ORLANDO, Fla. (Nov. 9, 2024) – No. 4 Orlando City SC took down No. 5 Charlotte FC in penalty kicks in the third and final game of Round One of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs on Saturday night at Inter&Co Stadium. The Lions advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the second straight season and will take on No. 9 Atlanta United FC on either Saturday, Nov. 23 or Sunday, Nov. 24
Orlando City will host Atlanta United FC at Inter&Co for the Eastern Conference Semifinal match, presented by Inter&Co. Tickets for that match will go on sale on Sunday, Nov. 10. Exact match details will be announced in the near future.
The Lions had their chances to go up in the first half from forwards Facundo Torres and Ramiro Enrique, but the two sides remained level going into halftime.
Charlotte FC scored a late goal in the 81st minute and looked to be heading to the next round. However, Duncan McGuire drew a penalty in the box, deep into second-half stoppage time to give the Lions a chance. After review, the penalty stood and Facundo Torres stepped up for the ensuing kick. Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina made the initial save, but the ball rolled back to Torres who drilled the rebound in to tie the game at 1-1.
Luis Muriel, Kyle Smith, Torres and Rafael Santos all scored on the ensuing penalty kick shootout and Lion’s goalkeeper Pedro Gallese made two huge saves to give Orlando City the 4-1 penalty shootout win.
Scoring Summary:
81’ Karol Swiderski (Liel Abada) – CLT 1, ORL 0
The visitors found the breakthrough late in the second half when Liel Abada was able to drive the ball to the endline a whip a ball into the box. The ball found the foot of Karol Swiderski who slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net for the
90+12’ Facundo Torres – ORL 1, CLT 1
City leveled the match deep into stoppage time after Duncan McGuire was taken down in the penalty box and Orlando were awarded a penalty after a Video Assistant Review. Facundo Torres stepped up the spot and had his initial penalty shot saved, but the rebound fell to him and Torres was there for the tap in to level the score and send the match into a penalty shootout.
Head Coach Oscar Pareja:
“Well, thank you all for your efforts on behalf of our players and staff and all the people that made this happen. Today we want to be very grateful to the fans. The environment today was phenomenal. Just seeing them in the stadium, supporting us is the best sensation we can have and to return it with winning helps us enjoy tonight. It’s great. Thank you so much to our fans. I think we were the best team of this series, but the game just put us in that situation. When they score goals and they sit back, we felt we couldn't open up those lines. But finally, we did, and the PKs is probably a result that is very fair for the effort that we made during the series.”
Match Notes:
- Orlando City advances to the Eastern Conference Semifinals for the second straight season.
- Forward Facundo Torres scored his 20th goal of the 2024 campaign and his second of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs, after burying the rebound following his penalty-kick attempt.
- At 12 minutes into second-half stoppage time, the goal served as the latest regulation goal scored in Club history.
- Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese made two saves in the penalty-kick shootout.
- The Lions buried all four of their penalty kicks on their way to advancing to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
- With Inter Miami CF losing to Atlanta United FC and FC Cincinnati falling on penalties to New York City FC, the Lions stand as the highest remaining seed in the Eastern Conference.
- Head Coach Oscar Pareja made no changes to his starting XI from his side’s last match against Charlotte FC.
