Orlando Metropolis head coach Oscar Pareja urged his group to look previous their latest defeat to Atlanta United forward of their matchup in opposition to the Chicago Hearth.
Pareja’s facet had been main 2-1 for many of the recreation earlier than a crimson card to Cesar Araujo 13 minutes from time allowed Atlanta to emerge 3-2 victors.
The defeat meant Orlando missed the chance to maneuver as much as second place within the Japanese Convention, now sitting in fifth and 6 factors behind leaders Philadelphia Union.
Pareja instructed his facet to deal with the positives of the match earlier than the crimson card when getting ready for the Chicago recreation.
Pareja mentioned: “Gamers have to consider what an excellent job they did till the seventy fifth minute when the referee bought concerned with the crimson card and simply bounce again on these optimistic issues, as nicely, contemplating all these positives that we did as a result of I believed we performed very nicely till that occurred.
“We can’t overlook that, and we have now two days to deliver ahead the message and hold doing what we’re doing and play in opposition to Chicago.
“We now have a brief time period, however we’re not going to pay attention an excessive amount of on the state of affairs that was introduced in these minutes, that we felt we had been affected by.”
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— Orlando Metropolis SC (@OrlandoCitySC) Might 30, 2025
Orlando defender Alex Freeman agreed that they have to swap their focus to Chicago fairly than dwell on the dropped factors.
“I didn’t actually get to see a lot, however Cesar [Araujo] ended up getting a crimson card,” added Freeman.
“After that it was simply us defending, and [Atlanta United] was capable of get some objectives again, however I really feel like general we did play nicely. Now we have now to maneuver on to Saturday in opposition to Chicago Hearth.”
A win may nonetheless take Orlando as excessive as second place within the desk, however they face a stern check in opposition to a Chicago facet out to avenge their defeat to New York Metropolis FC final day trip.
The Hearth had been crushed 3-1 at Yankee Stadium, which noticed each Brian Gutierrez and Dje Tah D’Avilla despatched off, although the latter has since seen his dismissal rescinded.
And whereas head coach Gregg Berhalter had sympathy for D’Avilla’s two yellow playing cards, the identical couldn’t be mentioned for Gutierrez, with the previous United States nationwide group head coach believing that second had an enormous affect on the consequence.
“We damage ourselves, and for Brian Gutierrez to take that motion, he put his entire group in jeopardy and put us behind the eight-ball,” Berhalter mentioned.
“It’s our third recreation in every week, some fatigue within the legs and a whole lot of journey. I feel for a participant to do this simply isn’t accountable.
“Something after that time is sort of a moot level as a result of that is an instance of us actually hurting ourselves in a state of affairs the place we had good management of the sport.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Orlando Metropolis SC – Martin Ojeda
Ojeda has caught the attention for Orlando this season. The midfielder is the membership’s prime scorer with eight objectives, two of which had been the crucial first of the match.
The Argentine has additionally made 38 key passes, the sixth-most within the league, whereas registering 4 assists.
Chicago – Philip Zinckernagel
Zinckernagel has contributed to a purpose in 5 straight regular-season away matches for the Hearth, equalling the longest streak in membership historical past.
He has scored in every of his final three away matches, additionally equalling the longest run in membership historical past.
MATCH PREDICTION – ORLANDO CITY SC WIN
Orlando Metropolis have gained 5 straight dwelling matches in opposition to Chicago, outscoring the Hearth 13-4, in these video games.
On dwelling soil this season, Orlando have 5 wins, two attracts, and one loss in eight MLS contests. The Lions have a seven-match MLS dwelling unbeaten streak courting to March 2 in opposition to Toronto.
Of their final six league matches, Orlando have gained three, drawn two and misplaced one. Chicago, in the meantime, have gained two, drawn one and misplaced three of their final six.
Nonetheless, Chicago has scored in 9 consecutive regular-season away matches courting again to final October, together with all eight this season. That is the Hearth’s longest run of consecutive highway video games with a purpose since a nine-match run in 2010.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Orlando Metropolis SC – 64%
Chicago Hearth – 16.8%
Draw – 19.2%
