Wild card Orlando comes to town for Open Cup
CHESTER » Trying to pin down how Orlando City will approach Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal isn’t an easy task for Union manager Jim Curtin.
The Lions are just emerging from a tempest that cost Jason Kreis his job, and James O’Connor will be the third boss this season to lead the team out in the Open Cup. O’Connor has finally halted an epic slide, ending a nine-game losing streak (not winless, but nine straight losses) with last Saturday’s victory over Toronto. And the trip to Chester is shoehorned in between that visit from Toronto and a journey to Columbus Saturday for a club in desperate search of points, part of five games in 15 days for Orlando City.
Curtin isn’t sure quite what to make of that. So in preparation, the Union boss has chosen to focus on his team.
“It’s difficult to pick their lineup, and that’s what we stressed this week preparing,” Curtin said Tuesday after training. “It’s about us, on our home field, things we do well, things we can control. Obviously they have some decisions to make with their roster — are they going to rest guys? Are they going to look ahead to Columbus? I know they’re going to say they’re focused on this game just like we are, so we’ll see whatever lineup they put out there.”
On paper, the Union, sitting seventh in the East, should have an edge on home turf over ninth-place Orlando City, in a competition that the Union prioritize to a degree matched by few other clubs in MLS. They’re three wins away from their first trophy, two wins from taking part in the franchise’s third Open Cup final in the last five years, and Curtin is letting that hunger drive his guys.
“It’s a game that’s an elimination game, so it’s special,” Curtin said. “There’s more pressure. No question about it because one mistake can kind of determine your fate. We do catch a little bit of a break in that we had an off weekend, a friendly on the weekend, while Orlando was fighting against a very good Toronto team in 90 degree temperatures. A little bit of an advantage there. They also have a quick turnaround and play on the same rest on the weekend. They have to manage their roster. We have a fresh team, we’re at home so we have some confidence within our group to high press and do the things that we’re good at at home and take care of business.”
For all the supposed advantage, the Union were stomped by Orlando City, 2-0, April 13, part of the Union’s sputtering start to the season and among the more lamentable dropped points at home. That result was part of a six-game winning streak that had Orlando City flying high, until it all came crashing down with a nearly two-month slide to the brink of playoff oblivion. So the unpredictability owes to more than just the new face in O’Connor, the 38-year-old Irishman who played for the Lions before excelling as the coach of USL club and Orlando City affiliate, Louisville City.
The Union enter the game relatively healthy. Only Ilsinho is out with a quad issue, which offers David Accam a chance to get back in the starting lineup. The start would likely be the Ghanaian’s anyway, after his lastminute goal made the difference in Wednesday’s wild 4-3 win over Chicago for the winger’s first MLS goal as a member of the Union.
With Accam and Fafa Picault both in form, the Union have a chance to deploy what in preseason was forecast as the first choice wide pairing.
“I think both players have different traits,” Curtin said. “Ilsinho’s more of a guy who wants the ball at his feet and wants to combine and come back a little bit more where David has more of a tendency to stretch and get in behind. It’s not necessarily that one is better than the other, but it certainly is different. It’s a different look for teams to adjust to. It’s maybe a thing where before maybe we only got in behind on the left side with Fafa, now we can have a little more consistency with that. It does change us a little bit as a team.”