This weekend, Orlando City will travel to the City of Brotherly Love to face the Philadelphia Union in their third matchup of the season. With playoffs no longer a question, some people are ready to close the book on this season and move on to next year. But the players and the staff are still focused on finishing the season strong in these final two matches.
“The approach is to win the game,” Servando Carrasco said after training on Wednesday. “Just because we’re out of the playoffs doesn’t mean we’re gonna stop trying. We still have a lot to play for. Look, [Philadelphia] is a very good team. The focus right now is on the tactics.”
For Head Coach Jason Kreis and his staff, these final two weeks present an opportunity to continue to implement Kreis’ style of play. The team is focused on the physicality and the tactics-- they need to prove that they can fit into the system Kreis is trying to build.
“We’re still focused on these last two games,” Carrasco said. “These two games are massive for us. [Kreis has] laid out the way that he wants to play and we’ve kept working on that this entire week, so I think the game against [Philadelphia] is another step forward, and then D.C.”
As for Philadelphia, they will need to earn a good result out of this match if they hope to make the playoffs. They currently sit in the final slot in the Eastern Conference, with the New England Revolution creeping up just three points behind them.
“They’re a good team and I think they’re a team that kind of needs a win,” Carrasco said. “So that’s gonna be a very dangerous team to play.”
