Heat won’t stop OC’s physical play
Orlando City players have competed in three matches in less than two weeks in mid-summer Floridian heat.
But Lions striker Chris Mueller said he isn’t feeling the toll of the heavy workload. Instead, he says Orlando City is growing stronger during its MLS is Back Tournament run.
“Honestly, I think that as I continue to play more games, I’ve been feeling better,” Mueller said. “I noticed I’ve been covering a little more ground as the games are moving on. It’s hard to emulate the load of what you’re gonna do in a match. … As we’ve been continuing to play games, getting 90 minutes under our belt, I think all the guys are continuing to get stronger.”
Each player’s fitness level will continue to be a concern for the team as the Lions look to make a deep run in the tournament. Players have emphasized coach Oscar Pareja’s system is physically demanding, particularly when Orlando City is working to hold a high press to maintain possession in its opponent’s half of the field.
Mueller said this has given the team confidence to take risks. But despite the team’s offense-heavy focus, the Lions have only ceded three goals in the opening round of the tournament.
Centerback Antonio Carlos said the Lions’ success preventing goals comes from an emphasis on team defending.
Carlos is paired on the right side of the backline with outside back Ruan, who blazes up the right flank to pressure the box with crosses. The Lions have kept this pressure from becoming a weakness by pulling midfielders over to prevent any counters.
“We know that Ruan is very, very fast and that he loves attacking all the way forward, so we definitely want to keep using that as one of our biggest strengths,” Carlos said.
“We actually love when he goes all the way high and every time he’s up there my communication with Robin increases. When he goes up, Oscar made it clear he needs to come back through the midfield.”
As Orlando City enters the knockout round, a key to maintaining this aggressive physicality is injury prevention.
The Lions made it through the first two matches without an injury. Striker Dom Dwyer was held out from the final group match against Philadelphia with tightness in his quad and midfielder Júnior Urso exited the match with the same ailment.
But Pareja said he was being cautious as he works to manage the load of each player to prevent serious injury.
“We wanted to be very conservative with [Dwyer],” Pareja said.
With most of his starters remaining healthy, Pareja was able to play the same starting lineup for every group match, replacing Dwyer with Tesho Akindele against Philadelphia. The coach might have to begin rotating that roster in the knockout stage, however, to manage players’ legs.
The coach says setbacks like resting Dwyer and Urso were expected, especially for two starters trying to play so many games after months away from the sport. Other teams have suffered greater losses.
Los Angeles Galaxy star Chicharito left the bubble early due to a knee injury. The Vancouver
Whitecaps had to acquire a goalkeeper on a one-day loan because their starter suffered an injury and their back-up left the bubble following a death in his family.
For the Lions, a pair of muscle strains is manageable. As players like Mueller gain more confidence, the Lions will look to use their fitness to overwhelm their opponents.
“We’re not too worried,” Pareja said when asked Thursday about Dwyer and Urso. “We just want to evaluate them every day. The roster is pretty healthy. We have almost everybody available and then we hope we can have the full roster for selection versus Montreal.”