KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Saturday's match against Real Salt Lake will be a special one for Lions manager Oscar Pareja.
Just a few days removed from securing his milestone 150th win in MLS against Toronto FC, Orlando City's head coach will face off against one of his former players: RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni.
It's almost fitting that the match after the milestone win for Pareja comes against his starting defensive midfielder from his first-ever win in MLS back in 2012.
"Good memories with Pablo as a player in my first experience as a first-team coach," Pareja said before training at Orlando Health Training Ground at Osceola Heritage Park on Thursday. "I can see his team, now that I'm scouting them and analyzing them, it just looks like Pablo. That means that he's doing a very good job because that identity of the coach is transmitted to players, which is not an easy job to do. I can see that intensity and that passion that he had as a player, now I can see his team."
The last time the two faced each other as managers was back in 2017, when both were with different clubs (Pareja with FC Dallas and Mastroeni with Colorado Rapids). In their 11 matches they have faced each other over the years, Pareja has a 5-2-4 edge.
For Orlando City, it's been over two seasons since they have played Real Salt Lake. The last match coming back in February of 2020, when the teams played to a scoreless draw in Oscar Pareja's managerial debut for the Lions. This time around, they'll be playing out in Sandy, Utah for the first time under Pareja and the first time since April of 2019 (9:30 p.m. kickoff | TV: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).
"They are aggressive going forward, which gives us some challenges, as well as in the middle of the field," Pareja said of RSL. "Just going to the west on a long trip may be things that you do you may have in consideration, but other than that, just trying to keep doing the right things with the team and just focus on outperforming and making sure that that we can put all the thoughts that we have on the pitch and just get more points."
Odds and ends
- Former Orlando City player Nani and Junior Urso joined the team for training this past week. "It's great," Captain Mauricio Pereyra said. "It shows also to everybody that the closer relationship that we have, not only inside of the team, but with the guys that are leaving. They want to come back and they feel part of this family and that's great."
Don't miss Kickoff -60, airing one hour before Orlando City's match against New York, exclusively on the LionNation App. Join host Gabrielle Amado and Orlando City’s English-language radio talents Evan Weston and Paul Shaw as they break down the upcoming match, with special guests appearing regularly throughout the season.
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