Orlando City (10-6-7, 37 points) at Chicago Fire FC (8-7-8, 32 points)
When: Sunday, 8:30 PM
Where: Soldier Field, Chicago, IL
Radio: 96.9 The Game (English), Acción 97.9 FM (Spanish)
Everything you need to know for Orlando City at Chicago Fire in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestone watch
-- Pedro Gallese’s next save will be the 300th of his Orlando City career. Gallese is also two wins away from 50 as the starting keeper for the Lions.
-- An appearance for Martín Ojeda against Chicago would mark his 30th game of the season for the Lions. Ojeda has appeared in every single game for Orlando City this season between the MLS regular season, CONCACAF Champions League, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and the Leagues Cup, one of only three players on the roster to do so (Iván Angulo, Robin Jansson).
-- Speaking of Jansson, the Swede is four appearances away from becoming the first player to 150 for Orlando City.
Stats and storylines
-- Sunday will be Orlando City’s first game in 18 days after the controversial end to its Leagues Cup campaign against Inter Miami on August 2. Amazingly, that isn’t the longest gap Orlando has had between games in a season, even if you discount the four-month shutdown in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Orlando went a full 21 days between competitive matches from May 29-June 19, 2021.
-- The Lions resume MLS play in great shape, sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference and fourth on points per game. The top four teams in each conference at season’s end will have home-field advantage in the all-new best-of-three first-round series in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Orlando is 6-2-4 in its last 12 league matches.
-- Orlando resumes regular season play with three of its next four matches on the road. The Lions are 5-3-3 away in the league this year, the third-best away record on points per game in MLS.
SERIES HISTORY
All-time vs. Chicago - 6-6-6, -7 GD (2-4-3, -10 GD away)
MLS only vs. Chicago - 6-5-6, -5 GD (2-3-3, -8 GD away)
- 2015 - W 2-3 (A), L 3-1 (A/USOC), D 1-1 (H), W 0-1 (A)
- 2016 - D 1-1 (H), D 2-2 (A)
- 2017 - D 0-0 (H), L 4-0 (A)
- 2018 - L 1-2 (H), L 4-0 (A)
- 2019 - D 1-1 (A), L 2-5 (H)
- 2020 - W 4-1 (H)
- 2021 - L 3-1 (A), W 1-0 (H)
- 2022 - D 0-0 (A), W 1-0 (H)
- 2023 - W 3-1 (H)
Meet the opponent: Chicago Fire FC
-- Orlando City has dominated Chicago since Oscar Pareja became the Lions’ head coach in 2020, and the July 1 meeting between the two teams was no different. City took a 2-0 lead with Facu Torres goals on either side of halftime and cruised to a 3-1 victory at Exploria Stadium. Ramiro Enrique scored his second Orlando City goal to cap off the win.
-- The Lions are now 4-1-1 against the Fire under Pareja, including 4-0-0 at home. Orlando had been 2-5-6 against Chicago prior to Pareja’s arrival.
-- Orlando is still trying to snap one of its longest droughts – winning in Chicago. After taking two off the Fire in Illinois in 2015, the Lions have come up empty in six trips to the Windy City over the past seven seasons. They have come close on multiple occasions, conceding an equalizer on the final kick of the match in 2019 and seeing a potential game-winner from Júnior Urso ruled out via VAR last season.
-- The Lions will have to take care of the Fire strikers Kei Kamara and Kacper Przybylko, both of whom boast prodigious scoring records against Orlando with nine and six goals, respectively. Kamara will equal Landon Donovan (145) for the second-most goals in MLS history with his next finish.
