Orlando City (12-6-7, 43 points) at Charlotte FC (7-9-8, 29 points)
When: Wednesday, 7:30 PM
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, NC
Radio: 96.9 The Game (English), Acción 97.9 FM (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for Orlando City at Charlotte FC in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestone watch
-- Orlando City’s 2-1 win against St. Louis this past Saturday marked the club’s tenth consecutive home match without a loss, a new single-season club record. The Lions are 7-3-6 overall this season at Exploria Stadium.
-- Facundo Torres’ Saturday brace brought him into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time Orlando City scoring charts with 23 goals. Facu’s next goal will see him equal Dom Dwyer for fourth, while another brace would put him level with Kaká in third. His next goal will also be his 20th in an MLS regular season game.
-- Mauricio Pereyra’s next appearance will be his 125th for Orlando City in all competitions. Pereyra recorded his 43rd Orlando assist against St. Louis, extending his club record.
-- Pedro Gallese picked up his 50th win as the Lions’ starting goalkeeper against St. Louis.
-- Robin Jansson is two appearances away from being the first to 150 in an Orlando shirt.
Stats and storylines
-- Orlando City puts its league-best 6-3-3 away mark on the line twice this week, starting with a trip to face Charlotte FC on Wednesday. The six away victories is a single-season club record for the Lions, who still have five road matches remaining on their schedule.
-- Facundo Torres scored his ninth and tenth regular season goals of the campaign on Saturday, giving Orlando a double-digit MLS goalscorer in each of their nine seasons of existence. Previous Lions to accomplish the feat are Cyle Larin (2015, 2016, 2017), Kevin Molino (2016), Dom Dwyer (2018), Nani (2019, 2021), Tesho Akindele (2019), Chris Mueller (2020), Daryl Dike (2021), and Ercan Kara (2022).
-- Orlando is unbeaten in three mid-week regular season matches this year, drawing NYCFC in May and Philadelphia in June before defeating Toronto 4-0 on July 4. The Lions did lose mid-week ties against Charlotte in the Open Cup and Miami in Leagues Cup. City will play two more Wednesday games during the stretch run, at NYCFC on September 20 and at Nashville on October 4.
SERIES HISTORY
All-time vs. Charlotte FC - 2-2-0, 0 GD (1-1-0, 0 GD away)
MLS only vs. Charlotte FC - 2-1-0, +1 GD (1-0-0, +1 GD away)
- 2022 - W 2-1 (H), W 1-2 (A)
- 2023 - L 1-2 (H), L 1-0 (A/USOC)
Meet the opponent: Charlotte FC
-- After doing the double against Charlotte last season, Orlando has fallen twice to the Crown in 2023. Charlotte jumped out to a 2-0 first half lead and held on for a big three points back on March 18 at Exploria Stadium, then followed that up by ending the Lions’ Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title defense at the first hurdle with a 1-0 win at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex on May 9. Since the Open Cup loss, Orlando City is 9-3-6 in all competitions.
-- Wednesday’s game will be Orlando’s first at Bank of America Stadium this year, since the Open Cup match was played at a smaller facility. The Lions took all three in a thriller at BoA last season, with Tesho Akindele scoring an 88th minute winner.
-- Facu Torres notched a goal and an assist against Charlotte in 2022 and will look to add on to his impressive sophomore MLS campaign on Wednesday. Martín Ojeda scored Orlando’s lone goal against the Crown this season.
-- Former Lion Justin Meram is the Charlotte player with the most success against Orlando, recording 3 G/3 A in 11 appearances against City in his career. Meram briefly played for Orlando during the 2018 season.
