17 - Prolific
Entering Wednesday night, Orlando City ranked first in the entire Eastern Conference with 17 goals scored in regular season play (the Lions have tallied 23 total goals in 2020 if you include the MLS is Back Tournament). Six of those goals belong to Chris Mueller, who ranks third on the MLS scoring chart behind Diego Rossi and Gyasi Zardes. Nani and August MLS Player of the Month Daryl Dike have each netted three times (Nani has five goals in all competitions), Benji Michel has added two, and Mauricio Pereyra, Júnior Urso, and Tesho Akindele have all scored once each.
13 - Goals come from big chances
Orlando City has scored a lot in large part because it has created a lot. According to Opta, the Lions rank second in MLS with 24 big chances created, behind only Toronto FC (25). But big chances don’t mean much if you don’t convert them, and Orlando has been great at that as well–the Lions lead MLS with 13 goals scored from big chances and rank sixth in the league in conversion percentage.
311 - Where did the goals go?
As rumors swirl around the identity of Inter Miami’s potential third Designated Player, it’s not hard to see why they’ve centered around strikers. Since Rodolfo Pizarro scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal in the 49th minute against Orlando City on August 22, Miami has not scored a single goal, posting 0-0 draws against Atlanta and Nashville and a 1-0 loss to the Tennesseans across 311 minutes of play. Inter Miami has a chance to snap the streak on Wednesday night against Atlanta United before they face City on Saturday.
49,762 - Matuidi’s experience
New Miami midfielder Blaise Matuidi, a World Cup winner with France, has been around the block. The box-to-box dynamo has featured in 652 career club games with 49,762 minutes under his belt entering Wednesday night, and that doesn’t include the nearly 6,000 minutes he’s played for the French national team across 84 appearances. Matuidi spent just under half of his career at Paris Saint-Germain, with other stops at Troyes, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus.
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