Three days after its last match, Orlando City SC (7-13-1, 22 points) will take on the LA Galaxy (9-7-5, 32 points) on Sunday, July 29. Kickoff is set for 9:30 p.m. ET at the StubHub Center.
The match will be nationally televised on FS1 and broadcast on FM 96.9 The Game in English and La Nueva 990 AM in Spanish.
“They’ve obviously got Zlatan [Ibrahimović] and he’s caused a lot of problems for a lot of teams. They’ve also got players around him that can cause issues, so I think the biggest thing for us is trying to make sure that we’re aware of what their threats are,” Lions head coach James O’Connor said. “I think we need to focus a little more on ourselves as well, trying to make sure that we create some problems for them and let them worry about some of the things that we’re trying to do. We need to be aware of what they’re trying to do but we want to get to a stage where we’re causing teams concern for what we’re doing and some of the things that we are causing them.”
In their last match, the Lions lost 2-0 to New York City FC on Thursday. Defender Shane O’Neill was shown a straight red card upon Video Review in the 83rd minute and will miss Sunday’s match.
Dom Dwyer leads the Lions with eight goals this season, followed by Sacha Kljestan with five. Yoshimar Yotún leads the team with six assists, followed by Kljestan and rookie Chris Mueller with five apiece.
The LA Galaxy enter the match on an eight-game unbeaten run, most recently drawing Los Angeles FC 2-2 on Thursday. Romain Alessandrini scored in the 82nd minute, assisted by Ibrahimović, and Ola Kamara equalized four minutes later. Alessandrini will be unavailable for Sunday’s match due to yellow card accumulation.
Ibrahimović leads the team and is fourth in MLS with 12 goals. Ashley Cole leads the Galaxy with six assists.
This is the first meeting between these teams since April 15, 2017, when City defeated LA 2-1 riding Will Johnson’s strike and Cyle Larin’s game-winner in stoppage time. City is 2-1-0 all-time against the Galaxy.
Following the match City’s Yoshimar Yotún will travel with Ibrahimovic and Jonathan dos Santos from the Galaxy to participate in the 2018 MLS All-Star Game in Atlanta, Ga. City’s Cam Lindley and the Galaxy’s Efrain Alvarez will also be in Atlanta to represent their respective clubs in the 2018 MLS Homegrown Game.
