ORLANDO, Fla. (June 22, 2024) – Orlando City SC (5-8-6, 21 points) took a 4-2 victory over Chicago Fire FC (4-9-6, 18 points) on Saturday night at INTER&Co Stadium behind a Facundo Torres brace and goals from Iván Angulo and Luis Muriel.
The Lions got off to a hot start with Torres, Angulo and Muriel all burying first-half goals to take the lead comfortably into halftime. Chicago Fire was able to get a couple of goals back in the second half, cutting into the Lions lead with a penalty kick and a deflection in the box that fell to the feet of Hugo Cuypers.
In his 100th appearance across all competitions for Orlando City, Facundo Torres sealed the deal on the night for the City faithful completing his brace for the night. Goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar made 10 saves on the night to help secure the win, tying the Club’s all-time record for saves in a single match set back in 2016 by former Lion Joe Bendik.
The Lions will next head back out on the road, set to take on New York City FC in the Bronx on Friday, June 28. Kick off from Yankee Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Scoring Summary:
4’ Facundo Torres (Dagur Dan Thórhallsson) – ORL 1, CHI 0
The Lions got things started early, with Facundo Torres scoring his second goal of the season against the Fire. Dagur Dan Thórhallsson played a pass out to Torres on the right who took a touch to bring it back to his favored left foot, sending a curler into the opposite corner for Orlando’s first goal of the night.
20’ Luis Muriel (Penalty Kick) – ORL 2, CHI 0
The Lions were able to double their lead 16 minutes later when midfielder Iván Angulo was pulled down in the box and awarded a penalty. Forward Luis Muriel stepped up to the spot to take his first penalty-kick attempt as an Orlando City player, burying it calmly to Chris Brady’s left for his first goal at INTER&Co Stadium.
29’ Iván Angulo – ORL 3, CHI 0
Iván Angulo made the match a three-goal game just before the half hour mark, pouncing on a saved ball inside the six-yard box. Angulo made no mistake, quickly punching it into the back of the net for a 3-0 home lead.
53’ Maren Haile-Selassie (Penalty Kick) – ORL 3, CHI 1
The visitors got one back shortly after the start of the second half, when the Fire were awarded a penalty for a handball in the box called on defender Rodrigo Schlegel. Maren Haile-Selassie stepped up for Chicago and chipped it to Mason Stajduhar’s left for the goal.
60’ Facundo Torres (Dagur Dan Thórhallsson) – ORL 4, CHI 1
The Lions pushed the lead back up to three just seven minutes later, as Dagur Dan Thórhallsson dribbled the ball from the right wing to the top of the Chicago box. The Icelandic midfielder laid the ball off to Facundo Torres who took a touch and launched it into the top left corner of the net for his second of the night.
69’ Hugo Cuypers – ORL 4, CHI 2
Chicago Fire grabbed one back nine minutes later when defender Robin Jansson missed on a clearance of a Fire cross, and the ball deflected off of Rafael Santos to the feet of Hugo Cuypers behind the Orlando City line. Cuypers then fired a low shot past goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“Well, we feel very happy with the result. Winning at home in front of our fans, despite these typical moments, they came and supported us, and I want to express our gratitude to them and that energy they brought to us in a game that we needed an extra push from us after a difficult week coming from playing on turf three days ago. We knew that today was going to be a big challenge on our physical with the humidity and all those things, but we had a lot of positive things: we scored 4 goals, we started seeing the individuals improve their performances, the collective obviously looks much better, and it was a difficult game. Chicago pushed a lot, and they had a lot of sequences and we had to defend lower than we wanted but it is a good result once again especially in front of our fans and hopefully we can continue [adding] because we need to find our way to turn things around.”
Match Notes:
- With the start against Chicago, forward Facundo Torres made his 100th appearance all-time across all competitions.
- Goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar made 10 saves on the night, tying the Club record for saves made in a single match. The previous record was set in 2016 by former Lion Joe Bendik against Sporting Kansas City.
- Torres also scored his fourth and fifth goals in MLS this year and seventh and eighth across all competitions. The strike served as his 34th and 35th all-time tallies for the Lions, and 27th and 28th in regular season matches, tying him with Nani for the statistic.
- Forward Luis Muriel scored his third goal for the Lions and his first-ever at INTER&Co Stadium. His strike came on his first-ever penalty-kick attempt as a member of the Lions.
- Striking in the 29th minute, Colombian forward Iván Angulo tallied his second goal of 2024 across all competitions and his eighth all-time for the Lions, scoring for the first time since April 21 against CF Montreál.
- Midfielder Dagur Dan Thórhallsson provided the helper on both of Torres’ strikes, his third and fourth of the year across all competitions, and sixth and seventh all-time.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made one change to his starting lineup from his side’s last match against Charlotte FC, with César Araújo returning to the Starting XI.
