Regular season concluding, but it’s not the end
Lions hoping to win finale vs. Nashville SC to surge into playoffs
In the days leading up to his first match as Orlando City’s coach, Oscar Pareja wanted to write a new story for the Lions.
Pareja knew the club and its fans were tired of missing out on the playoffs, of entering each season as underdogs. He believed in the potential of the team in the first year of its transformation under his watch.
The world has changed since the start of the regular season. The competition shifted considerably, disrupted by a pandemic and reshaped around the tournament at Disney World.
But as the Lions enter their final match of the regular season against Nashville SC on Sunday, Pareja already has accomplished his overarching goal. Orlando City (11-3-8, 41) has written an indelibly new story for a team that has become an MLS Cup contender.
“We were thinking of being a playoff team and being a team who is the protagonist of the games,” Pareja said. “Today, with one game left in the regular season, we feel that we have gotten a lot of things close to what we dream of.
“But the most important thing right now is to think about just
bringing some silverware to Orlando. We missed that in the MLS is Back Tournament. We feel that we have that composition now to bring the trophy to Orlando.”
During their final match of the regular season, the Lions will look to keep building on the momentum gained during the past three matches. The series of emotional wins— punctuated by Wednesday’s victory down a man following Nani’s red card— has fueled Orlando City’s confidence.
Nashville (7-7-8, 29) won’t bring as desperate of an edge to Sunday’s match as other recent opponents. The team already has clinched a spot in the playoffs and a win wouldn’t move them in the Eastern Conference table.
It will be a familiar matchup for Orlando City, which has earned a 3-1 win and a 1-1 draw against the club earlier this season.
Both matches highlighted Nashville’s main challenge this season — finding a spark on the offensive end. The team averages less than one goal per game and has scored more than once in just five matches this season.
Despite the low scoring rate, Nashville often gritted out results to pick up 13 points in the final nine-game stretch of the season to earn a spot in the playoffs during its first MLS season.
The Lions, meanwhile, have scored seven goals across the past three games, a hot streak they’ll look to continue on Sunday.
Orlando City will be without playmaker Mauricio Pereyra as he serves a one-game suspension due to yellow-card accumulation. But the Lions will be bolstered by the return of their captain Nani, whose red card from the match against Columbus was rescinded Saturday morning.
With rookie Daryl Dike also back to full speed after falling ill on Wednesday, the Lions will field a nearly complete roster. Midfielder Uri Rosell could sit out as he continues to recover from an unspecified injury and defender João Moutinho has not fully recovered from a groin injury despite rejoining team training thisweek.
But the otherwise healthy Lions will be in dangerous form.