ORLANDO, Fla. (September 30, 2016) – Orlando City SC (7-10-14, 35 points) returns home to play its second game in five days when the Lions host the Montreal Impact (10-10-11, 41 points) on Sunday, Oct. 2. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET at Camping World Stadium.
The match will be nationally televised on ESPN and transmitted on Real Radio 104.1 FM in English and on La Grande 1030 AM in Spanish. It will also continue Orlando City SC’s #NeverHuntAlone ticket promotion. Fans can purchase two tickets for just $40 to either of the Lions’ last two home games. For more information, visit www.OrlandoCitySC.com/Hunt.
“[Montreal is a] very good team in transition; [they have] very talented attacking players that we need to be mindful of. It’s a team that can really be dangerous on the break so we need to be careful with that,” Lions Head Coach Jason Kreis said. “We need to take the performance we had two days ago and improve on it just a little bit. If we do that we’ll be in a good place.”
The Lions will look to take their third win against Montreal this season and grab three crucial points to remain in the playoff hunt in the Eastern Conference. Orlando City currently sits in eighth with 35 points and trails D.C. United by five points for the final playoff spot. The Lions host D.C. for the season finale. Montreal is fifth in the East with 41 points.
City won the first two meetings this season against Montreal, both in comeback fashion after trailing within the game’s opening minutes. On May 21 in Orlando, Montreal’s Ignacio Piatti scored in the third minute to give the visitors the lead but All-Star forward Cyle Larin equalized just before the half and then scored the winner in the 87th minute to give City a 2-1 victory.
The Lions then put on an impressive performance in Montreal on Sept. 7, beating the Impact 4-1 and matching the team’s highest scoring output of the season. City was quickly able to overcome an early goal from striker Didier Drogba and went on to dominate the match. Brek Shea scored in the fourth minute and Kaká added a goal in each half. Carlos Rivas finished the scoring in the 77th minute to cap a great performance from the Colombian that also included two assists and a drawn penalty.
Orlando City is coming off a 0-0 draw in Toronto on Wednesday night that saw goalkeeper Joe Bendik make four saves. Larin leads the team with 14 goals this season and midfielder Kevin Molino has added 10 goals and seven assists. Kaká has accounted for eight goals and another eight assists. Bendik is tied for the league lead with 109 saves.
Montreal will also be on a short week after defeating San Jose 3-1 on Wednesday night. Piatti’s 15 goals are tied for fourth-best in MLS and Drogba is second on the team in goals with 10. Piatti, Drogba and Dominic Oduro share the team lead with six assists each.
City will travel to Philadelphia for its final road game of the regular season on Oct. 16 before returning to Camping World Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 23, when it hosts D.C. United in the regular season finale.
