1 - This Time, It's 11 On 11
In its last match against the Chicago Fire, Orlando City was shown two straight red cards. City battled down a man for nearly an hour and went down to nine men for nearly 30 minutes. Joe Bendik made six saves to preserve the Lions’ fifth clean sheet of the season. Rafael Ramos’ straight red card was later unanimously rescinded.
2 - Luck Of The Draw
Orlando City has tied Chicago Fire four times, more than any other team in the league. The two teams faced each other three times in Orlando City’s inaugural season, with the Lions earning
a 2-0-1 record, both wins coming in Chicago. In 2016, Orlando City drew the Fire in both matches. On June 4, the Lions picked up their fourth draw against the Fire after playing two men down for nearly half an hour.
3 - Half Way Home
The first half of the 2017 season has been a record start for Orlando City. The Lions are 7-5-5 with 26 points and five clean sheets for the 2017 season, which is five points further along than last season with three extra clean sheets and three points better than the inaugural MLS squad in 2015.
4 - No Sleeping In Seattle
Orlando City has 14 stoppage-time goals since joining MLS in 2015, which is the most during that span. Six of those goals have been equalizers and two have been game-winners. Most recently, City equalized on the last touch of the game in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Scott Sutter directed Kaká’s free kick delivery into the back of the net. The goal earned the Lions their first ever point against Seattle.
5 - Keep 'Em Clean
Orlando City goalkeeper Joe Bendik has 19 career clean sheets. After stacking up nine over three seasons with Toronto FC, the Lion added a personal record of five in his first season with Orlando City. Bendik has tied that record halfway through the 2017 season and is on track to double his own Club MLS era single-season record.
6 - Flying To The Windy City
Will Johnson and Jonathan Spector will travel to the city in which they spent much of their formative years. The two Lions both played for the Chicago Sockers, a prominent youth soccer program. Johnson later made six appearances for the Chicago Fire. The defender and mid elder remain close, living on the same street in Orlando and carpooling to practice and home matches at Orlando City Stadium.
Orlando City assistant coach C.J. Brown played his entire 13- year career for the Fire, winning four U.S. Open Cups and MLS Cup in 1998. Brown was inducted into the Ring of Fire in 2012.
7 - On Fire
Chicago is 9-3-4 on the season and is unbeaten in its last nine games across all competitions. The Fire moved past the Fourth Round of the Open Cup with a 1-0 win against Saint Louis FC. Forward Nemanja Nikolic leads MLS with 13 goals, three more than David Villa and Erick Torres.
8 - Ready, Set Piece
Orlando City has scored six set piece goals in 2017. Servando Carrasco scored his first goal as a Lion and the game-winner on April 9 against the Red Bulls. Cyle Larin scored the game-winners in stoppage time against the LA Galaxy and on May 31 against D.C. Jonathan Spector’s header equalized in stoppage time against Montreal and Scott Sutter’s did the same Wednesday in Seattle. Giles Barnes also flicked in a corner kick against Miami FC in the U.S. Open Cup.
9 - Video Assistant Referee
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.
