eswatini in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.
- Favian Loyola joined up with the United States U19 squad for two matches, playing the final half hour in a 3-2 win over England. He then started and played the first half in a 1-0 loss to Morocco.
- With the seven international absences and César Araújo and Ramiro Enrique missing out due to injury, Orlando City were only able to put eight players on the bench against Austin, and that was with Wilfredo Rivera signed to a Short-Term Agreement from Orlando City B. Among the eight on the bench, only Felipe was older than 21.Â
- OCB, with only 15 total players on the team sheet, managed a 1-1 draw and the extra point in the penalty shootout against Huntsville City FC. 16 year-old forward Justin Ellis scored his first professional goal for the Young Lions.
- Despite missing nine players, including seven regulars, the Lions easily swept aside an outmatched Austin FC by a 2-0 scoreline. Despite a 1-3-1 record, Orlando City ranks third in the Eastern Conference in expected goals and fifth in expected goal differential.
- Nicolás Lodeiro scored his first MLS goal for Orlando City on Saturday night, a stunning free kick in the second half that put Austin down for good. Lodeiro also notched a secondary assist on Lynn’s goal. Lodeiro ranks third in MLS in progressive passes completed so far this season.
- Other fun passing stats: Rafael Santos ranks fifth in the league in progressive passes and third in crosses completed this year; Dagur Dan Thórhallsson is fourth in MLS in expected assists and is tied for ninth in key passes; MartÃn Ojeda is tied for fifth in key passes and tied for fourth in shot creating actions from set pieces; Luis Muriel leads Orlando and ranks tenth in MLS in shot creating actions per 90 minutes.
Series History
All-time vs. Red Bulls - 9-9-2, +3 GD (5-4-1, +2 GD home)
MLS only vs. Red Bulls - 8-9-2, 0 GD (4-4-1, -1 GD home)
- 2015 - L 0-2 (H), W 2-5 (A)
- 2016 - L 3-2 (A), D 1-1 (H)
- 2017 - W 1-0 (H), L 3-1 (A)
- 2018 - W 4-3 (H), L 1-0 (A)
- 2019 - W 0-1 (A), L 0-1 (H)
- 2020 - W 3-1 (H), D 1-1 (A)
- 2021 - L 2-1 (A), L 1-2 (H)
- 2022 - L 0-3 (H), W 5-1 (H/USOC), W 0-1 (A)
- 2023 - W 1-0 (H), W 0-3 (A)
Meet the opponent: Austin FC
- The Lions have dominated the Red Bulls over their last four meetings, winning all four by a combined 10-1 scoreline and keeping a clean sheet in each of their last three matches against RBNY. Last year, Orlando opened the campaign against New York with a 1-0 home win thanks to a Facundo Torres penalty kick. They then smashed the Red Bulls 3-0 in New Jersey in early June, with Torres notching two more goals and Iván Angulo getting in on the scoring as well. Orlando is 5-3-1 overall against RBNY under Oscar Pareja.
- Torres has five goals and one assist in five career matches against the Red Bulls, scoring in each of the last four games against New York, all wins. El Cuervo has scored more goals against RBNY than against any other opponent in MLS.
- The Red Bulls have qualified for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs in 14 consecutive seasons, the longest streak in league history. New York qualified last season in the dying moments of Decision Day, when a stoppage-time penalty kick vaulted them past CF Montréal and into the play-in round. They went on to defeat Charlotte FC in the play-in before falling to top-seed FC Cincinnati in the first round.
- This offseason, RBNY hired German manager Sandro Schwarz as its new permanent head coach. Unlike many previous Red Bull managers, Schwarz was not hired from another club within the company – he had previously managed four different clubs in his native Germany, most recently Hertha Berlin in 2022-23. As a player, Schwarz was teammates with Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp at Mainz 05 from 1998-2001.
- New York is coming off a rain-soaked 4-0 drubbing of a Lionel Messi-less Inter Miami this past weekend at Red Bull Arena. Former Heron Lewis Morgan scored a hat trick for the Red Bulls, vaulting him into a tie with LA Galaxy’s Dejan Joveljić for the MLS Golden Boot lead with five goals on the season. The win moved RBNY up to third in the Eastern Conference table.
The Red Bulls’ big offseason addition was attacking midfielder Emil Forsberg, who signed on a free transfer from sister club RB Leipzig. Forsberg scored 40 goals and provided 40 assists in eight Bundesliga seasons for Leipzig and added 11 G/5 A in 47 UEFA Champions League appearances.
