With only 10 games remaining in the 2017 MLS season, Orlando City is in a fight for their playoff lives. Their upcoming opponent, Columbus Crew SC, sit just above the Lions in the standings and in the sixth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
With the team’s next two matches back home in the confines of Orlando City Stadium, the players understand what they need to do in this crucial time in the season and the best way to approach it.
“We’ve got five games at home, five away, all against opposition we can, should and hope to beat,” defender Scott Sutter said after training Tuesday, “So, we just got to stay positive, because it’s easy to get into a negative mindset at the end of a bad run. We know that we’re really close and that there’s things that just aren’t really stringing our way that we need to just to keep working until they do string our way. I’ve been saying it for a good few weeks now, but I think it’ll click and the good thing now is that we have two home games now where we can really push for it and hopefully that’ll get the ball rolling until the end of the season.”
Getting that proverbial ball rolling and getting into the habit of winning games is the hardest part, but the belief that the team will get there is shared by all players on the team, including veteran midfielder Will Johnson.
“Winning is a habit,” Johnson said, “Winning is hard. Competing is difficult. It pushes you. It tests you. We have to prove to ourselves through repetition of failing, unfortunately, that we’re eventually going to turn the corner and get it right. We gotta keep getting leads, and when we get leads, we gotta execute better.”
“We gotta come out here and work and continue to try and get better and continue to build winning habits.”
Getting into that winning habit will be key for the Lions down the stretch of the season and could help propel them back into the thick of the playoff hunt.
