ORLANDO, Fla. (April 21, 2017) - After becoming the first Major League Soccer (MLS) team to open a new stadium with four consecutive wins, Orlando City SC (4-1-0, 12 points) embarks on the road for the second time this season to face 2015 expansion rival New York City FC (3-2-1, 10 points) on Sunday, April 23. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m ET at Yankee Stadium.
City’s fifth nationally televised match of the season will broadcast on FS1. It will also be transmitted locally on Real Radio 104.1 FM in English and on La Nueva 990 AM in Spanish.
In commemoration of Earth Day and in conjunction with MLS’ Greener Goals initiative, the match will see both teams wear special adidas Parlay uniforms made with Parley Ocean Plastic, upcycled from marine plastic intercepted by Parley ocean clean-up operations in the Maldives. Orlando City and New York City FC are two of the four MLS clubs selected to be a part of this initiative. More information can be found here.
“We knew at the beginning of the season that [NYC] had a lot of quality players but they weren’t together very long in the preseason,” Lions Head Coach Jason Kreis said. “They had a lot of new players that joined them very late in the preseason and so they were still piecing things together a little bit, but still presented us a lot of problems as everybody knows. And now, after they’ve played six matches together of course they’re going to be an improved team. It’s one of the top teams in the league and it’ll be a terrific challenge for us to go there and try and attain out first road result of the year.
“We also had some pieces that came together very late in the preseason. We had several injuries and we’ve had to piece together lineups for a lot of the games,” Kreis continued. “We’ve had contributions from a lot of players and we have a better idea of what we’re trying to do now than we did in our first games so I think we’re also an improved team.”
Sunday will mark the second meeting of the season between the two sides. On March 5, Cyle Larin scored his seventh goal in six appearances against NYCFC when he finished Giles Barnes’ cross for the first goal in Orlando City Stadium history, while Joe Bendik made seven saves to earn City’s first Opening Day win in the MLS era.
Last week, the Lions took an early lead after Will Johnson scored his first goal in purple but the LA Galaxy equalized 83rd minute with a Romain Alessandrini strike. In stoppage time, Larin netted his fourth goal in five games this season and secured three points when he slammed Johnson’s corner delivery into the roof of the net.
The game will also mark the eighth all-time meeting between both teams. After picking up two wins and a draw in 2016, City currently holds the all-time series lead with 4-1-2, their best record against any team in the league. The Lions are 1-1-1 at Yankee Stadium and have four points in their last two games in the Bronx.
New York City FC is coming off of a 2-0 win against Philadelphia Union last Friday. Jack Harrison scored in the 52nd minute and David Villa scored from midfield in the 90th. Villa leads NYC with four goals and three assists. Goalkeeper Sean Johnson has 18 saves while playing every minute in goal for NYC this season.
The Lions return to Orlando City Stadium on Saturday, April 29 to host Colorado Rapids. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m ET. The match will be nationally televised on UniMás.
