1 - Capital Cities
This is D.C. United’s first visit to the Soccer Capital of the South’s brand new stadium. Orlando City closed out its Citrus Bowl era with an emphatic 4-2 win over D.C. on Oct. 23, 2016. Kevin Molino opened the scoring before tallies from Kaká, Cristian Higuita and Júlio Baptista.
2 - Common Opponents
Orlando City and D.C. United have faced five common opponents this season. Each team has a home draw against Sporting KC; a 2-0 loss to Columbus; and 2-1 wins over NYCFC and Philadelphia. The Lions also have a 1-0 win over NYCFC and both teams have multi-goal losses to the Pigeons. Orlando City defeated New York Red Bulls, 1-0, a week before NYRB defeated D.C., 2-0. United also has a 4-0 loss to Philadelphia.
Against their common opponents, Orlando City is 4-2-1 and D.C. United is 2-4-1.
3 - No Strangers
Joe Bendik is 4-3-2 against D.C. United in his career and has posted two clean sheets against the Black-and-Red. Bendik is 1-1-0 against D.C. as a Lion, making three saves in a 4-1 loss on Sept. 24, 2016, before picking up a 4-2 win in the Camping World Stadium finale.
Bendik has played every MLS minute in goal for City since joining the team ahead of the 2016 season. The former Clemson Tiger won MLS Save of the Week 11 times in 2016 and won MLS Save of the Year for his back-to-back saves against Sporting KC on May 15. Bendik won MLS Save of the Week in Week 1 and was named MLS Player of the Month in April.
4 - One After The Other
The Lions play two games this week, first on Wednesday against D.C. United and then on Sunday against Chicago. Both matches are at Orlando City Stadium, where City is 5-1-1. Sunday will be City’s third game in nine days. Between April 29 and June 4, Orlando City will have averaged just over three days in between games with a full week of preparation just once in that span. Since April 29, City has had three or fewer days between matches six times.
The Lions will get two weeks off between the Chicago game and their match against Montreal on June 17 but begin their U.S. Open Cup run on June 13 against either Miami FC or the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
5 - Season-High In A Low
Orlando City mustered a season-high 20 shots in Saturday’s loss at Minnesota. Seven of those found the target, one short of City’s eight on April 15 against LA Galaxy. Head coach Jason Kreis said after the Minnesota match that his team is “getting there, we’re getting in a lot of good spaces, we just can’t quite seem to break through [and] score the goal that would have changed the game for us.” Six of City’s shots came from Carlos Rivas, one of which bounced off the post and right in front of the goal before being cleared.
6 - Opposing Fortunes
Orlando City is coming off a loss in which it outshot its opponent 20-5. The Lions took 20 shots on Minnesota but Bobby Shuttleworth made seven saves, a season-high for opposing goalkeepers, to secure the win. Conversely, D.C. United was outshot, 22-7, Saturday and managed to pull out three points on the road. Against D.C., Vancouver hit four posts, including one on a penalty kick in stoppage time.
Through 13 games, the Lions sit fourth in the East, two points above seventh, while D.C. United is five points from sixth and one point above last place in the conference.
7 - Keep It Close
Orlando City is 5-2-0 in games decided by one goal. City got off to a flying start with five wins in its first six games, four of them coming at Orlando City Stadium and four by one goal. The Lions’ 15 points are the most collected in one-goal games and their .714 win percentage in those games is fifth-best in the league.
