Milestones, storylines and more ahead of the Lions match back at home against Houston in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestones
- MartÃn Ojeda’s next start will be his 100th in his Orlando City career in all competitions. Ojeda is set to become the third player on the active roster with 100 starts for the club, after Robin Jansson and Iván Angulo.
- Duncan McGuire’s next goal, his 32nd in all competitions for Orlando City, will pass Nani for fourth place in club history. McGuire has 27 MLS regular season goals, one behind Nani and current teammate MartÃn Ojeda for third in club history.
- Angulo is two appearances away from 150 in all competitions for the club.
Stats & Storylines
- Orlando City returns home this Saturday for the first time in five weeks after ending a grueling road trip with a hard-fought 1-0 win at FC Naples in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 32. Orlando will travel to face the New England Revolution in the Round of 16 on April 29 at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Kickoff is set for 7:30 that evening.Â
- The Lions used several young players on Wednesday night, handing Zakaria Taifi, Yutaro Tsukada, and Justin Ellis their first starts for the first team. LuÃs Otávio went the full 90 minutes for the first time in his Lions career, while rookie Nolan Miller and Homegrowns Javier Otero, Tahir Reid-Brown, and Colin Guske also featured.Â
- Otero produced the best game of his young career against Naples, making seven saves and earning a clean sheet. Orlando City is 4-1-1 in games in which Otero has appeared and has never lost a match when the young Venezuelan starts between the pipes.Â
- Veteran midfielder Braian Ojeda recorded his first Orlando City assist, setting up Tyrese Spicer’s spectacular game-winner. Ojeda has started every match in all competitions in 2026 and has gone the full 90 in all seven MLS matches thus far.
- Orlando City will look to win consecutive games for the first time since winning four straight from August 2-16. Orlando last produced consecutive clean sheets last spring, going six straight matches without allowing a goal from April 5-May 7.
Series History
All-time vs. Houston - 2-2-3, -3 GD (1-0-3, +1 GD home)
MLS only vs. Houston - 2-2-2, -3 GD (1-0-2, +1 GD home)
2015 - W 0-1 (A)
2016 - D 0-0 (H)
2017 - L 4-0 (A)
2018 - D 0-0 (H)
2019 - L 2-1 (A)
2022 - W 2-1 (H)
2023 - D 1-1 (5-4) (H/LC)
Meet the opponent: Houston Dynamo
- Orlando City faces the Houston Dynamo this weekend in MLS play for the first time since June 2022, when an Ercan Kara brace was enough to see the Lions to a 2-1 victory that was more comfortable than the scoreline suggested. Orlando has not lost in four home games against Houston, most recently winning a penalty kick shootout in the 2023 Leagues Cup after Duncan McGuire scored an equalizer mere seconds after halftime.
- The Dynamo were the first team Orlando City ever defeated in the club’s MLS era. The Lions went to Houston and won 1-0 on an own goal from Dynamo keeper Tyler Deric in the club’s first-ever MLS away game on March 13, 2015.
- This year’s Dynamo have struggled to a 2-4-0 start in league play, conceding a Western Conference-high 16 times over their first six matches. Houston does feature an emerging superstar in new DP attacker Guilherme, a Brazilian from historic Santos FC who has burst onto the scene with 5g/4a through six games in orange. Houston also won their Open Cup tie this week, easing past El Paso Locomotive by a 4-1 scoreline.
- After years of brutal away records, Houston has been much better recently on the road. The Dynamo have been a respectable 12-17-9 in road matches since the start of 2024 and have earned more away points in each of the past two seasons than they had in any prior campaign since 2013.
