ORLANDO, Fla. (April 20, 2018) - Orlando City SC (3-2-1, 10 points) will go for its fourth straight win when the San Jose Earthquakes (1-2-2, 5 points) visit Orlando City Stadium on Saturday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The match will be locally televised on WRDQ TV27 and transmitted on Real Radio 104.1 FM in English and La Nueva 990 AM in Spanish.
“San Jose is a team that is better than their results have dictated. They’ve been really bright in several of their matches. I’ve seen them play with some real tenacity and creativity going forward. They can create things, they like to press, they like to play a high-tempo game,” Lions head coach Jason Kreis said. “I look at it as a very dangerous opponent and I think that we need to be extremely focused on ourselves right now, continue to improve because as I see it, Philadelphia was probably our first really, really good performance and we need to improve on that. My thinking is that if we do that, take care of our business, improve on what we did last week then we’ll get the three points.”
The Lions return home for the first time in two weeks after their 2-0 win in Philadelphia on Friday. Dwyer scored his 99th career goal and the eventual game-winner in the 38th minute before rookie Chris Mueller scored just before halftime. Goalkeeper Joe Bendik made a season-high six saves to earn City’s first clean sheet of the season.
Dwyer’s goal was his fourth in three games this season and Mueller’s was his second in consecutive games. Sacha Kljestan earned his second assist as a Lion in his fourth appearance and tied Andy Williams for 9th-most regular-season assists in MLS history.
San Jose enters the match off back-to-back draws in Philadelphia and at home to Houston and is winless in its last four. Most recently, Jahmir Hyka came off the bench to score the equalizer against Houston in the 85th minute.
Magnus Eriksson, Danny Hoesen and Vako lead the Quakes with two goals and two assists apiece.
The Lions and Quakes have tied all three previous meetings since 2015. San Jose was the opponent in the #OrlandoUnited match on June 18, 2016.
In celebration of Earth Day, both teams will be sporting adidas Parley jerseys as part of MLS’s league-wide Greener Goals campaign, which are made of recycled ocean plastic waste. Fans are encouraged to "recycle" non-City sports apparel at Orlando City’s official merchandise store, The Den, and enter to win a signed Parley jersey. The Den will open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on match day and will accept recycled items from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. only.
