ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 31, 2020) - Orlando City SC (9-3-8, 35 points) hits the road for the final time in its 2020 MLS Regular Season campaign, traveling to face the Montreal Impact (7-12-2, 23 points) on Sunday, Nov. 1. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at Red Bull Arena.
The match will be locally broadcast on Fox 35 Plus, while being transmitted on Real Radio 104.1 in English and Acción 97.9FM, 810AM in Spanish.
“Montreal has obviously a schedule that they are demanding to win the games on their objective to qualify. As I said last week about urgency, at this point I think we are all in that mode of trying to, whether it be to clinch or position ourselves better towards the playoffs,” said Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja. “We’re expecting Montreal with that as well, with the necessity to win the game and we feel the same. We think that this is the time where we need to turn ourselves into our best and try to get three points.”
Sunday will mark the Lions’ lone matchup against the Impact of the 2020 regular season, their only fixture of the calendar year taking place in the Round of 16 in the MLS is Back Tournament on July 25, a match that resulted in a 1-0 shutout victory for City.
The Lions enter Sunday’s contest following a commanding 4-1 victory over Atlanta United at the midweek. Daryl Dike got things started in the 29th minute, followed by a curling free kick finish from Chris Mueller in first half stoppage time to give the home side a two-goal advantage at the break. Tesho Akindele would add another for the Lions in the 60th, with Atlanta erasing the clean sheet in the 87th off the head of Erick Torres. Newcomer Matheus Aiás rounded out the scoring in the match, netting his first goal as a Lion in his home debut in the 92nd minute.
Mueller leads the Lions with nine goals this season, followed by Dike with six. The 2018 MLS SuperDraft selection also leads City in assists in 2020, with six to his credit.
Montreal comes into the weekend looking to bounce back from a 1-0 loss to Nashville SC this past Tuesday. Randall Leal scored the eventual game-winner for the 2020 expansion side in the 33rd minute, good enough to give the visitors all three points from the match.
Romell Quioto leads the Impact with seven goals this season, followed by Maximiliano Urruti with five. Quioto also holds a team-high in assists among current players on the roster, with five to his credit, after former assists leader Saphir Taïder was transferred to Saudi Arabian side Al Ain FC on October 14 of this year.
Following Sunday’s match, the Lions will return to Exploria Stadium for their final two matches in the regular season, first set to take on Columbus Crew SC on Wednesday, Nov. 4. City will then turn its attention to a Decision Day fixture against Nashville SC, slated for Sunday, Nov. 8. A limited number of tickets for those matches can be found here.
