Lions open the preseason hungry
With new facilities and new coach, OC is focused on new era and a playoff push
KISSIMMEE — Orlando City broke in its new training facilities on Monday with the first workout under coach Óscar Pareja, ushering in a new year and new era for the Lions.
For Pareja, the process of forming a team during the next few weeks feels familiar.
This is the fourth time the coach has taken over a new club in less than a decade, starting with his first head coaching position with the Colorado Rapids in 2012.
The coach said he entered this first week of training with the goal of building a foundation of chemistry for the team, which added eight new players during the offseason.
“The first part is to be aware of where we are,” Pareja said. “I think everybody has to do that, to be a piece of the puzzle. Second, I want everyone to visualize where we can get. The players especially, they need to know what is going to be the path. [If ] at least we can visualize it, at least we can see it and explain with clarity what the objectives are, I think it’s a good foundation to start.”
As he enters his fourth MLS season with the Lions, striker Dom Dwyer is looking to erase the memories a frustrating 2019 season. The designated player has struggled to find his footing since returning to Orlando.
He scored a team-high 13 goals in 2018, but he suffered through a shooting slump and injury issues last year, scoring only seven goals off 66 shots.
After the team failed to make the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season, Dwyer said he was disappointed in his performance. He was swept up in trade rumors throughout the offseason — most notably getting linked to Minnesota United — and dismissed many of them with jokes on social media.
Entering the preseason — and the final year of his contract — the striker said he’s looking for a redemptive performance in 2020.