KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Following another positive result on the road against Minnesota United, Orlando City returns home this weekend to face D.C. United once again.
This will be the second time this season the two teams have faced off, with the Lions taking a 1-1 draw from Audi Field back on March 11.
This time around, the Lions will be the hosts, which will change how both teams approach the game. Captain Mauricio Pereyra, now in his fifth year in MLS, knows how differently teams change their approach to games on the road.
"We know that they play different at home than when they go away," Pereyra said this week at Orlando Health Training Ground at Osceola Heritage Park.
"I also know that last year we didn't get points against them. Now, we lost two points when we went away making a fantastic game so we know that they are a good team that have an idea of they play they can help get a result, and now we need to prepare during the week knowing that we can beat them."
While it's still early in the season, Pereyra and head coach Oscar Pareja both understand that this game over the weekend is one they are motivated to secure all three points in -- especially coming off the result just one month ago.
"The league is in a moment where teams are adjusting," Pareja said. "There's a journey of 34 games, and right now we are in the seventh or eighth, and I think coaches are always trying to look for the best positioning and best model and best structure and things, so we're expecting teams and rivals to change.
"Basing it on our last performance against them, we did play well in D.C. We were 10 minutes out from bringing the three points home and we ended up just tying it."
In their last matchup against Minnesota, the Lions shifted to a formation that they employed mostly in preseason. The 3-4-3 shape allowed more flexibility against teams playing with a defensive formation, something they could employ this weekend as well.
It's a tactic that seems to be well received by the players, too.
"From the beginning of the preseason, we started to train in that way and now we have two kinds of formation," Pereyra said. "One of them is what we usually used to use in the last three years but now this formation is giving us a little more confidence and more people in front and I think that with Gastón [González] and Iván [Angulo] and the people around them. We have covered the spaces wider in the field. We feel comfortable with that."
With the shift in formation, the journey continues for the Lions to find their consistency.
Pareja has talked over the last few weeks on the importance of building up that stability and cohesion within the team, and the process that it has been to do so. Especially considering many of the new faces coming into the team and into the league.
From a coaching standpoint, Pareja believes in giving the players the tools to be able to succeed, but once they are on the pitch, it's up to them to make things happen.
"For me, the most important part is just to put them in the right place where they can excel as players," he said. "That's my biggest responsibility. Now it becomes their responsibility, which is as big as any. They are the ones who make things happen [on the field]. But my challenge now is just to give them the opportunity to excel to their best capacity and that's what we're looking for now.
"It's good to win. It's good to get a good performance, and I like what I saw [on Saturday]."
Orlando City (3-2-2, 11 points) vs D.C. United (2-2-4, 8 points)
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Exploria Stadium, Orlando
TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV (subscription required)
Radio: 96.9 The Game (English), Acción 97.9 FM (Spanish)
