ORLANDO, Fla. (June 23, 2017) – Three days after a 1-1 draw against Seattle Sounders FC, Orlando City SC (7-5-5, 26 points) will take on the Chicago Fire (9-3-4, 31 points) for the second time in three weeks. Kickoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 24, at Toyota Park.
The match will be locally televised on WRDQ TV27 and transmitted in English on Real Radio 104.1 FM and in Spanish on La Nueva 990 AM. Fans are encouraged to attend the Official City Pub Watch Party at the Hammered Lamb on Orange Avenue.
“We know it’s a very, very good team with a lot of dangerous players with the movement that they have and their attack are fantastic. The spaces that Bastian Schweinsteiger takes up causes some tactical issues for us,” Lions Head Coach Jason Kreis said. “But we go into this game with a mindset that we continue on with what we’ve been doing. Think we’ve been pretty sound defensively, in pretty good shape and difficult to break down and we continue with that mindset.”
Orlando City heads to Chicago after picking up a hard-earned point in Seattle. Will Bruin gave the Sounders the lead in the 19th minute but five saves from Joe Bendik, including a series of miraculous stops in the second half, kept City within striking distance. After entering the match in the 85th minute, versatile defender PC flew up the left wing and earned a free kick in the third minute of stoppage time. Kaká curled it in for Scott Sutter, who headed in his first goal as a Lion on the last touch of the game to draw the defending champions on the road.
The assist was Kaká’s third of the season and the 20th of his MLS career. Bendik is second in the league with 60 saves.
The Lions and Fire played to a thrilling scoreless draw at Orlando City Stadium on June 4. Rafael Ramos was issued a straight red card in the 26th minute of his season debut and Antonio Nocerino earned another red in the 66th. Despite being down a player for 40 minutes and down two for almost 30, an outstanding overall defensive effort and six saves from Bendik preserved the Lions’ fifth clean sheet of the season and snapped Chicago’s four-game winning streak. Ramos’ red card was later rescinded by the MLS Independent Panel the following week.
Chicago enters the match unbeaten in its last eight league games and has only drawn the LA Galaxy and Orlando City, both on the road, over that stretch. The Fire have won both games since tying City, first over Atlanta and most recently in New England. Nemanja Nikolic and Luis Solignac scored to defeat the Revs, 2-1.
The match could see Will Johnson face his former team. Johnson began his illustrious MLS career with Chicago, scoring one goal in six appearances, before moving to Jason Kreis’ Real Salt Lake in 2008. City signed the two-time MLS Cup champion on Dec. 28. Lions assistant coach C.J. Brown played 13 years for Chicago and was inducted into the Ring of Fire in 2012. It will also see defender Jonathan Spector return to his hometown. Spector is from Arlington Heights, which is just 45 minutes from Toyota Park.
Orlando City has never lost to the Fire in league play, owning a 2-0-4 record all-time. Both wins came at Bridgeview in 2015. The teams took two points from two games in last year’s series. At the midway point of the season, Orlando City sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and fifth in the Supporters’ Shield race. Chicago is second in both behind Toronto FC.
In preparation for the implementation of video review in MLS matches after the MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, offline testing for Video Assistant Referees (VARs) and video review technology will take place during today’s game. During these offline tests, the match officials will have no contact with Video Assistant Referees and have no access to the video review technology. The offline testing will have no impact on the match or decisions made by the referee. Additional offline testing for VARs and video review technology will take place during select MLS matches league-wide through August.
